No, it’s not a nice light. From the OP’s description, “Took 10 minutes to cool down enough to even handle it without a cloth or something.”
That’s not a light with any thermal control at all. It sounds like a cheap, poorly-designed light.
Any half-decent light made in the last 5 years has some form of thermal management. Even inexpensive budget lights nowadays do a pretty good job of it.
Oh… I hadn’t thought about that. A lot of my lights will totally overheat if I let them blast away in my pocket. So I have to be very careful not to let that happen.
The only time I have had a “serious” problem with this was when I accidentally forgot to lock the tailcap out on my TH20 headlamp and it melted a hole in my synthetic sleeping bag overnight. I never once thought to initiate an industry ban over the incident though. This was completely a case of user negligence on my part. I got lucky on this one. I would have been pissed if it were my more $$$ winter down bag, and had a tent full of feathers in the morning!! So luckily for me this was a cheap refresher - lesson learned and a stark reminder.
Furthermore though (back on topic), a switch location ban by itself would not have prevented this. It could have easily turned on no matter where the switch happens to be located on the light body. Also FWIW, the switch on the TH20 is mildly recessed by 2-3 mm, it does not protrude out of the body. It is also one of my more firm E-switches, its not what I would consider a light-touch switch.
So, I thought I share a trick to enable 2H momentary turbo (or any brightness for that matter) while locked out for Anduril lights.
As most know, two momentary modes are accessible from lockout, reachable by 1H or 2H. They are the lowest modes of the two ramps, with the last used ramp being in the 1H slot and the other ramp being 2H.
Now, if you’re like me and don’t use one of the ramps, you can set the floor and ceiling to 150. I believe you can’t set the floor higher than the ceiling, but TK or others might know. I changed the ceiling to lvl 150 first, then changed the floor. I wouldn’t worry about counting to 150, just click furiously for a couple minutes.
Now you effectively have one ramp configured to one mode turbo.
Next go back to your preferred ramp, turn off the light and enter lockout.
Now 1H should be populated with low and 2H with turbo!
Plenty tacticool if you ask me.
Only problem is that thermal regulation doesn’t seem to be active during lockout momentary, so beware.
Why is this happening? Because I don’t see good old school lights anymore…
Why should miniature pocket light have exposed throat switch if it is pocket light? USB output with digital readings, firmware with thousands of modes, and inappropriate emitter and high current driver that could burn through something?
I would never take such light in a survival bag!
Only high quality and optimally balanced old school lights where emitter and driver are adopted to host heat dissipating capabilities.
Old school lights that should have mechanical tailcap switch with raised base for button protection, anodized tailcap threads as well as anodized tube threads. With that setup you have true lockout mode just by loosing up tailcap for few mm.
About driver thermal protection… That should not be needed for pocket lights because we/manufacturers should not drive pocket light to a point where it becomes popcorn machine! So for that kind of lights maximum current draw should not be larger than 3A.
Just build flashlights that can handle optimal current draw for host size and that is it… Simple as that… And yes… Start bringing Ol’ school lights back to production!
AFAICT, Convoy, Jaxman, Thorfire, and probably others still make lights exactly like you describe. Is there some particular light that went out of production that you’re referring to?
I like my hot rods. Why do you think you should be able to decide that I can’t have them any more?
welcome to the forum
that is a very bad idea for some people
that Bug should get banned from Anduril :person_facepalming:
this whole thread is about a guy who got burned because of a Pocket Turbo Ignition.
And we have all been telling him that safe practice requires locking out potentially incendiary devices, in pocket.
Soooo… let me just say, I know you mean to help, but in this case, that strategy, to enable Turbo during Lockout, is likely to get somebody hurt…
Just say No, to pocket Turbo…
note Im grinning as I type this… the thread has a bit of a sense of humor… I hope Im helping…
It wasn’t in turbo, just high mode. And yes, it had working temp step-down, which I’ve tested before.
Its the design that we have not been taking issue with this is the issue.
Only anal-retentive morons lock out their lights between tactical uses. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
The point remains however that an industry-wide ban on side mount switches by itself, will not solve the problem of accidental turn on.
@Rusty Joe - I’ve actually been eyeing the JKK21700, curious about it’s mod potential. If you dislike it enough, I’d be glad to take it off your hands for a fair price. If you’re interested, shoot me a PM.
I don’t want this thread to become rancid, so I’m going to bow out for now. Don’t want to become an a-hole.
I know that for me, I will be doing only proper tactical two-switch arrangements.
You may be past that point with the folks you’ve called anal-retentive morons.
On the positive side: it sounds like you’ve established some golden rules for future purchases and won’t get burned again.
The race to higher lumens at all cost has been driven by what sells. The 1000 lumens are great but they come with many costs.
I would be happy with an efficient emitter driven by a single 7135 (multi-mode) for most of my illumination needs.
Mmmm, kinda late for that? :laughing: 
And about “old school” lights… like my ’502.
Forgot if it was 1.05A or 1.40A (3 or 4 7135s; I think the latter), but that was it, just the 7135s and a diode on the driver. No µC. No modes. No LVP. No “thermal management”. Nothing but the switch, cell, LED (XP-L), and 7135s. On’n’off.
Like I said, it did like 95% of what I needed it for. Low-stress light, could feed it panny-Bs and even laptop-pulls all day long without flinching.
No, it doesn’t get as bright as, say, a modern 1000lm or 1200lm light with all kinds of bizarre modes, but it did me just fine for years.
And the ’502 has a nearly-recessed button, no idiotic thumb-cutouts along the sides, just a continuous ring around the nicely rounded button where you didn’t care how the cutouts/clip aligned.
That’s about as old-school as you can get.
Sounds like a pretty boring hobby without all the whistles and bells.
Unno, to me, it’s a tool, not a toy.
Send me all your lights too.
No, gimme.
Funny how the majority of my must-have lights don’t have andouille. Narsim or “dumbed down” narsim (eg, my DC7) for ramping lights, or generic vanilla Sofirn-type UIs for the rest. Nitecore, Wuben, and Skilhunt proprietary UIs that have some fancy stuff and even might be configurable to some small extent (eg, Skilhunt’s A and B modegroups), but nothing crazy.
And I like ’em just fine.
Go to any of the development threads, and people will sniff at and refuse a light like the “new WK30” because it can’t blink out SOS in UV or something equally ridiculous.
When the chips are down, I want simple. Lightening mode when the SHTF not needed. This is my work light platform, currently tg06s. Something I can pull out of my pocket and it turns on without thinking about it.
Na, I don’t believe you. If it was just a tool, you’d have 1 or 2 lights and never even search out a forum dedicated to flashlight geeks.
It’s a toy, just like it is for all of us.
Oh, they can definitely be fun to use, and to “show off”. Eg, a GTmicro that’s barely bigger’n a keychain light, that lights up trees the next block over.
No one says I have to wear sackcloth and ashes when using a light…