I had dinner with PK last night.

Size15's

Flashaholic
Joined
Aug 29, 2000
Messages
18,415
Location
Kettering, England
Last night, I had dinner with PK.
Much was said and my heart was broken several times. However, I am still in love with SureFire, and the future is looking bright - very bright.

One thing I must mention:
I asked if twanging the spring contact in my 10X Bezel could damage the lamps through the vibrations. He whacked my Pyrex-Lens 10X on the table with force several times which gave me a heart-attack. The confidence the man has for his products is fantastic. I mentioned that the 10X was mine, and I had trouble getting it, and he was like "Al, don't worry!"

PK likes to play with toys - Jahn met us after dinner and PK spent ages messing with the device attached to Jahn's raving t-shirt...

I understand better now; that PK produces more proto-types then we realise, and that if we can think of it, PK's most likely got in on a shelf somewhere.

As so much was discussed, if you have questions, please ask and I will try to answer the ones I can.

BTW,
Jahn dared to put a 3D MagLite on the table... This man has balls!
I believe Jahn thinks the 3D is art, and the M6 is art that is also a flashlight.

Al
 

Darell

Flashaholic
Joined
Nov 14, 2001
Messages
18,644
Location
LOCO is more like it.
That's great Al. What does PK eat, BTW? Does he bring his own HA III flatware to the table? Are there cooling fins on his plate?

Give us the REAL dirt.
 

geepondy

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 15, 2001
Messages
4,896
Location
Massachusetts
How was your heart broken? Hopeful or promised lights that aren't going to production? Tell us what he said is going to production and when.
 
D

**DONOTDELETE**

Guest
so PK broke the 10X and is getting you another...?
shocked.gif
wink.gif
 

Size15's

Flashaholic
Joined
Aug 29, 2000
Messages
18,415
Location
Kettering, England
My 10X is fine. I used it walking home through the woods on my way back from the train station (about 02:15ish). The Pyrex version doesn't get as hot as quickly as I recall the Lexan version doing.

Regarding food -
PK says he doesn't like chicken so much, but he liked the chicken that was ordered. We ordered one dish each and shared three mains - chicken, lamb and fish - the lamb was best I thought, then the fish and chicken was nice too. Strange that he loves chicken wings though?
We didn't get the chance to eat any of the exciting things on his food photo gallery!

The real dirt?
He was thinking of going to head up MagLite's new products department. Each month, he'll release a new colour finish. For the first 10 years, it'll be black. Less stressful then designing with Luxeons and HID for use in life/death situations. A job at MagLite would be one where there is no pressure to build the best, the highest quality, push the technology forward and be creative, be groundbreaking, be original.
(I'm having a joke... PK actually wants to start up a shrimp fishing fleet and drink Dr Peppers at the Whitehouse after playing ping-pong for his country and running all over the USA for no particular reason.)

MN02 LOLA has been made - the release date was not confirmed. No E Series HOLA bulb in the works - Why mess with bulbs when Luxeons can do the job far better?

The KL1 Bezels should be released in about 8 weeks (unofficially)

The A2 is not yet ready - It's being fine-tuned I believe. PK didn't have one on him in case I mugged him for it...

HID - I got the impression that the technology is not yet good enough for SureFire. PK is demanding higher efficiency.

He has a number of concepts in mind that I can't wait to see.

I suggested a number of things I'd love to see. Various accessories, body options etc.
We talked about battery technology, whether a solar powered motorised winder could be used to store energy in a spring that turns a flywheel that powers a wheel via a gear box so a dynamo can power a lamp at various brightnesses.
I thought about asking him to build a number of proto-types that are powered by potatoes...

Al
 

Empath

Flashaholic
Joined
Nov 11, 2001
Messages
8,508
Location
Oregon
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Size15s:
Jahn dared to put a 3D MagLite on the table... This man has balls!
I believe Jahn thinks the 3D is art, and the M6 is art that is also a flashlight.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That would be an interesting evening. Had I been there I would have wanted to run a thought experiment.

Experiment 1: If Walmart gave Surefire equal space on the shelves, and priced them the same as Maglites, would Surefire be able to sell enough to keep Walmart from dropping the line?

Experiment 2: If Surefire dropped their prices on their 2 and 3 cell lights to below 20 bucks, would we still be seeing police officers running around with Stingers?
grin.gif
wink.gif
 

Size15's

Flashaholic
Joined
Aug 29, 2000
Messages
18,415
Location
Kettering, England
You know, we talked about the G2, and it's impact bringing better quality light, product & culture to a larger market - people that are less willing to invest in quality products.

On the one hand, SureFire produce highly specialised products for a tiny market that demand so much, and on the other hand, why should the general population not be able to benefit from the advances in technology and design that SureFire continues to make.

I think just as we have many consumer products based on space program research, perhaps soon we'll see products like the G2 & G2Z on the shelves of supermarkets...

Al
 

lightlover

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 28, 2001
Messages
1,901
Location
London, UK (Parallel Universe)
Fact is, as PK repeatedly whacked the 10X bezel-first onto the table, he had a particular kind of look in his eye, a lot of amused mischief involved.
Meanwhile, poor Al watched aghast as his precious Pyrex 10X was mistreated by it's Maker ......

After that, I had a chance to see the 10X in action - it is a very white light indeed. No controversy with rechargeables vs. Lithiums there. And it's much smaller than it looks in photos and even the old catalogue's 1:1 drawing.

(Ted TL, shame on you !!)

Oh, the "Rave" T-shirt I had on which amused PK has a 3"x5" ultra-slim graphic analyser bar display, velcro fitted to the front. It's battery operated and controlled by a small 4AAA in a side pocket.
Cute little item, (makes me look 20 years younger and cooler when I wear it too !)

(Awfully enough, presented with such an opportunity to talk to PK about lights, most everything I wanted to ask went clean out of my head. Would you believe it ...... )

I only heard a few of the things that Al and *The Artist* discussed. Anyway, I'm not authorised to speak for SF like Al is, and he has all the news.


And thanks for this Al:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Size15s:
.........
I believe Jahn thinks the [Mag-Lite] 3D is art, and the M6 is art that is also a flashlight.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

For the longest while, I've been writing a post on which torches can be considered to be genuine "Works of Art".
That epic basically thinks that while a lot of torches are elegant, and some are even beautiful, there are only two which I think have true worth as Art Objects, as sculptures, I suppose.
One is the Silver Mag-Lite 3D, and the other is the SureFire M6. (Hence *The Artist*.)

As we all know, they are at opposite ends of the world in terms of their beams. The way you've put it Al, is something that I've been trying to describe in a few words for weeks, and not managed to.

Jahn

(Very annoying when a youngster does that to me .... )
 

geepondy

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 15, 2001
Messages
4,896
Location
Massachusetts
The problem with offering the G2 to the general masses at a typical department store is this. Say you can sell the light at an affordable rate, say $30 but how can you sell the light in the same store that would cost you over $10 to replace the batteries in it? The price discrephancy between buying 123 cells at brick and mortar stores opposed to online has got to shrink greatly in order for this concept to work.
 

Darell

Flashaholic
Joined
Nov 14, 2001
Messages
18,644
Location
LOCO is more like it.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Size15s:
MN02 LOLA has been made - the release date was not confirmed. No E Series HOLA bulb in the works - Why mess with bulbs when Luxeons can do the job far better?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
The question is: Why mess with LOLA bulbs when Lexeons are available? An LS would be an excellent substitute for teh LOLA, but we're a ways off yet from the HOLA potential in solid-state lighting. For me, this developement went backwards. I would much, much rather stick a KL1 on the end of my E2 than a LOLA at this point. But then, as usual, nobody asked me
frown.gif
 

bwcaw

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 22, 2002
Messages
862
Location
South Dakota
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by darell:
What does PK eat, BTW?

Give us the REAL dirt.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Man Darell, you have got this off topic thing down to a fine art! You must practice
a lot in your spare time.
grin.gif
wink.gif
 

Lux Luthor

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 10, 2000
Messages
1,944
Location
Connecticut
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by darell:
That's great Al. What does PK eat, BTW? Does he bring his own HA III flatware to the table? Are there cooling fins on his plate?

Give us the REAL dirt.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

shocked.gif
shocked.gif
shocked.gif
shocked.gif


pk.jpg


Too bad the "after" picture is gone.
frown.gif

Hmmm, I wonder if those chopsticks are chemkoted?
grin.gif
 

Size15's

Flashaholic
Joined
Aug 29, 2000
Messages
18,415
Location
Kettering, England
The MN02 was on the cards for release before the KL1. I very much doubt it got in the way of SureFire's research and development into Luxeons...

Al
 

Klaus

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 6, 2001
Messages
1,998
Location
Germany
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Size15s:
(I'm having a joke... PK actually wants to start up a shrimp fishing fleet and drink Dr Peppers at the Whitehouse after playing ping-pong for his country and running all over the USA for no particular reason.)

Al
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Uh-Oh Al - wrong film
tongue.gif


Klaus
 

K-T

*Moderator*
Joined
Mar 7, 2002
Messages
3,537
Location
Germany
Good to know about the KL1 and the MN, what about the M2D or M3D(T)? I know that the M3D project is on-wait, what about the M2D?
You were talking about "your" pyrex 10X, I thought you only had the Lexan version? How did that one get into your hands?
wink.gif
grin.gif

Good to know PK had some good guys who showed him the country.
wink.gif


Klaus.
 

Size15's

Flashaholic
Joined
Aug 29, 2000
Messages
18,415
Location
Kettering, England
I sent my 10X back to SureFire because it stopped recharging. I had an early version - the C900 has long since changed internal design so they sent me a whole new kit as a replacement. I use my 10X alot. I call it "mine" because I paid good money and Tim Flanagan worked hard to get it for me. It's not for field-testing although I am using it to help PK try out a few options. (...)

We know that the M3D & M3TD are not going to be released.
We know that PK is working hard on the Luxeon development - I would be surprised if the C2D/M2D are released.

With regards with having people to show PK around, Jahn is the Londoner and I know nothing compared to him!

Al
 

Flashlightboy

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 28, 2001
Messages
856
So let me see if I understand. Did pk fly across the water just to have din-din with the two of you?

Nice restaurant? Pub grub? Consumption of adult beverages? Exchange of gifts between our countries?

It sounds like pk was beating a perfectly good flashlight to death while eating charred flesh. Mad I tell you. Just pure madness.
 
Top