HDS Systems EDC # 16

[PaleBlueDot]

well looks like my 200 clicky came in today, back in the states, i ordered it 16 june, and it came in 30 july. cant wait to hold it.

I ordered mine the exact same date you did. Henry said it will be at least two months still for my light... 200 clicky as well, in tactical. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[Ways]

Between the rotary and the clicky, apart from the rotary user interface and the clicky's support for the clip. Any other differene?

If the rotary can do all the clicky can, why would anyone still get the clicky?

Thanks.

I have a clicky and i love it, i also have a Hi Cri rotary on order and will love that too and it will undoubtedly be my edc of choice. However when i am going fishing / camping / to the beach or doing any activity where there is a good chance of getting wet / muddy / sandy etc i will take the clicky as i feel (whether correctly or not) that the rotary selector ring makes the light less resistant to the elements.

 

[derfyled]

I have a clicky and i love it, i also have a Hi Cri rotary on order and will love that too and it will undoubtedly be my edc of choice. However when i am going fishing / camping / to the beach or doing any activity where there is a good chance of getting wet / muddy / sandy etc i will take the clicky as i feel (whether correctly or not) that the rotary selector ring makes the light less resistant to the elements.

Excellent explanation.


For my self:

Everyday carry: Rotary
Camping and hiking: Clicky
Caving and other extreme environment:Twisty

The 3 lights could fit the bills for any of these activities but the least complicated light = less chances of being left in the dark.

 

[Snareman]

Excellent explanation.


For my self:

Everyday carry: Rotary
Camping and hiking: Clicky
Caving and other extreme environment:Twisty

The 3 lights could fit the bills for any of these activities but the least complicated light = less chances of being left in the dark.

What is a twisty vs rotary?

 

[Quiksilver]

What is a twisty vs rotary?

Twisty functions the same as a 'tailcap click' light, except the tailcap twists instead of clicks. The benefit is usually no rubber endcap which is susceptible to deterioration. Twisty is theoretically more durable as a result of less endcap components.

Rotary is entirely different, and I think theres actually some magic involved cause i just cant figure it out.

 

[Snareman]

Twisty functions the same as a 'tailcap click' light, except the tailcap twists instead of clicks. The benefit is usually no rubber endcap which is susceptible to deterioration. Twisty is theoretically more durable as a result of less endcap components.

Rotary is entirely different, and I think theres actually some magic involved cause i just cant figure it out.

Who makes the twisty?

 

[Quiksilver]

I have a 200 clicky on order and wonder if i should get the rotary instead.

I have a v10r and i dont like the ring as i always fumbling between the switch and the ring. But the hds rotary ring is at the back and one will be able to click and rotate nocely with one hand. And i also just found out the rotary have the same double-click, triple-click ui similar to the clicky so can always hide the rotary brightness settings?

Any other thoughts to help me decide?

Thanks.

Rotary is extremely useful for being able to select different lumen level before activation.

Clicky/Twisty has extremely superior runtime at low-lumen levels.



And, I'd carry the Rotary alot more if it had a pocket clip (or at least capacity to add an aftermarket clip.

 

[Quiksilver]

Who makes the twisty?

HDS Systems makes all three; Rotary, Clicky, Twisty.

http://www.hdssystems.com/?id=EdcTwisty

 

[Snareman]

Rotary is extremely useful for being able to select different lumen level before activation.

Clicky/Twisty has extremely superior runtime at low-lumen levels.



And, I'd carry the Rotary alot more if it had a pocket clip (or at least capacity to add an aftermarket clip.

I agree on the pocket clip. Check out my video review. I have a Fenix PD20 pocket on there and it actually works pretty well until Henry comes out with one. I can't make it start right at that part in the vid, but jump to 13:30 to see it.

 

[HighLumens]

I want to get your all's hopes up.
Today in the mail I received my high CRI Rotary.
It was ordered in November, but as we've learned, the Rotary parts were bottlenecked while the Clickies have been flowing. Hopefully the Rotaries are moving now...
I'm kinda in shock, this is a wonderful light. Looks like the HCRI is a real neutral, maybe 5000-6000K to make a guess comparing afternoon sunlight.
More later.

Thank you Imon, based on the pictures in your link it appears to be XPG, I can faintly make out a 4x4 grid in the emitter, green square body and two solder? dots along one side.

eh4,
since you tought you had an HiCri and instead it was a cool white, it seems that you got a very nice tint on your light, don't you? So nice to be confused with an HiCri. I hope all future HDS's will have nice tints.

 

[eh4]

Yes, it has been confirmed that I received a cool white rather than an hcri.
I am not color blind, but I was open to the idea that a higher color temperature hcri led had been located. The swap is in the mail as we speak, warranty service is immeasurably faster than waiting on supply line bottlenecks. ;-)

I thought that the cool white tint was very good, just amazingly bright and not returning red and brown tones as much as I wanted and imagined.
Frankly I'm ordering a cool white Clicky as soon as I can, cool/clicky and cri/rotary makes perfect sense to me.

 

[nbp]

Who makes the twisty?

Henry made the Twisty but it is now out of production unfortunately. It was a three stage progressive twisty mechanism. Twist for low, twist more for med, twist more for high.

 

[eh4]

Duplicate.

 

[eh4]

Never played with aTwisty, but finally getting to mess with a Rotary for a couple of days I see all of that utility in the current twist/rotary model. One 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock thumb sweep gave me most of the range from min to max. A small amount of sub lumen efficiency loss vs earlier designs has suddenly become a low priority to me with this light once I got to see what it could do.
Maybe someone will come up with a spare battery carrier that does double duty as a long running, sublumen joule thief, a perfect 'cake, and eat it too' compromise.

Momentary on, 10 minute shutdown and button lock, these seem well thought out and work perfectly. It could be useful for the 10 minute shutdown to have an easy.on/off like the button lock.
I liked the agro strobe too, plenty good and fast to see by while being no fun at all to try and look through.

Making 1/3 seconds the dividing line between a click and a press gives good flexibility between immediacy and ease of use.

I notice that with momentary enabled, 'momentary on' from 'off' was basically instantaneous.
Turning Rotary dial to full on and pressing momentary was almost indistinguishable from an incandecent direct drive.
Surely there must have been a millisecond or two delay that I didn't notice, but I didn't.

Contrast with when you switch modes with the light already on, discernable lag, maybe nearly a quarter second.

Anyhow, instant momentary full on from off is really nice any way you look at it.

 

[tobrien]

so the wait list appears to be more for rotaries right? not clickys?

 

[Imon]

so the wait list appears to be more for rotaries right? not clickys?

I think the rotaries have been trickling in - the real wait is for the high CRI lights.
There seems to have been one delivered to a member of this forum months ago and that was the last we heard of high CRI HDS lights.

 

[thaugen]

I have been on the HCRI Rotary and Clicky waiting list since Jan, but just purchased a new version HCRI Clicky in the marketplace.

 

[ElectronGuru]

I wonder how many dealer orders need to be filled before Henry begins filling all of his website orders?

Its mixed by chronology, not all one then all the other:

-individual
-individual
-individual
-individual
-dealer
-individual
-individual
-individual
-individual
-individual
-individual
-individual
-dealer
-individual
-individual
-individual
-individual
-individual
-individual
-dealer
-individual
-individual
-individual
-individual
-individual
-individual
​

Both have have already been shipped, both remain to be shipped

 

[fnj]

Clicky/Twisty has extremely superior runtime at low-lumen levels.

1) The twisty does not exist any more.

2) It is important to note that the current generation HDS lights do not have the same outstanding runtime at extremely low lumen settings as previous generations did. A circa 2004 vintage HDS was once tested at something over 40 days on the lowest continuous setting. Another one was tested in excess of ONE YEAR in locator beacon mode. The current clicky is only rated at 128 hours at 0.3 lumens. The rotary does not seem to be rated at all at 0.3 lumens, but I am sure I have seen the same 128 hour figure listed in the past. HDS lights are no longer what they used to be. They are substantially improved in some ways (though they were always superb in design, workmanship and performance compared to other lights of the same vintage), and they are dramatically poorer in at least one way: runtime at lowest setting.

 

[AnAppleSnail]

HDS lights are no longer what they used to be.

Quite true. I believe Henry has taken another page from the hypothetical Design for Manufacture handbook: Things that do the same thing should use the same parts. Especially if this gives economies of scale, or simplifies assembly. It seems (to me) to be quite unlikely that you will need light for more than 64 hours (average runtime assuming you run cells flat) without warning. I AM interested in an earlier post:

Maybe someone will come up with a spare battery carrier that does double duty as a long running, sublumen joule thief, a perfect 'cake, and eat it too' compromise.

I'll take on this project for my own uses. Honestly, holding a CR123A or an RCR123A gives you excellent advantages for making a dim battery holder. I would probably make it direct-drive across a coupla-kilo-ohm SMD resistor in one orientation, and feed a Joule Thief circuit the other way...so you flip the battery to make it brighter. No switch, only a threaded moving part, and low, predictable current draw in the first orientation.

Anyway, it's a trade-off, as all design is. Henry wants to hit his price point without subsidizing. I wonder if you could contact him and request the earlier setup at a higher cost?