From the Editor's Desk: The Flashlight Tipping Point
It used to be that titanium, the preferred medium for high end flashlights, was an acceptable tradeoff performance-wise when compared to aluminum. Aluminum is, was, and always will be, a better choice technically speaking—it dissipates heat better and is more conductive (copper is even better than aluminum, but comes with its own set of trade offs, and then there is sterling silver…), but, for quite a long time those advantages were small enough to be overcome by the white-silver allure of the Titan’s metal.
That was before the era of the ultrapowerful triple emitters arrays and boards that focus on barfing out as much lumens as possible. We have been approaching this point for a long time. In talking to makers over the years, they have been anticipating this moment. People were concerned about batteries (as seen in the class action suits regarding exploding Li-Ions). They were also predicting that the overclocking trend would cause problems. In a push to harness as much power as possible, lights would have preciously short runtimes and critical overheating problems. These conversations were three or four years ago and most were just theoretical.
Then we got the BOSS35 (which runs a custom board designed by Torch Lab, giving a huge advantage over the slew of pretty, nicely machined, but less sophisticated custom lights out there). The thousand lumen barrier was easily shattered and production lights started leaping over it as well. And its not just the big bulky lights with easy heat dissipation. It was small lights too. The thumb sized micro-torches were throwing flames as well.
Then we got the Fw3A. With its ultra high of 2800 lumens it posed an even more difficult challenge for flashlight design. The light is a great torch with lots of nice elements. But…the triple emitter, the battery, and the 2800 lumens output make it a very hot light when run on high. Its right at the limit of what I am comfortable using—pushed anymore and I worry things might not work. And there is a rumor that they are making a special edition in titanium.
We have reached the tipping point.
Flashlights are too small, too powerful, and without sufficient heat sinks to make a 2800 lumen torch the size of your index finger in titanium. This is just a physics problem. At some point (and I personally think that point is now) we will run up against the edge of what is possible in a comfortable-to-use light. The whole reason to carry a light is to be prepared, not because you have a desire to lug around a grenade in your pocket.
I have been championing a different approach to light design for a while—an emphasis on user-friendly UIs, moonlight lows, and excellent body tubes. The lumens arms race has struck me as folly for a while. But now, its not just throwing away money—these new ultrabright lights are uncomfortable for me to use on high for any extended period of time.
And these highs offer very little advantage in terms of brightness, because lumens and brightness are perceived logarithmically. An 800 lumen light appears to be only twice as bright as a 200 lumen light. And the perceived brightness gets worse at higher lumens counts. These ultra bright lights aren’t worth the hassle they represent. And these ultrabright lights should never be in a titanium body tube. The performance differences between aluminum and titanium really do matter now.
This is why I really prize lights like the Muyshondt Aeon Mk. III, Surefire Titan Plus, and the JetBeam Raptor RRT-01 v2. These are lights that don’t try to out horsepower the competition, they try to make a better, more useful light. And if you have to have multi-kilolumen lights the size of a finger, they should be in aluminum (or copper or sterling silver). Mark my words—this trend is not a good one for the flashlight community.
Amazon Purchase Links:
If you want to support the blog and are interested in the gear mentioned here, follow the links below and purchase items—the proceeds help buy new review samples to keep the blog running and 100% independent: