I can’t imagine the Q8 as a EDC light unless it was in a pack. Yup, I’d choose another. Great light just not a pocket light. But maybe on the bill of a baseball cap? (just kidding!)
Ah, good. Having the hardware should make it a lot easier to develop. I gave it a try briefly and ran into several bugs right away, so I figured I’d wait until it was a little more stable.
Is that easier than long-press-off?
Anyway, I’m still waiting for my Q8 to show up. Looking forward to another toy, particularly since it has extra features none of my other lights have. 
(no idea when it’ll be here, but hopefully soon)
I use the Q8 as a riding light and have had not lost contact once with my mount. I only ride on rough trails at worst and have no issues hitting cracked spots, riding over branches, or going up/down curbs. It is true that most forces of hitting something stiff, or a hard drop will not cause the light to shut off because the forces are mostly perpendicular to the batteries. It isn’t very hard to understand. It would take something like rough mountain biking and a small tree causing the wheel to jolt in an uncontrolled manner to cause disconnect. Due to the weight of the light my mount would be insufficient to handle the sudden repeated forces of such riding. I don’t think the disconnect “issue” is real because riding that would cause it would break the mount trying to hold over half a kilogram of flashlight in place. If you are doing that kind of riding and take safety seriously you should be using a light on your helmet so you can quickly survey the uneven terrain. A handlebar mounted light would be ill-advised for that kind of terrain because the handlebars won’t always be pointed straight.
Yeah, it seems like if the light is pointing forward, only a hard blow of being hit in the rear by a vehicle could cause the batteries to compress the springs and shut the light off. IDK, I was just wondering. Pay no attention to me.
For biking I would UAW magnets on the - side of the cells just to be sure.
ElginAgain, good you gained access I hope people with knowledge chime in on the clear! pics.
B42, have some sanding paper ready, the black is easy to remove and the result is something most probably like better, a Natal colored ring around the switch goes very well with the bezel.
Really curious how those switch covers look.
Try this, akovia
It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.
Seems to be another batch of boards. I don’t have this “bai hai hong” printed on mine.
At first glance I can’t see any shorts either, but soldering looks mediocre. Next i would use the multimeter to check all components for shorts, continuity and resistor values, here is a circuit diagram . You could also measure current when light is off with multimeter and power supply, this might give a hint where the current flows. Wait a few seconds after shutting down before you check until the mcu goes to sleep. And with an oscilloscope you could check Pin 5 and 6 of the mcu whether there are any spikes.
If there aren’t any new findings I would re-solder all pads and see if it helps.
I’m in France. My Q8 left Sept 15th and arrived yesterday via the normal route at Roissy. No duty to pay. Packaging was trashed but the light seems fine.
The Q8 is a stupendous piece of work for $40. Between that, my MT103 and my old DEFT I am done for big lights - I’ll run out of trees to melt fairly soon otherwise. I haven’t touched anything on the UI yet as it seems just fine for now. Love the ramping, takes a minute or two to get used to and you’re done. Added my standard shoulder-strap to it and I suspect it will be my regular light for night-time animal duties for a long time. It will certainly be hard to better it. Just brilliant and well worth the wait.
Thank you to all involved, especially the Miller and Tom E. Can’t wait for the FW3A now…. 
Not sure if this was posted.
FLIR thermal photo after cca. 5min on turbo (stepdown disabled) with fresh 30Q and no mods.
Thank you BLF team !
any plan for white light ?
I’d take a careful look around R3, in case there is a dodgy joint or the resistor itself is faulty , though it seems to look OK.
This 100K resistor is there to drain the FET gate voltage to ground when the gate is not being actively driven by the MCU.
If it has become disconnected, this might explain the very slight current flowing through the LEDs when the MCU is asleep, depending on how MCU pin 6 is left during sleep.
E.g. if MCU pin is left floating tri-state (and R3 has become disconnected), only the tiniest leakage current would be enough to charge the FET gate just sufficiently to turn it on very slightly.
Check resistance measured at the FET gate pin to ground.
Should be no more than 100K (depending on whether much meter current flows through MCU pin as well). Try with meter probes both ways round, in case in one direction MCU pin protection circuit conducts. Generally black probe on ground should be OK.
Maybe afterwards try re-touching R3 solder joints anyway, if you feel up to it.
Well, that’s my hypothesis, for now, with a lot of “ifs” 
Otherwise maybe a leaky 7135, but you would have to disconnect it to diagnose that.
That is a nice one for sure.
Thanks!
I got a few of these in. They are pretty nice, heavy so seem well made, and don't need to be sanded/grinded down to fit. The ring though will flop around, so using a heavier, thickr lanyard would work well with them.
I did find this in my searching as well if anyone is interested in a static ring. I like that it's stainless steel.
I suspected this also but according to Toms’ code the pins for FET and 7135 are always configured as output.
This one appears to be the same - but less expensive:
I bought one of these for my MT-01 and I like the smaller size compared with some others I bought recently. It sits reasonably high off of the light but the thick rubber washer works well to take up the slack when you screw it in. I’m going to buy two more for my Q8 collection for sure.
That’s because it’s aluminium, not stainless. I think I’d rather have the stainless myself….