Which flashlight do you like best in China? As a Chinese person, I really want to know

ToyKeeper · 2023-10-28T10:24:13.643Z

吴名氏:

Anduril … He sounds like a legend, maybe many people know him, but few people come into contact with him.

Hello. You have now come into contact with him. I made Anduril. But I’m a her, not a him.

吴名氏:

The flashlight works just like a computer.

You are not wrong. It has a multitasking operating system like a computer, called “FSM”. It also runs an application like a computer, called “Anduril”. And the user can install their own software if they want, including frequent updates or the user’s own custom code.

There are other applications available too, so the user can give their flashlight an Olight interface or a Zebralight interface if they want, or other interface styles. This has not been a popular choice though, so those other applications are not well maintained.

吴名氏:

Can’t the manufacturer Lock after adjusting the settings before selling it?

The manufacturer can do that, and it is how things work by default in Anduril 2, which came out 3 years ago. It ships in a “Simple UI” mode where the settings are locked and the interface has only basic functions. The user cannot access anything complicated unless they switch to advanced mode.

In Simple UI, the user can do only a few things:

Click: on / off
Hold: change brightness
2 clicks: turbo
3 clicks: battery check
4 clicks: lock or unlock
10 clicks and hold the final press: switch to advanced mode

However, a few manufacturers have asked for Simple UI to be less simple. They asked for more settings and modes in Simple UI, so users can do more without using advanced mode. When the manufacturer chooses that, even the simple mode has more features than most other flashlight interfaces.

吴名氏:

there are not many people playing flashlights, so there is not much development.

Development is not as fast as I would like, but it has had 144 new revisions so far this year, including a major code refactor and many new features.

吴名氏:

The Anduril UI does not play a decisive role in prompting them to purchase flashlights. … They will even recommend many brands with poor reputation or proven to be stupid. … deceptive videos …

That is true in the west, too. Look at any big market, like Amazon for example. Most flashlights there do not have Anduril, and most buyers have no idea it exists. People there spend $80 on cheap clone zoomie lights which can be purchased for $4 in China, along with a “9900 mAh 18650” battery which is actually only 500 mAh, with an angry blue 8000K to 10000K color temperature LED. And they think they have gotten a great deal on a high quality light. Then they post reviews about how bright it is, and they think it makes 5000 lumens when it is really only 500.

It is unfortunate, but that is normal for a big market with average people. However, the user is happy with their purchase, so it does not really matter that they could have gotten something better for less money if they had spent the time to learn more first. Even cheap flashlights now are better than a top tier flashlight from a few decades ago.

But most people just use their phone if they need light. And that is okay. It may seem like blasphemy around here, but it does not matter what we think. The phone user gets what they need and they are happy, so there is no problem.

gravelmonkey · 2023-10-28T13:05:40.464Z

吴名氏:

Imalent…the most capable manufacturer of malfunctions

This made me laugh.

In English, the name sounds similar to the word immolate - meaning kill or destroy by fire. The joke is made on these forums occasionally.

Fedos · 2023-10-28T13:41:48.002Z

Some very interesting details here. Kinda surprising. Since I order from China I wouldn’t think the prices for some products could be more expensive there.

I have:
Sofirn SP33 V3
BLF A6
Nitecore UT25

I am satisfied with all of them although SP33 V3 isn’t the best version of this model.

wolfgirl42 · 2023-10-28T14:10:25.326Z

吴名氏:

The main user group of xhs is women. I don’t think there is much practical content about flashlight on xhs. They will even recommend many brands with poor reputation or proven to be stupid.

That’s different then. Over here, there are a reasonable number of non-men - myself and ToyKeeper to start with, although still a minority, I do know of a few more who aren’t public about it.

吴名氏:

He sounds like a legend, maybe many people know him, but few people come into contact with him. Perhaps this is why these brands choose overseas markets.

Well, if you go looking, you’re sure to find it. I think you’ll be surprised if you’re expecting it to be complicated, by default it ships in a “simple UI” mode where most of the advanced settings are locked to widely-accepted defaults and most config menus aren’t accessible. Personally, I only ever use it if I was to hand the light to someone else, but I know some people leave the light in simple mode most of the time.

吴名氏:

What do you think of nextorch flashlights? This brand is usually adopted by police departments in Chin

Known but not hugely popular, but I’ve not really seen people be critical of them, they seem well designed for their purpose. I don’t have any yet but I guess it’s on the list of ones to get if there’s a good deal (according to my spreadsheet, I currently own lights from 28 different brands). A lot of police around here like surefire (not bad objectively as lights, but very overpriced due to “Made in the USA!” marketing) and streamlight, but it’s also variable and you;ll also find things like maglite, cheap zoomies, LEDlenser, and even budget enthusiast brands like Sofirn and Wurkkos.

What’s your opinion of Mateminco? I know they sell both domestically in China and to the west.

Is Olight known in China at all?

吴名氏 · 2023-10-28T15:19:47.564Z

It’s a great honor. Being able to meet you surprised me to some extent. Can you disclose what new features have been added in the recent updates? I have noticed that many people have the following opinions:

There is a bug in temperature control, and when you turn on the flashlight, it will directly downshift or not downshift at all.
Can you add a display screen to display the current status, or add a Bluetooth connection to the phone.
Frequent crashes when the voltage is low.
It is too complex and it takes a long time to fully master.

吴名氏 · 2023-10-28T15:25:58.649Z

Thank you. I hope you have a pleasant time

吴名氏 · 2023-10-28T15:27:20.301Z

This may be common due to the sales strategies of different merchants

吴名氏 · 2023-10-28T15:45:06.460Z

Unexpectedly, the Anduril UI has already reached its third version, and most people are still using the first and second versions. We didn’t know there was already a third version, including me

wolfgirl42 · 2023-10-28T15:50:21.477Z

It’s more of a refactor than a complete rewrite, and the goal is to make the changes mostly invisible to the user, e.g. all the button mappings stayed the same if you only have a single channel, just some additional ones if a light has multiple, and most of the other improvements are internal (smoother ramps, better voltage measurement, bug fixes, etc.).

吴名氏 · 2023-10-28T15:54:38.969Z

I have no intention of associating gender with anything else, just stating the facts.

If a flashlight has this feature, people will definitely use it. They will not be satisfied with a simple UI, but will try to continue exploring.

The main impression given to me by nextarch is that it is sturdy and reliable enough, which may be the reason for the official department’s bulk procurement and long-term cooperation.

ToyKeeper · 2023-10-28T15:56:49.883Z

吴名氏:

Anduril UI has already reached its third version

Anduril 2 is the most recent version. Anduril 3 does not exist.

吴名氏:

Can you disclose what new features have been added in the recent updates?

The code and its history are public. I don’t have a friendly change log yet, but the revision history is available:

https://bazaar.launchpad.net/~toykeeper/flashlight-firmware/multi-channel/changes

I plan to move development to github soon and add an easier change log… but for now, things are still on Launchpad.

吴名氏:

There is a bug in temperature control, and when you turn on the flashlight, it will directly downshift or not downshift at all.

…

Frequent crashes when the voltage is low.

If there is a bug, I will need more information:

Brand name, product name, and hardware flavor
What is the software version? (what does the Version Check function blink out?)
What are the user’s config settings?
Detailed description of the problem:
- What did the user do, step by step?
- What result did they expect?
- What happened instead?

吴名氏:

Can you add a display screen to display the current status, or add a Bluetooth connection to the phone.

No, I cannot. That is a hardware feature, and I can only change the software.

A built in screen requires a complete hardware re-design including a much bigger and more expensive MCU chip. This, in turn, requires rewriting all of the software from scratch. It makes hardware difficult too, because it needs a place to put a screen and it needs new types of waterproofing.
Bluetooth is easier but still requires new hardware, and a new MCU chip with radio features. This requires rewriting the software, and it also requires writing a few new applications for Android, iOS, Windows, OSX, and Linux.

Anduril uses Atmel AVR chips right now, which are about $1 each and 3x3mm in size. If a screen or bluetooth are added, it would probably need to use something like STM32L4, which is about $10 each and … I forget, about 7x7mm in size maybe? It is much more difficult to fit into a small device.

Screens and phones add a lot of complexity and new ways to fail, for both hardware and software.

However, there are efforts in progress to make an easy web site for people to customize the firmware in a web browser. Then it builds a custom firmware just for you, with your personal settings baked in, and you can install the firmware with a simple USB adapter. This works with most existing Anduril flashlights, and the web site already has a working prototype.

吴名氏 · 2023-10-28T16:02:45.227Z

Olight is a first tier brand in China, while Mateminco is a second tier brand in China. They are both well-known, but I find it difficult to give a subjective opinion because I have not purchased their products, which is beyond my knowledge. There are many people who choose Olight, and their store also has a lot of products. In contrast, Mateminco’s stores are relatively deserted.

wolfgirl42 · 2023-10-28T16:12:23.653Z

ToyKeeper:

A built in screen requires a complete hardware re-design including a much bigger and more expensive MCU chip. This, in turn, requires rewriting all of the software from scratch. It makes hardware difficult too, because it needs a place to put a screen and it needs new types of waterproofing.

Theoretically it could be done over i2c without much additional code size (definitely shouldn’t be a problem if moving to the t3216 for RGB models), but the main problem would just be sourcing an appropriate display and getting manufacturers to adopt it (and explaining exactly what the requirements are in terms of which displays they can use). A simple 1 line display would certainly be useful - my immediate thought would be for ramp mode, to show ramp level and battery, e.g. with a 12 char display you could have 069/150 3.8V (maybe voltage alternating with temperature?), then for things like config menus, it would display what item was being configured (e.g. for 9H from off, RAMP STEPS, JUMPSTRT LVL on the appropriate menu items), and when switching channels, displaying the channel name for a few seconds (CH1, CH2, BOTH, BLEND, AUTO, etc). Could make battery check configurable between “blink LEDs only”, “display only”, and “both” too, for example. Would be nice to work on one day. Would also be possible to have a language setting or language firmware versions maybe, so non-english-speakers get it becoming somewhat selfdocumenting.

Bluetooth is definitely harder though, and would probably need a dedicated bluetooth chipset (although communication between the two could probably be accomplished by i2c again), but one the main problems with bluetooth is signal - a conductive metal body that is also the battery negative means it would need some form of external antenna to work.

吴名氏:

Olight is a first tier brand in China, while Mateminco is a second tier brand in China. They are both well-known, but I find it difficult to give a subjective opinion because I have not purchased their products, which is beyond my knowledge. There are many people who choose Olight, and their store also has a lot of products. In contrast, Mateminco’s stores are relatively deserted.

Heh, surprising. Olight is somewhat of a “gateway brand” here - most enthusiasts don’t like them much (primarily due to proprietary batteries and charging, but also their choice of LEDs), but since they are heavily marketed, if a non-enthusiast has heard of an enthusiast-adjacent brand it’s generally one of the heavily marketed ones, most often olight.

A lot of Astrolux lights are made by Mateminco, but some have been made by others as well ( I know Sofirn is one).

What about Wuben and Lumintop? Do they sell their lights in china? They’re also both OEMs for various other brands who contract out their manufacturing.

吴名氏:

I have no intention of associating gender with anything else, just stating the facts.

I understand, just interested if, as it did seem like you implied, non-male enthusiasts are rarer over there. Although I don’t really know much about chinese internet demographics in general specifically, I guess.

吴名氏 · 2023-10-28T16:13:15.779Z

Sorry, the translation caused me an error. The translation software showed me ‘and it is how things work by default in Anduril 3, which cause out 2 years ago.’

吴名氏 · 2023-10-28T16:21:02.859Z

Thank you very much for your answer.I can collect information about these issues, but it will take some time. Is it necessary for me to post a post soliciting fault issues on domestic forums?

wolfgirl42 · 2023-10-28T16:23:32.492Z

吴名氏:

Thank you very much for your answer.I can collect information about these issues, but it will take some time. Is it necessary for me to post a post soliciting fault issues on domestic forums?

It’s more than ok, it’s encouraged. In general, open source developers want community engagement and feedback. Different people use software in different ways, no one person can find every bug or usability issues, especially since with the nature of anduril, some bugs only appear on specific hardware.

ToyKeeper · 2023-10-28T16:30:44.701Z

wolfgirl42:

ToyKeeper:

A built in screen

Theoretically it could be done over i2c without much additional code size

Neat, I always forget about i2c. It sounds like a screen is much more feasible than I assumed. If a display can accept simple ascii data and display text, it would be much easier to implement.

吴名氏 · 2023-10-28T16:41:48.127Z

Very consistent, we also dislike Olight’s viral marketing, which is highly controversial. Regarding Wuben, many of their lights are very distinctive, such as X1, X3, A1, and look exquisite. My friends and I really like this brand. Lumintop, on the other hand, is the opposite. My friends and I both avoided this brand because their lights were too ugly (is that a reason?)

吴名氏 · 2023-10-28T16:44:39.318Z

Wuben and Lumintop certainly sell lights in China, and A1 and GT94X are often compared

吴名氏 · 2023-10-28T17:04:56.309Z

In China, flashlight enthusiasts refer to each other as “筒友”, meaning “tube friends”. In Chinese, flashlights are composed of three characters, namely “hand”, “electricity”, and “tube”. So far, I have never seen a female tube friend.