How do you guys break down the evolution of flashlights over the decades?

[nuemtol]

I haven’t been around too long & don’t have much familiarity outside of 5-10 brands. I was wondering what jumps in technology you guys see between generations of flashlights.

From my perspective, the availability of lithium ion batteries, or maybe 18650 was huge (I don’t really remember how the technology was introduced to consumers). I think rechargeable NiMH was another jump (much smaller, but I wouldn’t play around with flashlights as much if I was paying for batteries every time), and I assume NiCd was similar for the generation before that.

I know Xenon (or HID I can never remember the difference) was around maybe in the mid 2000’s?

I know Surefire was popular with consumers in the 2000’s. I’m not sure of other options.
I vaguely remember p60 hosts, pills (haha solid pills etc), beryllium springs/bypasses, modding Maglites (RIP OldLumens), CREE binning.

At some point, you didn’t have to work to mod your own/put together a parts list.
Maybe the next biggest jump, would be Narsil/Anduril (I wasn’t around for that, I don’t really know or remember how that project came to be).

What were the baby steps for 18650? Was it the Convoy S2/BLF A6?

I think I remember the s43, and Q8 being noteworthy. I don’t know if the sk68/sk98 deserves a mention, I think that’s how I got into flashlights - trying to find the best AA light. Was the Q8 really the first high output light with some utility? Has it been just that recent?

The D4 seems like it should be a marker on the timeline, but iirc it didn’t really do anything “first” (other than be a good benchmark of capability, reliability, cost, customization/options, value, insane performance/size/fun/toy - the first to combine all those things)? I don’t really remember how Emisar got started; wasn’t there another model, with a bigger chunky head, maybe a thrower? I think Fireflies also made a mark- I think they were one of the first to sell sw45k’s and Osrams(?), but I don’t think they really blazed new trail.

Was it Sofirn that took powerful flashlights mainstream? In my memory, it was probably Sofirn which marketed the first rechargeable, consumer-friendly 4000lm+ light on Amazon with the SP36. But maybe Astrolux was around prior. Or something a bit less popular, like Nitecore or something. Maybe Olight should get a mention. Maybe slightly smaller or less-powerful lights should be considered. There’s a whole higher-end or higher-priced >$75 industry that I’m unfamiliar with.

I think I remember throwers progressing rapidly, but don’t remember how it happened. Maybe BLF GT’s, Emisars, and Astrolux were involved.
I’ve never followed the top lumen monsters, so I can’t speak to that.

I think I can imagine breaking it down something like:

• fire/flame/gas lamps
• incandescant, powered by large batteries
• incandescant, powered by AAA/AA/C/D
• HID?
• proprietary rechargeable/built-in rechargeable LED?
• the infant age of 14500? LED-swaps or lights powered by 1.5v combos? like the first 1000-2000 lumens?
• at some point the first 2000-5000lm light came around, but I’m not sure where
• at some point your mom can go on Amazon and find a 4000lm USB C rechargable recommended to her

What a unique forum & community BLF Special Edition Lights - Master List

So what do you think? How do you remember getting to where we are now?

*I am browsing through some of the old <2010-2015 posts, and it looks like XML-T6 were around, XP-G, of course XM L2 U2. Maybe the limiting thing was the batteries, chargers, or cost? Size & UI (no strobe please )? I kinda remember batteries like NGR18650ga ? getting talked about. I remember not wanting to buy liion lights because I didn’t want to spend the money on batteries + a charger for 1 device. Maybe the biggest limit was simply the shared knowledge & experience? But flashlight forums are pretty old, there’s at least CPF & TLF, I’m sure there are others around the world. I guess at some point the gap widened, and that $10-40 you spent on batteries got you a lot more than an extra thousand or two lumens, and that’s when things really took off.

[HunterJackson]

You have started an interesting discussion indeed there about the evolution of the flashlight as we know it. I think you hit the main points really well but you might like to know more details.

It began in the late 19th century when the electric light bulb and dry cell batteries were invented. These paved the way to portable flashlights with a self contained power source. Prior to this fire was used for illumination, i believe in the form of oil lamps or similar.

In 1899, David Misell invented the first hand held flashlight. It might have looked something like this:


It used a carbon filament bulb and was known for being very dim. A few lumens at most. Fun fact: we call it the word “flashlight” because early flashlights were not continuous lighting. They only worked in short bursts. Despite their disadvantages, these were used by police.

A few decades later, flashlights with specific uses such as gun mounted or bicycle mounted flashlights were invented. Then we slowly see the technology for incandescent bulbs and batteries enable longer runtimes.

In 1979, a company called maglite began making ruggedized incandescent and xenon flashlights. These were advanced for their time and proved hugely popular around the 80s and 90s. These costed around $150 and output 100 lumens with a focusable beam.

Things get interesting around the late 90s and early 2000s when LED flashlights and lithium battery powered flashlights came on the scene. These were expensive and weak for today’s standards. Led was only a nes thing and probably more gimmicky. If you wanted a high powered flashlight, it would probably be a Sure Fire one.


These incandescent flashlights could probably achieve up to 1000 lumens if youre lucky and set you back a few hundred dollars.

A few years later, in the 2010’s flashlights become more affordable and widespread. Convoy flashlights is a good example. In 2016, the worlds brightest flashlight was the Olight x7 which put out 9000 lumens with 3 xhp 70 leds.

Around 2018, a new lighting method called LEP (laser excited phosphorus) was created. They produce a really intense beam but are still expensive at the time of writing.

In 2019, a flashlight manufacturer called Imalent pushed the boundaries and broke the record of what a handheld flashlight can do with the MS 18 which is a 100,000 lumen flashlight. They ended up breaking their own record again with the Sr32 (120,000 lumens) and the MS32 (200,000) lumens. At the time of writing, this is the worlds brightest flashlight, however it is $700 and lacks practical uses.

It looks as if things can get better with longer runtimes, (4695 cells) and cheaper lights.

Hope this was worth your while, tried to include the main points

2008 vs 2023 World's Brightest Flashlight

You might want to check out this video comparing a modified 2008 flashlight to a 2023 flashlight. I was shocked by how quickly they improved!

[Firelight2]

If I had to do a breakdown by generation:

1. Incandescent - very dim by today’s standards. Bulb typically had a short life and the filament would often break when dropped. Battery life was also quite short. Typically made from plastic or stamped sheet steel. Often with a slide or push-button switch.

2. Xenon/Halogen Bulbs - still incandesent, but superior to older incandescent bulbs. Halogen gas inside the bulbs allowed for more intense light output. This includes the first maglights that had a much higher quality milled aluminum body than prior lights.

3. 5mm White LEDs. Low power, single mode using 1 or more white LEDs. Some larger versions had a hundred or more 5mm LEDs in a showerhead configuration. Pretty much all of them were very cool-white and low-CRI.

4. High-power LEDs. Usually surface-mount. Much brighter than 5mm LEDs. Often 1 is enough for most lights. Almost all modern lights use a high-power LED.

5. Multi-mode drivers. Previous to this, just about all lights had just one mode. Rise of newer drivers, often with microprocessors in them, allowed for multiple brightness and mode settings usually from the same LED. Most modern lights have multi-mode drivers.

This is just my impression of the major generations of flashlights. There are also niche technologies like red LED lights (which predated white LED lights), LEP, and HID lights.

[gravelmonkey]

2.5) bunch of mad guys (cavers?) We’re experimenting with mixing colour 5mm LED’s to approximate white light which didn’t yet exist

More recent steps are the evolution of high power LEDs. Outputs increased exponentially for a while. Neutral-Warm CCT became available, high CRI became more available.

Development of inexpensive spectrometers has lead to more appreciation of tint binning.

[Firelight2]

@gravelmonkey

2.5) bunch of mad guys (cavers?) We’re experimenting with mixing colour 5mm LED’s to approximate white light which didn’t yet exist

I never saw that in any consumer flashlights.

First LED flashlight I got had a single 10mm red LED. This was the first time I’d ever seen an LED flashlight of any kind at the store. Approximately 33 years ago. A few years later I saw a white LED flashlight at a diving shop. It was the first white LED light I’d ever seen. It had two 5mm white leds and was powered by 3xAA.

When I showed it to family members and friends they were all amazed at how bright it seemed… until they saw it actually trying to light anything up.

The perceived high brightness was caused by the color temperature. Everyone was used to very warm incan flashlights. At the time, nobody had ever seen a cool white flashlight before, so everyone associated cool white with bright wired in fluorescent lights. This association everyone had that “cool white” = “bright” created a mental disconnect when people viewed the white LED light for the first time.

Of course when those two dim 5mm white LEDs actually tried to light something up it became very evident that conventional incan flashlights were much brighter.

I think mixing colored 5mm LEDs to try to get white probably didn’t last long. To get white you’d you need red, green and blue leds. And for a long time only red and green were available. My recollection is white LEDs appeared shortly after they finally figured out how to make a bright blue LED.

Today, all white leds are basically just a blue LED with a layer of phosphor on top.