Nice, we got some info straight from Tom E. I deleted my post.
@Tom E.
I am delighted that the work on NarsilM has not stopped!
Tom, do you think it is possible to send Thorfire/Sofirn a firmware update for the Q8?
I think they use still v1.0 on the BLF and Sofirn version.
v1.2 beta
has the option to go reverse in modes and strobes and bug fixes.
Imho Sofirn does not use v1.2 because it has a Beta label and you where not around.
And can you change the default 8 seconds for configuration menu to 16 seconds?
Some have problems with that
(I mentioned here one guy NarsilM - configurable e-switch firmware for Multi channels, v1.3 - #418 by joechina )
Texas Ace use this in his lights as standard and has no complaints about people landing accidentally in config.
I could, probably should... I think I'm in troubles with Barry, maybe Tracy, Hank, just to mention a few... 
PM me - I'll really try to answer very soon.
I discovered this forum 7 years ago, but I didn’t “get it” back then, as much I do now. man did I missed out 
The history behind the Q8 is intriguing, thanks for sharing Tom E.
RampingIOS V1 was made by Tom E, based on Narsil. RampingIOS V1 and NarsilM are both divergent branches of Narsil. About 98% or 99% of the code was written by Tom E.
RampingIOS V2 is the same thing, but I added and changed some things at Emisar’s request.
RampingIOS V3 is has completely different origins; I created it as a parallel fork of Anduril.
It’s almost entirely by Tom E. I only made like 1% of it (he used some short header files I wrote). It’s just barely enough that I can bother manufacturers about following the license, instead relying on Tom to do it. He’s pretty busy.
The M43 firmware was created by INFERION at Fonarevka. It’s a custom version of his Indigo firmware. DrJones and BLF were not involved.
The BLF 348 AAA flashlight is still in production with a Nichia NVSW219BT LED.See https://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_554388.html?wid=1433363#goodsDetail
And the Sofirn C01 with Yuji led is not in development anymore, in the meantime even sold out.
Tom E.
“”and just plain old age to deal with as of late which all doesn’t help.“”
Simple cure there lad.
I’m 77 yrs.
Just walk along any area on a warm sunny day. Beaches/Foreshores are perfect.
Peruse the lithe beautiful body’s. Thinking back 60 yrs or so.
It puts a spring in your step and a twinkle in the eye.
NOT… a “dirty old man” Just reminiscing a little.
we were All there once.
I’ve got 8 Granddaughters from 11 yrs to 33yrs.
So they keep me young’(ish)
Have a great one hey.
I have a question. Will there be a BLF zoomie flashlight? A big zoomie like Uniquefire 1405 or 1508 ? I would love to buy it. I am too stupid come up with an original design, but since this forum created a BLF lantern, a BLF GT thrower and a BLF Q8 soda can flashlight + a bunch of other flashlights, making a BLF zoomie should be possible as well.
There was the Cometa a few years ago that used Toykeeper’s firmware. Frankly, zoomie are a style of light that is not so great to use. You get full brightness with a wide beam and maybe 1/4 1/3 brightness when focused tight. I keep my Cometa in the box.
Really cool idea!! A bright zoomie. Maybe multiple color leds and shapes you can make…?
Yeah, I have a few zoomies, and I never use them...
(By the way, I think you have the highlighted part backwards.)
I wish you would get full brightness with a wide beam!
No, I got it right. I measured 810 lumen on wide angle. As you narrow the focus the output drops to 270 lumen. The battery is still drawing the high amps and the led is still generating lots of heat, but you only get a fraction of the lumens. Hmmm, it’s exactly 1/3 the output so that’s a 66% loss in brightness.
I'm sorry, but that's not how zoomies work.
EDIT:
Zoomies are brightest in throw mode.
They are very dim, in comparison, in flood mode.
I own several zoomies, and have read about them on BLF for years.
He’s just using the wrong word. What he means by “brightness” is the total lumens output, which is definitely lower in throw mode, because of various losses. Some of the losses are inherent in the design, and some are because of low quality parts and/or bad design.
Now you both have it wrong.
A zoomie will output many more lumens in throw mode than in flood mode.
Am I the only one on BLF with zoomie common sense? 
More lux, less lumens!
I may have failed to detect the presence of a joke. Not sure.
In any case, zoomies make more lumens in flood mode, and more candelas in throw mode. Usually the difference in both cases are quite large.
For example, I measured a classic SK-68 recently:
- Floody/wide mode, Eneloop:
- High: 67 lm
- Low: 18 lm
- Throwy/narrow mode, Eneloop:
- High: 37 lm
- Low: 10 lm
About a BLF zoomie, that sort of happened once, and it was a disaster. It was the CPFi Cometa, which was known for destroying itself as soon as a battery was inserted. Also had a whole bunch of other issues, and IIRC it resulted in Banggood firing Neal and changing the company it contracts to build Astrolux products, and several threads were shut down on BLF.
I have one of the lights the Cometa was trying to clone though, a modded Jax Z1. It’s pretty nice for a zoomie. Here’s a beamshot:
Okay, I guess I got it wrong...
Looks like the joke is on me.
"More candelas in throw mode" must be why throw mode looks much brighter.
I thought brighter means more lumens, but clearly it doesn't. 
hey,
First of all, a huge thank you to everyone involved in getting these projects out the door. This is the kind of community that really works together as a team and creates great innovative light products.
However, how come there was never a “v2” version of a BLF flashlight? I don’t mean updated emitters or new firmware, more like a new version of an existing BLF flashlight? Is it because BLF creations are always perfect (of course they are!) or they are simply without any features that need to be introduced? Or is it easier to just create something entirely new?
Thanks for everything you guys do.