This is super exciting. Seeing the video and pictures yesterday was nice, but I still wondered how long before others would get their hands on them to check out. Iām very glad TK will be getting one to finalize the firmware.
Nice to see this lantern is almost ready. This has been quite a long project. Iām still in for one just like I was 3 years ago. Its looking real good.
The logo is fine but the font looks akward : the ā1ā leg is larger than the rest and also the āBā bellies, you wonāt see that on professional fonts or better designed free fonts.
May I suggest to reuse the same as the BLF Q8 which looks more polished.
Not a dealbreaker if itās not changed though.
I like the path this lantern is taking, the only thing that worries me is the white diffuser material. Having owned 10+ led lanterns I know this is something that is really difficult to get done right.
Not only the type of material is important, but the thickness, outer and inner finish, transparency, tint/CRI retention, abrasion resistance, it all comes to play.
One of the best diffusers I have seen is from my core 100lm 3xaa lantern, also available at Walmart as their own brand: even light distribution, high transmittance, and almost no tint change with or without the diffuser. Even though it is just 100 lumens it feels like all of the light produced shines through the diffuser. If you look at it while off, it doesnāt look white but grey-ish.
My nitecore LR10 produces a greenish tint and it doesnāt appear to be like being produced from the emitters, the same yellowing effect that silicone diffusers have. Some cheap lanterns have the material made so thick it practically blocks half the output, while the diffuser itself it blindingly bright. (Light doesnāt shine through).
This is the sort of thing that are difficult to be determined though pictures, but IMO ideally the perfect diffuser should be clear, high transparency, with decent abrasion resistance polycarbonate material, with the correct frosting on one side. Not just some semi translucid white plastic.
I agree that the diffuser material should be high transmittance and no tint/CCT change. A thick white plastic diffuser most likely fails in both regards. Is there a way to check this property of the lantern?
That will be a part of my tests when i receive the test unit. I have tested many different levels of frosting & types of shades with both the build prototypes i designed, and found that a lighter (roughly 20 ~ 30%) frosting worked the best for not changing the tint or blocking actual LED lumens. While the less frosting will allow you to partially see the LED emitters more, it lets the best balance of lumens through along with still smoothing out the hard-lighting & glare adequately. (the V2 of the prototype i built shows roughly the translucence of the shade, ( in the OP)
Can you put me down for a second lantern please? (Already on for one at #1260).
I donāt need a lantern, i donāt use lanterns, and the lanterns my friends have are glarey little buggers that give me a headache whenever i try to use them to actually see anything. I also donāt do multi-cell li-ion lights, and am trying not to purchase any more 18650 lights (FW3A excepted) in favour of the 21700 lights that are hopefully on the horizon. I also try not to wax too lyrically about anything.
But i followed this thread for a while out of curiosity, and the detail and care that went into trying to get the beam profile right really hit home with me and i knew at that point i would be buying one, not just to own but to support the project and show respect for the work that has gone into this project. And the process has been a joy to follow with all the decisions having a satisfying ācorrectnessā about them. The fact that Lexel and TK are handling the electronics is just icing on the cake.
To have this level of competency in any product is a rare thing and is something i want to recognise, so thank you DBSAR, and all involved.
And now i feel i should buy two, couldnāt tell you why, certainly not for any practical reason, but i know somehow itās justified.