Stupid purchase

[Mito Man]

So last Monday I was pondering what to get my dad for Father’s Day, and somehow I ended up down a rabbit hole of torch videos on YouTube. My dad is a bit of a torch collector so the worlds brightest torch seemed adequate. Now I know that lumen ratings are about as accurate as VW group co2 ratings in the mid teens, you can buy £30 torches on eBay which claim a million lumens but this brand is supposedly pretty accurate and trustworthy.


So the fancy case was nice and it has a claimed 100,000 lumens, the stupidly bright light bar on my defender is a claimed 40,000 so I knew it would be good


Whilst online I purchased their smallest torch for something to chuck in the glovebox, it has a claimed 1200 lumens which for something the size of a lipstick container is crazy plus it has a little OLED screen and charges via usb - perfect for the car. Oh and it has a white plastic thing to disperse the light if needed.


We tried to light a fire with the big torch but it’s stupid as you just end up blinding yourself. Just waiting for it to get dark so we can piss off the wildlife now

[speedingfine]

But can you fry an egg on it?

[Orange Cola]

£500 and 1.3km range

[Mito Man]

It was a bit less on their actual website $560 with free shipping and no customs as they have a warehouse in Germany. The small one was $30

[mik]

560 notes on a torch

Must have seen you coming. Even at night.

[Matty]

Must have seen you coming. Even at night.

[Mito Man]

Unfortunately we messed about with the big torch too much and it’s out of battery (haven’t charged them yet). The little one is still pretty impressive though.
Picture taken a few hours ago for comparison. I reckon the oak tree in the centre is 150 metres away.

And now

And at a more sensible range

Still brighter than any car headlight

Big one is charging.

[Mito Man]

But can you fry an egg on it?

It’s waterproof and can do that so I’d say so?

[duncs500]

Surely if you drop that big one and it ends up facing you, you'll never see again!

[John]

560 notes on a torch

Must have seen you coming. Even at night.

I've got a pair of exposure bike lights and the larger one was £360 and that isn't the most expensive in the range. Total game changer for night riding though.

[Mito Man]

It’s charged.

Same location as before aimed at oak tree


And the hill behind it


It’s adequate.

[Orange Cola]

It’s a bit of a weapon that, point it at anyone you find on your land and they’re proper fucked if they think they going to head towards you.

[Mito Man]

As with most things it’s the efficiency gains which really impress. 7 years ago I bought my dad a Fenix RC40, it was the most powerful torch back then at 3500 lumens but could only do it for a minute before overheating and down rating to half that - still many times stronger than a normal torch. It was massive though and could double as a baton.

Then about 3-4 years ago I bought him a Fenix TK72R, it was the second most powerful torch (as the more powerful Olight was more of a gimmick and had terrible reliability). That one put out 9000 lumens for a few minutes at a time, but could run for hours at 5000. And was the size of a coke can.

And now the new one, it can only do full power for a minute before getting too hot, but it can do 22,000 until it runs out of battery (an hour).

Wonder where we’ll be in another few years time.




Left is the original 3500 lumen torch with its spare battery, Middle is the new one and right is the 9000 lumen one.

[nuttinnew]

[mik]

So I have two decent “tactical flashlights”.

One has an 18650 battery.
The other has a larger capacity 26650 battery (also 3.7V).

They came with separate chargers. The one for the smaller battery is good. But the 26650 doesn’t fit in it. The one for the 26650 is a horrible things.

So I decided to splash out nearly ten whole British pounds for a charger that will do both, and has a display so I can see wtf is happening when they charge.



So it arrived and I charged the 18650. Peachy.

I have just bought a new 26650 battery - original cell is now lasting no time.

I put the new 26650 into the charger. “No Charge”. Eh?

I put the old 26650 into the charger. “No charge”

I thought there might be a contact issue, so tried spinning the old battery around and it immediately recognised the incorrect polarity. So not a connection issue. WTF?

Messed about for a while and got annoyed. Was going to contact seller to cite faulty item, but last night had the crazy thought to get the meter out.

So the cells are 3.7V nominal. Charger applies upto 4.25V.

New 26650 was showing 4.5V. Ah.
Old 26650 was (bizarrely) showing 4.84V (!)

So that might explain why a charger capable of outputting 4.25V might not want to charge them eh?

Ran the old 26650 in the torch for 30mins and it had dropped to 3.3V. Put it in charger - working fine.

So partly my stupidity, but I am blaming this whole sorry incident squarely on [mention]Mito Man[/mention] as the resident forum torch idiot. Cheers mate.

[nuttinnew]