Oh yes, i can relate. i have 4 emisar D4's and 4 noctigon KR4's, and 3 K1's. i have 3 of them. yes they're all pretty different but having just one of them would be awesome and sufficient. crap.. i think i need to sell some lights. you want to buy a light LB? lol
I hear you. There WERE some lights that showed up that ended up discontinued but now command a bit of a premium to buy despite outdated emitters (the kind of host that makes a modder drool). And then you wonder what will be the next light like that. LiteFlux LFT2xt. I bought one when it was heading into “clearance” just before discontinued. I contemplated buying another. But then I balked. I wish I’d picked up a dozen more. A couple years later, I sold it for 5x the original price, because the programmable driver inside was a massive draw to some flashaholics who’d take the light and either replace the emitter or send it off to be done. Back then it was way ahead of its time. Now? Anduril kind of stomps it. 
As they say, timing is everything!
And the older Sunwayman VG10, M11R… those are still sought after. The original Jetbeam RRT-01 is still prized over the newer one (and some people upgrade the driver+emitter to still utilize that original host). But now, the market is so saturated with really wonderfully built pieces. Are they attracting enough newbies to the specialized flashlight market and tickle the wallets of those who already have more flashlights than they need to keep the demand going?
There is something inherently fun with getting a brand new flashlight. And it’s hard to stop, especially when we see the community directly influence makers and introduce wonderful new designs. I thought the emitter game was starting to get tapped out, then a year later turn around and there’s a handful of new emitters that are stupendous throwers for the mAh drawn. Sure tugs at the wallet… But you know, you could turn around and sell other lights you’re not using. Yeah, you’ll take a hit and not get back what you paid, but then the difference is the “rent” in owning the flashlight for that time. That’s how I look at it.
The price is all too compelling. I mean $10 for an s2+ or $20 for an Sp35. It’s just crazy. How much is your cell phone bill per month or cable TV bill. A good light will last a lifetime. How many things do you own that you can say that about?
Exactly. I have an EC4S so I can attest to what a powerhouse it still is. I feel like throughout the years, manufacturers have concentrated their efforts way too much in getting the lumen numbers as high as possible instead of working on other things that could use improving/optimizing. Take heat management for example, it would be nice if they could actually find a way to hold on to the ridiculous outputs that they put into some of these tiny lights, and even some of the bigger lights. They’re massive, so I’d like it if I could use turbo without it stepping down so much after mere seconds/very short minutes down past many times even the “high” mode and into the “medium”. I know there are physical limitations here from the laws of physics, but I’m sure even today when we look at our lights and see what a technological marvel they are and how far we’ve come, I can’t help but also imagine how much better it could and WILL be. Don’t get me wrong, Zoulas, I’m not disappointed at all at the current tech we have. On the contrary, my mind is blown by it, it’s just that I’m always (as are many people) looking for the “next best thing”, which is partly why this flashlight addiction exists in the first place. I just don’t wanna be rugpulled by getting something and then shortly thereafter the improved version coming out, if you get me. I only say this because it’s been about long enough for them to release their next “batch of revisions” so to speak. Technology keeps increasing at an exponential rate, it’s just not exponential everywhere, certainly not in flashlights. One day, though, there WILL be a major breakthrough, which might be soon and out of the blue or it might take some time and we will have been looking forward to it, but one thing I’m sure of is that it’ll make these amazing little photon shooting marvels we’re holding in our hands look as crude and low tech as we now look at the old massive Maglites with the replaceable bulbs where 80 lumens of output was like “WOW!!!”. Went on a bit of a tangent there lol (I often do, don’t mind me).
So to answer your question then, Zoulas, I do find the Osram and SBT-90.2 “compelling enough”, but my curiosity and research towards the next contender will always continue. That’s how progress is made, by never settling for “compelling enough”. And please, I don’t mean this in a bad way or tone or to start a fight, I’m just here sharing my thought process. By the way, how do you tag people in this website? The “at” symbol didn’t work for me last time and just caused problems. That’s how it usually works everywhere else.
I think too many comparisons are being made to computers where waiting for the next cpu is worth the wait. For flashlights we are talking about the cost of two slices of pizza and a soda.
I actually imagined something similar to make a point in another forum, completely unrelated to flashlights. Long story short, it would be about a man who traveled to the past to the times where we had kingdoms and knights and swordfights and he’d have a suitcase full of goodies, in which a smartphone and a Nitecore P12GT would be included. Just by seeing the flashlight, the people would think you are a sorcerer and would have your head for it or be burned at the stake.
This is pretty close to my thought process.
Perhaps for the lights you’re interested in, but definitely not the case with the lights I’m interested in, unfortunately hehe. The TM39 is $500. I’ll still likely buy it soon and end up not waiting at all for a sale, I know myself well enough to expect that. But yes, I’m definitely not comparing flashlights to computers. That’s why I said exponential improvements are happening in tech, but not necessarily in flashlight tech, although the improvements here are nothing to scoff at. I just think manufacturers need to stop focusing on increasing lumen output and/or throw and start working on making the current outrageous lumen outputs and throw measures more sustainable. Instead of slapping on the product description “5 thousand lumens, 2,000 meters of throw!” and then when you use the light, it actually steps down to the medium setting and you’re in turbo throwin’ out 800 lumens and reaching 600 meters. I just think it’s time they shifted into making those claims more sustainable. We already have enough lumens and we already have enough throw, no we need more sustainability at those high outputs.
I loved my Eveready 108 red lantern, which was a step up from the typical 2-cell metal lights at the time.
It’s still sitting in the garage somewhere, covered in dust, and probably works, but I’m not gonna burn $10 on one of those big 6V lantern batteries just for kicks.
Woooow, I had completely forgotten about those batteries. I remember wiring a bunch of them in series just so I could make a ton of sparks with the high voltage I had in the end cables. Ahh, the many experiments I did as a kid. I really was a mad scientist and a pyromaniac. My father was an electrician so he taught me the principles early on, he wasn’t fond of my love of fire, though.
[quote=xevious]
Nice summary xevious!
Back when, at least for me, flashlights were mostly used as a tool and not for fun. The anti-fun part was cost of batteries. Batteries weren’t cheap so flashlights were used frugally.
Now, my flashlights are both used as a tool and for fun. AND I don’t need to worry about batteries since I can just charge them right back up. But, if I consider all the money I spent on my current collection of flashlights, that would’ve bought a lifetime of batteries way back when.
I caved brother, I caved. Pulled the trigger and ordered the Nitecore TM39. Now to wait ~ a week to 10 days if I get lucky or 3-4 weeks if the mail continues to work as it has been for me this year. I am SO FRIGGIN’ excited, it’s not even funny. I also have a 5 year old TM26GT so I can swap the tubes and turn it into the “Lite” version if I just wanna throw it in my fannypack and take it with me for a party or a night out. Gonna be fun to take this thing to Old San Juan and use it around El Morro there (you can watch many cruise ships passing by very closely cuz there’s a dock) and also fun at Paseo de la Princesa and the Muñoz Rivera park since they haven’t been turning on the lights at night.
That thing looks way cool. Congrats.
I’ve just entered 99% of my torches on a spreadsheet. Got my first LiIo torch in late July 2018. Since then I’ve purchased ~129 so average 3.58 per month. This includes the L7 (in transit) & WT90 (on order). Doesn’t include the 20-30 odd lights I’ve given as gifts to people outside my immediate family.
My wife asked if, now that I’ve listed them, I wanted to add up the total cost of these torches, batteries and chargers. Computer says no.
I have an EC4GT that I picked up very cheaply on closeout ($35 from Illumn). What a wonderful piece of kit. Throws beautifully at only 1,000 lumens. Monocoque body design makes it look like modding is next to impossible, but it seems it can be done, LIKE SO. But the heat management is so freaking good. Two 18650’s in parallel, making for a nice useful anti-roll handle. Why didn’t Nitecore continue with this design and provide some newer emitters? EC4GT, EC4GTS, EC4S… then done (BTW, don’t know if you’re aware, but there’s a faceted bezel protector that fits this and the EA4/EA41, I think by Streamlight).
Yeah, Zebralight makes a point of not overdriving their emitters. They just don’t see the need for it. And as a result, you don’t run into overheating issues much, plus the LED and circuitry not being exposed to very high heat means longer life. I wish we’d see more of this. Massive throw claims (like we see on the FW21) are meaningless if they can’t last more than 15~20 seconds, then steps down to less than 60% of that in succession.
That said… have you seen the Lumintop GT nano? Holy mother of God, that thing is quite a thrower for a 10180 cell! And it’s sustained for a good while, too.
I agree with you guys. I used to buy one or two a month few years back. Now it’s 1 or two a year. Fwaa was the first this year. Hard to get excited when you have a good collection of decent quality lights with decent LEDs in them.
Yeah, only thing is I forgot to put the darn discount code I had that saved me 50 bucks. Couldn’t cancel my order to place it again either which is weird since it’s the weekend and the order still appears as processing. Oh well, I sent them an e-mail about it and hopefully they’ll either refund me the $50 or at least give me the equivalent in store credit for my next purchase.
Hmmm, didn’t even know they made bezel guards like that. Pretty cool but I wouldn’t really have a use for them, since the use I subject my lights to isn’t really prone to damage them in any way. Most “damage” my lights get is just from abrasion being in my pockets or fanny pack and rubbing up against my car keys or other hard things and rubbing the anodization off in areas. Gives them some patina hehe. About the GT Nano, yes I’ve seen it and indeed it is very impressive for the size, but it’s really more of a trinket than it is a flashlight. For me, the perfect size and format is the 1” tube by 5 and a half inches, or anything close to that, and also the boxy format that the EC4 iterations are like. Anything smaller than the P12 (1” by 5.5”) and the light just isn’t comfortable to use. Regarding the heat and stepping down issue from overdriving, don’t get me wrong, I like manufacturers going for extremely bright and extreme throw, but I’d like them to start and shift their efforts into making those high numbers sustainable. Let the LED manufacturers do the R&D for making them as bright and efficient as possible, and flashlight manufacturers can focus on making amazing designs that are able to manage the heat produced and dissipate it so that the performance that’s advertised isn’t just some 30 second trick and instead becomes a solid feature where performance dips very little, if any. It WILL happen eventually, perhaps with the discovery of some other technology that isn’t LED, but I just know that in the future, someone’s gonna have a P12 sized flashlight in their hands that’ll be able to hit 5k lumens and throw it several kilometers away with little to no heat felt on the device itself and without any stepdown necessary until whatever energy storage tech they have inside at the time gets to a low charge state, in which it will step down due to low charge. Now I know, I know it’s not necessarily just the LED itself causing all the heat, it’s the current flow and also the sheer intensity of the light being absorbed by the reflector, housing, bezel, etc and being converted into heat, but I’m sure there will be breakthroughs there as well. Can’t wait to see what flashlights 20 years from now will look and perform like.
Sillen, you have a great response to your wife’s suggestion.
I have encountered a similar “an offer you cannot refuse” from my wife to record every purchasing price of each flashlight that I have bought. I would only give in partially, by letting her put a “cost” sticker on the flashlight box. I guess she wants to prepare for future sale of my collection.
I would always emphasise the “saving” I had made in each purchase (which is true, from discount codes, monthly sale, and Group Buy on the BLF).
And I would also claim that my flashlight collection is bringing me great joy and help me withstand the increasingly unbearable boredom of WFH, which I have been enduring since early March 2020 — that’s over 16 months now!
BTW, I am also eager awaiting the arrival of WT90 Silver and Convoy L7. The “savings” from the GB of the former, and from the secret discount code for the latter will be music to my wife’s ear, I hope!!
I really feel like we’re at another development cusp of LED tech. The OSRAM’s are relatively new to the flashlight market. It’s hard not to resist jumping on a purchase right now, but then you see an SST-40 dedomed into an SFT-40 and wow, what comparable throw. Imagine what’ll turn up in just a couple more years. There has to be that breakthrough moment of today’s throw achievements but at like half the thermal creation.
I think it will be more evolutionary than revolutionary.
Don’t forget, no matter what new led emerges, you still have to deal with the heat. There is no technology to deal with that (yet.)
Thank you for your support. MrsSillen is more or less supportive. She has a Rovyvon A5R, Blitzwolf BW-ET1 and LT1 on her bedside table & Astrolux K2 & A01 on various key rings. She has lost her torch license when we go walking at night ’cause she kept shining into peoples windows. I got her a Convoy S2+ Red with XM-L2 T6-4C 4300-4500K, OP, Biscotti & added 18350 but it’s now sitting on the shelf. Bottom line, playing with torches keeps me out of trouble 
What do you think of the L21A with the XHP35 HI emitter? Too many crazy cooling fins? I gather it has better throw but lower overall output. I like that the head has gaps that would let light escape if you stood it on it’s head while on. Someone on Aliexpress posted a beamshot of the 4000k version and it looks very pleasing to me.