# Fyrstormer's Lumenarium



## fyrstormer (Dec 24, 2018)

_(I don't know if "lumenarium" is a real word, but it sounds good, so I'm going with it. )_

I had wanted to make this thread in honor of Flashlight Day 2018 (December 21st for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere), but a combination of work, taking care of the baby, and bad weather got in the way. (did we _really_ get a thunderstorm with a rainbow _on the shortest day of the year??_). So I finished it a few days late, but that means I was able to take some new photos outside on a day with the sun barely-obscured by thin wispy clouds, so it was nice and bright but the sunlight was diffused -- perfect conditions for photographing shiny objects. There are lots of ways to organize this list -- material, brightness, cost, etc. -- but I'm going with a roughly chronological order because it's easy.  Right now, this list only contains lights that I currently own; as I dig through my photo archive I'll add lights that I no longer own, if I can find records of them. Unfortunately records of most of my early lights have been lost to the mists of time, but the important ones are listed here, because I still own them.  I own multiples of some of these lights, but unless there's something interesting and different about each one I'll only post a single photo of each model.


*2001*

*Arc Flashlight AAA*
*Status:* Retired
*Material:* Aluminum
*Emitter:* Nichia BS
*Tint:* _Very_ cool





*Thoughts:* This was my third LED flashlight ever. The first one was a 2xCR2016-powered squeeze-light made by Emissive Energy Corp, Inc., which I believe eventually renamed itself Inova, and the second one was a Photon 2. The Photon 2 was much more durable than the Inova, but the Arc AAA outlasted them both. (I do still have some Photon 2's kicking around, though; they make great gifts for people who _think_ they have no use for a flashlight.) I eventually bought an Arc AAA DS, which was even better, but I lost the damn thing after a couple years; I bought an Arc AAA GS to replace it, but by then Arc's build quality was obviously deteriorating and I went in search for something better to use instead.


*2002*


*2003*


*2004*


*2005*


*2006*


*2007*


_*2008* (...I didn't become a flashaholic until I found CPF while looking for a replacement for my Arc AAA)_

*Arc6 + McGizmo C-Pak*
*Status:* Retired (#1), Shelf Queen (#2)
*Material:* Titanium and Aluminum
*Emitter:* Cree XM-L (#1), Cree MC-E (#2)
*Tint:* Neutral (#1), Cool (#2)




*Thoughts:* The Arc6 was always a bit of a disappointment in stock form. It was a very ambitious light, and it was well-designed, but it suffered from inconsistent build quality and long shipping delays. I managed to get my hands on two of them that worked well, and eventually I modded them to have better emitters. (I only knocked-loose a few capacitors in the process! Fortunately most of the capacitors on the circuit board are so small their absence has no meaningful effect on the circuit's operation.) I also installed them in C-Paks so mode-selection would be done with a progressive-twist UI instead of a Lumamax UI. That made mode selection a little more difficult, but much more reliable, because unlike the Lumamax tailswitches, the McGizmo PD switch requires a death-grip on the button to keep the high setting reliably engaged. A second spring-loaded contact for the high setting would've gone a long way towards making the McGizmo PD switch easier to use, but it's all water under the bridge now.


*2009*

*Early Flashlights - see below for list*
*Status:* Sold
*Material:* Various
*Emitter:* Various
*Tint:* Cool (the only feasible tint at the time)




*Thoughts:* I don't have individual pictures of most of these, so I'm posting them as a group. From rear-left to front-right: Fenix P3D, "Stylish Fighter" from DealExtreme, PhotonFanatic Tasklight Two, Arc6, McGizmo LunaSol 20, Nitecore EX10, Fenix P1D, Peak McKinley, Jetbeam Jet-II IBS, Lummi Raw Ti, Peak Shasta 3-LED, Arc6 w/ Peak Matterhorn 3-LED head, Lummi Wee NS. I occasionally miss the P1D, because it was my first high-power flashlight, and I still remember that first experience of being astounded by how bright it was. I also miss the Peak McKinley (the first of two that I owned), which had the best-tinted 5mm LEDs I would see for years to come, but I ruined it when I attempted to use Norland 61 to fill-in the head and make a solid epoxy "lens" to protect the LEDs from damage. It didn't work and made a terrible mess. I also miss the Peak Shasta, which I really should've kept, but at the time its output was unimpressive and 5mm LEDs didn't seem retro-cool like they do nowadays. If I knew then what I know now...

*McGizmo LunaSol 20*
*Status:* Sold
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* OSRAM Golden Dragon and 3x Nichia DS
*Tint:* _Very_ cool




*Thoughts:* My very first titanium light. It was so cool! I kept it for years, but eventually I decided to sell it in favor of keeping the LunaSol 27 that I would later acquire secondhand.

*McGizmo Ti PD-S*
*Status:* Shelf Queen
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* Seoul Semiconductor P4
*Tint:* Neutral-Cool




*Thoughts:* Despite what I said above about the McGizmo PD switch being somewhat difficult to use reliably on the high setting, I forgive this light for its imperfections because it's a freaking classic. Someday these things will end up in museums alongside other seminal turn-of-the-millennium technologies.

*McGizmo Haiku*
*Status:* Retired
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* Cree XP-L Hi
*Tint:* Neutral





*McGizmo McLux + Aleph 19*
*Status:* Sold
*Material:* Aluminum
*Emitter:* Seoul Semiconductor P4
*Tint:* Cool




*Thoughts:* My first "retro" light _and_ my first "lego" light, assembled from a McLux body kit and an Aleph 19 head that I bought specifically for this purpose. I sold it years later after deciding that I was never going to actually carry it because it was too precious. I miss it every now and then, but the thing I liked most about it was its appearance, and I can admire it in the photos I took of it.

*McGizmo Ti PD-S27*
*Status:* Sold
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* Seoul Semiconductor P4
*Tint:* Cool





*Fenix P2D*
*Status:* Sold
*Material:* Anodized aluminum
*Emitter:* Cree XR-E
*Tint:* Cool





*McGizmo Ti PD-XR19*
*Status:* Sold
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* Cree XR-E
*Tint:* Cool






*2010*

*McGizmo Ti McLux III*
*Status:* Sold
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* Philips Luxeon K2
*Tint:* Neutral





*McGizmo Sundrop XR-U*
*Status:* Indoor Use
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* _Nichia NCSU033B_ Cree XP-L Hi
*Tint:* _365nm UV_ Neutral-warm




*Thoughts:* I originally bought this with an early Nichia Hi-CRI emitter, and I never really enjoyed it in that configuration; the lens optic caused the 6 emitter dies to generate a series of overlapping circles of light, and the interference pattern around the edges of the beam irritated my vision. So I moved the Nichia Hi-CRI light engine to a Ti Mule once those became available, and I put a UV light engine in the Sundrop instead. But the 365nm "color" of the UV emitter turned out to be far less useful than I had anticipated; most of the things that people expect to fluoresce under UV light are most responsive to 390-400nm wavelengths instead. Finally I bought a Cree XP-L Hi light engine for the Sundrop, and now it's the perfect indoor flashlight; a nice neutral-warm beam with almost perfectly even brightness edge-to-edge -- no hotspot to accidentally blind me in a dark room.

*McGizmo Sapphire 25*
*Status:* Indoor Use (#1), Shelf Queen (#2)
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* Nichia DS (#1 and #2)
*Tint:* Warm (#1), _Very_ cool (#2)




*Thoughts:* I never could make up my mind whether I preferred the very cool stock Nichia DS or the Nichia DS Warm emitters that I found online...so I kept both. Mostly the very cool Nichia DS is a homage to my long-lost Arc AAA DS, which I loved and should've bought many more of, but I was young and not yet accustomed to everything I like being discontinued when I'm not looking. Oh well; it doesn't matter though, because the Sapphire is a better light in every way, and I _do_ have spare Sapphires.

*Jetbeam E3S*
*Status:* Shelf Queen
*Material:* Stainless Steel
*Emitter:* Cree XP-G
*Tint:* Cool





*McGizmo Lunasol 27 Centauri*
*Status:* Shelf Queen
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* Cree XR-E and 6x Nichia CS
*Tint:* Cool




*Thoughts:* This was the light that I used to test my Centauri mod, which I offered here on CPF years ago. The light is showing its age, but in a "vintage" way instead of an "obsolete" way. It's interesting to see that the dual-beam-pattern design keeps popping up from time to time (because it's just a really good idea), but its limited adoption suggests it must cost more to implement than the designer can recoup by actually selling lights.

*HDS Clicky Ti*
*Status:* Sold
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* OSRAM Golden Dragon
*Tint:* Neutral-cool




*Thoughts:* The knurling on this light was to die for, but I ended up selling it because of the quirky UI and the lack of a pocket clip. Years later I would rectify this by attaching a pocket clip to a HDS Rotary, but it's still not titanium. I really wish all HDS lights were available in titanium, even if only on a pre-order/group-buy basis.

*Mac EDC SST-50*
*Status:* Sold
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* Edison SST-50
*Tint:* Cool





*Cool Fall Tri-V*
*Status:* Sold
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* Cree XR-E (spotlight), Cree XP-G (tasklight), Cree MC-E (floodlight)
*Tint:* Cool (spotlight), Neutral-cool (tasklight), Warm (floodlight)




*Thoughts:* By far the most technically-complex light I have ever owned -- and the most expensive by at least a factor of 2. (and that was back when the Tri-V cost a mere $2000, compared to the current price of $5200!) What a gorgeous piece of engineering this thing was. I still say it is the ultimate manifestation of the concept of "flashlight". Eventually I had to sell it, though; despite being so incredibly expensive, it always struck me as being disconcertingly fragile with all of its thin edges and exposed lenses and emitters -- I mean, god help me if I dropped a $2000 flashlight on the ground! Even if I didn't break it, the cosmetic damage would ruin its resale value, and I'd never forgive myself for that moment of clumsiness. But if I won the Mega Millions lottery, I would buy ten of these in a heartbeat, so I could carry one at all times without worrying about it anymore.


*2011*

*Jetbeam TC-R2*
*Status:* Shelf Queen
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* Cree XP-G
*Tint:* Cool




*Thoughts:* I loved this light. For years it was everything I wanted in an EDC flashlight -- small, bright, durable, infinitely-adjustable, and pretty. I carried one of these from 2011 until 2017, when I started taking a new medication that made me absent-minded when it wore-off, and I lost the damn thing. I started EDCing an aluminum RRT-0, and then I lost _that one_ too. I was most distressed. That problem has since been resolved, but nonetheless my spare TC-R2 remains a shelf-queen, where it's safe.

*McGizmo Mule*
*Status:* Indoor Use
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* Nichia 083 Hi-CRI
*Tint:* Neutral-Warm





*Jetbeam PC25*
*Status:* EDC Rotation
*Material:* Anodized Aluminum
*Emitter:* Cree XM-L
*Tint:* Cool




*Thoughts:* I like this light because it has a two-button interface that can be operated entirely from the tailcap, which is handy for a light this large. I recently borrowed an idea from Oveready and attached a short clip to the tailcap, thus resolving a years-old issue of how to pocket-carry this light comfortably. It's a pretty obvious idea in retrospect, but I had to spend a few years drilling and tapping holes into cheap Chinese RC-car parts before I felt comfortable drilling holes in my fancy flashlights.

*Jetbeam RRT-0*
*Status:* EDC Rotation
*Material:* Anodized Aluminum
*Emitter:* Cree XM-L
*Tint:* Cool




*Thoughts:* Everything I love about the TC-R2's UI, in a less-pretty but also less-expensive package. I gave these as gifts for a few years, and I still have a couple kicking around in my box of spares.

*Nitecore EX10 + kuku427 Shell*
*Status:* Shelf Queen
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* OSRAM Golden Dragon
*Tint:* Cool





*Peak LED Solutions McKinley*
*Status:* Indoor Use
*Material:* Stainless Steel
*Emitter:* 7x Unknown
*Tint:* Cool




*Thoughts:* I've always thought arrays of 5mm LEDs looked cool in an anachronistic way. This is nowhere near my brightest light, but it throws a spot a decent distance indoors, and it looks neat.


*2012*

*McGizmo + TnC + TorchLab Triple*
*Status:* Shelf Queen
*Material:* Titanium and Copper
*Emitter:* 3x Nichia 219B
*Tint:* Neutral-Cool





*Jetbeam TC-R1*
*Status:* Shelf Queen
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* Cree XM-L
*Tint:* Cool





*Mac Tri-EDC*
*Status:* Shelf Queen
*Material:* Copper
*Emitter:* 3x Nichia 219B
*Tint:* Neutral-Cool




*Thoughts:* We miss you, cmacclel.


*2013*

*Muyshondt Aeon Mk.2*
*Status:* EDC Rotation
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* Nichia 219B
*Tint:* Neutral




*Thoughts:* My favorite Muyshondt light. This version has 3 brightness settings instead of the original 2. I bought two of these lights, but eventually sold the second one to fund my RC hobby. I eventually regretted that, so I recently bought two more. 


*2014*


*2015*

*Tain Ottavino Mk.2*
*Status:* EDC Rotation
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* Cree XP-G2
*Tint:* Neutral





*TorchLab E2E Triple*
*Status:* Indoor Use
*Material:* Anodized aluminum and Copper
*Emitter:* 3x Nichia 219B
*Tint:* Neutral




*Thoughts:* I owned a couple E1E's and E2E's in the past, but I always ended up selling them because they were too dim and I wanted fancy feature-rich UIs. Oveready solved the dilemma for me by packing a TorchLab v5 Triple into a bored-out E2E shell, so I could have the iconic Surefire design _and_ a feature-rich UI. 


*2016*

*Olight S1*
*Status:* EDC Rotation
*Material:* Anodized Aluminum
*Emitter:* Cree XM-L2
*Tint:* Cool




*Thoughts:* I EDCed this light for over a year, in a pocket full of stainless-steel pocket tools. The anodizing obviously took a beating during that time, but honestly it looks better than I thought it would when I started EDCing it. I really like the S1's UI, which is why I own about 10 of them now. 

*Another McGizmo Mule*
*Status:* Indoor Use
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* Nichia 119B
*Tint:* Neutral-Cool






*2017*

*Olight S1 Cu*
*Status:* Shelf Queen
*Material:* Copper
*Emitter:* Cree XM-L2
*Tint:* Neutral-Cool




*Thoughts:* As I've gotten older I've learned to appreciate the dull patina that copper develops as it weathers, but I still want it to be as uniform as possible, so I gave this light a salt-and-baking-soda bath for a couple hours, then washed it and put it outside on a windowsill for a month. I couldn't ask for a better patina than this light has.

*Olight S1 Cu*
*Status:* EDC Rotation
*Material:* Plated Copper
*Emitter:* Cree XM-L2
*Tint:* Neutral-Cool






*2018 -- The Relapse*

*Prometheus Alpha Shorty*
*Status:* Sold
*Material:* Nickel-plated Aluminum
*Emitter:* Cree MC-E
*Tint:* Neutral






*Peak LED Solutions Eiger Ultra*
*Status:* Shelf Queen
*Material:* Stainless Steel
*Emitter:* Cree XP-G Hi-CRI
*Tint:* Neutral-Cool




*Thoughts:* I owned a couple Eigers with variable-brightness QTC inserts in the past, but I always found them difficult to adjust one-handed. The Eiger Ultra solves that problem by having a wider-diameter head, which gives my thumb and forefinger more leverage to turn the head against the drag caused by the threads rubbing together hard as the QTC insert is compressed.

*HDS Rotary*
*Status:* EDC Rotation
*Material:* Anodized Aluminum
*Emitter:* Cree XP-L
*Tint:* Neutral-Cool




*Thoughts:* I can't believe it took me so long to get around to trying a HDS Rotary. It's pretty much everything I love about the Jetbeam TC-R2, in a package that might be _literally_ bombproof. (I'm not inclined to try, though.) The big thing that kept me away before was the lack of a bezel-down pocket clip, but after a few years of drilling and tapping holes into cheap Chinese RC-car parts, I worked up my courage to install my own bezel-down clip on this light. Now it's one of my top 3 EDC lights.

*Klarus Mini One*
*Status:* Shelf Queen
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* Cree XP-G3
*Tint:* Neutral-Cool




*Thoughts:* I owned a Lummi Wee years ago. The Klarus Mini One is what I wished the Lummi Wee could've been; it's not handmade like the Lummi Wee was, but it's a better flashlight in every respect.

*McGizmo Makai*
*Status:* Shelf Queen (#1), Indoor Use (#2)
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* Cree XM-L2 (#1), 29x 5-die LEDs (#2)
*Tint:* Cool (#1 and #2)




*Thoughts:* I avoided the Makai for years because I didn't need a thrower. I still don't, technically, but every now and then I travel to the middle of nowhere, and a thrower would actually be useful there. Also the Makai's large head gave me the opportunity to indulge an idea I'd had for a while, to build a modern interpretation of a 5mm-array "showerhead" flashlight. It was a worthwhile project, and I occasionally carry that light instead of a "more sensible" one.

*Jetbeam RRT-02*
*Status:* Sold
*Material:* Anodized Aluminum
*Emitter:* Cree XM-L2
*Tint:* Cool





*Oveready BOSS*
*Status:* EDC Rotation (#1), Shelf Queen (#2)
*Material:* Titanium and Copper
*Emitter:* Nichia 219C (#1 and #2)
*Tint:* Neutral (#1 and #2)




*Thoughts:* It took me a long time to appreciate the design of the BOSS. I didn't like the "rocketpunk" look very much, until I saw the shiny machined-titanium finish, and then suddenly it hit me in a whole new way. The power, UI, build quality, and aesthetics of this light are all amazing.

*Surefire E1E*
*Status:* Shelf Queen (#1), EDC Rotation (#2 and #3)
*Material:* Anodized Aluminum
*Emitter:* Incandescent (#1 and #2), 3x Nichia 219C (#3)
*Tint:* Warm (#1 and #2), Neutral (#3)




*Thoughts:* I've owned a few E1E's and E2E's before, but I kept selling them because they didn't have the feature-rich UIs I really wanted, and I didn't want to risk chipping the anodizing. And yet, I keep buying new ones because they're just so iconic. As I've gotten older I've started to appreciate the simplicity of a flashlight that just freaking turns-on when I press the switch, and the concern about chipping the anodizing is easy enough to solve by keeping one as a shelf queen.

*More Olight S1 Cu's*
*Status:* Shelf Queen
*Material:* Copper
*Emitter:* Cree XM-L2
*Tint:* Neutral (#1-4)





*Surefire L1 Lumamax (driver circuit removed) + KL4 Head*
*Status:* Shelf Queen (#1), EDC Rotation (#2)
*Material:* Anodized Aluminum
*Emitter:* Philips Luxeon V (#1 and #2)
*Tint:* Cool (#1 and #2)




*Thoughts:* The Lumamax is another Surefire that I always sort of admired from afar. I liked the way it looked, but between the quirky UI, the lack of 11ty billion brightness settings, the anodizing that was just asking to be chipped, and the narrow throwy beam pattern, it just wasn't the light for me. Time moves on and tastes change, and I can appreciate the simple choice of two brightness settings a lot more now. As for the beam pattern, I just gritted my teeth and threw money at the problem -- I bought several L1's and L4's to use as parts-donors, removed the L1s' driver circuits so they could work properly with "smart heads" instead of the "dumb heads" they came with, and installed the KL4 "smart heads" from the L4's. Now I have a couple Lumamaxes that have nice floody "tasklight" beams, just the way I like. (also I prefer the designs of the flutes on the KL4 heads vs the L1 heads.) The nicer of the two is a shelf queen, and the other is one of my top 3 EDC lights.

*Olight S1A*
*Status:* EDC Rotation
*Material:* Stainless Steel
*Emitter:* Cree XM-L2
*Tint:* Neutral-Cool





*Surefire EDCL1-T*
*Status:* EDC Rotation
*Material:* Anodized Aluminum
*Emitter:* Cree XM-L2 (I think)
*Tint:* Neutral-Cool




*Thoughts:* I decided to give this light a try based on my recent experience with my modded L1 Lumamaxes. It's a very good iteration of the Lumamax concept, and I'm quite impressed by the beam pattern of the TIR optic, which I anticipated would be very narrow but is actually quite similar to a reflector. The tailcap is a bit narrow and hard to operate one-handed, but I fixed that by installing a 16mm x 26mm x 5mm O-ring on the tailcap. It fits _super_ snugly and makes the tailcap easier to grip in a variety of handholds. It even functions as a cigar-ring.

*Surefire T1 Titan*
*Status:* Indoor Use
*Material:* Titanium
*Emitter:* Seoul Semiconductor P4
*Tint:* Cool





*Surefire C2 Centurion*
*Status:* Indoor Use
*Material:* Anodized Aluminum
*Emitter:* Incandescent
*Tint:* Warm




*Thoughts:* Add this to the list of iconic Surefire flashlights that I wanted to be able to appreciate when I was younger, but could never quite seem to. My recent discovery that the E-series bezel-down clips would also fit the Centurion suddenly made it plausible that I could actually enjoy carrying one. I love the styling of this light; both the Centurion and the E1E remind me of the early 2000's, when the "war on terror" was ramping-up and military aesthetics were super-cool. I wouldn't say I was a happier person back then, but I was definitely calmer and more secure in some ways, and holding this light reminds me of that a little bit.

*Coast A10 Penlight*
*Status:* Sold
*Material:* Stainless Steel
*Emitter:* Cree XP-G2 (I think)
*Tint:* Cool




*Thoughts:* A nice single-mode penlight, but I ultimately decided that a light this long is just too much trouble for me to carry around.

*Coast A5 Penlight*
*Status:* Cannibalized
*Material:* Stainless Steel
*Emitter:* Unknown -- some generic 5mm LED
*Tint:* Cool




*Thoughts:* I ended up using the body from this light in combination with an A10 head to make a smaller A10 with a tasklight-style beam. There's nothing wrong with the round, perfectly-even "inspection beam" that the A5 comes with, and since I have a bunch of interchangeable parts I may revert back to that beam style eventually, but the 5mm thru-hole LED used by the A5 left something to be desired in terms of brightness.


*2019*

*Surefire LX2 Lumamax*
*Status:* Indoor Use
*Material:* Anodized aluminum
*Emitter:* Cree XR-E
*Tint:* Cool




*Thoughts:* I had my eye on this light a few years ago, but I never got one because I was anti-aluminum at the time. Since I'm currently on a Surefire kick, I picked this up to give it a try. I recently fitted it with a slightly-modified McR 19XR reflector instead of the original TIR optic, and now it has a beam that suits my preferences much better.

*Surefire "E1T-MV" Tactician*
*Status:* EDC Rotation
*Material:* Anodized aluminum
*Emitter:* Cree XM-L2
*Tint:* Cool




*Thoughts:* This is how the E1B-MV should've been built -- two modes that are selectable by tightening or loosening the head.

*Arc AAA HAIII*
*Status:* Indoor Use
*Material:* Anodized aluminum
*Emitter:* Nichia BS
*Tint:* _Very_ cool




*Thoughts:* A slightly newer companion to my first aluminum LED flashlight -- a first-run Arc AAA with black cosmetic anodizing. Not the model I _really really_ want, which is the Arc-P AAA with the Nichia DS emitter, but it's nice enough to add to the collection anyway.

*Coast A5 + 10*
*Status:* EDC Rotation
*Material:* Stainless Steel
*Emitter:* Cree XP-E
*Tint:* Cool




*Thoughts:* A nice little single-mode penlight, assembled from an A5 body and a slightly older A10 head than the A10 listed above uses -- hence the older XP-E emitter. However, it looks to be super-easy to mod, so I'll probably drop a XP-L emitter in there eventually. The original XP-L won't fit because the dome is slightly too big to fit into the hole in the base of the reflector, but the domeless "XP-L Hi" should fit just fine. I also need to figure out what kind of driver this uses -- assuming it uses a driver at all, instead of a simple resistor -- because it's running on half the intended voltage. Then again, the XP-L emitter might be so much more efficient that the stock driver(resistor?) setup would be just fine for close-up work, which is all a penlight is really supposed to handle anyway.

*ASP TacLite*
*Status:* EDC Rotation
*Material:* Anodized aluminum
*Emitter:* Incandescent
*Tint:* Warm




*Thoughts:* My very first grail light, mine at last! I saw the ASP TacLite in a catalog (Herrington or Sharper Image, perhaps?) when I was a teenager in the late 90's. I could tell it was much better-built than my cheap 2xAA Mini Maglite, and I really wanted one, but I was too young to work and I had no money to speak of. By the time I did get a paying job, my interests had moved-on to replacing my childhood Huffy Sonic 6 bike with a real adult mountain bike, and later buying my mom's old car from her. (I was not given a choice about this, but it did turn out to be a reliable car. It lasted me through a year of high school, 5 years of college in New Jersey, an internship, and 6 months of job interviews -- before being totaled while parked in front of our house by a distracted teenage girl rushing to get a good seat at church on Sunday morning. Getting a good seat in church is a Very Important Thing in Lynchburg, VA -- but I digress.) I never quite forgot about the ASP TacLite, but it seemed impossible to find them by the time I got around to wanting one again.

About a month ago I saw an old thread here on CPF that directed me to a Greek tactical-equipment website that still had a few in stock; I bought several, just to be sure I got enough parts to build a couple really good ones, in case there were defective or damaged parts on some of them. As it turns out, I got _two_ really good ones, and one of them is now in my EDC rotation. I modernized it a bit by texturing the reflector, replacing the plastic lens with a crystal-glass wristwatch lens, replacing the 6V bulb with an 8.4V bulb from TAD Customs, and installing a pocket clip -- and unlike Surefires, it can tailstand without mods!  Future mods may include having the tube bored to accommodate 18350 cells (it's _way_ wider than necessary for that) and replacing the stock switch with a McClicky...somehow. But for now, I'm happy just to have one. Something about the design of the ASP TacLite just makes me feel good, like this is how basic flashlights _should_ be designed, and something far in the back of my mind has quietened since I got this light.

*Surefire A2 Aviator*
*Status:* Indoor Use
*Material:* Anodized aluminum
*Emitter:* LED/Incandescent
*Tint:* Warm




*Thoughts:* I'm not sure how popular the A2 Aviator was back in its day, but I can definitely see why the white LED version wasn't as popular as some of the other versions. The "white" LEDs were so cool-blue they look like they belonged on a ricer-boi car, and were a very stark contrast against the warm-white incandescent bulb. Fortunately, technology has advanced a bit in the past 15-ish years, and I have a stash of warm and neutral-warm Nichia DS 5mm LEDs on-hand for other projects. So I dug out my soldering iron and mixed two warm LEDs and one neutral-warm LED to match the tint of the incandescent bulb as closely as possible. It's a very nice dual-mode dual-beam light now.

*Surefire 6P*
*Status:* Indoor Use
*Material:* Anodized aluminum
*Emitter:* Incandescent
*Tint:* Warm


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## id30209 (Dec 24, 2018)

Haven’t even read it completly, just a quick scroll but it left me speachless.
OUTSTANDING!


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## ven (Dec 24, 2018)

What a wonderful flashlight family of awesomeness you have. Great thread, thanks for taking the time with pics/info/thoughts................outstanding for sure!:wow:


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## Rasher (Dec 24, 2018)

That Muyshondt is very sweet. Awesome family of lights you have!


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## tech25 (Dec 24, 2018)

Beautiful collection, thanks for bringing us along on your journey! 

The patina on the Macs is really nice and I still love how you solved the lack of clip on the HDS.


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## archimedes (Dec 24, 2018)

What a wonderful post, many thanks ... 

I hope you won't mind if I move your excellent thread over to "Flashlight Collecting"


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## badtziscool (Dec 24, 2018)

Epic post!! Like a stroll down memory lane for me. I especially love the contrast of the Ti TnC host with the patina of the copper adapter.


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## bykfixer (Dec 24, 2018)

Great thread. Nice selection. 

My collection began in the dinosaur era of lighting tools. Any post covering the entire time frame would be ridiculously long so....




Starts around 1912 (when the pistol light came out)





And ends in 2018 when the EDCL2 arrived. 

And a lot of spaces in between.

I sought to acquire at least 2 from every decade lights have been made. Reluctant to pay $5k for some of the earliest of the early (circa 1910 when they were cardboard tubes that are nearly all gone) it began in the first decade some two years later.

The ARC was perhaps the greatest leap forward in flashlight tech since battery sizes were standarized by Charles Burgess in about 1917.


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## fyrstormer (Dec 24, 2018)

archimedes said:


> What a wonderful post, many thanks ...
> 
> I hope you won't mind if I move your excellent thread over to "Flashlight Collecting"


Y'know, I scanned the forum list for something more appropriate, and somehow I just didn't see the Flashlight Collecting subforum.


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## fyrstormer (Dec 24, 2018)

tech25 said:


> Beautiful collection, thanks for bringing us along on your journey!
> 
> The patina on the Macs is really nice and I still love how you solved the lack of clip on the HDS.


Thanks! The patina on the Mac Tri-EDC was actually manufactured using a Brass Blackener solution. I washed the light, soaked it in the blackener, washed it again, soaked it again, washed it a third time, then _very_ lightly scuffed the light with Scotch-Brite to give it sort of a brushed look. Then I let it sit on a shelf until the exposed copper browned a bit.


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## fyrstormer (Dec 24, 2018)

bykfixer said:


> Great thread. Nice selection.
> 
> My collection began in the dinosaur era of lighting tools. Any post covering the entire time frame would be ridiculously long so....
> 
> ...


LOL, the pistol light, aka "How to get shot by mistake in 2018".



bykfixer said:


> I sought to acquire at least 2 from every decade lights have been made. Reluctant to pay $5k for some of the earliest of the early (circa 1910 when they were cardboard tubes that are nearly all gone) it began in the first decade some two years later.


Yeah, that's just a _teensy_ bit expensive for a flashlight made from stamped tin and cardboard.



bykfixer said:


> The ARC was perhaps the greatest leap forward in flashlight tech since battery sizes were standarized by Charles Burgess in about 1917.


Wartime is good for a couple things. Putting pressure on equipment manufacturers to cooperate for the benefit of the war effort is one of them.

As for Arc Flashlight: All the pieces had existed for years to build power-regulated LED flashlights, but it took someone to actually do it, and the rest is history. I keep my original Arc AAA as a way to remember that turning-point. I wanted an Arc LS, but I couldn't afford one at the time, and by the time I could afford to buy one secondhand, technology had moved too far ahead and the Arc LS was obviously obsolete. It would've been awesome to have had an Arc LS in my pocket in college, but I can salve my disappointment with all the cool lights I've had the opportunity to own and use since then.


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## Vemice (Dec 25, 2018)

+1 on the Sapphires (25 and High CRI) and ARC.
Great post. Thank you.
URL=http://imgur.com/NxyQGiX]



[/URL


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## nbp (Dec 25, 2018)

“This fishlight is straight baller son!”


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## fyrstormer (Dec 26, 2018)

nbp said:


> “This fishlight is straight baller son!”


I don't get the reference. :thinking:


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## scout24 (Dec 26, 2018)

Priceless reference to an old marketplace thread, IIRC... 😁😁😁


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## magellan (Dec 26, 2018)

Wow. I just want to echo the other comments here about what a great post, and what a great collection. Truly awesome work!


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## archimedes (Dec 26, 2018)

scout24 said:


> Priceless reference to an old marketplace thread, IIRC... 😁😁😁


Yes, sadly gone now


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## nbp (Dec 26, 2018)

Why can’t we see the MP anymore? I thought it was going to stay Read-only. So much history and CPF culture MIA.


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## luxlunatic (Dec 27, 2018)

Awesome thread!!
Been wanting to do something similar for a while but just haven't had the time...
I have a decent collection at this time but there are many that I have parted with that I miss, but I do have lots of photos of the lights I no longer have (a few I sold and later bought back!), and there have been a bunch in my (nearly) 13 years here at CPF!
One of my most prized pieces, a McGizmo LS27, was going to be sent to you for your Centuri mod, but once again, did not get around to it...How has it been that many years?!?!?!
Looking forward to more additions to this thread, fyrstormer!


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## LiftdT4R (Dec 27, 2018)

Very cool and very interesting to see the evolution of your lights. I always enjoy seeing what light folks on here carried before they realized they were a flashaholic.


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## fyrstormer (Dec 30, 2018)

LiftdT4R said:


> Very cool and very interesting to see the evolution of your lights. I always enjoy seeing what light folks on here carried before they realized they were a flashaholic.


My very first flashlight as a little kid was a cheap plastic thing, made of two halves, held together with a single screw in the center. I took that thing apart and put it back together so many times as a little kid. I don't think I even cared that it was a flashlight; it was a thing I could take apart and put back together.

As a teenager in the mid-to-late 90's I had a 2xAA Mini Maglite, but I never really used it for anything. Mostly I just used it to see how long I could keep my finger on the bulb before it hurt too much. Those little Mini Maglites were pretty much useless anyway -- they had lousy brightness and an awful beam pattern, even from the perspective of someone who had never owned anything better. I wanted an ASP TacLite, but I couldn't afford one. I would've given the better of my two nuts in exchange for a Surefire E2E back then, but seeing as I was underage and I didn't go outside after-dark very much, I doubt I would've had much more use for it than I had for that little Mini Maglite.

I bought the Arc AAA during my freshman year in college. I found it on some outdoor-gear website that I was browsing because they sent me a spam email (thus proof that spam actually works 0.00001% of the time). The moment it arrived and I saw how well it worked (relative to the time, of course), I was done with incandescent flashlights for the next 17 years. Even now I only have incans for the novelty and nostalgia of it, kind of the same reason why I have little brass Stirling engines that I fiddle with sometimes -- it's neat to see how things used to work back in the Stone Age.


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## 1pt21 (Dec 31, 2018)

Hey Fyrstormer,

Awesome thread and collection, love it!

Just a quick question; do you know off-hand the measurements of the o-rings are you using in the place of the lanyard hook on the two SF L1's pictured?? I always remove the lanyard ring on my A2's, but kind of hate the gap it leaves...

Is is the same as you mentioned placed on the SF EDCL1-T, *16mm x 26mm x 5mm*??

Thanks a lot for any info, I'll be ordering a bunch of o-rings as soon as I find out that size. It's a prefect fit/look IMO. :thumbsup:


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## fyrstormer (Dec 31, 2018)

1pt21 said:


> Hey Fyrstormer,
> 
> Awesome thread and collection, love it!
> 
> ...


Yes, it's the same O-ring that I suggested in the EDCL1-T thread. They're a huge pain to stretch over the end of the tailcap, but they're very functional once installed. I recommend "staging" the O-ring on the shoulder at the end of the tailcap, before dropping it into the lanyard ring slot, so you can un-twist the O-ring after stretching it.


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## 1pt21 (Dec 31, 2018)

fyrstormer said:


> Yes, it's the same O-ring that I suggested in the EDCL1-T thread. They're a huge pain to stretch over the end of the tailcap, but they're very functional once installed. I recommend "staging" the O-ring on the shoulder at the end of the tailcap, before dropping it into the lanyard ring slot, so you can un-twist the O-ring after stretching it.



Awesome, thanks for the info & tips. Just ordered up a 10-pack of them.

Fingers crossed that this is the perfect solution to the "ugly gap"!


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## fyrstormer (Jan 1, 2019)

It's certainly better than nothing. 

If you try the O-rings and you can't stand them, it's probably safer to cut through them with a fresh sharp hobby knife rather than trying to pry them up and out of the lanyard slot. Trying to pry them out is a surefire way (ugh, ignore the pun) to gouge the anodizing.


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## magellan (Jan 2, 2019)

fyrstormer said:


> I don't get the reference. :thinking:



Sounds like a bit of Aussie slang from down under?


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## fyrstormer (Jan 4, 2019)

Added a couple new entries.


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## id30209 (Jan 4, 2019)

Porn...
If it helps i’ve sent my LX2 to Tana for emitter swap only. Now 219B gave a new meaning to this flashlight, more output and HI CRI.


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## fyrstormer (Jan 4, 2019)

I would be interested to know how the beam pattern changes after the emitter swap. The optic included with the LX2 is designed for the Cree XR-E's narrower output pattern.


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## id30209 (Jan 4, 2019)

The beam is a different, not so clean like stock. But good thing is that top part of the bezel (since it’s opened) can be tightened or loose thus changing the beam pattern like on Maglite LOL. 
Don’t have it with me now. On the road again.


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## fyrstormer (Jan 4, 2019)

I suspected that would happen. Maybe it's possible to fit a reflector instead, or a different optic designed for a LED with a normal output pattern.


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## id30209 (Jan 4, 2019)

Reflector would fit for sure. Just need to find one and you’ll have one cheep and effective mod.


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## RUSH FAN (Jan 23, 2019)

I love that Jetbeam e3s with the clip.


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## fyrstormer (Jan 28, 2019)

Filled in some gaps with pictures of various lights I used to own in the 2008-2010 timeframe.


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## fyrstormer (Feb 3, 2019)

Added a few recent acquisitions.


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## Tachead (Feb 4, 2019)

Wow, what a great thread fyrstormer. Thank you for taking the time👍.


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## fyrstormer (Feb 4, 2019)

Sure! The more time I spend curating my collection, the less tempted I am to grow it.


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## Tachead (Feb 4, 2019)

Lol, I know what you mean. I have to tone it down here as I have bought a lot of flashlight stuff since Christmas(says the guy who just bought a SF tailcap last night I don't even really need lol).


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## jon_slider (Feb 27, 2019)

fyrstormer said:


> Fyrstormer's Lumenarium



OutFreakingStanding pics!
thanks


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## wosser (Feb 28, 2019)

As an Olight fan I'm very pleased to see them in such illustrious company.

The "*McGizmo Ti PD-S*" is a thing of beauty though. So nice.


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## RedLED (Mar 1, 2019)

Is that Mc Gizmo Ti PD-XR 19 the one you sold me?

SP--


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## fyrstormer (Mar 2, 2019)

It must be. I've only ever owned one of them.


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## Chauncey Gardiner (Mar 4, 2019)

fyrstormer said:


> Sure! The more time I spend curating my collection, *the less tempted I am to grow it.*



How's that working out for you lately? :devil: 

Thanks again for the Sidekick. I've really been enjoying it.  

~ Chance


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## fyrstormer (Mar 6, 2019)

If by "lately" you mean "the past month or so", it's been working pretty well.


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## jon_slider (Mar 17, 2019)

fyrstormer said:


>


Very Cool!
I like the short clip too

fwiw, your curating is costing ME money! LOL




btw (your pm inbox is full)

I found a short clip

it came attached to a very nice light:





Im excited, as it is in the mail, my first trits:





hope your wallet is safer than mine has been this weekend

thanks for your beautiful photos


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## fyrstormer (Apr 20, 2019)

Added a couple recent acquisitions.

And no, my wallet is not safe; I'm currently building a new bicycle.  It's always a strain to resist buying everything at once and going way over budget, because retailers have learned there is money to be made by making customers insecure about whether products will still be available in a week or two. Personally I blame Amazon for this trend; they didn't invent it, but they definitely popularized it.


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## DaveTheDude (Mar 31, 2020)

After reading Fyrstormer's original post and marveling at the images, I'm compelled to conclude that "Lumenarium" is indeed the correct word to describe this kind of collection. I don't know how many other words have been coined in this forum, but lumenarium is surely among the most apt, and i suspect it will take its rightful place in any self-respecting falshacholic's lexicon.

Nicely done Mr. Stormer, nicely done.


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