I agree, companies want high max lumens. And this is why I haven’t been able to buy those lights because I need a reasonable amount of light on High. 100 lumens is fine with me too. This light has everything I need.
Price - hard to tell without the exact lens. Cutting existing one wouldn’t be a budget option, so for production the manufaturer would have to find some stock lens. What would be the price then? Hard to tell, likely similar.
Size - Fresnel would make a shorter light
Weight - Fresnel wins again, less plastic in the lens and more importantly a shorter metal body
Beam shape - controversial. Myself I consider aspheric to be the perfect flooder but
- some users want their flooders to nevertheless have some throw
- some users want a wider flood of a mule or almost-mule
- some users don’t want their compact lights to be flooders
I don’t know.
You set out to accomplish ‘a keychain light done right’, but it seems you settle for a 10180 twisty head light, of which there are already numerous models available from many brands for years.
(Or did i miss something?)
But what kind of Fresnel are we talking about?
Fresnel came up with several lenses, the ringed plano convex is just the most popular one.
I personally think a 30 - 45° pebbled TIR is the safest choice, because they’re easy to source, familiar and should meet most demands.
They don’t need a lens in front of them either, while the plano convex Fresnel has a delicate frontal surface.
With a regular TIR you have room for and e-switch on the LED board too.
I meant the previously mentioned plano convex negative aspheric.
Since it’s negative it has a flat frontal surface which removes all the issues with easy damage or cleaning.
I have not yet seen a flashlight with an Apple lightning connector. Doing a run with a lightning connecter might get a lot of sales.
Why does the flashlight need modes? Why can’t the twist work like a dimmer and just ramp from off to max? Twist back to off. Solves everyone’s mode requests. Very easy operation.
Short and squat does not fit on a keychain as well as long and slender.
No hotspot optics strongly desired. When lighting something at close range a hotspot is really detrimental.
Not black.
I have a DQG Fairy as a key chain light since several years now, and it served me well in “emergency situations” (lighting a dark hallway for getting out or unlocking the door of our unlit house) but what I don’t like are the foam pads as distance holder/spring substitute. Light rendition (color) and output as well as runtime of DQG is fine with me. I don’t need a charging option but if there is a way to put in a spring for the battery (i.e. battery is replaceable) then I am interested.
Okay, I think those are actually flat TIR lenses?
Invented by Fresnel though, if i’m not mistaking.
My experience with 10180 cells is that they’re just not that good.
They’re only 100mAh rated too, which is enough for low level light, but i doubt they can even provide more current.
You kind of need the USB charging in those lights, because a 10180 doesn’t fit in normal chargers and they should be charged with very low current, which is not an option most chargers.
I agree about the modes and twisting tighter for more output.
That is, if you want it to be a twisty at all.
But if all goes as planned, i’ll be testing some QTC stuff in one of my Astrolux M01 keychain lights.
(QTC is pressure sensitive resistance material)
Depends on how exactly they are designed, they may be TIR, refraction or mixed.
Here you have example of mixed (which actually uses a secondary lens which helps but a similar design would work OK without it):
Yes, definitely requires integrated USB charging.
I strongly disagree that a charger is a requirement for 10180 lights.
I prefer to have a charger in the backpack and a smaller light on the neck.
DQG Fairy is one of my favourite lights ever and adding a charger would be a significant bulk-adder.
That said I do see the use of integrated USB, especially for gifting.
But it’s not a definite requirement. There’s space both for lights with chargers and those without, especially 10180 lights where the charger is a big part of the entire light.
Whichever path this light chooses - that’s OK with me.
interested in 2 units
interested
moonlight, med, high
100lm plenty, but more is nice.
replaceable battery, external charge
I’ll take 2
in case it helps anyone visualize a switch option…
If one of the numerous existing models were good enough I would not have proposed this project. It is their shortcomings, substantiated by widespread low satisfaction with 10180 keychain lights, which motivates this proposal. I tried to outline clear objectives at the start of this thread.
I think you’re taking a novel/innovation approach, which is great, but represents a different set of objectives and priorities. I’m coming at this from a reliability/quality/budget perspective.
Think Mercedes-Benz vs Toyota. There’s a place for both, but if you merge them, both clienteles will be unhappy.
As for QTC, it has already been discussed in this thread. In principle it sounds great, but in practice, the usability and reliability leave much to be desired at the current state of the technology. I am curious about your QTC tests.
Agro Thanks for the fresnel lens info. Hopefully the engineers will consider it.
Personally I like a floody mostly even beam, and maybe a bit of throw/hotspot. For example, I’m quite happy with the i1R 2’s beam profile. The C01S is not bad either but I would prefer more flood.
Cute! As much as I like angle lights, I’m not sure about it for a keychain. Plus all the previously mentioned concerns about e-switches still apply: accidental turn-on, parasitic drain, etc.
The size, weight and price make the FM11 a non-starter for me:
specifically
the present proposal is a 3 mode conventional back and forth twisty
instead of a 2 mode progressive twisty that goes to low and then continuing to tighten goes to maximum
I agree 3 modes is better, not just because I like modes, but because the driver is less prone to certain types of misfires (but not others).
Any twisty will have issues when operated one handed, in certain circumstances.
clickies eliminate this problem…
phouton, what are some of your reactions to the clicky 10180 in the photo? too phat?
my 2 cents on battery life and output
as a rule of thumb an AAA will give 30 minutes of 90 lumens
the 10180 has a capacity of 1/6,
so that suggests a max mode of 15 lumens would run for 30 minutes, on a 10180…
just trying to set realistic expectations…
of course High CRI comes with a Lumen penalty of 30%, though runtime stays the same
quality over quantity does not mean a loss of efficiency expressed as runtime, it only affects throw… at close range less lumens is not a big deal, we just move the light a bit closer to the target…
.
I look forward to your 3 mode 10180 success in the new year