new flashoholics are so lucky.

[thermal guy]

Anyone else have to google SotA? Or am I just old?? 😁😁

 

[bykfixer]

What did you get with your search TG?
My search had anything from mountain summit radio geeks to diet sodas……
Between my iPhone keyboard trying to think for me and google trying to sell me stuff I just said "never mind".

 

[RetroTechie]

Anyone else have to google SotA? Or am I just old?? 

I'm also old, and also had to Google.

Most likely, as used & in this context: SotA = State of the Art

 

[Rob Babcock]

I'm 51 and SotA=State of the Art is certainly much older than me! Fun fact, one of the best turntables back when I was in HS was a SOTA Star Sapphire! Not that I could afford one, natch.

 

[Swedpat]

It's a shame in some ways too, because most people don't really appreciate how useful 20 lumens, or 120 lumens can be. I'm very glad I went 'back in time' with my collection, totally changed the way I approached buying and using lights.

So true! And in a way that is actually obvious when it comes to the development of flashlights. In the same time they have become brighter they also have become dimmer, when we take in consider the ultra low modes. For some tasks a fraction of a lumen is very useful and desirable. Which earlier was available only with very low batteries.
Now and then I take out and enjoy my Surefire 9P incan (runned by 2x18500). Or some of the Surefire LED Outdoorsmans. Dim compared to modern lights, but they have the same lumens today as earlier and are us useful today as they were earlier. For sure we today use far more lumens than we really need because it's fun. But it's also fun to use great flashlights because they are great flashlights, even if they are not super blinding bright.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Very good to hear from you Swedpat!

Rob Babcock, we totally respect you.

 

[PhotonMaster3]

Haha thank you. Yes what an addictive hobby! Just received the Imalent MS03 (incredible amount of light) and the little 4,000 lumen one. Meanwhile I have an MS18 on the way, just got the Acebeam UC15

 

[Billy Ram]

The fun days were when you wanted a powerful light you had to build one. The most powerful lights you could buy were the SureFire incands. My first LED is a 100 lumen L5 LumaMax. I still have the many lights I built using the Maglight host. Some are quite powerful.

 

[PhotonMaster3]

I never built a flashlight but I'd love to get into that some day. I've toyed with the idea of disassembling one of the new white laser flashlights like the Acebeam and putting a more powerful blue diode in there. I have a 7 watt blue laser and that's gotta be more powerful than what's in there

Got the Lumintop FW21 pro yesterday. Astonishing amount of light for something that fits in the palm of your hand. In a few years you'll probably be able to get a 100,000 lumen one that size!

 

[Optiblue]

Tell me about it. My LD70 4000 lumens keychain light pretty much broke all my 18650 EDC. I can't even find a slightly larger light that outputs as much

 

[Swedpat]

Very good to hear from you Swedpat!

Thank you Kitrobaskin! Yes, now the flashlight season is back again after a bright summer with midnight sun.

 

[PhotonMaster3]

Went for a walk last night and brought the MS03, FW21 Pro, and the LD07. The FW is a dream for walking. Smooth ramp up and down, low brightness when needed... have to say though that although the imalent isn't quite as "refined", the wall of light it generates is just incredible. Almost feels like 180 degree width. But man that little guy gets hot fast

 

[Optiblue]

Went for a walk last night and brought the MS03, FW21 Pro, and the LD07. The FW is a dream for walking. Smooth ramp up and down, low brightness when needed... have to say though that although the imalent isn't quite as "refined", the wall of light it generates is just incredible. Almost feels like 180 degree width. But man that little guy gets hot fast

I'm guessing you meant LD70! If it's that one I completely agree and I absolutely love mine as well. The fact that it runs stable at 900 lumens and fits on a keychain is the new times we're in! As for the MS03, I feel like when I need that much light, I'm going to be in the wilderness setting and that's when I need more run time. I use my thrunite Tn36 which is the same thing but bigger. The run times is greatly extended! All moot points if you can bring extra batteries though!

 

[Katherine Alicia]

It`s the battery tech that excites me the most, moreso than the LEDS. Fitting 3x 900ma protected 14500 batts into a D cell convertor giving you 3.7v @ 2.7A is Amazing! put one of those into a 2D torch and dummy battery (or even 2 of them!), it`s not only lighter weight but 3.6v bulbs are much more usefull than 2.4v, even for LEDs, it`s easier to get a LED to run at 3.7v without a driver than any 2.4v!

 

[xxo]

It`s the battery tech that excites me the most, moreso than the LEDS. Fitting 3x 900ma protected 14500 batts into a D cell convertor giving you 3.7v @ 2.7A is Amazing! put one of those into a 2D torch and dummy battery (or even 2 of them!), it`s not only lighter weight but 3.6v bulbs are much more usefull than 2.4v, even for LEDs, it`s easier to get a LED to run at 3.7v without a driver than any 2.4v!

I run my old 2D Mag on 6 Fujiloops in a couple of 3 AA to D cell series adapters with a old Mag PR xenon 6 cell bulb (the old PR xenon bulbs are much better than krypton or the new bi pin xenons). Two 14500's in eneloop AA to D adapters work too, but the run time is shorter. I used to have a 2C Mag running the same 6 cell PR xenon bulbs with three CR123's in a spacer.

I run my 2 and 3 C cell LED ML25/ML50 Mags on 18650's or 21700's and D cell ML300 on 26650's in 3D printed adapters. It's great not to have to use alkalines for anything.

The advances in battery and LED technology over the last 15-20 years has been amazing.

 

[PhotonMaster3]

Yep typo! That's the only thing I don't care for. I like lights with removable batteries so I can keep an extra in my pocket

Just received a Jaxman U1c 365nm UV light. Pretty sweet... seems really bright however the only thing I can compare it with is my Acebeam UC15

I'm guessing you meant LD70! If it's that one I completely agree and I absolutely love mine as well. The fact that it runs stable at 900 lumens and fits on a keychain is the new times we're in! As for the MS03, I feel like when I need that much light, I'm going to be in the wilderness setting and that's when I need more run time. I use my thrunite Tn36 which is the same thing but bigger. The run times is greatly extended! All moot points if you can bring extra batteries though!