The lowest low of my 18650 lights is about 30-35 lumens… at that output, I’d just use my microstream or pelican 1910…. But sometimes it’s impractical to put one light away to pull another out of the pocket. So I am looking for a decent EDC sized 18650 light (about the size of a Convoy S2 or so) that has the so-called moonlight mode, 1 lumen or less. I find as I collect more lights, I need the very very high outputs once in a while, but more often I need just a gentle, low output for small tasks in the dark or low light conditions.
Any suggestions for something in the $20-$30 range or less? Do any exist at that price level? I’d be open to building my own if need be, so feel free to recommend hosts/drivers/emitter boards as well.
If you can wait a little while, both of these group buys are getting close, but could still be weeks away from shipping. They are outstanding lights, customized for us BLF members, and both have moonlight and turbo modes. I’m in on both of them myself. Here they are:
Hey David, maybe you can help me out on this: the specs look very good on those SE lights, but of neither I could understand the UI. Would you be able to explain that to me?
According to kronological, the D80-SE modes will be “Custom modes (Turbo/High/Medium/Low/Moon) w/last mode memory…stinkin’ blinkin’ eliminated!” What that means to me, if I understand correctly, is that it will have 5 modes. It will decrease from highest to lowest in mode order. So, it comes on in Turbo, change down to High, change down to Medium, etc. Last mode memory means whatever mode you have it on when you turn it off, will be the mode it starts on the next time you turn it on. The last part “stinkin’ blinkin’ eliminated!” means that strobe has been eliminated from the mode selection. The original D80 UI, according to krono’s review of the light in stock form was: “There are 6 modes, starts on high (no memory) and UI is (H/M/L/Strobe/Turbo/SOS).” So, the UI has changed quite a bit. There are other changes to the light as well.
The A6-SE is a bit…unusual. It will include a custom driver designed by BLF member wight, and using firmware polished to perfection by BLF member ToyKeeper. The UI looks fairly complex on the computer screen, but it should be very intuitive once you get one in your hand. It will have more modes, and will be capable of a true moonlight mode, as well as a ~5A Turbo! Here is a quote from ToyKeeper (Post #797 in the GB thread) about the UI:
That is about as well as I understand at the moment. I thought ToyKeeper put up a drawing, showing how the UI works, but I couldn’t find it in 30 minutes’ worth of browsing the thread, so I quit looking.
I’m so grateful David, you spent a lot of time for me, thank you so much. I could finally understand the UIs and, although fondong aesthetically more appealing the D80, I could decide and jumped on the F30 list. Too bad it was chosen a descending order for the D80, I’m trying to figure which usage that fits best but as of now I have no clue (plus, I find it potentially problematic with forced level stepdowns on a mostly depleted battery).
