As for the teardown reviews, it would be pretty simple for someone to start a thread and start collecting donations, and if people want to do the teardown they can volunteer. Lights could be shipped directly to them. All we lack is a coordinator which doesn’t sound like that hard of a job.
You are right, maybe I made it too complicated. I was trying to address some points that came up in an earlier discussion.
If an engineer worked for BLF full time tearing down all budget lights, running tests on them and reverse engineering them, dissecting the components and posting all the data that would frankly be really awesome!
Who is going to pay for it?
That said informally if people want to come up with something and front the donations thats a good idea.
Who pays to get Wikipedia written?
No, tearing down a light wouldn’t be a full time job and it wouldn’t take an engineer. It would be something people do recreationally once in a while, and it requires being able to use a screwdriver to disassemble a light, make some measurements, and take some pictures with a phone camera. Anything the person can add to that from an engineering perspective is great but not required. I’m not an engineer, or at least certainly not a flashlight engineer, but I’d be up for doing some reviews. We all do what we can.
I used to do light reviews, wasn’t worth the time anymore.
Now i just do impressions since i “test” a light for my personal uses.
A good review takes one or more full working days, even without screwdriver. Just saying.
I’m curious: What do you expect from a documentation about a teardown? While it’s interesting on its own, and may give insights about how the light could work, it tells you nothing about how the light is doing in reality.
That’s what counts :+1: .
Hello Forsyth P. Jones and Welcome to BLF 
I missed your intro. Good to see some CPF members here contributing ideas. 
You guys are welcome here and I hope you enjoy the free atmosphere.
.
BLF is like a big long river thru many countries with many types of fish all swimming around in different directions, some in schools, most individually. So many different interests in the wide variety of lights available. Somewhat organized and disorganized simultaneously enjoying their freedom to move freely and drawn to this river in the Love of lights.
.
You might be able to gather enough interest by posting a thread asking for those interested to commit to a ” community funded subforum for tear-down reviews ” and see if enough fish will be attracted. Run the post for a few weeks because members are not always here and will miss seeing it. Good Luck and best wishes for success. 
.
Teardown, YES!
Good suggestions, DIY is the sole purpose i`m here. Graphs, runtimes like Unheard said also.
I like your Idea.
This site ain’t broke; don’t fix it. 
This is a very nice analogy. I like it!
i would not do that, destroy a review light.
my review will be about what i can tell without doing that, which i think is enough.
most people cannot tell what is good or bad inside a light anyway.
even if you showed them and explained.
That’s what i was thinking too, very poetic of CNCman, didn’t know he was so talented…And good to hear from ya CNC, hope you didn’t have bad damage from the storm.
I find the system we have is great, i am impressed so many people are willing to put their time and energy into testing and measuring budget lights.
If someone wants to put together and find funding for a parallel review system than thats great too. But i find what we already have more than adequate, though i would love to see reviews from engineers who can tear lights down to the components on the PCB and can analyze drivers and run tests to see if they would pass CE, UL and other certifications.
But this would be major bucks.
BTW automakers and their suppliers do such things, i once worked for one for a short time.
Some of TomE’s teardowns found some interesting things. Lack of thermal grease or poor quality grease. Shelfs that were not thick or flat. These can give us an idea of the QC or lack there of. Also can help the non modder get started showing how to get into their lights. He also searched for the sources of parasitic drain, things like that. Fluff reviews can be nice also just for UI descriptions and stepdown reports. Things of that nature.
long time lurker, IMO a “dark mode” would be a great addition to the website.
This should be first priority imo.
Concerning reviews and teardowns…
I do some reviews, some from lights sent by mfrs, others bought myself. Some I dismantle, others I don’t, specially the ones I am not sure if will be able to put back together without damage.
I don’t like having a pile of junk or unused lights around.
Reviews take a lot of time to do, either doing runtime/Amp draw/ whatever or not.
In the end, either with or without tests or teardowns, either being bought or offered for review, either it is mainstream or underground flashlight, you can ear the sound of crickets…
So the effort put on teardowns and reassemble (to take beamshots later on) sometimes is not worth it in terms of ackowledgement.
Being a hobby, I do what I can and want my lights and I can try to do some stuff when asked about,but that normally implies time and sometimes it is not recognized, appreciated or needed.
I’ve always enjoyed your reviews. Hope I remembered to thank you, if not, thanks.