I have an instragram account but I’ve never posted anything on it, only used it for viewing every once and a while.
I’ve seen some of those videos, entertaining.
It’s usually economics.
I only bring out the soda can for photography. I have a few single cell triple and quad lights that are good enough for navigating underground. I prefer a floody headlamp and a throwy handheld as I often want to peak down tunnels and so on. At about 2:20 into my video below, a flood on the head and thrower in the hand is the most useful combination. The soda can is in the backpack.
Excuse my ignorance here, tell me more about the ROT66.
I have the Q8, I use it sometimes to light up the yard when there is some commotion or to spot owls. That’s about it.
I am on the fence to buy the SP36 for these (some of) reasons being voiced in this thread.
Would this ROT66 be an viable alternative to the SP36 ?
ROT66 will be smaller, have more lumens, and throw more. It will also be more expensive. SP36 uses a multi-well reflector and give flower petals in the beam. ROT66 uses 12 small TIRs and give a round beam. Looks like SP36 is limited to just the SST40 and LH351D, while ROT66 has only SST20, XPL HI, and CSLNM1.TG options.
Not everyone needs a soda can light, but a lot of people enjoy them.
I just have one soda can light (Fireflies ROT66). I like the 3x 18650 size better than having something larger.
It’s both fun, and it serves several practical uses:
1) It’s a very handy worklight when mounted on a tripod. I have also used it for photography lighting.
2) It’s very effective at ceiling bouncing during power outages
3) It can sustain higher output for longer than my smaller lights when spending a lot of time on activities where I want that. Most recently, that was giving my kids a couple extra hours of sledding after dark before the snow melted the next day. There’s also a neat volcanic cave in my area I’d like to go explore again soon, which it will be perfect for.
I used it a little bit for car camping (for hiking I use single-cell lights for lower weight), but then got an LT1, which works better for that purpose.
I really like my BLF Q8 and Sofirn SP36. The SP36 rides in the daily driver vehicle and the Q8 sits on my desk. They are quite useful and feel great in the hand. But many of my smaller lights are equally useful, just with different uses.
Wow… I’ll have to check out your channel. Looks like you’ve had some amazing adventures! You repelled down a face cliff into a massive chasm or old abandoned mine? Where was it? And btw, are you wearing Zamberlans?
Soda can is actually my favorite form factor. Yes, not pocket friendly, but there are only so many ways to have 3-4 batteries and 10-20 LED’s in a light. For example, I much prefer the Convoy 4x18 over the L7 both with SBT90.2. The 4x18 feels so much better in your hand.
Both the ROT and SP36 have rather mediocre sustained brightness for their size in 2022. Single battery Convoy M21 range and M3-C will outperform them in terms of sustained brightness, as will the Zebralight SC700D.
Newer and more expensive Soda Can lights such as the Acebeam X50 and Olight Marauder 2 will sustain far more lumens than previous generation soda can lights, but for more $$$.
Let’s be honest here. Marauder 2 isn’t even a sodacan sized light. Acebeam X50 is stretching the limits of that definition as well, but it’s passable. ROT66 is literally the size of a sodacan.
I do agree though it could use an updated buck driver. The smaller E12R manages the same sustained lumens as the SC700D has of around 700 lumens. The only difference is the SC700D does it with a high cri XHP70.2, while the E12R does it with better quality light emitting from SW45Ks.
If looking for sustained high output though, those larger form factor ‘sodacan’ lights like the X50 and TN50 with multiple high efficacy LEDs are hard to beat.
The SC700D can sustain 1,500lm, and that’s 90CRI too! Convoy M21 series can generally sustained 1,400lm 70CRI and 900lm 95CRI. Acebeam E70 can sustain 1,200lm 70CRI and 900lm 95CRI.
It all depends on where you live / work / recreate, and what you do for a living / working / recreation.
I don’t own any soda cans with me, cause I live in a metropolitan area. However I’ve gifted my family members some soda cans for their rural weekend houses.
Those places are so empty, that you really find anything sub-10000 lm insufficient.
The knife situation…Unless one is a cowboy / hunter / fisherman, one is unlikely using a knife that much. But not using one all the time does not mean one wouldn’t desperately appreciate one when they do run into certain situations.
I for one run into one such situation, this past week, that made me greatly appreciate myself for always keeping a 5” CPM-3V utility knife in my glove box.
It may depend on how close to the equator you live. I live in a state closer to Canada and when I go walking with it I don’t think it ever steps down in the 1500 lumen mode. Even the 3000 lumen mode seems to maintain around 2000 lumens if not better on a non-winter night. I would expect on a truly cold night (We’ve had highs of –20 degrees Celsius in the past month) it would probably maintain the full 3000 lumens although the battery would be emptied quite quickly.
The sc700d is pretty good at dissipating heat depending on the ambient temperature and air movement. I don’t think that should be ignored on the basis of artificial indoor tests where there is no breeze and no one is holding the light. Not everyone lives in a warm climate and to them the performance from fan tests are not just theoretical.
It’s an old abandoned mine here in Sweden. We have quite a lot of them but unfortunately most are filled with water. The boots are really old La Sportiva Nepal. I needed ice climbing boost that take crampons as there was ice climbing involved to get up to that shaft. I haven’t been very active on youtube, just a couple of mine videos and a few climbing videos specifically for a climbing site (27crags.com).
I’ve been playing around with drones lately, planning on taking my Mavic 2 Pro and a FPV drone to this place but it’s takes quite a bit of time and effort to get down there so I want to be able to fly the darn things pretty well before I do.
That’s fair enough. That also means that in a really cold environment, any other temperature regulated light sporting Anduril, that their theoretical sustained brightness will be higher as well.
I really wish Zebralight was still active at releasing new lights. To this day their SC600 HI is still my favorite EDC light, but I would love to have one of their lights with a new and updated emitter, like a B35AM or SFT40 or a new XHP70.3 HI even in a high CRI variant.
The camera is on a tripod in all of those shots. Sure I could get by with less lumens but the exposure time would be increased quite a lot. With more light it’s easier, some of those photos took quite a few attempts before I was happy, it would have been so much more tedious and have taken much longer with a smaller light with less lumens. And then you have that last photo I posted just above where I had the soda can again. Longer exposure would make the light coming in from above be over exposed. For that photo I’d have liked to have even more lumens.
I had a look at your instagram link in your signature. That’s some sweet light painting you are doing!
