[PART 1] Official BLF GT Group Buy thread. Group buy officially closed! Lights shipping.

Then we have two extreme directions in this discussion:

1) The ‘OL way’: big reflector big output led (think XHP70), with consequently a fair number of batteries and large capacity heatsinking
The OL way is heavy and will not have massive throw, you will stay well under 1 Mcd. But the big bright hotspot will be very impressive.

2) The maximum throw way: big reflector small die led (think XP-L HI), can be driven with two or even one battery, heatsinking is very modest.
This can be made very compact, the size is the reflector and not much more, and be featherweight. The throw with a 120mm reflector can be up to 1.5 Mcd. It is an extreme pencil beam!

And then there is everything in between…

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BLF LS (Light Saber) or
BLF TM (Throw Max)?

Great project!

Yes PLEASE!!! :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

Depending on pricing, at least one and if possible one as host (I would one with XP-L HI IF over 1Mcd - but I still would want one with Oslon Black Flat for max throw, minimal usabilty and max fun)

Grz
Nico

Probably will if made by Astrolux

I am in. Depending on price. :+1:

I am in for one light, too!

I really don’t think so. Nobody would pick up a chunk of solid black metal with a seriously big polished reflector on the end and associate it with some cheap yellow plastic “lantern”. And if they do then I don’t value their opinion very much.

Yes please! This is what I’m hoping for out of this project. Dedomed XP-G2 lights are really impressive on the meter. I know; I’ve built a few myself. They’re not very useful though. I want a super-thrower that’s actually got a useful beam at a distance and that requires just a bit more “width” and overall output than a 900 lm, 1 Mcd XP-G2 would be doing.

That’s just my opinion though.

I am in.

Is it time for the first poll?
What form will the BLF giga thrower have?
1 plunger
2 reflector and all around in with handle

(Sorry leaving out the lens(es) option that seems totally different project

Plunger and pencil beam. At 500m+, I don’t want any beam width lighting everything up, just enough to light up a 3m wide area, if that is even possible. :smiley:

I am In depending on price.

Just a note, when I say “width” I’m not talking about spill. I don’t want spill either. Spill is the death of a thrower because it messes up your night vision too much.

Maybe a bad example, but here’s what a de-domed XP-G2 looks like in a much smaller host (XinTD C8):

This one “only” does 158k cd, or about 795m throw. In a bigger reflector that would be even tighter with even less spill. Which is awesome to see, but not very useful in my opinion. I’d rather have the thicker beam of a larger emitter assuming the reflector can be done right so as to avoid spill.

quote
This one “only” does 158k cd, or about 795m throw. In a bigger reflector that would be even tighter with even less spill. Which is awesome to see, but not very useful in my opinion. I’d rather have the thicker beam of a larger emitter assuming the reflector can be done right so as to avoid spill.
unquote

Agree, but the question is: what do you want to light up at what distances.
Maybe some of the math buffs in this forum could give us a rough estimate of spot diameter, depending on led used, based on the 120 mm reflector?

Grtz
Nico

Amazing!

The trouble is, section 2 we have 0 lights. Section 1 we have millions of lights, and in between another million lights. The market gap for 2 is huge.

Please add me to the interested list.

I see in the OP mentioned: glass lens, while a plastic lens may be a better idea considering the 120mm diameter, light transmittance is the same, sometimes even better than glass, and the light will be much less vulnerable and more lightweight.
I’m not sure about plastic being not as flat as glass: I did not notice it yet, but that may affect the beam and throw somewhat.

me too. sounds fun

I am interested depending on price

BLF Trébuchet

Price and throw should be the main objectives. I have no idea which one is cheaper, but I presume the plastic is. Novelty materials should not be primary goal in my honest opinion.