Best of health to you, @DBSAR
Thanks for your incredible contributions to making the LT1 a reality. I hope you enjoy the warmth of its legacy along with its light.
Whenever the mood strikes to stroll through BLF, I’m sure you’ll find more willing helpers than you can find roadblocks. It might tickle your fancy to know that this forum has had the “Anduril treatment”, by the authors of the same, no less.
Im quite new to the forum and enthusiast flashlights in general, but I just wanted to say the LT1 is AMAZING. I went from a crappy Coleman plastic thing that ran on 3 D cells to the LT1 and it blew my mind. Took it camping on the Murray River here in Australia for its first ever outing and it is now one of my most prized lights! Thank you for bringing it to us.
Watching you develop my favorite lantern was a real joy.
Everyone who has one will be keeping a little piece of you with them for a long time.
All the Best,
Jeff
Sorry to hear about your health DBSar, hopefully you’ll make the best of it.
Thanks for all your time and effort you have spent for us and with our fellow BLF members.
My first batch LT1 is still one of the most regular used lights, my wife and son both love it (she generally hates flashlights, so that really says something) and it has a place on her night drawer.
Thanks again!
Stay healthy and all the best wishes
Good luck with everything DBSAR. I hope things get better for you soon.
Good luck. Not really talked directly but definitely seen your influence in projects and old threads. Thanks for everything, and I hope I do see your new project whenever you do have the time to return.
Despite it’s ups and downs, It’s sad to see the collaborative process of a community of enthusiasts and manufacture dwindle down and a passion project turn into inferior copy and paste products to feed the drooling consumerism. I joined this forum and got an interest in flashlights as a hobby instead of just a simple tool because of the people like you. I wish you the best, DBSAR. Out of my collections the BLF lights and ones I modded are the ones I use the most.
I’m mostly a lurker who has benefited by the work of so many good folks. Thank you and best of luck with your health!
I have enjoyed reading your material over the years. I have also benefitted by your research on lantern design and even the accessories available. All of that will be missed greatly.
OTH, the health thing… I have had my own issues. Facing maybe 4 more surgeries over the next years. Dealing with this kind of stuff just saps the will. I truly hope that you will recover fully. If so, hopefully you can get back into it. I truly hope so.
The best of luck to you!
Dennis,
Truly wish you the best of health and thank you for the dedication here.
Have the original BLF-LT1 next to my bed and take it on outdoor trips and when people ask about it am sure to tell them of a great man who was driven to build the best affordable LED lantern on Earth and how the project took a long time with much community input and was worth the wait.
Still the standard bearer.
Cheers!
Keith
Thank you for the your contributions to the flashlight community.
Though I don’t frequent these forums much anymore, your depth of knowledge will be missed as well as your common presence. I understand the need to back off as I’ve gone through my own trials with mental and physical health which has been devastating. Sad to hear about the breaking of the trust by Sofirn; you deserve better. ATB to you in your future paths in life.
Phil
Just stumbled across this. Wow… Dennis, I’m so sorry to hear you’ve been having worsening health issues. I really hope this is something that you can overcome so you can get back to enjoying life without chronic pain/discomfort gnawing at you every day.
The LT1 is still my favorite lantern. I did pick up an LT1S… which is a fun little thing. But the LT1 is king.
Sad how things go with manufacturers. Especially when they aren’t the original creators… so they lose sight of the “design spirit” and take liberties in directions that for them they believe will help with profit and not necessarily translate to something better for the customer.
For most manufacturers they only care about profit. Nobody on our BLF LT1 team made anything from the LT1, We did this because of our passion of lights, and the market needed a good, solid lantern for area-lighting. While we have hundreds of great flashlights avaliable to us, there was no really any good lanterns out there.
I will still be around as much as i can for as long as i can, but just not as active as i wish to be or as much i used to be.
My favorite part of that project was when DBSAR struck a heroic pose and said, “IT’S LANT’RN TIME!”, then lanted all over the bad guys.
Seriously…the LT1 is Genesis for all other lanterns out now. You AND the BLF team get all the credit and in my book. Same with the BLF GT, A6 and FW3A.
It’s typical corporate nonsense to essentially pirate ideas and capitalize on them with little or no recognition for the effort and contributions from the designers, engineers, and others involved. You’re not the only one on the receiving end of that.
Don’t we have any CNC machinists in here? Between software devs like Toykeeper, electronic devs (so many drivers developed by BLC community) and engineers, maybe the forum could make a truly BLF project happen - developed, machined and sold by members. No big companies involved, all ideas remain “In the family”.
The LT1 was sadly before my time in the flashlight hobby and BLF, so I do not know much about it, and I did not even know it was a community prokect at first. Really cool! It’s the original quality lantern, and everyone who contributed to it deserves praise for that!
All the best with your health issues - I hope it is something that can be treated or overcome, and will get better soon.
I have been all in on the LT1 from the get-go. Every person in my extended (say about 30) family has one that I’ve gifted them. Several have bought more. DB, you have changed the world we live in! Thank you so much!