Oh my goodness!!! We missed the boat on this project. Should have incorprated a TV.
Hi All! Received my code one day ago. Number 17xx. Sofirn sent a code for amazon.ca which did not work on amazon.com. No surprise there. I’m in the USA. I did not have a specific country location in my account, just lat./long. I responded to the PM and had a new code within 24 hrs for amazon.com which worked fine. I don’t know how Sofirn would determine my location or country to provide the proper amazon site and code other than the location in my account. So, just a little tip to maybe help these, and future coupons be distributed efficiently. Include your country, at least, in your account location. That info also helps in other situations too. Like when deals come up but only for some locations. It’s also interesting to see just how worldly the BLF membership is!
Many many thanks to the LT1 team (you know who you are) for bringing this great lantern to fruition. Thanks to Sofirn for turning this great design into a reality. It appears to me they are doing their best to deliver. Thanks to all the forum members for the wealth of information that you provide for the hobbyists who are learning so much from you. …and thanks to the admins for keeping the site working.
_It is Thanksgiving after all… 
_
I think most people just want others to know how far Sofirn has got with the interest list (at least I did). IMHO that’s better than people moaning that they are ‘number xyz’ and asking why they haven’t received a code yet.
Exactly. People need to know the progress. For a thread approaching to 10K replies. Streamline the ordering is the current phase of business.
(For buyers from Canada) Tried my code on Amazon.com first, ‘invalid’. But it worked on Amazon.ca, how nice!
Fair enough. If there’s no status updates for a week, then by all means post your position in the list and the fact that you have received the code. No need to spam them more often than that.
or maybe a separate thread for those who just “need to know the progress”? This existing thread titled, BLF Lantern Purchase/Followup Information, seems like a good candidate to me.
Are there any updates in the firmware between batch 1 and batch 2?
ToyKeeper is working on a new build she hopes will be in batch 3..
I have been helping her with testing and found some early issues, the latest build seems very stable.
Only noticable change presently IIRC is the addition of the SOS function in the blinkies
Looks like this:
is there anything we could do to prevent the battery potmeter issue? Like using epoxy on the pot to protect it or smt like that?
You’re talking about the battery hitting the trim pot?
That’s easy.
Don’t use standard flat top batteries.
Use button top batteries only.
Could it just be removed with a pair of pliers, or a metal saw? I seem to remember someone mentioning a similar surgical procedure a few weeks ago.
I am on the list for numbers 45, 213, 879, 880. I’ve only recieved one code for one light from the first batch. Should I keep waiting for another code to be sent to me?
yes. I only have flat tops and didn’t plan on ordering new batteries for this light :S Guess I’ll just have to be careful Could it be that the design flaw is fixed in the unit sofirn is sending out now in batch 2?
NOT a design flaw.
Running standard flat top batteries in any light that has a circular positive contact (LT1, SP36, Q8, SF34, etc) is inherently unsafe.
Do some googling about 18650 construction and you’ll see that the case (negative contact) is right next to the positive contact. Imaging a piece of metal scraping across the top of the battery. The only thing keeping the battery from shorting across the circular positive contact is a little bit of insulation. Insulation that is being rubbed and compressed as you tighten down the battery carrier.
Just put a solder blob on your flattops, it’s super easy. That’s what I did with my 30q’s, works perfectly and no danger to the pot.
They could have designed so it wasn’t a issue so I’ll still call it a design flaw. I guess it’s a design flaw that won’t be fixed then…
The light is designed for use with button top cells.
Just because one type of flat top cells can be used, more or less, depending on how lucky the user is, does not mean there is a design flaw. The design is for button tops. Use anything else at your own peril. The user manual specifies button top.
There are a couple of good reasons (simple, very robust, easy in use) to use such a contact ring for batt+ over more complicated designs that make flattops work, and thus many flashlights use such a ring. “Repairing” this “design flaw” may create more trouble than it solves. Therefore personally I call it it a (very good) design decision instead of a flaw.
There are many ways to Rome. I wouldn’t call a design leaving out so many batteries a good one even if it works good with button tops… Don’t get me wrong… The light seems great but that part was a huge bummer to me. Especially when it’s so easy to make lights that work with both kinds. I’m just hoping they fix this issue for a later version. Looking forward to getting this even if I have to mod some batteries to make it work properly.
Battery contact rings are a design flaw in kind of the same way that shoelaces are a design flaw. It requires a little bit of care because, if operated incorrectly, people can trip over it. There are plenty of ways to design shoes so that they don’t need laces, but those ways aren’t unambiguously better — they all involve tradeoffs.
There are even companies which started out with other designs and then upgraded to a contact ring to avoid the problems inherent in the other designs. It’s a pretty attractive solution with some nice benefits and only minimal downsides.