[PART 1] Official BLF GT Group Buy thread. Group buy officially closed! Lights shipping.

BLF Special Edition Products
13632

On a positive note…

There are well over a 1,000 people - the VAST majority - just patiently waiting with the full understanding (perhaps by virtue of having funded efforts like Kickstarter campaigns in the past?) that no promises are made as to when we would see a light on our porch. Crowdfunding comes with risk! For that you are rewarded: lower price.

We signed up for a better price as we were made aware of the campaign, to be on the bleeding edge of flashlight progress, to own this ridiculous object of pure desire and hilarity, and perhaps to join in an exclusive early group of shared enthusiasts; other reasons as well. I wasn’t in on the original 555 but through no delay on my part. I just didn’t know until later like most of us at this point. I’m around #747 or something.

Are you special in the original 555? Sure. It’s a HUGE world. 340,000,000 people in the United States alone. So yes, you are very special. But not really all that special in comparison to the other 100’s who are here doing whatever we were told, paying whatever it took once we found out. You DID get a better price. That’s AWESOME and exactly what happens with crowd funding. I definitely wouldn’t begrudge you having your lights earlier than me.

Just imagine if the 555 of you all had it first, so early that it took the 555 of you to realize the initial switch boot and firmware flash issues they detected in QC? Then you would all truly be on the literal bleeding edge and complain that the rest of us at 556 –1,300 or whatever the number is at, benefitted through your bleeding. “Oh if I was only #556” you would think if there had been an early problem you had the hassle of dealing with. What if it required a return to China. Oh boy would that cause some complaining.

Is this a need? Nope. Is it a want? Yep

For me, it shows up when it shows up. And someone should post a PayPay so I can contribute a few extra bucks to the Team because I somehow didn’t realize I could change the optional donation higher which I did contribute to when I ordered WITH batteries.

Great work team. Anyone want to buy mine, I didn’t realize when I purchased that I couldn’t fit in my pocket? Hahaha! That’s a stupid joke.

I do wonder why Lumintop is shipping to the United States first but everyone think about this: it’s very likely a purely LOGISTICS scenario. I would wager that we in the US account for a massively disproportionate percentage of total Lumintop sales. So it figures they already have shipping lined up to arrive here on a regular basis. Australia just to pick on you guys? I again wager it’s a tiny percentage of what comes here. That’s why I’m always seeing you guys talk about Massdrop or CountyComm or other sources of Lumintop sales that you just cannot access in your own country. Romania? I’d be shocked if Lumintop is selling a lot there. So I don’t mean this as favoritism just that it’s way easier for them to assemble a crap ton of orders to get here then the one offs (figuratively speaking) to the rest of the world.

Don’t get me wrong please. I sympathize with the first 555. If it were up to me I would have sent the first 555 no matter what and then have worried about all others in whatever “seemingly” random yet actually necessitated ways.

13633

Saw this coming a mile away.
Too many steps and parties needed to be lined up to make it happen without a hitch.
And throw in the shipping restrictions on lithium batteries ever changing it was not worth the risk of ordering with batteries.

I buy my batteries stateside now a days usually from Liion Wholesale. He’s a fellow BLF member and knows his product and no chance of getting a clone.
Cost just a little more but well worth it.

Anyway, hope you get your light soon.
Thanks,
Keith

13634

I am pretty sure that the batteries are not directly causing the delay. I think that the number of lights without cells was simply a better match for the pallet size that was being shipped first. Plus Neal was still on his honeymoon at that point.

I am still waiting for an update on the shipping status for the next round.

13635

Perfect…

13636

Coyotehawk will add your names to his sign up list. You’ll see your name when he does the next update. It will be sometime mid January when you are emailed with the details of where to go and how to order.

You can also buy 8 of the Samsung 35E batteries for $40 at the same time as you buy the light. No sign up necessary for those. There are plenty of batteries in stock.

Welcome to BLF.

13637

LATEST NEWS: Same as last couple of days.

It appears that the first shipment went out by region instead of the exact order in which we paid for cost reasons. Initial quality has been fantastic.

The first shipment of lights (168 total) shipped on Dec 23. This was a pallet going to the USA from the first 576th person on the paid list that did not include batteries. Tracking numbers went out on Dec 27 and lights started arriving to customers on Dec 29th. DHL shipping was very fast.

There should be a European order going out next.

The next group to purchase lights (#1040 and up on the list) will get their emails mid January instead of early January in order to let Neal get caught up with current orders.

BLF GT official support thread

Nvanlaar’s links.

The Millers Original Group Buy List ending on Nov 11 and #1213

Coyotehawk’s Continuation of the Group Buy List, starting Nov 11 and #1214 - Updated Dec 27

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Neal’s Paid/Shipping List for first 555 - Updated Dec 15

Neal’s Paid/Shipping List for #556 to #1038 - Updated Dec 10 or 12.

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M4D M4X: For all people who want to let us know the value that should be declared on the parcels:
please take the BLF GT customs declaration survey.

.
M4D M4X: You can buy 8 of the button top Samsung 35E batteries (seem ideal, high mAh and good amps) for $40 when you buy your GT. No sign up required for these.
Battery details are here.
.

Video of Drop Test

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13638

The communication from China has the appearance of being really substandard, and that’s been part of the problem that is manifesting itself in misunderstanding, etc’. It’s a great example of what not to do when filling orders. It doesn’t hurt to communicate what’s going on. In fact communication is a huge positive for future collaborations. I don’t fault the team on that. The team has done what they can. I understand that folks are busy, but there was a time before the flurry of activity and that would have been the time for communication. But I understand that I’m Monday morning quarterbacking at this point. I would use it as a learning experience because now what’s done is done.

I have no doubt that AmericanEDC is correct… The first 555 got a great price and little else. All orders appear to be part of a “pool”, no matter where one is in the queue, and ALL orders are being filled in order, but all light w/o cells first, and by country. Then they’ll fill the other orders with cells next.

It sux for my brother who was counting on his light being here this week, but he needed cells. He was going to drive up to pick it up this week since he has the week off. He’ll just need to wait now. It would have been nice to have known that in advance. I never would have ordered the cells and would have gotten them through other sources.

On a positive note, it’s a very nice light but you really need a sling for it. Slung cross body, the weight is unnoticeable. Carrying it in the hand won’t last very long especially if it’s cold. It sucks the heat right out of the hand and your hand will lose that fight long before the light warms up in the slightest. The wait means there is time to gather the accessories required. I’m thinking lens cover and sling. I can’t think of anything else it needs. Maybe insulation for the tube, but the sling also works to remove the light from the hand to keep the hand warm.

To adjust the sling I’ve found that with the L6 it works best to have the light at the waistline and not as low as the hips. There is less movement at that point and gives a much more stable light beam. I don’t know why Giggles would be any different and that’s where I have Giggles’ sling adjusted. I have yet to use it slung. It’s just too darn cold to be out and about for any length of time.

I had some cells that wouldn’t work in it. So I solder blobbed them last night. Then I wanted to make sure they were all making contact, so I killed 2 birds with one stone and ran the light on turbo for 20 minutes. It got warm and not much else. After that time I tested the cells and found that they were all within .01 v of each other. Curiously one carrier had cells that were all 4.04v and the other carrier had cells that were 4.05v. I don’t know which carrier was which in the light since I didn’t expect that. Does anyone have an explanation for the uniform voltage difference?

13639

I learned to macrame in school forever ago, wondering if paracord would make a nice sling for this with a section of macrame in the middle for a rest on the shoulder? Could tie off the two inner cords and use the two outer cords to run to the ends of the light. Might have to give that a try, been a while.

Come to think on it, I also have some long straps of black elephant, about an inch wide, that would be perfect I’m sure! :smiley: Relatively thin and quite supple, very strong… will figure something out. I’ve got 1” wide Kevlar too… funny how once I started thinking about it in a singular context I remember all sorts of things that would work optionally…

13640

I ordered cells and JUST got my notification

13641

Also ordered with batteries…and just got a DHL notification…

Whoo-Buddy~

13642

Live and learn I guess…

Hopefully the lights with batteries are starting to ship out, hope I get my notification soon…

13643

I have a question about the donation to the team. I wanted to make a donation, but with the payment for the BLF GT I only made an 1 Dollar donation. The reason is that I don’t want to pay customs duty for the donation. So I want to wait until the BLF GT is here and after that I like to do an additional donation. How to do that?

13644

Ordered cells -just got DHL text

13645

Just got a notification as well with expected delivery this Friday. Hoping for a fun weekend filled with giggles :smiley: Can’t say enough thanks to the whole team, you are all amazing!

13646

Looks like a couple of others beat me to it, but I’m also in the first group, US address WITH cells and I just got my shipment text from DHL. My GT is on the way!

13647

That’s such a tiny voltage difference that it might be due to one carrier having a tiny bit more electrical resistance in it than the other carrier.

13648

Wat? Customes duty on a paypal donation ???

Das gibts doch gar nicht mein Freund!

LG
Nico

13649

You can set the customs value of the light to whatever you want.

You can also add a donation here if you want.

13650

The communication has actually been pretty good for china overall. Lumintop has kept us in the loop better then most. China simply doesn’t put a lot of emphasis on communication with the US during things like this as a rule. I have dealt with FAR FAR worse. I mean Thorfire with the Q8 was way worse then this.

You have to remember there is the language barrier for one thing, so almost everything has to be filtered through Neal for translation, this adds a delay. Also it has been the holidays, so things are crawling along anyways, add to that Neals Wedding less then 2 weeks ago and you have what we have been working with.

No one is to blame, just a lot to do and not enough man hours to do it all.

Far as the difference in voltage between the carriers, that is simply the resistance between the carriers, most likely the higher voltage carrier was the one near the tailcap. If you let them rest for a little while before testing they would balance back out so that the total voltage in each carrier was the same.

Plus even a .1V difference in voltage is not something to worry about with how we are using the cells, they will get rebalanced when you recharge them anyways. All that matters is that a cell doesn’t drop below ~2.5V and damage the cell, you would need around a .5V unbalance for that to happen seeing as the LVP kicks in around 3V. That would also only happen if the cells were seriously mismatched.

With 30Q in 1 carrier and laptop pulls in the other they generally don’t get more then .1V out of balance, perfectly fine since we are not charging them in series. If I let them rest they will be matched again. For example they sat all night after using it last night and I just tested the carriers at 16.09 and 16.10V respectively, that is as perfectly matched as you will get.

13651

LATEST NEWS:

USA orders with batteries seem to be shipping right now. Notifications are showing up.

It appears that the first shipment went out by region instead of the exact order in which we paid for cost reasons. Initial quality has been fantastic.

The first shipment of lights (168 total) shipped on Dec 23. This was a pallet going to the USA from the first 576th person on the paid list that did not include batteries. Tracking numbers went out on Dec 27 and lights started arriving to customers on Dec 29th. DHL shipping was very fast.

There should be a European order going out soon.

The next group to purchase lights (#1040 and up on the list) will get their emails mid January instead of early January in order to let Neal get caught up with current orders.

BLF GT official support thread

Nvanlaar’s links.

The Millers Original Group Buy List ending on Nov 11 and #1213

Coyotehawk’s Continuation of the Group Buy List, starting Nov 11 and #1214 - Updated Dec 27

.
Neal’s Paid/Shipping List for first 555 - Updated Dec 15

Neal’s Paid/Shipping List for #556 to #1038 - Updated Dec 10 or 12.

.

M4D M4X: For all people who want to let us know the value that should be declared on the parcels:
please take the BLF GT customs declaration survey.

.
M4D M4X: You can buy 8 of the button top Samsung 35E batteries (seem ideal, high mAh and good amps) for $40 when you buy your GT. No sign up required for these.
Battery details are here.
.

Video of Drop Test

.