Funny seeing me here? I know I know. Saablusters here. There goes the neighborhood. 
Truth be told I have been enjoying it around here. People like you have made this place incredible and done so much to move flashlights forward. Thank you! I have to say that there is a youthful vigor about this place. Upon rereading that it makes me sound old. I digress. Been doing great. Haven’t put out anything in a really long time. Hopefully change that soon. The past 6-7 months have been interesting. It has been the single greatest creative period of my life. To the point of exhaustion. I had a hard time doing anything normal. I’d be at the gym and my mind would just start engineering uncontrollably. Fortunately I took very detailed notes of everything. My mind has quieted in the last month. Now just working through the science of it all. Science being time consuming, money intense, and tedious. Oh yeah and fun. :heart_eyes:
Thanks for appearing on cue. I wasn’t sure if I said the summoning thing right, a few posts ago, or how many bond wires to sacrifice.
Science ALL THE THINGS!
It’s the noobs. If you mix their blood into BBQ sauce it adds a refreshing zing!
It must be horrible to live that way. I mean, from what I imagine. I wouldn’t have the slightest idea what that’s like, of course. Nope. I’m a perfectly normal human being who is totally not pretending to be mortal.
I’m interested in the answer to this question too.
Wow saabluster and TK, that was freaky with the summoning
What would be better
AR coated or ultra clear
And what would be least expensive?
We could always ask for it, idk if it will be done but asking doesn’t hurt
Hopefully it’ll be, ’cos according to google maps my stock TN42NW hit 1.5 miles, and it still has the photons to go further! Looks like my expectations of the GT’s just went through the roof… by the way, will it be available in NW and CW?
edit: scratch that… it hit a tad over 1.6 miles, although it was a reflective surface…. but still! 
Why go for the XHP35 instead of the XHP50?
It is, indeed, the wrong forum for that.
Incidentally, “that” is why the other girls around here (and on many other forums) are either absent or incognito. Don’t be “that” guy.
Higher surface brightness, better throw. Same reason to use XP-G2 instead of XM-L2 in a thrower.
Well, actually Candela Freaks on this thread - over a million of them 
The name says it all - BLF GT where GT stands for Giga Thrower, so it's all about the throw, and XHP50's just can't cut it compared to a XHP35 HI.
I just can’t imagine it not having an AR coated lens. You know how we have all grown to love and respect that nice purple tint. :sunglasses:
Ok. That was weird! I totally did not see your earlier post. I was wondering what on earth you were talking about summoning for. So looked back and figured it out. Cray Zee.
So I have a couple suggestions on the lens for this light. Has anybody inquired of the flashlightlens.com guy? I believe he can custom make whatever we need. Given the large quantity we need should be able to get a decent price. Another alternative is using AR coated acrylic. Not as durable obviously but good throughput. I have a CO2 laser cutter that could cut those out.
Yes well idk
I can’t wait for the first to mod in a small single die led and mods the carrier(s) for 8P, an extremely long range pencil beam with extremely long runtimes 
Oh and TK, thanks for explaining, nice to read that, even more happy to have Neal working with us!
Pretty sure ultra clear is also AR coated.
Getting glass lenses will be very expensive.
The cheapest I know of is this:
Acrylic, but still very high 97%
It would be $18 per 120mm lens, and the minimum quantity for a custom size is 100 but that’s not a problem with the amount of people buying the GT.
15% of the flashlight cost for a lens still seems high, so if you want cheaper you may have to search for a chinese manufacturer and risk potential quality issues or fake claims.
Yeah hence the relief to have Neal (who knows the business) and Lumintop (who know the business and produce in quantities suppliers are not likely to cheat them) on board here.
Quite right. Not appropriate at all Joey. I was talking to my wife the other day about a little epiphany I had walking through the Home Depot. I’m not a big or strong guy but I have always felt I could take whatever came my way. I think it is just silly guy thinking. Like the little Chihuahua that thinks it can take on a Doberman. Anyways as I was walking through Home Depot I was surrounded by huge men. What I have since come to designate Dudes. See I am no dude. Dudes growl. Dudes have swollen calloused hands. Dudes drive big smoking diesel trucks even if they don’t need a truck. So I was surrounded by dudes. And suddenly I began to feel intimidated. The thought that if the idea to pummel me popped into their minds I was done for. It made me feel vulnerable and weak. And it dawned on me that that must be what our ladies have to deal with often. It helped me to appreciate why me looking at a woman could make them feel uncomfortable. Gave me some perspective.
+1 TK and sbl (sl? )
Chris at flashlightlens.com is great, but I tried couple times to get him and Richard hooked up and didn't work out. Richard tried reaching out but never got a response. I thought it would be a benefit to both for Richard to carry them, Richard agreed. For us it would save shipping costs because we order the lens with our regular parts from Richard.
For this project, the shipping into China probably kills it. We've been dealing with exports to China @work and it's a nightmare - some how, some way, their regulatory and testing requirements (on imports) are stricter than Europe! I agree with Miller - probably best to have Lumintop give it a go, but we need to emphasize high percentage of light transmittance, 96% or above. Chris has UCL glass rated at 98-99% and UCLp plastic at 97%.
Unfortunately Chris's spec's are real, while China's? dunno... Not blaming Lumintop but most time they can only go by specs from their vendors.
Yeah the complications of having a lens manufactured and installed from someone other than lumintop just complicates all the logistics and increases costs.
It’s only a few percent of light anyway, there are other things that would give a bigger improvement.
If this was not a ‘budget’ flashlight then yeah stuff like 99% AR glass would be a must.
BTW, the glass lenses from flashlightlens.com are not available in custom sizes, which is why I mentioned the acrylic.
Very unfortunate 
I’m looking at edmund optics instead for some of my future projects. They also have 99% AR glass at some larger sizes.
They quoted me for $750 for a custom piece, but I could always buy a larger size and waterjet it, they are actually not that expensive, like $70 a 10” sheet.
I think Chris at one time (might still be in effect) said 1,000 piece min for custom UCL glass sizes. Things changed there recently for his custom size pricing and even the tolerances for UCLp, but if you contact him before or at placing the order, he'll give you an accurate # on the thickness. I'm assuming he gets th UCLp material in in sheets, and cuts them himself, so sheet to sheet has variations.
$750………. … :person_facepalming: Wow………… If you don’t mind me asking, how big was the piece??
Is that 10” x 10” for $70? That sound like a much better option if ones has easy access to water jet, or…… has a close friend that does.
Put me down on the list for one please !! This is awesome thanks