Australian 'torch nerds' join international community obsessed with flashlights

No kidding. South Fla here, mowed the yard today. I’m still recovering. Oh, and Tim, way cool on the interview.

Fun interview, thanks for sharing it with us!

First time I’ve ever heard of a “torch-testing community’s code of anonymity”…ok.

Also, that’s about the best reason I’ve ever heard for how someone got started in this hobby. :slight_smile:

That was a fun interview to read, thanks for sharing.

Good interview, albeit a bit short.
They could’ve mentioned some more properties like CRI and colour temperature, or at least a short segment about UIs. As it stands, most people haven’t experienced complex and powerful UIs like Anduril, so they might be surprised what one can do with a single button or how it was developed by a member of the community and adopted by several brands!

ABC kindly came over to do the interview. They had an hour or two of content to work with but kept it short.

I think I mentioned colour temperature and it ended up in the video.

I mentioned Anduril and modifying firmware but that didn’t all end up in the final article. Pretty happy with how the video interview turned out. :beer:

The discussion about BLF members collaborating with manufacturers to use better LEDs might have got lost in translation. Hopefully more people check out the forum.

Sorry, I didn’t see that there is a video!

I just embedded the video in the original post now. :beer:

Three weeks ago I wrote in a post “Sometimes when I mention flashlights I can see people think: that is pathetic! Yet the same people think it’s quite acceptable to collect stamps, or coins, or toys in boxes. And never use them!”.
Glad you were given, and took, the opportunity to nation-wide expand the views of the “general public”. Too bad a lot of information got lost in the editing process.

Great interview and article! I’m curious, how did they find you? Did they Google “flashlight torch Australia”?

Madi from ABC reached out and interviewed Sillen and I after we had both sent text messages into ABC Melbourne during the afternoon Drive program (local radio). The topic was “What hobbies have you taken up since the pandemic started?”. Sillen sent a message to let them know about his torch collection. When I heard Sillen’s message being read out I sent ABC a message to let them know that I think I know Sillen as I had fixed one of his torches (i.e. Lumintop FWAA Copper).

Radio New Zealand reached out and I had a chat on The Panel about torches (20 minutes in):

“…but a torch…it just turns on and off…”

I guess now we have a celebrity here…

My thoughts exactly ....

I know yet another famous guy :P

“It’s a torch, Tem.”

Good on you Tim.

It would have been good to throw in some info on the Imalent MS18 and having the power of the sun in your hand, that would then surely be better than a phone lol

Sofirn have sent a few torches to me over the past year. They were first to come to mind when asked for brand recommendations on national radio. :person_facepalming:

Well, she did ask for $20+ dollars, so that’s definitely not going to be Imalent lol

Tim, that’s lit! Nice interview and article!

Thanks, very punny :crown: