My Q8 arrived from first batch.I only had 10 minutes to try so…
The button leds work and same brightness both. And did not touch anything just putted in 4 freshly charged solder top new HG2-s and I got 5100 lumens at start and 4830 lumens at 30 sec. Tonight I watch, prepare, clean the light and solder in spring bypasses.
The stock output over many lights measured seems very consistent just over 5000 lumen, a sign that design is robust enough for Thorfire and that assembly of the main parts is consistent and at least good enough 
Mine measures about 5100 lumens , didn’t make the exact math but it is around that level .
My second Q8 ordered sept 22 - preorder in the 1600s, got shipped. :+1:
First one ordered 9/7 in the 600s range is still stuck because of a change in shipping address that got them confused i guess - and nobody’s answering at BG… 
How to set up the thermal stepdown is explained in the BLF Q8 Operation Reference on page 4.
It came with your Q8 (the sheet with less tables and more text)
It uses the thermal sensor from the µController. The sensor is not calibrated and can varry +/- 5 degree Celsius fom controller to controller.
Not quite-flashlight-related, but a philosophical comment: While the Q8 doesn't need one (because you can unscrew the head), there is something comforting about having a hardware kill switch with potentially dangerous devices. An alleged cause of the unintended acceleration of Toyota cars still occasionally gives me the screaming heebie jeebies.
The temperature stepdown is a useful feature, however the light comes default with a simple 3 minute timer stepdown that works surprisingly well at room temp without airflow, so I have had no need yet to set the temp stepdown
I was wrong right there , if i bridge the 2 resistor pads (like adding a 0 ohm resistor) , leds work ok .
all pcb traces checked - OK
leds checked - OK
Resistor changed to 10k , still not working … Since the stock resistor is ~17k , shouldn’t the leds work and be even brighter ?
Sometimes seemingly clever ideas, aren’t.
“Industry recognition[edit]
In 2001 the µ-Club, an association of international experts in the field of brake technology, honored Robert Bosch and Daimler Chrysler for the development of the electrohydraulic brake SBC.
Problems[edit]
In May 2004, Mercedes recalled 680,000 vehicles equipped with the system; in March 2005 a total of 1.3 million vehicles were recalled. In 2006 high-volume models such as the E-class returned to conventional hydraulic brake systems. Low-volume luxury models such as the SL, the Maybach and the SLR continued to use SBC due to the prohibitive cost of redesign.”
Then there is electric power steering … I have a car with “dynamic steering response” whereby the ESP sensors take over control of the steering during e.g. sudden sidewind gusts, I found it very disconcerting. I think it was quietly dropped a little later. I also noted that it seemed to have been switched off, after a dealer service later that year.
Edit: I had also asked my dealer to increase steering weight to the maximum (ECU code), which may have done the same thing.
Asking The Miller — can you say more about why you decided to have no retaining ring used to hold the driver in place?
I realize from a few bits of information here back a while that this is a question the design team tackled long ago and the design was decided, or was decided by the manufacturer’s folks.
I’m just curious about the thinking, to understand for future design discussions if I’m ever involved in one.
The Miller asked for a retaining ring, but thorfire took it upon themselves to switch it over to a pair of screws with no warning. The Prototype just showed up with screws in it.
I think the Miller and the team decided it was an okay solution especially since changing it probably would have added another month or two of delay.
Anyway, The Miller should be around eventually and answer it.
I think a retaining ring this large in diameter would be fraught with difficulties,
Edit: think thread pitch on a thin brass ring over 40 mm dia.
and a hindrance to modders, once seized in tightly. Even e.g. 17mm ones can be problematic. Plus it is one more additional contact interface in the current path. I think the decision, however it was reached, was correct, for a $40 torch. Actually even the two screws are not necessary, just a couple of pegs, and/or a dab of glue would be fine.
Edit: but I think the two screws are a nice compromise for a budget modders torch. And with a bit of fixing up of a few rough bits, attention to detail in assembly, near-perfect.
We asked for the ring and the first prototype had a very nice brass ring, then in prototype 2 (or 3?) we got the screw solution and we could not think of a reason why that was not adequate and personally I really liked them for the ease that the driver could be removed.
We did not foresee that in the production run the scew holes would not be chamfered and that the quality of the screws would be so low.
But then, I can also think of a few things that could have been screwed up ( :party: ) by Thorfire if they had sticked to a retaining ring.
The Miller
I just checked leds soldering as you requested and it’s ok.
Problem was reflector positioning, but funny how only 2 leds were off center.
Getting that screw out was big pain in the * and I had to drill head of in the end. Replaced it with good quality screw (it took me 30 minutes to find right one in my boxes of mixed screws) and it’s perfect now.
The SupFire M6 has a nice retaining ring. I got the 1st proto with the ring: a thing of beauty:
It didn't share the threading from the battery tube - separate, inset. Proto #1 had other shortcomings though - no square threads, alum bezel, messed up reflector positioning and busted up LED centering pieces, really bad custom designed driver, etc. But looks nice on the outside now 
:
That is so pretty, but not just a simple ring, stepped at outer edge for more thread engagement, as you said separately cut head threads from the tube, machined on every surface, even the driving points, not just a couply of cheezy punch marks, very nice indeed. But oh, what did it cost to do, in production (did it make it ?), maybe we’ll never know ?
More like watch making.
PS: that Supfire M6 does look remarkably similar the the Q8 ? Great minds think alike and converge ? Or a touch of the Damien Hurst’s ?
Well, of course the M6 was a great starting point - I think we all considered it. Basically it's been the best budget SRK clone for a long time - built in the classic sense of SRK's with a nice shelf, SS bezel, etc. Style wise, the M6 was a little different but basically an SRK limited to just 3X LEDs. It's shortcomings were all addressed pretty much in the Q8. The Q8 was to get the SRK style light back on track, retro but still on a budget, but quality for modding and handling high amps, and of course improved electronics and UI.
But of course if you don't have, or are familiar with the original true 3X LED SRK's, then later the 4X Sky Ray Kung's, those were the true pioneers that the Q8 gives homage to.
The SRK clone market went down as far as they could take it - like $15 for 1,000 lumens, maybe, claiming 10,000 with fake LED's, no shelf - a disaster, and for the non-knowing public, it would get great reviews over and over again.... It's an embarrassment, like the mil grade tactical $6 zoomies being sold for $80 :FACEPALM: .
I have now picked up and shortly tested my first Q8 that arrived in Finland last week(ordered at the earliest opportunity). As expected, the indicator LEDs are failing. They were asymmetrical but otherwise worked perfectly at first. After testing for a while and leaving the light in standby over night, they had become very dim. They have returned to normal brightness a few times but now flicker all the time. No problem really, I’ll fix that.
The driver is somewhat tilted, going to fix that. Doesn’t seem to affect performance but might result in wear and tear on the driver board outer ring trace and stresses the board anyways.
Emitters are not quite properly centered in the reflector but within acceptable limits. Way better than the only Thorfire light(TK4A) I bought before, and even that did not ruin performance while it looked like a scrapped reject example they threw in the bin.
Threads were factory lubed, but the grease seemed somehow dirty so I cleaned and re-applied. That was probably unnecessary, and seems like a non-issue. Contact ring and other visible contacts were not totally clean but very much acceptable. No problem there. Haven’t opened the tail yet. Machining and surface finish is good or very good as seems to be the case.
Overall I’m very happy with this light and/or flashlight host. It seems perfectly usable with these minor issues. I’ll keep using this light for now and probably repair and modify later on. I have not taken it apart yet, kinda busy.
Very curious to see the second example that allegedly shipped after production reportedly resumed.
Question for Design Team
Forgive me if i missed it in this thread but did Thorfire ever contact us and say
OK, we’ve halted production and finally realized all of the first 500 units problems. Beginning with unit #501 all of the previous problems have been eliminated.