Lanyard For Trustfire F20?

EDC Gear for Flashlight Carriers
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First, a heartfelt thank you to all of you who reviewed this TrustFire F20 torch!! You led me to a good decision and I appreciate all your time and efforts!

I notice a lot of reviewers (here and elsewhere) commented that the clip doesn’t seem to permit a lanyard… Maybe I’m overstating the problem, but I happen to be a bit of a knot knut, so I took up the ‘challenge’.

I’ve been using “Brickmason Cord” or “Seine Twine” or “#18 Braided Nylon” cord for cellphone & tool lanyards for quite some time. I prefer the braid over twisted, because I can melt & mash a point on the end & make eye splices just like in ski rope, or just like the Dyneema single-braid eyes in kites etc.

Basically it’s a simple concept: Make an eye, hitch it to the item, have nice knots to grab. If anyone is interested, in the examples I’ve tied a 2-strand, many-turn Matthew Walker knot under a Sailor’s Knife Lanyard knot, and use a Ring Hitch to attach it to the clip. There are many 2-strand knots!!!

I’m going to attempt to put up some pictures here… Please watch for edits because I am never satisfied… Grouse if you will at the needless excess, but I’m also practicing for when I can put up dissection pictures of the torches and circuits I hope to bring to share with you. This ‘On MouseOver’ trick you guys use is impressive. I only hope to not embarrass myself. Perfect practice makes perfect, so here goes:

First off, if you just stick the loop through the clip, that will work, but who cares!

So, to keep the lanyard from flying off, first tuck a bight of the loop up through the space between the wires of the clip:

Then push the end you’ll be holding, through the bight you just pulled up:


Next pull on both ‘legs’ evenly to fair the hitch:

Then pull it tight against the wire of the clip:

You can see how it slides along to stay out of the way when you don’t need it:

Just grab the knob & pull to lift the torch off of whatever it’s clipped to:

And the knob makes for a secure grip:

Different makes of Brickmason Cord give different results:

And the same knot works with really thick cord as well:

Whew!

I’ll be back with a follow-up re: that thicker cord. If you use a neck lanyard, you can put this F20 on it in such a way that it can be “snatched” off if you need it.

Hopefully, this will serve some F20 owner somehow, someday. Please feel free to cull this post if it’s inappropriate or useless.

Thank you for reading this far!

Dim

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Knice Knots .

Thanks for sharing .

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Nice work and a very helpful post! I've been wanting some micro paracord and that cord you are using looks like a nice substitute. I will have to keep an eye out for some. 8)

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Just noticed this thread for the first time. Very good ideas. I'll have try them out.

Do you have a favorite place to get cord from?

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Home Despot or Lowes has some interesting cord. That larger Orange cord in the last picture is some of it. I call it “Braid Over Bulls##t”, since the core is actually thin strips of the material which covers “Huggies” diapers. Take some apart and see Minnie Mouse and friends for yourself. Occasionally they’ll stock some with a fiber core, but it’s rare.

But the outer cord is a dandy hollow-braid Nylon, in a few different sizes, and lots of different colors (not many at once, keep an eye on the rack for new stock). Stretchy, melts to a nice point for splicing, sets hard knots if you pull on it… Wonderful stuff for Marlingspike Art!! Lanyards, Leashes, Key-fobs, the works! I almost never tie anything decorative with the diaper core left in… Even hollow, it’s only useful for “the big stuff”.

They only carry braided brickmason’s cord in Dayglow Yellow and White, although they’ll bring out a Pink one from time to time… It makes the best Zipper Pulls and Flashlight Lanyards! Most other hardware stores only sell Twisted, which is great for brickmasons, but sux for knots.

Don’t waste your money on what LowesDepot calls “Paracord”. It’s just awful, filled with BS, and more expensive than “the real thing” (i.e. 550 cord the military uses). Ditto for virtually everything else they sell, unless you want to learn how to work 3-strand… If you must have Paracord, I’d get it online…

Last but not least, you know I love the First Name of this Forum!!! The next time you find a discarded set of Mini-Blinds, extract the cord! If you melt or knot the ends you can wash/bleach it to a brilliant white, which makes nice knots. It’s a braided Dacron over some thread core, which will hardly stretch at all, but works great for all small-cordage jobs.

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Wow. Great info. Thanks Dimbo

I do have paracord that I bought from some Amazon vendors, but none of the stuff you used in the OP above. I saw that paracord at HD. You're right. Only 100 lb capacity and sounds like it is mostly just nylon or polyester (don't remember).

Love the tip on the blinds. I throw out several of those each year.

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I’ll add that for those of us in the U.K. Wild Elk is about the best Genuine Mil Spec 550 cord.
Heinnie Haynes Come a close second, they stock Atwood Rope MFG 550 paracord.
Neither are cheap but you notice the difference when using the genuine article your work looks a lot better when using ungutted paracord.
I’ve not tried any of the micro-cord yet but will in the future.
I’ve had some of this “in hand” unfortunately not mine so I had to give it back - 960 cord - very good for tying but damned expensive.

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I’ll second wildelk.co.uk for good paracord here in the UK.

Remember cheap isn’t always best

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Also remember that “Paracord” (aka “550 Cord”) is huge, in our context. That “large” cord I showed would slip inside gutted Paracord with room for Jello, and it’s too big (IMNERHO) for anything on a UF 501b.

Atwood To The Rescue with their Nano Cord! That (.75mm) is almost the same size as “#18”, and should fit through almost any lanyard hole I’ve seen on any flashlight. Most lanyards are aka “Sennit” constructions, which get several strands involved, which just makes the whole affair bigger.