Those are real words of wisdom and it sounds so simple. Thanks.
I wish i could have just bought THE light for each situation i could think of and be done with it - like forever, but that did not happen. Because you learn from each new light and understand more about LEDs, beam shapes, reflectors, TIRs, tints, CRI, drivers, UI… And more cool lights come up… with more lumen, usb charging, aux leds and lighted buttons, ramping… And there is also that particular situation where you just want to have fun with lights, and that has no tangible boundaries.
Speaking of 4xAA lights, you may want to check the Sofirn SF11 - which may have been mentioned above…
I only came aware of colored throwers recently with the Noctigon K1 and Convoy C8. Not sure what’s the most common use case but it makes a fun light saber.
Emisar D4V2. Sideswitch, tailcap with magnet can be ordered. Get the stainless steel bezel, too. It’s a bit more expensive than the FW3A, but a whole different class qualitywise.
Look for 365nm hosts, preferably with a LG led. As someone mentioned above, a Convoy S2 is popular. You also want a ZWB2 filter on it to filter out the visible light, which makes a HUGE difference.
Sofirn also recently came out with a version of their SP33 that’s decent but does not have a filter, but you can find the filters elsewhere (I believe it takes about a 19.5mm, or you can get a 20.5 and file it a bit).
You can also look for posts on here from djozz, he’s the resident UV testing expert, more or less :), like this one
My 1st Lumintop light was the FW4A…I thought great more lumens, emitters & being newer perhaps any of the bugs were solved/improved etc. But nobody here seems to rate the FW4A but everyone loves the FW3A…never understood that. I’ll get the 3A version perhaps in brass or titanium to see what the fuss is about. I kinda like Lumintop.
I like stepless ramping but i like a slower ramp. The M3C ramps too fast so i have it on stepping.
I will look into UV lights further
3 lights in one, i like multitasking
Simple, powerful. Seems like an EDC light.
I like simple and powerful
Since lights are constantly improving it could make sense to toss everything and start over in each category every say 5 years, but i don’t have the funds.
For me things like TIR, tints, CRI, UI, USB charging and so forth are not very important. I used to go for lumen monsters in cool white since you got more lumens but i do go for 4000Kish these days.
Throw pattern and lumens matters of course. And size, My Olight S2 is used often recently because its small, tailstands and has a magnet so it sticks to the table leg.