LED flashlight enthusiasm seems to be waning

[StarHalo]

It was more fun when they were in cereal boxes..

 

[ssanasisredna]

It is like desktops/personal computers and we are even getting close on phones. We are at the "good enough" point for the vast majority of applications. We don't need brighter, the run times are good enough, the light quality is good .... and all can be accomplished mass production inexpensively. The magic is gone.

 

[idleprocess]

It is like desktops/personal computers and we are even getting close on phones. We are at the "good enough" point for the vast majority of applications. We don't need brighter, the run times are good enough, the light quality is good .... and all can be accomplished mass production inexpensively. The magic is gone.

Yup. It's largely down to learning effects in production and other efficiency-wringing techniques. The advances from the lab will decline and off-the-shelf integration methods are now widely-available for almost everyone. 'Tis the nature of commercialization of almost anything mass-produced.

 

[recDNA]

I miss the days when 4sevens were all the rage and it seemed they would build whatever we wanted. Neutral? Sure! Latest led? Of course. Titanium for $89? Why not! Super bright keychain light? We'll give you one cheap! Those were the days.

 

[bykfixer]

All my older friends, family and coworkers say "there's no more good music" as they tap their toes to a tune they've never heard before by a band they've never heard of coming from my speakers.

Same goes for flashlights. It is not unusual to hear "holy crap, what brand is that?" when I pull out one of my EDC's. Like I said before, the gems are still out there, ya just gotta look a little harder and go to different places to find them.

Recently I was asked to be a paid reviewer with payment for photos as well as comments. I declined. Not going to join the fray and pretend that mediocre is great, nor bring a few great ones into the limelight with a buy it now at amazon button. I was also asked to showcase a few mediocre performing, so-called tacticool numbers at my store. Again I declined.

My enthusiasm has waned some... but that just means I'm less likely to purchase pyrite instead of gold.

 

[mbw_151]

I got really interested in flashlights and LEDs in 2000, 3 x 5mm MiniMag conversions were the state of the art. Change happened fast, outputs went up, runtime went up, color improved, Lion cells became the power of choice and UI's became diverse (some improved). These all continue to change but more slowly now. I've found things that meet my needs very well and can't justify tiny increments of "improvement" at great cost. So what if my HDS only does 120 lumens? I've programmed it to fit my needs, a cell lasts months and I love the tint. Other lights have been improved, but I don't feel the improvements are worth the cost, Minimus Vision to Minimus MV for example. I keep looking, but the buying has slowed.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I got really interested in flashlights and LEDs in 2000, 3 x 5mm MiniMag conversions were the state of the art. Change happened fast, outputs went up, runtime went up, color improved, Lion cells became the power of choice and UI's became diverse (some improved). These all continue to change but more slowly now. I've found things that meet my needs very well and can't justify tiny increments of "improvement" at great cost. So what if my HDS only does 120 lumens? I've programmed it to fit my needs, a cell lasts months and I love the tint. Other lights have been improved, but I don't feel the improvements are worth the cost, Minimus Vision to Minimus MV for example. I keep looking, but the buying has slowed.

I agree in that 120 lumens is enough for a lot of uses these days and decent emitters can do 500 lumens are available with LEDs getting more efficient and higher output beyond what is normally needed. I think without a breakthrough in battery technology we have the problem of not enough power to adequately harness the LEDs available.

 

[orbital]

+

I remember the near hysteria over this light 10 years ago, cult item now I guess:bow:

 

[wjv]

You didn't see many LED flashlights in local stores when I joined CPF in 2005. Most non-CPFers were still using incandescents.

LED lights were rare and held an allure, especially for gadget and technology fans.

And the people who buy the 20,000 lumen AtomicFire SuperBeam (with technology used by the special forces) flashlight for $19.95, think that their light is way superior to your wimpy Fenix/Olight/Nitecore that ONLY puts out 2,000 lumens. . . .

With no regard to:
- tint
- run time
- beam quality
- durability
- reliability
- no PMW
- other features

 

[idleprocess]

And the people who buy the 20,000 lumen AtomicFire SuperBeam (with technology used by the special forces) flashlight for $19.95, think that their light is way superior to your wimpy Fenix/Olight/Nitecore that ONLY puts out 2,000 lumens. . . .

With no regard to:
- reality

FTFY

Simplistically, smash the efficiency limits of best-of-class LEDs against the power-delivery limits of AAA alkaline cells and you arrive at best-possible lumens:

• Assuming you get fresh-from-the-lab bleeding-edge LEDs, you might realize 200 lm/W. It might help to supercool them and run them for brief periods of time - no more than a few milliseconds - to realize this level of performance.
• Alkaline AAA cells are apt to perhaps deliver 700mA @ 1.25 nominal volts = 875mW per call or 2.625W for the usual 3x AAA arrangement. This is of course a peak value, with sustained delivery of perhaps half that current and likely at < 1.25V. NiMH or Lithium AAAs might be a better choice - you're going to need all the wheaties you can get - NiMH won't sag the voltage so bad and will deliver more current; Lithium will have a higher nominal voltage and perhaps deliver more current yet.
• If we deliver 100% of the optimal AAA pack energy to the LED(s) - which experience no thermal sag whatsoever and realize their advertised performance - and there is zero optical loss the miraculous Quantum Atomic Ultra Iron Oxide Plus Beam™ will deliver 525 lumens. Briefly.
• A somewhat more exotic arrangement that uses the AAAs to charge a supercap could perhaps realize a larger percentage of the nebulous advertised lumens for seconds at a time ... with minutes of downtime. But at our As Seen on TV™ pricing being perhaps $19.95 and marketing costs being easily more than 75% of their cost structure, I have difficulty envisioning room in the budget for such engineering miracles when the principal avenue of innovation seems to be their knack for promotion.

20,000 / 525 (we'll re-rate to 500 for simplicity's sake) is a whopping factor-40 spread. I'm not sure that the eBay Lumen Inflation Factor has reached that level just yet despite the miraculous capabilities of the much-beloved CREE XML-T6.

 

[LEDAdd1ct]

My enthusiasm has waned some... but that just means I'm less likely to purchase pyrite instead of gold.

Bingo!

I seldom purchase new lights. When I do, a lot of time and thought goes into asking the modder to get it/them "just right."

I joined this forum a decade ago after lurking for some time before that, and still lurk much more often than post.

I still enjoy my lights. I still have hosts waiting for future projects.

But I recently liquidated over $600.00 worth of lights, including some customs that were very pricey and took a long time to plan/build/acquire, because I just didn't need them, and did need the physical and mental space they were taking up.

Tangibles have a penalty in our mind, and while I may never reach true minimalism, it is something I can always aspire towards and admire, even if from afar.

 

[bykfixer]

Bingo!

I seldom purchase new lights. When I do, a lot of time and thought goes into asking the modder to get it/them "just right."

Tangibles have a penalty in our mind, and while I may never reach true minimalism, it is something I can always aspire towards and admire, even if from afar.

Wanna really achieve minimalism? Really really true minimalism?...
Marry a high priced divorce lawyers secretary then let her catch you fooling around on her.....,
Works every time.

Just added two more lights to the collection that'll live on the mantel in my den.

 

[Woods Walker]

The solution to waning interest is to use the gear.

 

[Vesper]

It has waned for me as led lighting has become the norm, and 2 packs of "900 lumen" lights line the isles of Costco. I still keep an eye out for the ideal light for me but the thrill has somewhat moved on.

 

[terjee]

The high quality, high performance LED lights were really disruptive, revolutionary more than evolutionary. They filled a gap that really needed filling, and a lot of people needed or "needed" several lights. Getting the right model took some work, there wasn't an abundance of good enough lights, and when the revolution started, not all good lights were good enough. The work required to find one of those good enough lights generated forum traffic, etc.

Now though, those seriously interested - flashaholics or not - already have several lights. The need to do research has gone down, and the time for the masses to go from none to several lights has been spent.

Key point is that interest isn't really waning as such, it's more a matter stabilizing, as the initial revolution has peaked, and it's more evolutionary at this point. I don't think many that were seriously interested has lost interest, they've just gotten to the point that they've gone from none to several lights that are good enough.

Take me for example. I had zero good enough lights. I needed headlamp, EDC, thrower, balanced, and immediate family is 3 people, all of which needed most of those. That's a lot of light. Then there's the larger family, a lot of whom needed gifts.

When I started, I needed to build up an inventory of perhaps 10-15 lights in total. Now that's done, so offcourse the need for me to trawl for those lights has gone down. There interest is there as much as when I started, there's just less work to be done. Now it's more a matter of doing the occasional upgrade, replacing failed or gifted lights, and trying to be useful to others. But those "others" are often in the same situation as me, having some lights already.

So interest isn't really waning, activity has just stabilized. There's less need to get good lights (already having some), and easier to get "good enough" lights.

 

[LEDAdd1ct]

@terjee, I like your answer a lot!

I agree with it 100%.

 

[reppans]

Still love flashlights but lost interest in new lights. Only 'new' lights I've bought in the past year or so were clearance sales of my already existing favorites, as gifts and back-ups, around two dozen.

I'm an ultralight camper, minimalist, and survivalist and am into a very specific set of low lumens (to maintain night vision) with exceptional runtime, battery efficiency, and versatility. Seems to be a rather rare niche among most flashlight enthusiasts.

I'm quite flexible on budget (for function over form), but the last dozen or so new quality light purchases have been disappointing - mostly electronic clicky issues and low lows spec exaggeration by multiples. So the continuing trend toward electronic clickies and higher outputs (which tends to sacrifice low mode spacing) does not bid well for my interests. Fair enough - manufacturers need to cater to the greater market, and I've got my flashlight stash for many years to come.

 

[eh4]

Something similar happened a long time ago with light sabers, once they were perfected in practical terms.

 

[scs]

Meanwhile my frustration with new lights, which in my opinion are not better than their recent predecessors, is growing.

 

[harro]

Meanwhile my frustration with new lights, which in my opinion are not better than their recent predecessors, is growing.

This sentence says it all. ' RECENT PREDECESSORS '. With the way cutting edge tech is at the moment, that WOW light may only come along once or twice a year. We seem to be heading into the twilight phase of development for the current crop of available LED's. You know the thing, stick in multiple leds and hope the consumer doesn't notice too much that its power and output is coming from that, rather than one LED that's driven to its pretty much maximum capability.

Eventually, things will turn around as usual, and we will all be in awe yet again.