Unpopular Flashlight Opinion Thread

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Absolutely, unless you have a light with a huge reflector like the GT70 or an Imalent I’d take a light with multiple small emitters any day and have way better beam profile.

“High end” custom flashlights like Okluma, Hanko, Deadwood,and Oveready look amateurish and cheap compared to those from more mainstream manufacturers.

The FW3A isn’t going to live up to the hype and the 2 year GB

GBers (including myself) will wake up soon to the above and begin (eventually) taking back control of BLF GBs.

Totally agree the point about the amateurish customs. If I were machining Ti lights I would make my selling point their ability to withstand a nuclear blast, or drop them to the bottom of the Marianas Trench in the ocean depths. Or send some to Elon Musk to send them into reentry in the atmosphere. Instead….MORE SKULLS.

Another thought.

If I ask “what is a professional flashlight” the response is not so predictable; the world is on unstable footing.

Some first responders might swear by decades old Maglite tech. Still others might swear by Streamlight. The absolute cutting egde might recommend a Fenix.

The tenderfoots enthusiasts are quick to exclaim how great the Armytek or Thrunite is; others scratch their head thinking “the closest Armytek has been to the Army is they stuck it in the name.”

Some might proclaim nothing short of their $500 HDS will do, as they claim it is a hands down bomber light.

I scratch my head, as I can’t tell if a professional ever had any actual design influence on an Olight, or a Fenix, etc. Any product testing with a police officer? Or paramedic?

Maybe a Police officer needs a 4 hour runtime and a quick charge, a thrower that converts to a multi-angle. An amber strobe.

An enthusiast can afford the collection, can afford to pluck the right tool from the toolbox.

Out in the wild, though, when wind and rain is howling and you have one light, just one, where is the professional swiss army light?

Yes. Most of the brands based in the US/Canada that make even remotely “tactical”-style lights have.

Momentary turbo mode makes a lot of sense for camping and hiking and many other practical uses. I just don’t like it when a flashlight gets so hot on turbo and dims so much to cool down that it becomes dimmer after ramping down from turbo than it would have been had I set it to its brightest sustainable mode and left it there.

Tend to agree with you here. Don’t get me wrong, I totally do understand the point of throwers, for people who need them. I just don’t have a huge need for them in my own life either. What’s the point of being able to shine a spotlight on something 1 km away when the human eye can’t even make out what it’s looking at that far away. 99% of my daily life takes place in the suburbs and even when I head out into the woods to go camping, I am usually in Eastern woodlands under trees these days, so there are no 1 km wide open areas to throw light across to begin with. A powerful searchlight just doesn’t seem that useful to me.

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Those look “amateurish and cheap” to you?

Go figure?

Chris

My sensible side knows the effort that went into them, but at the same time they really do look like toys from the 90s to me too.

I can appreciate the effort and skill but yeah, not my style either.


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......reminds me of an acid flashback from the Fillmore West in the '60s....

Maybe IRL they are immediately impressive, but certainly in the photo my first impression is they look like plastic toys, garish and glitzy.

Everyone has different tastes, of course, and certainly I am sure the workmanship and effort involved is impressive, but imagine that look in a car, for e.g. It would be laughed at as tasteless by everyone outside very specific niche interest groups.

I have never claimed to have normal eyes or vision.
Now for an unpopular opinion !

Daylight as terminology is near impossible to pin down, changing temperature, composition, and hue during the day, depending on time, geographic location and weather.

As panacea regarding goals for emitter preferences it proves to be as elusive and illusionary as the word beauty.

Pentagon lives on a budget too! :partying_face:

Yep. It’s sort of like saying “I’m on a diet.” Uh, yeah, we’re all on a diet of one kind or another. What people fail to say is what they really mean, which is “I’m on a restricted diet.”

“Budget” in a title does imply a very controlled or reduced one. Generally, it’s better to say “low budget” if we’re talking about spending less. But of course, “LowBudgetLightForum” is a mouthful. :wink:

That’s a good point…

Living in a pretty far north I think has colored my idea of what “sunlight” would look like. We get maybe 4 months a year where the sun actually sits high in the sky, for most of fall and all of winter it can be 1pm and look like evening outside especially because of standard time (constant DST NEEDS to happen :weary: )

To me something like 4000-4500K looks a lot more like what I’m used to seeing as “daylight” for a lot of the year, and since its dark so often you come to see incandescent/warm lighting as natural too.

If it has ramping how can I know what my runtime will be ?

you'll get used to Convoys 3/5 driver that flashes on low mode.

Buy brand X "if your life depends on it " !!!

#1: More than 500 lumens on a flooder is unnecessary for practical purposes.

#2: Ramping UI is nothing but a novelty that quickly becomes a hassle in practical situations. Besides, as Boaz said, how will I know my runtimes?

#3: Li-ion cells smaller than 18650 aren’t worth bothering with nowadays with their laughable capacity.

#4: Holding a light underhanded doesn’t cut it, way too many shadows in the way.

#5: Mules without lenses seem very unreliable.

#6: I’m never buying an American-manufactured torch again.

#7: Copper/brass patina to me equals not taking good care of your stuff, like dull leather shoes.

#8: Non-homemade hosts that aren’t made of aluminium or stainless steel are a waste of money.

#9: The faster-tempo first batch Biscotti drivers are my favourite. Mode select on the “correct” ones is painfully slow.

#10: Convoy is every bit as solid as Surefire and better than Streamlight. Even without potting. If I had a rifle or shotgun, I’d stick a Convoy to it in a heatbeat.

#11: I much prefer a rosier or incandescent-warm emitter than a “like daylight” one. I’m not a big fan of sunlight anyway.

#12: Keychain lights work much better not attached to a keychain.

#13: A solid ring around the tailcap switch is better than the two divots.

#14: The Lumintop Tool AAA not tailstanding is perfectly fine.

#15: Belt holsters are more useful than pocket clips.

Get used to that firmware with the flash on low? Man, people have said some things in this thread, but that...

Mine also had an audible whine on low and medium modes. I didn't use it at all until I replaced the LED.

Nice collection of opinions Jack. :+1: