Just got back a couple of hours ago. Wuben reads the forums and wants more input.
Streamlight is moving away from propriety cells and into 18650’s. Sales rep says their owner is also a developer and design engineer and probably has his designs and fingers into everything. Their Protac HL 4 and HL 5-X have enough clearance to be bored out to 20700 and maybe even 21700.
Surefire is producing lights that the entire head can be replaced for future upgrades. The era of the dropin is years gone from their drawing board. I asked why they don’t advertise which LED’s are used? They say it’s not a selling point nor a secret. Most of the LED’s are Cree XP-L’s. That’s a fair amount of amps for the 1500 lumen Fury. Their inductors are potted. The circuit boards with components are coated for water proofing. Their 18650 is not propriety only the one they recommend. Extreme durability they say is there main priority. Their engineer’s also read here and CPF.
If even these two manufacturers read the forums, they all do. Whatever happens here will be kept in mind and whenever something that is first done here is not found back in commercial flashlights at some point, it is not because they missed it but because of a decision not to use it.
Nice update, shooter. I will give insight from my engineering background perspective. Wuben and other well known, up an coming companies are smart to offer wider ranges of battery power options. Makes easier for design and more capabilties in case of bind for power source.
Surefire is a joke and left behind in some context of flashlight game. They still use CR123A in majority of their lights with VERT FEW using 18650. Even then you have to use SF branded 18650 for lights to actually work.
I would engineer multiple power battery power sources. Running on single cell in case of real bind for power. Make replace parts to swap out in flash to continue running light when in stressful situations.
Flex fuel/Dual fuel, etc. When you’re potentially any where in the world it’s nice, it’s that two is one, one is none. Streamlight did their Sidewinder with a nipple cap for those AA/CR123a possibilities as have other lights. Do consider what these lights are used for. If they don’t fit your criteria consider something else with a better fit. Military, honestly 100 lumens is plenty to too much. CR123a’s is the best way to go. Let the logistics branch do their job. First responders 18650’s start to become a better choice with 1000 lumen lights and 8-12 hour shift. Down time to replenish gear. Logistics here is probably the station secretary. Walking the dog at night only the brightest 20,000+ lumen light running on multi 21700’s. Then after the walk only the best chargers and meters for the next walk. Logistics here is probably reading the post and shaking their head.
Future trends have the military in night vision using infra-red, image intensification, thermal and low light optics.
Future trends in First responders, built in generators on fire trucks, supervisor and logistics vehicles to supply thousands of watts of power for equipment including light mast, communication and who knows what.
Future trends in Flashaholics, that’s why we’re here.
P.S. Guilty of over doing it. 1300 lumen duty light(18650), 2400 lumen back-up light(21700), 800 lumen pistol light(CR123a’s) with 1200 lumen rifle light in trial stages(CR123a”s). AA key ring light output classified.
i hope to hear more about on the new Nitecore P22 announced in shotshow 2019, looks like a great update to strobe-ready type lights with no annoying issues of accidental activation, decent output as well
All of the above mentioned future trends are already implemented and have been for years. At least in my neck of the woods for the last 10 years or so, maybe more. Many years ago, say 25 years or so, I did a bunch of work with PD, FD, EMT, and SAR in my tri-county area. Going through the infancy of those programs that long ago, make them now pretty idiot proof now. Most departments here have either trailers with a telescoping tower that supplies lighting, It also has full duplex real time comms and data, or dedicated vehicles that are used as command centers. They deploy in mere minutes and a small crew of 3 or 4 people can easily handle a fairly large incident scene.
The Red Cross here also has those same type of systems at their disposal for disaster relief scenarios. They sometimes beat the first responders to the scene of large fires and floods so they can start a central command center and start helping people.
I have long ago moved away from that in my community so I am not really sure what they are using now days. Use to be all of their voice comms were in the clear. Now it’s all digital P25 and sometimes encrypted. Easy to listen to the digital but almost impossible to hear the encrypted stuff. Years ago when they first started putting data terminals into police cars, I had more than a few receivers and computers setup for intercepting data and voice comms. Oh how fun it was back in the day when everything was in the clear on VHF. Only the pretty rural counties now still use VHF. The county I live in still does and a few surrounding counties but that is about it.
My buddies in the military, past and present, have been using IR, thermal, and low light sighting systems that are absolutely amazing. I am in awe of some of things they get to play with.
I understand why the military uses Surefire. They are built like tanks and that will get them govt’ contracts. We all know how LayZ Boy commando’s are. If the military is using it and they see it in the latest issue of Recoil magazine then they have to have it to. It’s also nice to see the government looking at polymer cased ammo. Nice to see they can actually understand the concept of lighter weight will save them millions in fuel cost and increase how much more extra they can carry with the weight savings.
Oh hell, there I go again rambling on and on. It’s too late for my nonsense.
Sorry that was part of my rambling about why 18650’s and rechargeable in general are still limited use in the military. Well maybe not Navy or Air Force. More prevalent are rechargeable for 1st responders and dog walkers with much shorter logistics and budgets. Hence Surefires very slow change to duel fuels. The bottom line is Surefire is military orientated and combat zones aren’t recharger friendly or troop friendly when I can just toss and replace. Not trying to be preachy it’s just how it works. Do we have any current military that can respond?
Oh yeah, I get it. Surefire does what they do well for the lights intended purpose. I know some enthusiast end up with a few of them because of what they see in magazines and what not. End up not happy with them because there are so many more options for cheaper and more powerful lights. In the dirt military guys don’t need to be worrying about their charging cable/charger/power source to keep their light running. A sleeve full of Cr123’s and they are good to go.
Looks like it just recently came out. I wonder how it handles case obturation, bullet setback/creep, etc? Worse of all I think it means no more scrounging of empty cases for reloading :rage:
