More flashlight talk as these things evolve-

[jladdsmith]

Today I received a BLF GT NANO (Budget Light Forums)-designed thrower built by Lumintop ((China)) and sold by Illumn.com Stateside.

I am very impressed with what they did and kinda need to pass this along.

Osram W1 emitter in a keychain-sized light that throws a legitimate 250 yards as tested by me just tonight.

I am a flashlight nerd and this shocks me. 

It is the size of a kid's thumb, yet the machining is as good as anything 5x it's size. 

I collect a lot of lights and this is my first "thrower", but it's based off of the BLF GT and it's just crazy how they scaled it down to this. 

If your birthday is within the next year or so, I think you probably deserve it, but buy an Emisar D4V2 first.

[grumpy]

How much would that set a fella back?

[jladdsmith]

Sup Grump. 

The tiny one from Illumn is $40, and I have a $10 off promo code that I can't locate right now, but let me know if you decide to order and I can track it down for you.  https://www.illumn.com/flashlights/lumintop-gt-nano-osram-kw-clsnm1-tg-450-lumens-10180-edc-pocket-thrower-cool-white.html  Seriously go watch some youtube videos on either of these lights and you'll see what I'm talking about.  The Nano is mind-bendindly impressive outside at distance.  Holding it between two fingers and running it on turbo out to 300 yards just doesn't compute. 

Honestly though if you were to do one or the other, I would highly recommend going with the Emisar D4v2 with the XPL-HI emitter in Neutral White and the Samsung 30Q 18650 battery.  This one starts out at $45.  I went all out and bought every accessory you can get for it including the 18500 and 18350 tubes and it came out to about $80 which is still a tremendous value for what you get.  If you hand this thing to someone who isn't familiar with them it's first shocking how much light can come out of something so small and it could actually be dangerous.  With the XPL-HI emitter, it will literally burn paper.  These are a kind of boutique light- designed and manufactured (or at least assembled custom) by one dude in China named Hank Wang.  It's pretty much the darling of the flashlight junkie world.  Hank will put whichever driver, custom solder whichever emitter (or combination of 4 different emitters), whichever optics, lenses, etc that you request.  There's so many options but you just can't go wrong with the XPL-Hi and a Samsung 30Q battery.  They come directly from his shop in China and mine took five weeks to arrive.  He has since made the option available to process through DHL for shipping and it is well worth it to pay whatever upcharge to just get it in a week or so and have better tracking and all that than the standard shipping.  He has a US warehouse but you're limited to whatever they have already put together.  There's also some dude shipping out of Hawaii that might charge a little more, but you're for sure to get it.  Another dude in Colorado has them.   You know what- there's an FAQ on reddit about it that may help you more.  I'll just go grab that and paste below.  One other thing that I'll say is that they are smaller even than they look in the pics from Hank's site.  It's barely bigger than the battery.  His pics are taken in his hands from a little Chinaman lol.  Seriously, youtube this.  Note that the D4V2 is the smallest one with the 18650 battery.  The D4SV2 is still small, is much more of a thrower than the D4V2 and has much more runtime especially on turbo due to it's larger battery and more thermal mass.  They get super hot in the hand to the point that you can't even hold them, to restate how much current is going through these drivers to the emitters.  Or if you want a super thrower that's compact like the D4V2 look at his KR1 model, but they are currently sold out world wide pretty much.  Oh yeah and don't get the Titanium version.  It's too heavy and doesn't do a good job with heat dissipation.  Ok I can't find the FAQ - just watch a bunch of videos and try not to get a chub thinking about it.  https://intl-outdoor.com/

[fairweatherfish]

Thanks for the info. Really enjoying the great tech at lower price points.

[Skunkedagain]

I have a 2 D cell Mag Lite. I wouldn’t call it a boutique light by any means but it’s definitely a thrower. I hit a guy in the back of the head from 25 m I caught checking my crab pots on the Caney. He said he didn’t know something so small could be so dangerous. I got it at Wal-Marts…….

[Steve H]

That's a good deal for a small, inexpensive flashlight for using around the house. Looks like an Olight knock-off.

[MikeA]

I have a 2 D cell Mag Lite. I wouldn’t call it a boutique light by any means but it’s definitely a thrower. I hit a guy in the back of the head from 25 m I caught checking my crab pots on the Caney. He said he didn’t know something so small could be so dangerous. I got it at Wal-Marts…….

I asked about those at the wal marts around my place and they said they’d been banned from selling them because people was putting FJB over the lenses and using them to set peoples chin diapers ablaze. Crazy times.

[Skunkedagain]

Them dummies……people just ain’t got a licka sense anymore……I saw a guy wearin his mask in the car, he was the only occupant. Liberals doing liberal things…….

[jladdsmith]

Yearly update-

Still holding firm on anything Hank puts out. 

A D4 will still blow your socks off- especially with the new emitter options such as the Osram CSLNM1 or CULPM1.tg

A D4S is a little chunkier, takes a larger battery and will blow your socks off for longer and farther and not burn your truck down in doing so unless you want it to.   

The new DT8 is two D4's in one 18mm host with a rectangular head.  This is the for sure boggler.  With tint ramping/dual channel thrower/flood emitters in any color temp you choose.  This is the WTFisthis light.  Will burn your truck down if you let it.

All of these are mindgobbling to witness.  If you're a hunter, you could ask Hank to make, for example, a D4 mule (all green to track blood as black), no optics, or in the same form factor very small light, have two emitters running two Osram W1's that would again give you pause as to what you're holding and what have I done in life to get to this point where a flashlight makes me question my decisions on umm, I dunno tire tread patterns?  Lunch meats?

Shit's just changed. 

Then if you just want something awesome on a budget- go RFN and buy an S2+ from Simon's store on aliexpress- convoy.aliexpress.com  I put a 10% off coupon up on Honey if you want to use that.  Just run Honey it'll find it.  I don't make a dime off of any of this.  My latest off the shelf purchases from Simon are honestly amazing quality- the M21D is another tf is this kinda light (but it's a chonk).  913 Meters.  Bounces off of the clouds.  The size of an empty roll of toilet paper- even smaller than that. 

If you have been around on TFTN long enough and remember my "flag down an alien" post from probably 15 years ago- I've got plans to modify that Stanley to see if I can't- you know what I'm gonna keep that goal to myself. 

Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop to look around once in a while you could miss it.