Talk about future projects and donation topic

There is one family of lights that’s really getting on my nerves.
Zebralights.
These have:

  • great quality
  • small size
  • top sustained output for the size
  • top runtime for the size
  • low max output
  • poor ui
  • high price

They are pretty much the only ones in that niche with DQG beating them on size and losing on most other features.
It was said before that Emisar lights are somewhat close. I don’t agree.
D4 is bigger, heavier, floodier yet has much lower sustained output.
D1 is much bigger, heavier and has much lower sustained output.
Some will probably point at FW3A, but it is bigger, floodier and has much lower sustained output too.

I long wondered what would it take to make a good Zebra-beating light and now it seems that all the pieces may be in place.
So I propose the following:

  • 2 emitter choices, XHP35 HI and XHP50.2
  • Schoki’s driver for 2000+ lm with XHP35 and 3500+ with XHP50.2, though that’s just turbo. The latter should easily do 1000+ until battery is empty. The former may be able to do it too.
  • side e-switch
  • 18350/18500/18650 battery tubes

For bonus points (and size reduction) it may be possible to use modern non-dtp MCPCBs and put some driver components on the LED board. Like Zebra, but better. :wink:

Overall, such light wouldn’t have low price, no chance of battling Emisar in this regard. But would offer qualities not available anywhere.

I don’t mind the Zebralight UI, especially after using it for a bit. It works, but it’s not nearly as cool or flexible as ramping.

I physically feel the heft and quality of its manufacture, but after owning an Emisar D4, I don’t know if I’d spend the money for a Zebralight today. I seriously doubt it.

I like the multi-thousand lumen capability of the newer lights, but I wonder if it’s really necessary (HERESY!!!). I’m careful with my lights but accidents happen, burns occur and things get melted with the high power. I use the turbo on my D4 only sparingly and mostly for showing off.

Don’t know where I’m going with this but it’s there for anyone’s consideration.

Necessary is in the mind of the beholder. I have an X45vn that makes 26,000 lumen, but depending on the ambient temperature I have 1-3 minutes before I have to cut it way back for fear of melting my fingers. It was necessary one time when my chickens were going nuts in their pen. I quickly grabbed my SD26 and could not see what was causing all the fuss. Then I went and grabbed the X45vn and lit up a 2 acre area like it was high noon. Now I could see one coyote at the far corner of the pen and two more 100 meters back in the pines.

Now most of the time the crazy lumens and lux that we get out of some of our lights is just plain fun. But once in a while they do serve a purpose and get a chance to earn their keep.

Following this direction, I think there’s a better choice than XHP50.2. 3s Samsung LH351D under Carclo triple optics. Shorter and a bit more efficient, especially at high currents. Driver efficiency would be a little lower, so will reduce the LED advantage, though not negate probably. Regardless, the size difference will stay. Turbo output should be a little higher too.

Has BLF ever built a single 26650 light” My all time favorite out with the dog/trail hiking/general use light is my Supbeam K40Mvn. It has a super wide beam that transitions nicely into a very usable spill with a nice MTG2 tint.

I would love to have a nice single 26650 or double 26350 light with a beam profile like the K40m with a nice hi cri led. I would not expect it to give me 3,200 lumen and 90k lux, just have a similar beam and I would be thrilled. Maybe similar in size and mass of the Manker U21.

I am a big fan of single 26650 lights. They are a nice comfortable size to hold and carry in a pocket and the new 5500mA Shockli that can easily maintain 20A is getting close to two 18650’s. And when I need even more run time I carry an extra cell in a pocket. That is the great thing about a single cell light; it is so easy to quickly change cells in the field. Even in the dark! That is actually my pet peave with the K40m, battery carriers are so much more difficult to fumble with in the field.

No, I don’t think so.

You just said this 5 days ago, btw.

I’ve done a bit of research on making a 26650 light based on a reflector design and using a side e-switch. There are inherent obstacles to overcome.

If you use a xhp50 or 70 then you either need 26350 cells (which are not common and only 4,000mah worth of energy) or you use a boost driver (which greatly limits your power and UI choices).

Or you go with 3 or 4 single emitters in a reflector with a regular driver, but these light designs are rare.

I built my L5-S and it suits my needs well, but it would be nice to use a single 26650 as it has more capacity (5,000mah) and output potential (20amps).

A new light that just came out is the Sofirn C8F. The latest version uses an side switch, 3 xpl emitters in a triple reflector. The only problem is it’s in s C8 sized body so it uses a 18650 cell.

I literally have not found a good host for a 3 or 4 emitter light with reflector, side switch and 26650 body.

I did say the same thing before, but I thought it was more than a few days ago. I was just hoping that someone new might see it and run with the idea.

Is the problem finding the proper sized three or four emitter reflector? How would the U21 work as a host? I have always thought that the U21 would be a good host for a high output emitter because it is such a heavy build and should be able to handle the heat better than some of the thin walled light weight lights like the Olight and Acebeam.

I know almost nothing about what is on the inside of these lights or exactly what is needed to be done to get them to perform the way we want them to, but I know what I would like to see as the result.

Even though I am on the list for the GT, I have found that my larger lights just do not get used very often. For me, lights that are any bigger than the Manker U21, Eagtac MX25L3, Acebeam T21 (with two 18350 cells) and maybe the Q8 are a little too big to just throw in a jacket pocket and go.

The GT is going to be an amazing thrower and I have a couple of dedicated uses for it. What I would really like is a pocketable dedicated thrower and a pocketable general use 26650 light like we are talking about.

I think that the reflector on the Acebeam T21 has about the best diameter to throw ratio out there. If we could use that reflector and a Q8-like battery tube that uses four 18350s like the 1200mAh Aspire cells I would be thrilled. My T21vn throws about 500k lux with two 18350 Aspire cells, but the run time is a little short. Using four 18350 cells would solve that problem and using the pop can style would shorten the light up a bit as well.

WaylonJennings, I to like the idea of a single 26650 light! Thanks for the suggestion…… :+1:

Since the Miller has apparently ‘left the building’, with no real explanation to anyone as far as I have read; has anyone taken the helm of this thread of neat ideas & donations???

Just curious… Because if there is no leadership, how will anything happen as far as a ‘new project’??

FWIW the Aspire cells have been discontinued so building a light specifically around their capacity is probably a non-starter.

Going back a few posts, the ZL UI may not be at the very cutting edge any longer but it is far from a ‘poor’ UI.

At that diameter, I think an optic makes more sense for a triple or quad. It gives you an easy way to change the beam shape, to some extent. I think there’s room for a 26650 light which could also take 21700 with a centering sleeve (ie. good springs on both ends).

But to be honest, I think a single emitter with boost driver and somewhat lower power would also be useful. It’s not like a light that size can dissipate a lot of heat anyway. It would be a nice change to have a light designed for maximum sustained output instead of burn-your-fingers-in-30-seconds turbo mode. Turbo is fun but we already have it in many forms.

Does anyone know if everything is okay with The Miller? Just busy life stuff, I hope.

Some post’s on Facebook makes it seem that he is OK, but it does seem odd that he dropped of the BLF world completely. AT first it made sense that he just needed to step back for a few days, but it is very surprising to me that he would not have just taken a quick peak at the GT thread and see the concern by so many and just make a post or two. I am sure he will be back when he is ready.

Someone might need to take the lead on the new projects thread just to move things forward. It will have to be someone who who knows the technical side to get a good start and then the process side to get it manufactured. I am sure that others familiar with past projects will do a great job.

Excellent question cabfrank…… it appears no one knows.

The last known Miller sighting I am aware of was back on 5 December…. discussed HERE in the GT Thread. It appears he was alive & well then.

It does seem very uncharacteristic of the Miller, who was so involved; to just vanish without a word. Oh well…. stuff happens I guess.

It made things a bit difficult for TA & others at a critical time in the GT Group Buy…… But they overcame & things went very smoothly.
They all did a stellar job!!!

As WaylonJennings mentioned…… someone with the familarity with projects & knowhow will probably step in and things will just move right on along.

As long as he is fine, that is all I am concerned about. He has done great things, and I hope all is well.

/\/\/\ … :+1:

Well as of 5 December it ’appears’ he was. :slight_smile:

I guess if he had wanted anyone, on BLF at least; to know anything more…. he would have told someone something. :open_mouth:

Those already exist. I’ve got a DQG Tiny 7x xpg2. It does 2500 lumen and is pretty awesome, but I don’t like tir lenses. I’ve retired mine as it’s not very good for walking around at night.

Yes, these small diameter multiemmiter reflectors are only found on a few lights and I have no idea if they can be made to fit a different body. Obviously the emitter shelf would need to be raised if you put it in a body that used a single emitter. This means a custom machined spacer which I why I was hoping for a host that already came with a small multi emitter reflector.

I felt the U21 was a bit too big as far as head diameter. If that size is okay by you, then there are existing lights that can be used as hosts. Check out the Shadow SL-3.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.fasttech.com/p/amp/1359103

I would be just fine with a smaller host as long as it could handle the heat of three emitters. The little DQG 26650 seems to heat up pretty quickly due to it’s small size. I like the small size of my SD26 and EC60, but I do not know how they would handle a triple emitter set up.

I am shocked to hear that the Aspire cells have been discontinued. They are so much better than the next best 18350 cell out there. I was hoping that they would start making a 16340.

Um, yes. Short memories!