[Available again! - BLF special edition light] new Sofirn AAA twisty high CRI 5mm LED

This is a drawing that I sent to Barry. The white area is machined out 3mm lower, which should be possible in one machining pass with a 3mm cutting tool. The central 2mm hole should easily fit a 10mm inner diameter split ring (the circle in pencil is 9mm).

It shows the position of a possible magnet hole and a possible trit hole and I told him that discussion was still going on but that in the end Sofirn decides on which holes to add or not.

Looks good, except for those 3 mm half circles to the right, they are a bit odd and unnecessary (and make chamfering all the edges more difficult). You have the drill for the hole going through anyway plus you could tilt the tool 90° and remove the 3 mm quarter circles in front of the hole if you don't want them. Or Sofirn could use a 2 mm tool for everything (except maybe the trit slot) to save one tool change. Or...

To be honest I don't think it is worth discussing the machining details, because Sofirn needs to figure this out by themselves. We don't know how they like to do things, what machines with which capabilities they have and so on.

Is the light enough from one led?

Yes, Sofirn is perfectly capable of figuring out the machining details themselves, it is just that Barry, after seeing the discussion, somewhat grumpy said that simple was preferred, so I had to show that clever solutions could simple too.

I was a bit worried about if the 2mm thick 3mm long hole would indeed easily fit the 10mm split ring that I have, so I cut a 2mm hole in a 3mm thick small piece of aluminium and checked. Well, it does fit and moves easily in the hole, but there is actually hardly room to spare :innocent:

How do you define “enough”?

This light is basically an upgraded clone of the beloved Fenix E01, which only uses 1 5mm LED and for what the philosophy of the E01 and this light is, yes, it is enough.

Will it be enough to be more useful than a smartphone that we all carry in the pocket.

The size does allow for triple setup.

A triple setup totally defeats the purpose of a light like this. If you want something with that kind of output, it’d be best to get something with a high cri Nichia.

Smart phone lights have come a long way over the years as far as output goes and the chances are a lot of them will be higher in lumens than this light. Cell phone lights are all flood though and lux can be just as important as lumens. No idea where these lights will stand on that point though.

This kind of light is the kind of light you never have to worry about working or using too much. In an emergency, do you really want to burn your phone’s battery to see?

This light is a task light, used to light up things in your immediate area and it will be bright enough for that.

Survey update at 25 responses:

Question 1: The current breakdown goes 2 for trit slot being a must have, 4 that want one but isn’t necessary, 10 don’t care, 6 no, and 4 definitely no. So as of current standings people prefer not having a trit slot.

Question 2: Tailstanding is vital. No respondents said their ideal tailcap wouldn’t tailstand, and only 1 deemed it not important. The majority of respondents (14) said it was vital.

Question 3: 13 yes vs 10 no on the magnet. This is very much a split decision.

Question 4: The Olight i3s tailcap is currently in the lead, followed closely by the Lumintop Ant and Manker E02. The others are pretty far behind.

Question 5: At least one person really wants it to just be an E01 like light due to the proven design. The Maratac Peanut tailcap was mentioned, and there was a clear vote for the Noir/Djozz tailcap design. Also someone reiterated that tailstanding is important.

Based on the data so far I think the Noir/Djozz design is a good idea assuming:

- It can be made within the cost target.

- It does not come with the trit/magnet installed.

- Tailstanding proves stable

  • The body design can still be made in two pieces similar to the E01

The survey is still open, so if you haven’t taken it you can find it here: Free Online Survey Software by SurveyMonkey: Closed Survey

Edit:
@mdeni: The light output from these (based on my experience with an E01vn) is a bit lower than a cell phone light but with better quality. The cell phone light vs keychain debate has been going on for a long time now. Most enthusiasts or EDC types prefer to carry a dedicated light to reduce cell phone battery usage and for the convenience that using a small dedicated device affords vs a large slab of expensive electronics.

It’s looking like we might just need to drop the magnet idea, unfortunately. Either that, or screw those who don’t want one. I don’t want an empty magnet hole on the outside of the tail of the light. First of all, it won’t really look good (empty). Second, unless Sofirn provide the magnet AND a secure (and easy) way to install the magnet, it will be useless to even those who want the magnet in the tail. Very few BLFers are modders at all. Even fewer have UV activated glue and a UV light. Two part epoxy doesn’t stick well to the Nickel coating that most Neodymium magnets have. What else is there? I don’t know.

So the poll indicates sonething different than what I gathered from the responses in the thread, that underlines that doing polls is a good thing.

But I would not mind a lot more responses than 25 to get a better picture of the preferences.

Hi, I’m in for 2×3200k

I love low mode in ThruNite Ti3. Would it be possible to have 2 modes here?
One really low (like 0.04-0.06 lm) and the second one full beam?
Low mode can be very useful in tent/bedroom situation.

I’m reminded of that old mantra of KISS. It might not be a bad idea to leave this as the simple, cheap, bombproof light and save the premium features for a more premium light.

I’ll keep including the survey link on my posts though so we get as many opinions as possible though. :slight_smile:

I think lurkers vote in polls rather than join the discussion, I know I’m guilty of that.

With so many different opinions this is the best option. (probably)

I like the idea to put a hole for the magnet in the back. To buy the magnet in china is cheap and everybody can do it. And there is no magic needed to glue it in.
I used JB weld on my S2+ magnets and sometimes i used B7000 glue and not 1 of the 40-50 magnets came loose.

I have no interest in a magnet and even less in tritium. However, I’m not bothered by empty pockets in the back so if others want them I’d be fine with the design Djozz posted. Central hanging and tail standing are both nice.

Djozz, you’re the point of contact, so obviously it’s up to you how to handle the discussions with Barry, but my impression is we should be careful to frame our discussion as the suggestions we think Sofirn should incorporate to make this light better, rather than demands.

They are graciously taking our input and making many very sincerely appreciated improvements to their plans as a result, but at the end of the day, I think it is important for all of us to keep in mind that this is ultimately Sofirn’s project.

After they’ve been so willing to listen to our requests on the more significant design elements like potting and drive current, hearing that Barry might be a bit frustrated by our lengthy discussion on a less significant (at least to me) element like tail design makes me wonder if we’re presuming a bit too direct of involvement here.

I hope we’re able to suggest a good tail design to Sofirn that they like and is cost effective to make, but I also want to make sure that on the whole they enjoy interacting with us so they are motivated to not only bring this project to fruition, but might also seek input from BLF on future projects.

^ Don’t worry, I do all communication with Barry as suggestions with the final decision for Sofirn. Which is good because I think they have some experienced engineers who have good ideas too.
I do emphasize that we at BLF too can have pretty good ideas every now and then :slight_smile:
Barry’s remark that he prefers simple may just as well be his honest opinion instead of grumpiness.

Interested.

At that price I’d be in for 4 or 5