The outdoor photos was taken during a mountain climb expedition on the highest peak on the island of Newfoundland, eastern Canada. we camped near the summit where those photos were taken. (a 4 day/3-night trip and the V1 lantern didnāt need recharging, it still had 80% charge after the trip. Just the long run times, high CRI with nice warm tint, and usable modes alone made the lantern & mountain climb nights so much better.
I think what she meant by āyouā can only get one, is you should get the lantern for yourself, and the FW3A for her. :smiling_imp:
For my part, Iām already getting the FW3A, but havenāt yet figured out how to justify the lantern to my wife.
Iām working on a subversive plan to get her to suggest a new camping lantern to replace the fluorescent Coleman we have. I need to figure out a way to get her to notice all of its drawbacks - from the cool, lifeless light to the single mode accessed by a cheap button with indefinite feel that I already had to resolder the leads on once.
Orā¦. you could just āfixā the Coleman where it will not work & then you would āneedā a new lantern.
Laterā¦ the Coleman could magically begin working againā¦ if you wanted it to that is.
Plan is to check thermal properties, heat up and if there are some things to change for final production light
Prototypes should be sent out to reviewers by now as well
Not yet, but possibility in May. it will depend on when the test sample arrives. ( i plan to do run time tests, heat tests, drop tests, water intrusion tests, output tests, amp draws, the charging circuit tests, evaluate the light diffusion, tints, just about everything i can to see if it passes everything, and talk with the others in the team & Barry (manufacturer) about any alterations & changes.
I donāt yet own any LED lanterns. Iām more excited about the LT1 than any other BLF project Iāve watched develop since I joined about 3 years ago.
I hope the prototypeās arrival works into your trip schedule. I really enjoyed the photos from your other trips with your early prototypes.
Iām sure youāre hoping for excellent results, but be sure to do the water intrusion and drop tests toward the end!
I plan to use it for area lighting when I have to work nights on some cabling/construction jobsā¦ Right now my trusty BLF Q8 is doing a decent job (assisted by a Nitecore HC65 on my head):
The search for a better light started with the Nitecore once I broke my Walmart 3xAAA cheapie headlamp (or Iād probably have a Zebralight or Skillhunt up there instead), evolved into a Q8 (possibly paired with a diffuser), and then I found the LT1 and joined BLF.
I now have a Mini-mag nichia triple (built it myself), a 3D Mag with an XHP70.2 (also built by me), 2 Convoys, FW3A, Nitecore HC65, Wowtac A2 (WIP: driver and emitter swap. going to flash Anduril next), and the Q8ā¦. Iām sure my wife thinks Iām a super dork. She has had enough of talking about drivers, CCT/CRI, and dogfartsā¦ Iām looking forward to throwing the LT1 on a tripod and lighting everything up on those long dark nights.
I have a perfectly serviceable LED lantern at home.
Itās also perfectly annoying, as itās cheap plastic and runs on 3 D cells. Who just happens to have an odd number of D cells on hand? And, for as often as it gets used, itās probably going to suffer battery leakage before the current batteries are depleted.
I expect the LT1 to be a much higher quality thing that I donāt use enough to really justify having it.
Iāll put one on top of my fridge for power outages and one in my preps so I can see whatās happening when the world ends. I just couldnāt bear to face the apocalypse in the dark.