12~13 years ago all my info on flashlights came from a Brazilian forum (maybe some from another American forum), and one thing I remember is that a LOT of people loved the p60 standard, and scoffed at proprietary formats. How things change…
PS: I do miss Solarforce and regret not getting more products from them, and while more hosts would be nice, getting a clip for my L2T is on top of my bucket list.
Had to goggle it for the dates, but I got my first “real” flashlights, a pair of Quark 2AA-Xes (at least I think that’s what they were called) back in 2013-2014 or so.
But I did like the River Rock (Target house brand) lights, the 1×AA and 2×C beasties.
The Q8 was a BLF initiative after so many people had Sky Ray Kings that had terrible heatsink problems, structurally they were just fairly bad designs and everyone in China was copying that bad design. So we designed our own version that really showed what a sodacan light can be, and were lucky to convince Thorfire to make it, that was the BLF/Thorfire Q8. Then later the OEM manufacturer that made Thorfire flashlights started their own brand Sofirn and then Sofirn made (they asked our permission, that was thoughtful) their own versions of the Q8, and spin-offs like the Sofirn SP36.
Closer to the subject of this thread: I still have my Romisen RC-G2 which I still find a great form factor that was not repeated since, in the meantime it has a BLF-A6 derived direct driver and a dedomed Luminus SST-20 4000K 95CRI. Beautiful beam from the light OP reflector of the RC-G2.
I haven’t been into lights very seriously until the last few years but I do remember having some Inova LED flashlights that I found at Walmart when I was younger. They were pretty nice but sadly I don’t have them any longer. I had some Surefires like a 6P LED, G2 LED, some others too, and remember getting really cheap P60 modules from dealextreme. I guess I missed the hype for the XML T6 that still seems to be the best emitter ever made since it’s still being advertised with so many of those cheap lights.
CPF used to be “the place to be” for LED flashlights. There were so many great people actively posting there. I learned a lot. I was fortunate to jump on the NovaTac 120P bandwagon fairly early on, and also nabbed a Liteflux LFT2xt as they were being closed out. Those were fun days. But, we do have great people here. Education wise, I’ve learned far much more from the community here on BLF. And the tech improvements? It’s amazing how far we’ve come to this point. Now tint ramping and multi-channel lights are in play. We’ve got seriously capable makers like Emisar/Noctigon & Fireflies putting out lights we could have only dreamed about just 8 years ago.
I do wonder if these days will be reminisced about some years in the future, when things change again. When high economic stress is in play and raw materials are much more expensive, I expect modding will be enjoying a big boost—repurposing older lights with newer emitters, being far more economical than buying brand new lights.
The Q8 is what got me really interested in modern flashlights and what they could do. Also fueled by the childhood memories of this beast of a flashlight that my grandma had with a fluorescent tube down one side. Flickered and took a second to come on.
I am surprised and happy that cellphone did NOT kill flashlight market. Remember, the film camera and film manufacturer thought digital cameras were toys and will never amount to anything. Then digital camera guys thought phone cameras are joke and had nothing to worry from cellphone.
Imagine if Apple decides to go after flashlights! Nightmares!!
I bought my first “expensive” light because of a Foy review. I still have that TK41 with a diffuser in my current truck. Does anyone remember Shining Beam? I think I bought almost every model light he sold!
OK, now I have to go pull my Blaze out of storage and put a fresh cell in it.
Hank sold the hell out of emitters . Every tint snob on the planet waited for the newest obscure offering that couldn't be found any where else .
talk about old times I remember buying two XML emitters before they were even out to the public from Cutter . They were $20 for a pair of NW bare emitters .
We waited for 4 months with Cutter refusing to answer any email or reply to any query . By the time we got them everyone on the planet had them .
What I see is a general increase of the prices respect the last few years in addition of the introduction of VAT.
That made this hobby no more so budget
Nice thread.
My first light brand of choice was Romisen with XRE Q5 emitters. The RC-G2 was bright for a 1AA. They all still work.
My first “expensive” light was a titanium iTP A3 EOS from Shining Beam. I’ve carried that light for many many days. Has a 219b 45k 9080 emitter.
I still use the P60 format. Mostly in Solar Force hosts, but have a couple Surefires also from when they closed out the incan versions. They make an easy, cheap way to test new emitters.