Interesting idea. I never had the pleasure of using one of those Durabeams, but having seen a few recent side-by-side lights that look interesting, including the Manker T02 and the Freelux Synergy, the form factor is starting to intrigue me.
The slider switch is a feature I sometimes think might be worth reviving in a modern, improved form. If I remember right, a lot of them had a small button on the switch that could provide momentary mode, while sliding it forward actually turned the light to constantly on. A modern take on this idea might make the button an easy to find mode-selection.
Interesting idea!
The output in plastic should be low but it will be good as a bike light too if you make a mount thing on it. I suggest Gopro style so you can use a wide variety of mounts.
there are two ways sofirn can help. One is you guys find a plastic light in alibaba, sofirn improve it according to your ideas and do the group buy. the other is design a aluminum light you wanted, such as the 2*AA light.
the difficulty is not to fulfill it but to fulfill it at a low price. It needs keep it simple and big quantity of group buy, let’s say 1K.
all things are not clear, all I can say is we can talk about it and see if we can make it together.
cheers
PS: I found flashlights for kids is a big need, it will be great if we can make one or improve one existed, simple UI, kids friendly, tough, cheap, nice looking for kids……
I found that the Sofirn C01 is excellent for kids, if Sofirn could continue making it, perhaps not with Yuji led but another 5mm led (preferrably with neutral tint), that would be great. If the price is still 5 dollar it is cheap enough to loose it too.
The C01S is great for kids too but too expensive to loose (my son would loose it all the time).
I think most kid flashlights are probably better off being larger, more colorful and with a plastic lens. AA sized lights are fine too but I think our kids are the exception since it’s our hobby too.
I have one of the everyready sport ones. I’ve had it since I was a kid. Mine is missing the rectangle shaped gasket though, so it’s not water resistant anymore. It lives in a bathroom and gets occasional use.
For the UI, the one Nitecore uses on the EC4 series is fantastic, but it doesn’t have any way to change between flood and throw - that definitely clutters things a bit.
I would suggest staying away from built in charging and the OLED. There are almost no AA lights with built in charging for a reason, and the screen is just a point of failure and a major design challenge. The two combined don’t bode well for water resistance or AA support.