Fwiw Molicel INR 21700's are rated for discharge down to -40C (pdf) though charging only down to 0C. I don't see a need for a sodium ion flashlight just yet, but I'm posting anyway since I guess it's news despite being stupid.

Summary

The Nitecore EDC09 does not impress with gimmicks, but with practical and well-thought-out features. The two "MCT UHE" LEDs allow the color temperature to be adjusted in three steps, from a warm 3000 K to cool 6500 K, making it adaptable to different situations. The smoothly adjustable head, along with the built-in magnet and a two-way clip, makes the flashlight versatile and suitable for a wide range of uses.

It features a very intuitive control system with a sliding switch, allowing for comfortable and easy brightness adjustments. The separate diffuser transforms the flashlight into a small lantern with 360° illumination.

All in all, the Nitecore EDC09 is not only a perfect EDC flashlight, but also a great work light for spontaneous tasks, thanks to its rotating head.

The full review is available here:

English review at BudgetLightForum
German review on my website

This LED has popped up a couple times and sold out quickly. I think it's expected to go into full production, but for anyone who wants to try one now....

Review: Skilhunt M200 v4 - an outstanding everyday carry flashlight with 18650 battery and magnetic charging

The Skilhunt M200 v4 is a midsize everyday carry flashlight powered by an 18650 Li-ion rechargeable battery. It has a side switch, a magnetic tailcap, USB-magnetic charging, a very low lowest mode, and a choice of LEDs including one with excellent color quality and another with very long throw distance. Its form factor and magnetic charging have drawn comparisons to Olight's Baton Pro series, but the choice of LEDs and use of standard batteries provide the M200 with a significant advantage.

https://zakreviews.com/skilhunt-m200-v4.html

#flashlight #flashlights #EDC #EveryDayCarry @flashlight

Summary

The highlights of the Skilhunt H300 are the boost driver providing constant brightness and the new SL-F50S LED, which was specifically developed for Skilhunt and impresses with exceptionally high color rendering and a neutral tint around 5000 K. In addition it has a convenient magnetic charging system and a comfortable head mount.

You can choose between the H300 with a TIR optic and the H300R with a reflector. Both versions have similar throw and mainly differ in beam pattern. However, the brightness on the highest level drops more quickly in the TIR version for some reason.

On the two lowest levels, the driver may emit a faint whine. If you are sensitive to such noises and often use the light in quiet environments, it could become annoying.

The full review is available here:

English review at BudgetLightForum
German review on my website

If you are interested in more details about the SL-F50S, you should check out Koef3's detailed review of the SL-F50S!

Review: Loop Gear SK05 Pro - three flashlights and a powerbank in one pocketable package

https://zakreviews.com/loop-gear-sk05-pro.html

#flashlight #flashlights #powerbank @bruceloopgear @flashlight

Sometimes, wearing a headlamp on your head can be a challenge, for example during rain or fog or when using a hat. An alternative is to wear the headlamp around your neck. But this can be uncomfortable and wobbly with most original holders.

This simple plate was designed to use the clamping part of the Skilhunt HB3 headlamp mount. Not only is it a great mount by itself, it is also easy to take apart and to design a compatible bracket for your headlamp yourself.

You can find the 3D model here:

https://www.printables.com/model/1483308-skilhunt-hb3-chestplate

(Before anyone gets worried: there's a weak link in the paracord.)

Review: Skilhunt EC500 - a long-range flashlight and USB powerbank powered by a 21700 size rechargeable battery

https://zakreviews.com/skilhunt-ec500.html

#flashlight #flashlights @flashlight

Summary

Not just an ordinary flashlight: with its remarkable design inspired by an OTF pocketknife, the Nitecore EDC17 presents itself as a stylish EDC accessory. In addition to white light, it also features a green laser and a powerful 365 nm UV light. The best feature, however, is its intuitive control system with a sliding switch that makes adjusting the brightness very easy. Overall, the EDC17 is a fantastic combination of great design, solid ergonomics, intuitive controls and a variety of light sources.

When purchasing, it’s important to check whether you’re getting a Class 1 or Class 3R laser, depending on the retailer and your preference. Due to the lower risk to the eyes, I would recommend the weaker version, which is more than sufficient for most presentation purposes.

The full review is available here:

English review at BudgetLightForum
German review on my website

Here is an updated version of my LoopDot UI flowchart, after receiving the release model of the flashlight.

Major changes:

• There's now a single flashlight mode to quickly turn the light on and off. Press 4C to return back to the menu.
• Shake the light to switch throw/flood channels. This feature can be turned off in the settings. You can still switch between the channels by holding the button.
• A new lockout mode protects the flashlight from accidental activation. Turn the wheel to unlock.
• New scrolling text mode that allows you to enter an arbitrary text. Scroll through the characters and press the button to add it to the text. When you're finished, 3C starts scrolling the text.
• New random direction mode. Just like the dice or coin flip, just for directions.
• There's also a new stopwatch mode with lap times. 1C start the time and takes a lap. Rotating the wheel or 3C stops the stopwatch. 5C resets everything to zero.
• If you have too many flashlights, you can use the new counter mode to count them! A press of the button or turning the wheel increments the counter. You can switch between multiple counters with 3C. Press 5C to reset the counter.
• Bored? Try out the new bucket game ("catch the gems") with three levels of hardness.
• Timer mode was fixed and now properly counts 60 seconds each minute (instead of 52 seconds). For this, the bottom row counts three seconds for each pixel, with different colors. Press 3C to quickly set it to 10s, 30s, 60s, 1min, 10minm, 30min or 60min.

Other changes:

• Vibration and brightness settings are now from 1 to 10 instead of 1 to 20.
• You can adjust the auto-off timeout.
• Vibration when using the scroll wheel was turned off to prolong the lifetime of the vibration motor.

In the next weeks I will update my review of the LoopDot accordingly.

I bought this flashlight at a random tech market for the equivalent of ~$9 USD, it gets plenty bright and accepts 18650 batteries. There is no branding whatsoever or even a model number. It has a metal body as well as a magnet on the end. It has a USB-C port for charging as well as a USB-A port to act as a mini power bank.

There is a distinctive blue ring around the button as well as on the front of the flashlight. The power button glows green when on / full battery after charging and red when charging / low battery. There is also a metal clip on the back as well.

Not many thoughts about it yet since I just got it - might post some comparison beamshots later.

I tried to figure out the absolute best EDC/work light for myself, and this one came out on top after a lot of back and forth between several others. I wanted something with high output, a good form factor, and of course, something aesthetically pleasing. I’m a sucker for military green, so here we are. The magnetic tail cap and ability to tailstand were factors too. It also functions as a power bank, which I didn’t really need, but it’s a nice feature nonetheless.

Review: Acebeam PT20 - a stylish pen light with high output

https://zakreviews.com/acebeam-pt20.html

#flashlight #flashlights #EveryDayCarry #EDC #review @flashlight

I’ve been strapping old headlamps to my handlebars just to get by, but winters here in Finland are long and dark - and it’s downright miserable riding without proper lights. So I finally bought my first dedicated bike light, and oh boy, I should’ve done this years ago.

Unlike in the picture, I mostly ride trails, so what I really need is a wide beam rather than something that throws light 150 meters ahead. This one has both. From left to right: low beam, high beam, and both combined. It’s rated for about 4 hours of runtime on the max 1000-lumen output when using either beam, and around 2 hours with both on simultaneously. In my experience, the low beam alone is plenty, and I actually really like the warm color tone.

The light itself was only 60 euros, which isn’t bad at all. The only downside is the built-in (6400mAh Panasonic) battery. I almost went with the Fenix BC26R instead but decided against it. I did see a guy with a proper light bar on his bike once - that thing looked ideal, but I bet it set him back well over 200 euros.

Skilhunt joins the bespoke LED club with the high-CRI SL-F50

This hasn't been officially announced on their site yet, but they sent me one and they didn't say not to talk about it, so here it is.

It's a 6V 5mm square quad-die emitter without a dome. It seems similar to the Noctigon NTG50 and Fireflies FFL5009R, but not identical as those LEDs have phosphor covering the space between dies.

Claimed color rendering index is 95+ with R9 (deep red) of 80+ and 5000K color temperature. Measured CRI is 95.8 with R9 of 86.2 and R12 (deep blue) of 83.6. CCT is 5020K with Duv of 0.0018 (very slight green tint).

In this small textured reflector, there's a bit of tint shift across the beam and a slightly dimmer area in the middle of the hotspot. I don't think either is problematic when illuminating anything but a white wall. Those issues wouldn't be present at all in a textured TIR optic.

#flashlight #flashlights #LED #LEDs @flashlight

Summary

Plenty of light with up to 6,000 lumens and an adjustable beam reaching up to 500 meters – the Nitecore EX7 has a lot to offer! Its four M515S LEDs, a proprietary design by Nitecore, each consist of five closely grouped light-emitting surfaces that can be controlled separately in two groups. This allows the effective LES – and thus the beam – to be adjusted as needed. Additionally, the flashlight is powered by a standard 21700 battery and features a USB-C charging port.

But you'll only enjoy this flashlight if you can get used to its UI. In my view, it's confusing and not very practical: during the first three seconds after turning it on, you can't switch it off, and after that, the brightness can no longer be changed. There's no mode memory at all and when trying to adjust the brightness, it's easy to accidentally activate Turbo or even Strobe mode.

With a better UI, I would definitely recommend the Nitecore EX7, as it combines plenty of power with a compact design and offers an adjustable beam. But before buying, it's important to take a look at the UI and decide whether it works well for you.

The full review is available here:

English review at BudgetLightForum
German review on my website

It's USB-C rechargeable, super bright, about as long as my middle finger, and has multiple modes including strobe light and even SOS modes.

Content warning: this is something of a marketing pitch, but it is worth reading. It's about using CT scans to find safety flaws in 18650 cell manufacturing. It's put out by the manufacturer of the CT equipment, i.e. not trying to sell anything to most flashlight users.

Review: Skilhunt MiX-7 Plus - a multicolor and white floodlight that's actually useful

The Skilhunt MiX-7 Plus is a multicolor flashlight with red, green, blue, UV, and white LEDs. It provides an efficient flood light with great color rendering on white, and the ability to mix any color.

https://zakreviews.com/skilhunt-mix-7-plus.html

#flashlight #flashlights #review #EDC #EveryDayCarry @flashlight

Summary

Fall is coming and so are the days with noticeably shorter daylight. So it's time to start thinking about the proper flashlight for your journeys through the darkness.

During testing, the Sofirn HS22 has proven to be an excellent headlamp. Depending on your needs, you can choose a focused spotlight with an effective throw of over 100 meters, a wide floodlight delivering up to 2000 lumens, or a combination of both. The floodlight’s color temperature is smoothly adjustable, allowing you to adapt the light to different situations. Two conveniently placed buttons ensure easy operation, even when wearing gloves.

The charging indicator switches to green a bit early, even though the charging process isn’t finished yet (but just a few percent are missing). An additional red light would have been a nice touch.

The full review is available here:

English review at BudgetLightForum
German review on my website

Summary

The Loop Gear LoopDot is a lot of fun – not only because of the little games and colorful light effects but also thanks to its satisfying feel. It fits comfortably in your hand and the scroll wheel practically invites you to play with it. A standout feature is the large dot matrix display with 52 RGB LEDs. Innovative functions like vibration feedback and an accelerometer complete the experience.

The full review is available here:

English review at BudgetLightForum
German review on my website

The top one is diffused, bottom one untouched and only shining forward like a laser.

This is obviously no special flashlight, but rather a simple example of how to fix/address the obvious problems with blinding LED headlights mentioned in this post..

https://feddit.org/post/17852030

But only if they're regulated well