I made the same mistake, when I saw “Magnetic Ring”, but no, this light is not Infinitely variable.
it just has 3 modes, like the magnetic ring on the Jetbeam TCR-10
as stated the lowest mode is 10 lumens, no moonlight… grandma does not need moonlight…
the next mode is 100 lumens… grandma does not need infinitely variable output…
this light is not for flashaholics, its for grandma
the title of the thread is unclear, it gave me the impression that it was a brainstorming thread, to develop a new BLF collaborative design. It is actually an INTEREST thread, for a design that has already been decided.
For those of us wanting infinitely variable, moonlight, etc, this is not the Droid were looking for.
Those premises are not written in stone though.
If it’s possible, there will be stepless dimming.
Besides, the steps between 10, 100 and 500 Lumen are huge.
I understand that magnetic ring fanatics like you can be disappointed, I own the Jetbeam RRT-01 and it has an amazing low moonlight and supersmooth ramping behaviour.
But this is simply not those flashlights. I already explained that the magnetic ring is not intended as the ultimate flashoholic gimmick but very simply for its intuitiveness and self-explainability. That quality has a stepped mode ring just as well (maybe even better) as a ramping ring. If making a ramping ring is just as possible for the same price I will go for it because many people want it and it does not violate the design goals, but personally I like the simplicity of discrete modes better.
Same goes for leaving out moon, if added it would violate the self-explaining requirement of this light.
Is it therefore not a flashoholics light? I do not agree. As a flashoholic I can really enjoy goodlooking, well-made and well-functioning flashlights. Maybe the simple ones even better than ones with lots of bells and whistles.
you did a good job of explaining that the light you designed is not infinitely variable
I agree discrete modes, and simple designs can be very useful.
I respect your project and initiative. I do not mind that it is not a design that interests me. And Im happy that you are producing a light that interests many others.
Carry on
Merry New Year!
ps, in a future design, I suggest Titanium and Infinitely Variable
Huh?? The title does not say that it is a brainstorming thread and it does say that it is an interest thread. Your impression can not be caused by the title AFAICS.
But I fully accept that brainstorming will happen, as with every BLF-thread. Part of being on BLF, and highly appreciated because things come up that I had not thought of.
No BLF-light can be fully collaborative or they will never happen. the LT1 has a strong influence from DBSAR, lots of design decisions are his, supplemented with ideas from BLF. Same goes for the Q8, most decisions were made by the team and Thorfire. Are they not BLF lights?
This light was inspired by BLF-experiences and my personal experiences with non-flashoholic people, supplemented with how I think such light should look like, and will be futher supplemented by suggestions in this thread. Having an old contact at Sofirn, I took the initiative, made a list of requirements and asked for such a light and it took half a year for them to trust that it is good idea. The requirement list is what Sofirn’s cooperation and price estimate is based on, and the interest from who are already on the list is based on these requirements too, and so I will guard those requirement. It generated thusfar interest for more than 200 lights so it can’t be bad.
So I will continue to have a strong say in how this light in this thread might become, and the final say is very much by Sofirn. As for if “the design is already decided”, it has not even started.
Personally i see no need for a twisty ring when you only have a few fixed modes.
There are already lights on the market that have that.
The old school radio knob idea i do like very much, but that implies stepless dimming i.m.o.
But then the indentes on a few levels would stop making sense too.
The advantage of a ring-only interface is that almost everyone will understand what to do with it without instruction. Come to think of it, that’s a significant enough benefit that I retract my prior lack of personal interest: I’m in for one if only to use as a loaner to save me the effort of explaining UIs.
If it has stepless dimming and a real moonlight mode, I might be in for more than one. I don’t think those features detract from the original idea (radio knobs are stepless), and I don’t think the moonlight mode will lead to confusion if and only if the dimming is stepless.
Sooooooo… SD02/WK20? Wonderful WW, magring, moonlight, waterproof as in diving-light.
Dunno, but I’m just not seeing any niche that the OP light would fill, except for adding charging (and compromising waterproofness).
If I had to loan out one, it’d be the SD05 which doesn’t have moonlight (so no inadvertently leaving it on due to not noticing that it’s actually on), or better yet the DV-S9 which is more intuitive with the slider.
Make something that looks and functions like the Sunwayman V11R in 18650,with powerbank/charging usb-c, in the size of the Folomov EDC C4 (100mm max length)
You already made the mistake many others have made in this thread.
A light that needs two separate operations is not ‘simple enough’ for many people that are just nog technical. (like many elderly, if we keep making that comparison) They will just keep pressing the side button while nothing happens and then they complain why the light doesn’t work.
The idea is to make a simple, easy to operate, fool proof light that just works and that everyone can operate it. It’s not purely aimed at grandma’s, it’s just a sort of expression to explain that the light need to be easy to operate.
This is a worthwhile project which deserves to succeed.
However; for it to truly to live up to the promise of being a light that the flashaholic will routinely enjoy and wish to use himself the design and cost constraints appear far too onerous. The OP rather firm about the format being somewhat rudimentary which is perhaps OK given the stated.
IMHO Down the road a fork is badly wanted for a upscale variant ring control with no-nonsense go anywhere operation.
I have a modded supfire light that came with a tailcap on-off clicky and a side switch for modes. I like it because the techie in me likes being able to totally kill the parasitic off-state load. I have loaned it to some people who have trouble with the two separated switches. They sometimes have forgotten how to turn it off and other times don’t recall they must click the tail cap to turn it in.
OTOH they had better luck with twinned side switches such as used on several Wuben lights.
To be able to have a light that is more then a simple on-off click like a D-cell Maglite, requires switch markings, IMO, if the light is to be used by people who are not techies.
Even a radio is going to have a minimum of 4 buttons and dials.
On off
Volume
Frequency/channel
AM/FM
It’s pretty easy to put a big on and off label near the tail switch. A4nd if it’s got mode memory you can put duct tape over the front switch so they can’t change the freaking channel. I’ve given the Wowtac A1S to a few old ladies including my mother. One did have a problem and said it would only come on temporarily when she pressed the rear switch. I explained that she was only half pressing it and just needed to press it a little bit harder until it clicked. So I understand there can be issues but they are all very happy with it.
Ideally this light would really turn off (as in cut the battery power) when turning it ‘off’.
This is not easy to with a magnet though.
There are reed switches of course, but the hysteresis makes it unsuitable for this light.
It could be done mechanically though, but that would compromise water resistance and / or add more complexity.
It would be nice though.
I agree with you on this. I would love to see some budget high efficiency regulated drivers. All of the current drivers in BLF type lights are so inefficient compared with Olight, Fenix and Nitecore that they are really just flashaholic toys rather than actual tools. Here is a zeroair.org comparison of the runtime graph between Olight S2r II baton vs FW3A. The Olight driver efficiency and regulation is in a completely different league. The latest Olight Perun should be another big jump over the S2r II in efficiency so seems like there is huge room for improvement for BLF budget lights. I’m not expecting Sofirn to match Olight, which makes the most efficient drivers in the business, but I expect to at least head in that direction. The Sofirn SP33v2 driver is amazingly efficient too and not too far from Olight levels so I know Sofirn has the capability to make good drivers.
Simple wins with me everytime. I’m not a granny or incapable of working more complex lights but, I surely don’t go out seeking complex lights. If this thing gets Andruil step less dimming into it, it just won’t be what it’s intended to be.
I love sublumen modes. I use them every night. I have a few lights that do those modes well, very well. I have no need for those modes in every light I have. I would never want those modes in my EDC light. I don’t think granny would need them either. To us these lights are a part of our lives. To them they are just a light in an otherwise dark room. I wouldn’t want to lose good mode spacing by adding a sublumen mode. Same for the blinkies. Down with the disco modes.
This got me thinking of the Xeno Cube. It would be great if the head would rotate for Off, Low, Med, High. Steps up clockwise, steps down counter clockwise. It wouldn’t roll away easily. That project is for another time though.
that was before zeroair.org understood thermal configuration. A better graph would be his second attempt on his FW1A. But even then he is using batteries with much less capacities on all of his FW## tests.
