Unless there is some massive breakthrough in reflectors making a tiny one throw like a big one etc - well, they’ll look just the same as they do now. You can shrink batteries, you can shrink led’s but it still stays pretty much the same size due to the reflector.
queue the “smart devices are the future” laugh track of adding bluetooth / wifi / an app to anything.
aside from generational LED improvements…
maybe compatibility with other devices? I mean flashlights these days have pretty potent batteries, might aswell make it a USB-C powerbank…
maybe better / more complex zoom optics for perfectly even lighting with only the angle changing?
Also, someone could figure out how to make contacts for a twisty that don’t wear quickly and stay flicker-free.
I just hope replaceable batteries (lithium and conventional nimh AA/AAA) and high CRI don’t go away!
we will be able to run the UI (think anduril v10) without having a button on the light.
Pretty much, no matter what, buttons will go away.
Touch capabilities on devices improve every year, and are added to more and more hardware every year.
so i’m thinking in 5 years or more, there will be no need for a button at all. you just slide your index finger up or down on a specific part of the battery tube to increase/decrease brightness, change settings, etc.
I was excited about our new TV set with sensor keys. That was in the 70th . Up to the present day, this touch technology has repeatedly proven to be unprecise and input is difficult to interpret. Its success is based on cost reduction in (for? to?) some part. Of course, something like a tablet PC needs touch input. But we all know we should be careful grabbing it since there’s no tactile feedback about where you touch something.
Real keys are expensive, but they will persist on any kind of keyboards and panels where you want to ensure proper operation.
besides the lack of tactile feedback, capacitive buttons will always need a bit of energy to operate. I’m certain it would suck a battery dry in at most a few months. And how is it supposed to tell your leg from your finger when it’s in your pocket?
no, we need tactile, durable switches. and maybe even more than one for a flashlight.
Or a small touch-enabled surface for intuitive touch gestures while on, in addition to a button.
Placement would need to be well-considered in terms of practicality. And it would require quite sophisticated gesture identification. Also I would ensure you can feel the touch surface / handle the flashlight very well in the dark.
In my opinion, I really cant see much change happening. I think flashlight technology has either peaked or is close to it. We have gotten to the point where we burn our hand from the heat. So what would be the next step? That we burn our entire arm?
I think we will have a greater variety of LED’s , I think batteries will improve. However these advancements are evolutionary and not revolutionary.
To conquer heat, we would have to have a metal that does not conduct heat at all. Does it exist?
The real areas of improvement would be in an interface. Operating the Andruil interface with one button is equivalent to trying to operate a computer without a monitor. So programming a light from a computer would be a huge step in the right direction.
I don’t know if anyone on this forum is familiar with Baofeng radios. These cost as little as $20 and are programable with a PC interface and a free program. Yes you can still program 500 channels by hand and it would take you a month but with the program it can happen in minutes. This is the technology our lights can use.
1. a power source (battery?) that charges itself by RF signals which reach everywhere.
2. a form factor resembling a paper clip or safety pin and weighs about the same.
3. a cost approaching “give-away” status for anything under 500LM.