Feeler thread / sneak preview: Wuben TO50R HC ("The Flashlight")

No glue/thread locker pleaseeeeeee :nerd_face: :nerd_face:

- Clemence

a Micro USB flashlight can’t be “The Flashlight” in 2019

I always charge my batteries in a proprietary charger. Prefer non built in charger because mostly incorporate unreliable rubber flap. Built in charger is just a bonus that can be removed or permanently filled with epoxy if not desired. Micro USB is better than none. It could be replaced by simple receptor swap I guess. Never done any so far.

- Clemence

Interested

GB thread here: Group Buy: Wuben TO50R HC ("The Flashlight") - 90+CRI, 2500+lm, EDC - CLOSED!

Intrested if the light is an inch shorter than expected/guessed on page one.

So you added power bank feature and put micro USB there so if you actually want to charge something with it you have to carry handy micro USB to USB A adapter?
This sounds like a great design for THE FLASHLIGHT released in 2019. :person_facepalming:

It’s not cheap but it has nearly perfect mix of features and while it’s not cheap or budget by any means I’d most likely buy it if it wasn’t for prehistorical standards.
Guess I just saved up around $100 so it’s also good :slight_smile:

I agree that Type C would be much better.
But those tiny adapters aren’t a problem in practice:

You just store one inside the Type A plug of your regular charging cable.

This solution ain’t beautiful. But it just works.

My with micro USB is that it’s fragile. Also I’m not about to solve the problem that manufacturer creates trying to get rid of their old stock of sockets…

That’s the best way to quickly damage the fragile micro usb on your flashlight

You’d better Use something more flexible

The charging cable is flexible.

Micro USB fragile?? . Hmmm… I have never had any problem at all with ‘Micro USB’.

Maybe the “fragile” part is partly due to rough treatment by some people.

Same thought here. Three months ago we retired our two phones we acquired in March 2014. We never had any problems with the USB micro connectors and those phones were charged at least once a day, every day from March 2014 to December 2018. Plus we have a number of other micro USB devices that also have never had any problems.

FWIW, the Raspberry Pi founder, in a recent interview, stated they had no plans to change their products to USB-C type as there were not sure about the longevity of the C-type and had not had problems with the micro USB.

The single thing I like about the C-type USB is that I they can be inserted either way; no need to orient it correctly. Possibly trying to force a micro USB plug into a socket the wrong way is when the damage occurs?

I’ve seen tons of micro-usb things broken but I’ve also seen mini-usb sockets ripped off pcbs.

The biggest issue with USB-C is that no one is adhering to the spec so there are lots of USB-C devices out there that are either incompatible or only partially compatible or… USB-C was supposed to be a single connector to rule them all and it is quickly just becoming a dumpster fire.

Just a thought: some of the damage issues with micro USB might be that we (at least I do) continue to use our phone after the charger is attached, which promotes dropping it on a plugged-in connector. This is the only way I’ve managed to damage mine, and I’ve done it more than once:( I would think it less likely a flashlight would usually be used for lengths of time while charging.

Is there a TO50R II on the way?

I doubt it, since the GB orders have JUST shipped out in the last week for the current version…

I got my sample today and despite the LEDs under the optics are slightly misaligned, I am pleased with it.

About the led (LH351D 5000K 90CRI) and optics combination:
For some reason, the spill feels to be having several 100Ks more CCT, but no other significant changes I can see (except just a barely defined brown ring around the hotspot). Hotspot is very even, almost creamy - here I can feel a big improvement over TO46R, where XP-G3 had much worse changes in the tint between hotspot and spill (and in that case, the hotspot was cooler than the declared CCT, not the spill). Also, there were noticeable artifacts in the hotspot due to the manufacturing process of the XP-G3 phosphor layer.

This LED feels like a true 90 CRI one - I mean, that the reds are far not that spectacular, as (for example) with high CRI SST-20 or E21A /btw, I would buy a flashlight with 12-16 or more E21A LEDs with nearly no hesitation/, but still very good (this means a good trade between color rendering and overall efficiency). Overall hotspot tint is also very good - there is no explicit yellowness.

I am surprised about how much this flashlight is of a super flooder. Btw this thing is hot! (Although, the highest level below turbo seems to be closely matching the highest level of TO46R - and heat production is also very similar here - just the hotspot intensity is lower due to the bigger light emitting surfaces)

IMO, seems like 4000k SST-20s would’ve been a great 2nd choice.

Red reproduction would be excellent with them.

16x E21A would be awesome. Brighter than XHP70.2 but with super high CRI and good tint. If Wuben makes one for $100, I will buy two of them.