Side-by-side battery compartments make a lot of sense, but they're typically not used because they're more a lot expensive to machine than "long tube." And most lights that are made in squarer form factors use lipo cells that are not intended to be user replaceable, which I find objectionable.
like... okay but is that really necessary for a flashlight or razor or wallet or whatever
I do wonder at what point the price for these sorts of things goes from "small company without economies of scale that wants to avoid using slave/child labor while producing genuinely high quality products" to "just extorting amounts of money from people who don't know any better."
Like if my $400 for the flashlight is going towards paying some truly skilled craftsman a living wage I would consider it well worth the cost.
it's a mix of different factors
That last bit is the part that interests me the most. (Not to the point of buying $400-500 lights though.)
You can get much more efficient performance in a small light using 2 cells, but almost all reasonably priced lights will put those two cells in a long tube configuration, which in this case would mean a penlight. Penlights are cool too, but there is something neat about something that fits easily into like a coin pocket.
I have one of the tiny RovyVon lights that's so small and light it can clip onto a shirt or the small pocket of jeans no issue and you might even forget it's there. But the battery is sealed in an un-openable plastic body from what I can tell. You might be able to break the adhesive to get the electronics out but it's definitely not encouraged by the manufacturer. I can see why one would be willing to spend up to twice the cost of that light to get one that's more modular.
lol this thing sucks!! you can get a flashlight that dominates this for like thirty bucks
To be clear, I'm not advocating buying $400+ lights, but do you have a $30 recommendation that's actually in this specific space? (Small 2-cell in side by side configuration, high CRI, decent UI, good runtime)
Because I would certainly be interested!
well i'm not sure about all of those things for $30 but i don't think the guys with the $400 joke light know what CRI is either. and their runtime is ass lol
anyway if you want legit tested flashlight recommendations check out Torque Test Channel's lists: https://www.amazon.com/shop/torquetestchannel/list/10CLML8M8C4YT
and their videos, in general. i don't even care about most of these tools and they are fun videos to watch
edit: nvm i guess it does say it has a CRI rating on the led they chose, but i don't think that's unique to them
Happily high CRI is easy to find now, in general, but when it comes to lights with a side-by-side cell configuration, less so. The less expensive examples I can think of, like the Sunwayman D20A, were not available in high CRI versions.
Same with the Nitecore ripoff of the old Coolfall zippo-style lights, which I actually have one of (I got it on clearance from, of all places, touch of modern, lol.) That's a very neat light, tiny but running on two 16340s and with a rotary continuously variable output. My clearance unit, however, is missing the detent that would prevent it from turning on in your pocket. And the emitter is cool white, alas, although I could just get it modded.
BTW, if you like budget hotrod lights, the place to go is https://intl-outdoor.com/. Extremely high performance and very customizable in terms of emitters, plus open-source firmware.
He now even has lights with a more runtime-friendly driver setup, which is very tempting for me, because I actually don't care about getting thousands of lumens for four seconds after turn-on.
i think those sxs cells aren't really that useful since the cells in question are so small. seriously those things are teeny. idk i'd rather just have an 18650
