How come BLF doesn't have a Flashlight of the Year Award (FYA)?

nottawhackjob · 2018-04-25T03:30:41.000Z

I mean there’s Time magazine’s Person of the Year Award. We’re at least as important as they are.

Would make my life easier too. I just buy whatever wins the FYA so I can brag to peeps when they see my torch collection that that one right THERE won The BLF FYA two years straight. Ain’t this collection something. On top and hip when it comes to pressin’ that switch sorta thang.

This could put BLF on THE map. I do have a flashlight in mind already for 2018. Butt there’s still 8 months to go.

Stay thirsty my friends.

cu42 · 2018-04-25T03:49:43.000Z

I would buy the BLF FLOTY every year as a duty.

Im thinkin the Q8 would have been in there somewhere… I did buy that one so I’m one in!

toddcshoe · 2018-04-25T04:09:46.000Z

Excellent idea. I love it. Should it be like a set group of judges that picks the lights and winners or maybe the judges pick out lights and then a poll is taken. Or everyone nominates a light and a poll is taken. I think it’s a wonderful idea. I nominate nottawhackjob to head up the committee.

Speed4goal · 2018-04-25T04:19:53.000Z

I think a poll would be a good idea for it. Everyone has a taste in lights that’s different. Some like flooders or throwers, or high cri, tiny pocket lights, or big plunger lights. Or a mixture of traits like the q8 lots of flood and good throw for a soda can light around 500 yards just because of the sheer output

cu42 · 2018-04-25T04:31:49.000Z

I would encourage the BLF FYA to be a special edition if possible and do the group buy when decided upon.
I have a copper fetish so copper in the head like the S41 or solid copper would be a noteworthy special effect. Solid coppery goodness or brass or some such beautimous metal would do also.

saypat · 2018-04-25T04:35:23.000Z

too many good ones out there, it would have to be a Flashlight of the Half Year Award

kramer5150 · 2018-04-25T04:50:28.000Z

Cool idea… you’d have to partner with one of the mods to sticky a thread and create a poll.

cu42 · 2018-04-25T05:02:46.000Z

Let me just get this started…

I’m in!

2018

cu42

2019

cu42

2020

cu42

Every 6 months might be the way to go.
Still, I’m in!

nottawhackjob · 2018-04-25T05:33:34.000Z

Well my thoughts on this is that the FYA light should be a game changer. By that I mean mainly a light that makes those that follow have to up their bar. For instance, the Q8. I think this light is a game changer primarily because it has taken its complex UI not only acceptable to the cognoscenti but also simultaneously accessible to your typical everyday average BLFer at a very affordable price.

Now the Q8 allows average schmoes like me to play in their en-light-ened intellectual playground and sorta understand their design and logic supporting it. I know the amount of work that went into developing a Q8 must had been tremendous.

However I will say that it is possible that even a simple AA light could win it too if its performance was remarkable in relation to other AA’s out there.

Do for example AA lights like that exist?

I suppose they may as I just recently discovered that there are now “white laser” lights developed that could make our ubiquitous LEDs essentially obsolete performance-wise. How about throw measured in kilometers/miles instead of yards? Butt their price perhaps rears its ugly behind in BLF’s face a little too much?

There also could be even single AA LED lights existing right now that no one on BLF has ever reviewed that are commensurately remarkable in their own right. We just don’t really about them because no one has bought and reviewed them here.

Now I think price is a most important consideration. We must not forget that we are afterall “renowned” as The BUDGET Light forum. So yeah, price to performance and to all other ratios, price must be paramount. No doubt a $5,000 light would likely win the FYA.

But that’s not what this place is about now is it?

Maybe considering nothing more than $100 retail is one parameter.

Right now with its price-to-performance ratio the Q8 probably deserves to win the 2018 FYA, butt like I said there’s still 8 months to go.

One other thing, IMO a panel of objective experts could nominate the FYA and then we poll butt then you run into the probable fact that the panel of EXPERTS themselves ARE THE GUYS who had a hand in developing a FYA contender to begin with. :person_facepalming:

Sooooooo, perhaps a simple wide open BLF community poll is the simplest most non-biased way to ahem, shine here.

Then everybody can argue afterwards about how the pollers didn’t know what the heck they were talking about. :laughing: Which makes me think too that we probably should consider different categories of flashlights. Single emitter/single battery, multi-emitter/multi battery, etc. Or just say screw it and FYA the best dam flashlight price to performance and call it a day.

Stay thirsty my friends.

Btw I like the idea of every 6 months/a semi-annual winner and then the grand FYA winner announced in January. And an extended BLFer price of course if it’s a special edition.

ChibiM · 2018-04-25T13:45:48.000Z

Every year we have a thread with people's Best/Top X flashlight of the year.. So you can put the numbers together and make up a winner.

stephenk · 2018-04-25T21:49:57.000Z

nottawhackjob:

Well my thoughts on this is that the FYA light should be a game changer. By that I mean mainly a light that makes those that follow have to up their bar. For instance, the Q8. I think this light is a game changer primarily because it has taken its complex UI not only acceptable to the cognoscenti but also simultaneously accessible to your typical everyday average BLFer at a very affordable price.

Now the Q8 allows average schmoes like me to play in their en-light-ened intellectual playground and sorta understand their design and logic supporting it. I know the amount of work that went into developing a Q8 must had been tremendous.

However I will say that it is possible that even a simple AA light could win it too if its performance was remarkable in relation to other AA’s out there.

Do for example AA lights like that exist?

I suppose they may as I just recently discovered that there are now “white laser” lights developed that could make our ubiquitous LEDs essentially obsolete performance-wise. How about throw measured in kilometers/miles instead of yards? Butt their price perhaps rears its ugly behind in BLF’s face a little too much?

There also could be even single AA LED lights existing right now that no one on BLF has ever reviewed that are commensurately remarkable in their own right. We just don’t really about them because no one has bought and reviewed them here.

Now I think price is a most important consideration. We must not forget that we are afterall “renowned” as The BUDGET Light forum. So yeah, price to performance and to all other ratios, price must be paramount. No doubt a $5,000 light would likely win the FYA.

But that’s not what this place is about now is it?

Maybe considering nothing more than $100 retail is one parameter.

Right now with its price-to-performance ratio the Q8 probably deserves to win the 2018 FYA, butt like I said there’s still 8 months to go.

One other thing, IMO a panel of objective experts could nominate the FYA and then we poll butt then you run into the probable fact that the panel of EXPERTS themselves ARE THE GUYS who had a hand in developing a FYA contender to begin with. :person_facepalming:

Sooooooo, perhaps a simple wide open BLF community poll is the simplest most non-biased way to ahem, shine here.

Then everybody can argue afterwards about how the pollers didn’t know what the heck they were talking about. :laughing: Which makes me think too that we probably should consider different categories of flashlights. Single emitter/single battery, multi-emitter/multi battery, etc. Or just say screw it and FYA the best dam flashlight price to performance and call it a day.

Stay thirsty my friends.

Btw I like the idea of every 6 months/a semi-annual winner and then the grand FYA winner announced in January. And an extended BLFer price of course if it’s a special edition.

The Q8 was released in 2017, so surely would be 2017 light of the year, not 2018?

bigtrav261 · 2018-04-26T00:58:25.000Z

Here’s my two cents:

Since, there are several different types, and some people are very passionate about a specific type, maybe there should be categories. For example: Best Thrower, Best Flooder, Best General Purpose, Best Zoomie, ect. Also, a Best In Show type award chosen from the category winners.

Secondly, if some were interested in submitting designs, the award could have it’s own logo. The forum could even offer it to the manufacturers of the winning lights, to use in their promotional materials.

ChibiM · 2018-04-26T05:33:46.000Z

Here some examples of the flashlights of the year:

BLF`s favorites of the past years:

What was your best flashlight of 2016
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/43019

What was your best flashlight of 2015
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/37709

Best stock flashlight buy in 2014
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/30774

Best modified flashlight buy in 2014
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/30834

Best 3 of 2013
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/23987

Best budget flashlights of 2012
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/12871

best budget light in category : value for money 2011
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/4854

What’s the best flashlight, (for the money you paid) that you ever bought? 2010
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/72482