The BLF Mini, Hurricane Sandy, six (6) nights/seven (7) days without power, my ninety-one year old mother, & the "green" tint...

LED Flashlights – General Info
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I joined this forum some weeks ago because of the lack of pomposity, as well as the clearly evident friendliness on this forum especially when contrasted against CPF: my initial post was met with many welcomes of which I was most appreciative. After reading the many critiques of “our” BLF Mini”, I shall comment.

Let me say at the outset, that many members here need to “get a life”, or “get real”… spending an hour or two of electronic/soldering/et. al. modification - OR MORE - on on an inexpensive flashlight negates the connotation of “budget”, and spending inordinate amount of words/posts on the “threading” seems to be vacuous.

If you want to immediately spam/criticize my post, there’s no need to read further and you can start merely typing your vitriolic words. For others, I wish that you should read further…

During the last seven days and six long nights, my elderly mother in SE Pennsylvania (and I traveling from Indiana 700+ miles by car to be with her before the hurricane) - a time when we and her neighbors were without electrical power and heat… thank the heavens that we still had shelter, a roof over our heads, though our comfort was literally tetering since the pole fire from Monday Night’s Sandy:

Though I had a reserve of primary AA/AAA batteries for my two winter mountaineering headlamps, the 4(four) 123 primaries used with the Mini proved to be saviors and we relied on the two BLF Mini’s

Now - having our power, and intermittent internet access restored - I was looking forward to read the reviews of the “Mini”. I was met with many laments, including comments regarding the tint of the LED:

I can RESOLUTELY state that,

1. When one is looking for the bathroom (and toilet paper) or the outside door to grab a smoke, the tint of the LED was the LEAST of our concerns;

2. The lowest setting proved to be immeasurably enjoyable when aimed at the ceiling for extended periods of darkness (the two primaries still possess some luminance even on medium even after these long nights - many, many dozens of hours);

3. Both of the two lights received have the observed low “pre-flash”… lubing the threads with silicone dielectric (found down in my mom’s shed, a very old BLUE STREAK LUBRICAM for my deceased father’s even longer deceased ’72 Olds Delta’s distributor cam - anyone remember “points” here?) eliminated this in the first day of power failure but - even with this - “what’s the big deal with the tint?”.

“What’s the big deal with the tint?”

Well, I guess after one buys a “budget” light for a few bucks (in this case roughly $30 for two) shipped from China, and then has to spend several hours “modifying” the light to get the tint or the throw of the light “just right” (“can the green ring be removed”)… well, I guess then we’ve ALL lost sight of what “budget” is about, and what a flashlight - in its most important circumstances - is all about.

This light kept my aged mother hearty,

God Speed, and may you and your loved ones be warm and with most abundant light…

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I to went face to face with Sandy. Our electric was restored yesterday and everyone is safe. On the evening of Sandy's visit to NYC/NJ immediately after she was done and all power was down. About 3am i went for my Apex and X6, both with considerable modification. Pitch black and sirens blasting i made my way to a downed oak tree about the length of a football field. The fireman that were on sight commented on the two lights in hand. The fireman that came over to look at what was flooding our entire area with light asked where he could purchase them. I told him how and the fact they were modified and he more or less wanted them ASAP. He asked to buy them and rather than give him sticker shock i sold them both with batteries and charger for the cost of 4 Panasonic 3400mah cells. And unconditional life time repair. Back home my stock out the box SRking on low mode was all the light we needed for the remainder of one crazy evening. And was put to very good use. Now you have your reasons and this maybe not be your hobby or passion. Whatever that is no one will knock you. I don't get too crazy about tint myself but BLF and modding only to extract every bit of performance is one in itself. Im sorry you dont see it this way but it doesn't really matter? You came here looking for answers and i hope you satisfied whatever curiosity compelled you at that time. Leave the solder iron and modding for the bright folks we have here. I assure you they wont knock you for your lack of curiosity,

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Thx for sharing the experience Flash.light.

I understand that in such a stressfull situation tint would not matter much, thankfully most of the use of flashlight we make is in more relaxed situations were little things such as a good tint can add to our comfort.

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You’ve got a point there feller!!, I suppose that when you are up to your ass in alligators, tint is the LEAST of your problems, lol.

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First off, I am glad to hear that none of your family was harmed during the storm and that the light worked well for you (finding TP in the dark is never a fun thing……)

I agree with you on “What is the big deal about tint?”
I’m not picky and I take these lights for what they are, in the future I might modify them but that is a ways down the road.

While yes, it may seem to some as crazy to spend so much time on these cheap (cost) lights, you must remember that this is a hobby and many people who modify their lights get enjoyment from attempting and being successful in modifying their lights. They do not see spending time on them as a negation of “budget” as the labor is free and they are doing what makes them happy in their hobby.

It is true for some that a flashlight is meant to be used as such, but in this community they are more than that…. and as being part of that community you should know.

It is not about the light itself, it is about the hobby! To each their own (no sense in putting those down who modify their lights) and to those who do mod their lights, keep it up!

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Glad you are safe with power and internet. Not sure why BLF Mini’s with green tint, did you guys order a special tint or something? Anyways Mine is the regular Trustfire Mini and it’s fine.

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You are a very generous man who has his priorities straight. Thumbs up from me.
Edit: I don’t even think he knew you just gave him over $200 worth of equipment for around $50.

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Personally I never expext a light to come in a way that I don't want/have to do work on it. I have had 100 dollar Surefires with crappy LEDs and 2 dollars trustfires with the same problem. I enjoy doing it as a hobbyist.

+1, that is amazingly generous. I don't think I could have stood to do that myself.

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It's amazing how quickly one's priorities can change. I think many here would ignore the (fairly minor) critiques of a light if placed in your shoes. Any port in a storm, and any light in a blackout, IMO.

I hope you and yours continue to remain safe.

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So somewhere on this BLF forum there’s this guy that buys 15 of the same flashlights at a time and there’s another that gives them out basically for free? Talk about converting people into flashaholics!

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Flash.light,

Glad to hear everything went well. I have family in NJ who just got their power back over the weekend (literally, one member got it back friday, one saturday and one sunday).

However, to your point about modding budget lights, and this is not a criticism, only an observation and an explanation, of sorts. I do not have the know-how to do so myself, so I try to get the closest item that matches my wants/needs. But, I think it makes much more sense to mod a $15 flashlight than a $90 flashlight. Granted, if you have a crappy quality host, you could build a great flooder or thrower that is far above anything you can buy, including those costing triple digits, however, it will still look like crap on the outside, so that is why a lot of people post about the quality of the host when they post reviews. Of course, if you start with a good quality host and put your skills to work to fashion your dream light, then you would have a light that looks nice and performs exactly the way you want it to. The best way to think of these budget lights are they are kits, especially since not everyone has metal working equipment to make their own hosts, budget lights allow tinkerers to take an existing host and make their dream flashlight.

Anyway, that is how I see it. There’s enough room for you and me, non-modders as well as the modders. :bigsmile: (need a thumbs up emoticon)

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Nice post!

I would also agree, that in total darkness a Low-Low is a really nice feature.

In a long black-out, runtime is ESSENTIAL feature, no matter the size, battery, power, tint or other features of light. Runtime will be No:1.

We are just snobs on flashlights, we hunt for the perfect one that does not exist.

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of the same flashlights at a time…………….”

I highly resemble that accurate and somewhat disturbing remark. :open_mouth:

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@Flash.light - I'm happy to hear that you and your mother are safe after the storm. I'm also thrilled that you appreciated the BLF Mini for what it is, a tremendously versatile budget flashlight. Only the BLF custom modded version could have given you those many hours of light from just one CR123 cell.

That leads me to why many of us enjoy modding our budget lights. A stock mini-01 could not have run in as low a mode nor given as much run time. In the absence of such a custom modded light, we modders enjoy making silk purses from sow's ears. To us it's the whole point of our hobby and what makes us flashlight enthusiasts instead of merely users. Not all of us are able to, nor care to, mod flashlights to make something better than it started as or unavailable anywhere on the market at any price, and that's perfectly fine with all of us here. I can tell that you are new here simply because you expected us to respond like CPF users might have, with vitriol and hatred, and no one has. I'm sure now that you will appreciate even more what a wonderful family we have here. ;)

@DarkSide - what an incredibly selfless thing you did! Like Scaru, I'm not sure I could have done the same, and I doubt that fireman will realize what an incredibly generous thing you did for him. May he have many, many hours of use from them and help many people. Folks like you are too rare and far between. May Spirit return your generosity seven fold.

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^^ This! Exactly the reason I like the BLF MINI.

Fully agree.

@DarkSide: Please let us help / participate in this generous act! Just give your PayPal address and we'll collect you some money to buy new ones.. :)

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Glad to hear you and your loved ones made it through Sandy well, and your flashlights worked well during the extended power outage.

When these events occur only every 10 or 20 years, it’s hard to know how to best prepare. Make sure you have ample food and water and emergency backup heating to stay warm. Power outage lighting is important whether candles, lanterns and/or flashlights.

If you knew that you would face this situation again in the near future, (say a nor’easter was on it’s way to blanket the power lines in ice…) what would you do differently to be better prepared and able to ride it out a bit more comfortably? There is an important opportunity to learn from the experience.

I generally count on at least one extended power outage per season during winter storm months. Some years we have none and other times we have multiple storms with outages lasting for days.

An emergency lighting kit that provides warm comfortable even light to essentail living areas like the kitchen counter, dining table, reading lights, bathrooms and halls, can really help to relieve eye strain, stress, and fatigue in an already stressful situation. A small measure of comfort can go a long way. The warm even light of a Nichia 219 mule light over the table helps to ease edgy nerves so much better than a spotty dim blue/purple flashlight.
Hard to image until you live with it for many hours .

This ‘hobby’ for me has grown out of the need to be better prepared for extended power outages.

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Do you torch guys over there ever use candles? 8)

(I know this question could be considered by some here as blasphemous in this day and age of low-low to moonlight-low LED enlightenment, but even here in no-hurricane CA I still buy em’ in bulk when they’re cheap.) H)

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“We are just snobs on flashlights, we hunt for the perfect one that does not exist.”

Of course it exists!!, but like the holy grail, it’s slightly difficult to find, hehehe

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Well said JM… :beer:

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My wife loves 'em . I'll bet we have more than a hundred of the damn things . I have finally convinced her that all of the scented ones be the same scent . Otherwise , when she lights 'em all over the place it's total scent confusion . She and I have compromised on vanilla scented candles .

I actually prefer candlelight to tailstanding flashlights for lighting up a room . Of course , for close-up tasks , we use flashlights and / or headlamps .