CLOSED! Group Buy: Starry Light SA-22 BLF Edition (NW emitter, better modes, faster PWM, BLF logo)

Interested (and I’m another low-lifer)

Welllll, 2/3 year membership with 31 posts, I don’t think you qualify as non-flashoholic group, you already appreciate them enough to research them and be on here, 99.999% aren’t. :wink: Either way, do you know how low .4 lumens or 4 lumens is to use? .4 is useless unless its completely dark and you are operating very close to your face, and 4 is still very low for moving around at all. Even as a flashoholic I don’t prefer that low, I don’t usually play hide and seek or read in my tent close to my face or play spy in the forest, so its not useful for me. 2% of 600 is 12 lumens, .2% is 1.2 too, somehow we got lower on already very low modes, the .4 and 4 are in the same territory of usefulness, real percent as stated starts to become more useful. Most people dont want high all the time or low all the time so they can see, which leaves one useful mode for moving around, using it in the ways people use a light most of the time.

First of all, the lowest mode isn't moonlight. Not even close to it. - That's why I prefer calling it "low low".

My lumen measurements might not be 100% reliable when it comes to <10lm values, but here are the throw results for all modes: 14cd, 136cd, 4.6kcd, 17kcd.

14cd is definitely not a moonlight, but very usable low beam.

Ah I know its a pain, thanks for the effort, everyone has their preferences, I guess many of the people here prefer this low, but I assumed it would be higher as originally specified. I’m just afraid if I buy this for my non flashoholics I’ll have plenty of complaints: I’ve already had one friend who made fun of the low mode which is much higher (24 lumens), others comments from family on a camping trip include: “Is it on? Why do they make it so low? What would you use this for on such a bright light?” One family member was won over (mostly) while using it in the tent, but the rest aren’t seemingly positive about low moonlight modes. I still want to try one, but I’ll pass on the gift idea. Thanks for trying, I know you cant please all, I’m just explaining my experience with non-flashoholic’s preference.

I find moonlight mode on my D40A very usable when its completely dark and Im indoors, so low-low or whatever it is called on SA-22 is welcome addition in my opinion ;)!

Often lights lack proper middle mode which is either too bright and too close to high/turbo or too weak and closer to low mode. Not so with D40A, hopefully SA-22 will be as good in this regard :)!

Well, 80-year-olds are not inclined to patience (at least my grandpa isn’t) and if a flashlight isn’t foolproof, it won’t get used. It wouldn’t bother me, but oh well.

Come on guys, it is impossible to make a “perfect” light which suits everybody’s needs or preference. I guess this is why there are so many flashlights available in the market. Do your own mods later on if you dislike the modes in this light.

There are people can give 100 reasons of having memory/moonlight mode and there are certainly another group of people can give 100 reasons of otherwise, this is an endless debate! The modes thing of this light must be finalized or this group buy will never come close to the success, at the end of the day non of us will be benefited from it.

the, to me the current modes are good enough compared with those 5 modes disco drivers flooding in the market, maybe even better than the mode groups of some branded flashlights. Thanks for your effort!

For most lights you can replace the driver or there are many similar lights to choose form but in the 4AA category there are not many lights out there.
I agree that the modes are not great but i may buy one just because this form factor is useful and i have no 4AA light and the batteries can be bought anywhere and eneloops are more durable then lithium.
I wish it was a programmable driver and i could know the drive currents before buying (and if its a linear or buck driver) but we don’t have those things available.

The Starry Light modes that _the_ is currently reviewing are just fine with me. Runtime is always a requirement for me and the current setup is great.

Should I require any other medium modes ( and I know most likely I will not) I do have other pocketable lights for back up.

Looking forward to order Day.

Sorry, just having a spirited discussion, didn't think you were waiting on my account. I'll take one for sure, still thinking about a second.

Someone wanted to see the driver, so here it is:

GB started, see OP for more info. :)

Tracking adds $2.00 per light?

Good point. You can work around this by adding one with tracking to cart, and then add others without.

Ordered. Skipped the tracking number, but I was a little confused by the shipping options - the item says Free Shipping and all the different charges were $0.00. I chose the UPS option, but it sounds like they’re all being shipped by “Singapore Post” regardless of which box you ticked - is that correct?

I suppose so, but I'll ask Ric to confirm..

before I commit, what was the high lumen output again please?

thank you!

p

Ordered!!!

No biggie, I just want to make sure that we’re not supposed to choose one particular method in order to get the free shipping. It didn’t change anything on the order total and my PayPal went through, I just want to be sure there’s not going to be any kind of holdup and/or extra charges showing up.