As some of you know, I've been a BLFer for some time, but had to take leave from the site, and modding, for over a year because of health issues.
I've just returned, passionately ready to screw up more perfectly good flashlights.
The first thing I noticed about BLF since I've been gone, is that there isn't that much modding going on anymore. Sure, the odd one, and some emitter swaps, but not like the wild days of yore.
It seems that companies have started listening to our advice and desires, and are producing exactly what we want. Pages and pages of group buys of torches with the latest emitters on direct thermal path copper sinkpads, driven by custom BLF DD drivers. It can't get any better.
I'm having trouble finding something to mod. Every time I find a host I might want to mod, I find it in a group buy, completeply maxed out with every component you could want. In fact it would cost me more in parts to build the exact same thing from scratch.
Have BLFers done such a good job showing how flashlights should be built that we're making ourselves extinct?
I'm at my wits end trying to come up with something new and crazy to do.
Yes, there are fewer modders because several have left and the forum has grown. Dale and Rufusbduck are only a couple to mention that still inspire. There are several more but I'm on my phone. ;)
BLF has become a serious force and the manufacturers are listening requiring less for us to do.
Group buys have come such a long way that is usually is more expensive to do your own and Kronos leads that pack but others are building great relationships too.
I could write so much more but phones suck. LOL
Modding is still alive but through evolution the bar has risen to such a good level that instead of just buying and swapping we (not me) are even. engineering things. That is all because of great people such as yourself that laid down a great foundation ;) For that I sincerely thank you!
I guess it depends on the kind of modding you want to do. Mere emitter swaps(and I say that tongue in cheek) don’t really thrill me at all. I suppose when Maglite puts out a side-switched 14650 woody I might call it a day but I’m have more trouble using up old LEDs than coming up with new ideas. I get my kicks from wood grain, these days.
I think you are right, something has happened i have only been here a little more than a year but when i came here it seemed to be all about modding. Or maybe it seemed so to me because that is what i wanted to do
But now it seems to have evolved to modding the market and the manufacturers and sellers to provide more exactly of what we want instead, and yes they are listening as bugsy36 says.
I kind of miss the less commercial aspect of BLF where it was more do it yourself, but i also know that by far most consumers can’t mod and shouldn’t have to either to get a fully tricked out light.
And i don’t even have the time to mod as much lights to friends and family as i would want, so the best solution going forward is to continue to try to push the market in the direction we know it can be, by manufacturers producing lights stock with the best components and practices from the start instead of us having to mod them to correct there poorly thought out lights after we buy them.
And i of course agree on the BOSS1 imagine a 90mm reflector light for under 50$ that is crazy good crazy, can’t wait to hear more about it.
What I personally hope will happen in the next stage of these fully tricked out BLF edition lights is lots & lots triples and quads, in the usual sizes we here at BLF like to mod them on tube lights and of course the excellent X6 & why not the nice future Manker X5. That is something non modders still can’t get easily or cheaply on the market.
And also stock bypassed springs or copper beryllium springs with beefed up switch boards would be great to see stock on lights.
I often wish those organizing a group buy for some lovely chunk of metal would insist that some small number of them be offered as a flashlight host as well as selling most people a complete flashlight.
Yeah, the manufacturers need the help designing complete flashlights, and that expertise is coming from here — don’t want to lose that.
But I’d also like to see group buys bundle in some hosts — because that would encourage more participation later as people figure out what goes into them.
And hey, I can imagine a situation arising where the only holdup getting a lovely chunk of metal into circulation was some fiddling problem getting a cutting edge driver to behave.
Of course, my imagination has no relation to reality. But it could happen.
It seems like ordinary ebb and flow to me. There are times when I can’t find any good mod threads to read, especially those by the Moose and the Master, and when that happens I sharpen my torch and heat up some cutting tools. Or try playing with eagle. I definitely miss Justin. Big hole there.
Lol, that’s where I first started out but I wanted to learn to mod lights…not to buy modded lights from Vinh. So, I came here and I’ve been on a building spree here lately. There’s a lot of informative people here with great attitudes.
I don’t know, seems to me that lots of folks jump in these group buys for modding reasons. I mean I guess nobody’s modding S1s and things like that, but so many of the popular lights here are popular because they’re easily modded.
Take the Brinyte group buy that mhanlen just did. That buy featured bare pills for easy modding. I was a part of the Maxtoch BLF-TE buy recently and one of the first thing that happened when the lights landed was that folks started posting about how they were modding the lights even further - one guy even toasted his driver by taking it too far. And really, how many of us on that X6v2/X5 buy are leaving them stock when they arrive? Some, yeah, but many will not.
I guess I really don’t have much room to talk here since I’m reasonably new, but I come for the modding and expertise and still find lots of it here.
How about making us a pendant light powered by a rechargeable button cell, twistie operation and flat smd leds. Im sure you can picture out what i am thinking
My thoughts are that without the likes of OL here with all his inspirational work that basic modding has dropped right of. There still a few here though that post up every now and then which are really good. I do have an idea in my head which RBD is going to help me with but its a way of. Second thoughts it wont be a mod but a new build so thats no help here.
I still mod almost every light i get, ( at different levels of modding) some only emitter swaps, some driver, emitter, current improving mods, and some a bit extreme. I have not done any extreme mods lately though but have a hand full in the works and will finish sometime. (Quad DST monster thrower is one example) lately been modding a ton of small low-cost lights for gifts and friends. ( Nichia KD buckles, SK68s, etc.) also building mini chargers, camp lights, modding motion lights, etc. too.
We used to do crazy mods some time ago because back then the limitations were the LEDs… Now things have changed and our biggest limitation is HEAT, we have crazy batteries now delivering over 3C and LEDs more efficient than ever before, it is not hard to make a 3,000 lumens palm sized light but how do you make that light run for more than 20 seconds without burning your hand?
But yeah, most mods nowadays are about making the light more suitable for everyday use, not maxing it out just because we can.
imagine a 90mm reflector light for under 50$ that is crazy good crazy, can’t wait to hear more about it.