Hogokansatsukan
Flashlight Enthusiast
Now, we all know HDS has a point of pride in being, what has been called "bomb proof" (I have yet to blow one up to see if it is true, but that is on my list). I certainly see several different lights out there claiming "Worlds toughest flashlight" blah blah blah, a title HDS doesn't, and won't claim, simply because how the heck do you quantify and test this? Just more marketing BS to sell lights with even less backing those those claims than typical lumen output or run time claims.
I used to figure... well, being potted makes it tough, but Henry has gone way beyond just potting. To me, any light that isn't so much as potted, is simply a toy to use around the house (of which I have far too many). Henry specifically engineers the electronics to withstand stupid amounts of G-forces. Not long ago, we were looking at different switches (just the tiny component part) and Henry was comparing weights of the switches. These things are tiny... they get mounted on a circuit board... soldered on then epoxied as well. I'm pretty much shaking my head thinking... huh? Henry explains it has to do with shear strength and the forces necessary to make the switch "fail" and goes on to compare about 50 different switches, narrowing it down to about 20, then dissecting these little switches under a microscope, then designing ways to shield them from electromagnetic interference... (I should think one would have bigger problems in an EMP than if one's flashlight is still working).
It just makes me wonder if any other company that claims "worlds toughest/strongest/most reliable flashlight" goes through 1/100th this much engineering. In 10 years, the end user of HDS lights has seen very little change in these lights simply because all the changes are internal where they can't be seen... and Henry has done a horrible job of explaining this to the end user... Great job engineering, horrible communicating these changes and the benefits of these changes... that no one sees... unless it is a software upgrade... and for every software upgrade, there were probably 2-3 hardware upgrades unknown to the end user... and that is continuing.
I used to figure... well, being potted makes it tough, but Henry has gone way beyond just potting. To me, any light that isn't so much as potted, is simply a toy to use around the house (of which I have far too many). Henry specifically engineers the electronics to withstand stupid amounts of G-forces. Not long ago, we were looking at different switches (just the tiny component part) and Henry was comparing weights of the switches. These things are tiny... they get mounted on a circuit board... soldered on then epoxied as well. I'm pretty much shaking my head thinking... huh? Henry explains it has to do with shear strength and the forces necessary to make the switch "fail" and goes on to compare about 50 different switches, narrowing it down to about 20, then dissecting these little switches under a microscope, then designing ways to shield them from electromagnetic interference... (I should think one would have bigger problems in an EMP than if one's flashlight is still working).
It just makes me wonder if any other company that claims "worlds toughest/strongest/most reliable flashlight" goes through 1/100th this much engineering. In 10 years, the end user of HDS lights has seen very little change in these lights simply because all the changes are internal where they can't be seen... and Henry has done a horrible job of explaining this to the end user... Great job engineering, horrible communicating these changes and the benefits of these changes... that no one sees... unless it is a software upgrade... and for every software upgrade, there were probably 2-3 hardware upgrades unknown to the end user... and that is continuing.