What are your thoughts on the direction of future flashlight tech going forward?

[yliu]

Batteries must be improved if we want more LED performance...

But what I have to agree that many more high quality, and affordable flashlights are coming out and this will further increase in the future.

 

[hangn_9]

I think there are some common misconceptions about the US and other markets.

The first would be that we want to radically drive down our cost of labor to compete. Unless we want our friends peers and relatives making the equivalent of 50 to 100 bucks a week. Its not really an option. And while there are some labor divisions that do make a good living. It is the exception rather than the rule for the labor pools that supply the automotive industry. The average yearly union wage in the facility I held my last job was between 24 and 26k. And with the trend to cut back on insurance ect. I'm only suggesting they are not particularly living high on the hog.


Short derail


I used to test the life cycle of window weather strips. We had a regulator with a counter set up in a car door to cycle the window up and down. One life cycle was 60.000 up's and down's: we had to test each strip to three life cycles. Our sister plant in India completed this requirement manually (yes that means a dude did nothing but roll up and down a window for like weeks at a time). Labor was cheaper than electricity.


End derail


This scenario is not really specific to the US. Its an international issue. The result is that our pay off tends to be innovation and quality. Which the these nations have compensated for by not observing copyright and patents. They compensate for poor quality by sheer numbers. They can accept and return a defective product for less cost than it takes us to produce it. They will work overtime replacing inventories at almost no cost because they have a thousand people wanting that job. If you don't do it someone will.


This is not to say they have not made major contributions to manufacturing. To the contrary. But those contribution typically are more about refining the manufacturing stream. And "mistake proofing" the process. Not innovating products.


IMHO the innovations will come from places that nurture and encourage craftsman to practice their art. I don't really participate to much at CPF. But I have been a member in the background educating my self all along for some time. I am also a member of several other tech type of forums. What I see more often than not: Are the modders stumbling (working hard to find sollutions) something significant: The first adopters or beta testers sharing a brilliant flash of incite . That typically becomes the game changers.


CPF: I would guess. Has contributed significantly to this innovation process. As you all take the time to "think aloud" or even "pss and moan". I cant imagine a flashlight manufacture not having this site with a well worn bookmark.


How about a gun light that responds to a keyword command? You know "wakey wakey hands off snakey" or "yippiKiYa MF"


A three mode light that lets you use your smart phone bluetooth to set the three modes to exactly what you need for a given task. ?


A light that provides a usable source of heat (I use mine on high to thaw switch locks)?


A light with auto focus or dimming?


Image/light stabilization for use on the move?


Focus-able and variable?


I think the Automotive industry is Jonesing for light tech. Combine their deep pockets with our obsession and its a marriage made in heaven.

 

[itguy07]

Very well said, this is exactly what happened with the domestic automakers, aka "The Big Three". Up until the 90's they didn't have any real foreign competition and did not take anyone seriously. They assumed people will keep purchasing Ford, Chevy, and Dodge simply because they have done so in the past. They laughed at the up and coming Japanese automakers Honda, Toyota, and Nissan. They didn't adjust their pricing, didn't compete with them head-to-head in terms of offering similar technology and value. Look at them now....American automakers are, with very few exceptions, a big joke.

Rose colored glasses are a wonderful thing. Everyone made junk in the 70's and 80's. Honda and Toyoa were just as tempermental and rust prone as Ford, and GM. It's just that they were different and people were told they were "better".

My Ford has been just as reliable as my Infiniti was. And Honda and Toyota are grossly overrated.

Back to flashlights - I'd like to see some programmability. It would be nice to be able to control exact lumen levels and lock out some functions (strobe, etc). Also love the voltage feature of the Nitecore lights.

More runtime would be nice but I think for most the are good enough now with LED's as they are far away better than incandescent lights ever were.

 

[Daekar]

In the future, batteries will improve. Emitters will improve to the point that future development is difficult and takes longer. This will mean that later generations of LEDs will be more refined (better tint yields) and each packag will be around longer, meaning it's worth putting effort into high-grade optics for them. Flashlights will still be flashlights... just with more, higher-quality light for longer.

 

[AFearlessBirdOfParadise]

A three mode light that lets you use your smart phone bluetooth to set the three modes to exactly what you need for a given task. ?

Just saw Marshall's FourSevens sneak peak into their 2013 releases. They're doing a bluetooth light.

 

[awenta]

I want an invisible flashlight. With infinite output and runtime.
No batteries to worry about. No ano mismatch to bother anyone.
Perfection!

:nana:

 

[ledmitter_nli]

I predict an LED emitter that is lollipop shaped. Luminous surface area is increased producing global uniform intensity. Will probably happen once the phosphors become efficient enough reducing issues with heat.

I can't wait. Would certainly hush the HID fanboys.

 

[ledmitter_nli]

.... THIS is the future. :naughty:

 

[2xTrinity]

I predict an LED emitter that is lollipop shaped. Luminous surface area is increased producing global uniform intensity. Will probably happen once the phosphors become efficient enough reducing issues with heat.

I can't wait. Would certainly hush the HID fanboys.

Phosphor-doped sphere at the end of a fiber tip, then pump blue laser light through the fiber and use that as a retrofit omnidirectional source to use big reflectors meant for arc lamps. You might need to build it around something like a heat-pipe as support to help with heat dissipation in the phosphor though.

 

[ledmitter_nli]

Phosphor-doped sphere at the end of a fiber tip, then pump blue laser light through the fiber and use that as a retrofit omnidirectional source to use big reflectors meant for arc lamps. You might need to build it around something like a heat-pipe as support to help with heat dissipation in the phosphor though.

That sounds awesome too. Wonder if it would work

 

[StorminMatt]

Better batteries are one of the more important improvements that can be made to a flashlight. Currently, we have lithium ion, which has a high voltage, a high energy density and is light weight. But it's not entirely safe, needs to be monitored, can't produce terribly high current, and the voltage drops with discharge. On the other hand, NiMH is safe, can produce high current, can be 'beat on' pretty hard, doesn't need monitoring, and produces a stable voltage while discharging. But the terminal voltage is lower and they are less energy dense. What we need is a battery that combines the best of the two. LiPO4 might come closer than most technologies. But even LiPO4 falls quite short.

 

[2xTrinity]

Better batteries are one of the more important improvements that can be made to a flashlight. Currently, we have lithium ion, which has a high voltage, a high energy density and is light weight. But it's not entirely safe, needs to be monitored, can't produce terribly high current, and the voltage drops with discharge. On the other hand, NiMH is safe, can produce high current, can be 'beat on' pretty hard, doesn't need monitoring, and produces a stable voltage while discharging. But the terminal voltage is lower and they are less energy dense. What we need is a battery that combines the best of the two. LiPO4 might come closer than most technologies. But even LiPO4 falls quite short.

Battery tech of the future (speaking ~decades out) is probably Aluminum Ion. About triple the energy density per weight compared to LiIon is possible. 1 molecule of AL can supply 3 electrons instead of just 1 for each molecule of lithium. Aluminum is also ultra-plentiful so that would take care of the lithium shortage (assuming things like electric cars which use boatloads of batteries become widespread). As of now they've demonstrated some cells but they don't have very long cycle life compared to NiMH or LiIon.

 

[xevious]

I'm also of the mindset that while some tech progression is fairly predictable, there is always something that will come up to take everyone by surprise. I really do hope that they're able to develop aluminum ion technology for use in batteries within another decade or two.

Emitters will continue to become more efficient, although I suspect that the progress curve will eventually wane, once certain form factor limits are reached. Similar to how digital cameras have been able to achieve high quality optic performance with small lenses, flashlights have been able to reduce emitter and reflector size while still producing a large and powerful beam pattern. But there's a certain "usable" threshold with this that will dictate need and influence what products are made. Frankly, a lot of the lights being made today are fulfilling their uses more than adequately, only suffering in the area of efficiency. Achieve the ability to throw 500 lumens for 6 hours straight before force stepping down to 200 lumens for another 2 hours before a cell is nearly exhausted, and I'd say that would be the kind of performance that would satisfy more than enough people.

 

[StorminMatt]

Achieve the ability to throw 500 lumens for 6 hours straight before force stepping down to 200 lumens for another 2 hours before a cell is nearly exhausted, and I'd say that would be the kind of performance that would satisfy more than enough people.

We already have lights that can put out 500 lumens for 6 hours straight. Not a 1x18650 or 1xAA pocket light. But a 3D Maglite with a Malkoff XM-L2 drop-in can EASILY do this.

 

[xevious]

^ Yeah, I should have qualified it by form factor, such as in a 3xCR123 or 2x18650 battery arrangement.