Unpopular Flashlight Opinion Thread

So maybe there’s hope for my Quarks and Jetbeams?

They might help, assuming they have a lot of green, but you’re working with emitters that don’t push much red. You’ll be loosing out on output, the main reason one might go such an emitter in the first place. Still might be interesting if someone maybe does some spectral analysis tests?? You’re probably better off going high-CRI then objectively filtering to your hearts content in a manner that offers greater control and immediate flexibility. It’s trivial to swap filters, but it’s over an hour’s work to swap emitters back and forth.

The Quarks might as well be welded shut, and I hear (haven’t really tried it myself, other than hand-cranking) the Jetbeams are little better.

Would be nice to breathe a little life into ’em.

The LED light on my cellphone (HTC 10) is excellent. It has 2 emitters, one cool and one warm. Together they get a nice “averaged” neutral tint that to my eye leans a little warm. The only thing that sucks is that the hardware seems incapable of supporting a dimming function (not on OEM app & 3rd party can’t seem to do it).

I don’t use my cellphone flashlight much, because I usually keep a small AAA EDC light in my pocket. Or use the rechargeable Olight i1R on my car keychain. Those are far brighter and easier to wield. But, sometimes the cellphone light comes in handy. Easy to prop up and lean against something. Plus, the floody beam is very useful.

I really don’t get why people will go out of their way to say one particular kind of light is the best and diss all the rest. There are so many uses for the different form factors available.

I have to agree a bit on the FW3A. The tail button needs to be recessed more (which would be at all, min currently seems to sit flush), or harder to click, or both. I frequently turn mine on when clipping it onto my back pocket. I've never had that issue with my other tail switch lights. I expected this light to dominate my pocket-time, but it hasn't. If I'm not out after night, I'm frequently carrying only my D25C or RRT01. If it's dark out, I will always take an 18650 light, and sometimes with a backup smaller light for fun.

Also, I love that your EDC is a Supfire host. It's just... It's perfect for this forum. That tailcap is awesome, too.

My skeletool would like a word with you.

Leatherman pliers are excellent.

SAK pliers are generally a joke.

Not every light needs an electronic switch (side or tail).

In most use cases, the e-switch, with all the fancy firmware that it makes possible, is just a novelty or fad.

The long awaited FW3A has convinced me if this.

Agreed.

I love my Leatherman Wave, but for the pliers function I find the SOG Powerlock to be superior. It has a compression style mechanism that multiplies the force. Really nicely done. The rest of the functionality is good but a little oddly implemented.

I use my skeletool pliers too. It only took about 30 generations of Leatherman and other pocket pliers to get them to be usable; honorable mention going to the Leatherman Wingman which IMHO was the transition from useless pocket pliers to useful pocket pliers. The Skeletool has a good plier set, solid for unscrewing and excellent for “wrenching” things apart.

The Great Firewall is blocking a great many Internet sources today, in commemoration of China’s 1989 Six-Four.

The communications problem is not with your flashlight supplier.

and also

That’s why I still charge 18650 cells at 500mA. It takes longer, but so far, I’ve never needed to replace a cell.

Except sometimes if I’m in a hurry, like when I’m doing thermal tests and I want to get the next test ready sooner, I’ll charge a cell at 1000mA. Still not high enough to count as “fast charging” though.

Anyone paying attention to cell phone batteries knew this already.

I used to repair mobile phones, including battery replacements. The heavy-user, always-fast-charge crowd is the first to need replacements. Of course, cell phones are usually charging to 4.35V anyway, which is another significant cycle life reduction.

The only thing I'd seen that was counter-intuitive to me about fast charging, was data that suggested Teslas that used superchargers more often, had better battery longevity. I unfortunately can't find that source anymore, but as I recall it was gathered from an owners' forum.

I’ve probably posted this before, but phones are often very bad at battery care. People always seem to want their phones charged to 100% at all times, so the manufacturers tend to make the phones charge too fast and then top up the charge again any time it gets below like 97%. This destroys the batteries pretty quickly.

For example, here’s the charge cycle on one I measured. After it reaches 100%, it runs on battery power for a bit and then tops up, then runs on battery and tops up, etc… forever. Rocking back and forth across “full” is terrible for the battery:

After a while, the battery started to expand… and it didn’t take long before it got so big that the back cover wouldn’t fit any more. Here are two identical models, one which was plugged in for a few months and one which was left alone:

Without the back cover attached, the battery is quite inflated:

Eventually it got so bad it looked like the battery was going to actually float away like a balloon. This was just a few days before the phone finally died. It took a little over a year to get to this point:

… and it’s not just off-brand lights which do this. I have a Google Nexus 4 which is doing the same thing. This is kind of an issue for me since it’s the light I use for Zak’s ceilingbounce app, and I want it to survive for a long time. I don’t use it as a phone though… now I just leave it off and unplugged except during tests.

OTOH, I also have an old Motorola phone from 2011 which still uses its original battery and it’s totally fine despite being in operation continuously for 8 years. So the problem isn’t universal. But it is at least common.

I HATE the color of LED lights below 5000.
The colder the better for me! 6500+….perfect.

Built in chargers are not acceptable. I use a Sky RC MC-3000 and a MAHA 9000.
I love my cells and want to keep them a long time.

And I can quick charge if I am in a hurry too!

Stainless steel is worthless for hosts…it is a poor heatsink compared to aluminum. Heavier too.
Copper hosts suck unless you want to see how fast they can bore a hole in your pocket.
Pocket clips on flashlights are retarded. If it is small and light, pop it in your pocket.
If it is too big for that, a holster is better.

Nice! Very unpopular - at least in my opinion. I do like the MC-3000 though.

OTOH, with current tech, quick-charging and long cell life are mutually exclusive.

That reminds me. I’d like to add something which which has come to mind several times in the life of this thread, and might be an unpopular opinion: This is the unpopular opinion thread, not the quarrelsome proclamation thread. It’s a fine line sometimes, given that the nature of the thread kinda encourages flexing, but my unpopular opinion is that strongly-held beliefs and disagreements can be expressed in a manner which isn’t combative.

Even for your home lightning ? :open_mouth:

Yes! It is hard to find really cold lights too!