Flashlight News: Phreaky Briefing Issue 40
Welcome to the latest Phreaky Briefing Issue! We provide Phreaks like yourself with all of the latest custom, production and tactical flashlight news and information in this flashlight briefing. No more keeping track of 3 forums, 2 Facebook groups, and every manufacturer on Instagram, we do the work for you! We won’t spam and will keep hawking wares to a minimum. If you aren’t into flashlight news just click here to skip to the PhotonPhreaks updates, otherwise; Let’s get on to the news!
You may have noticed this Flashlight News Briefing is formatted differently than previous briefings. As part of our continuous effort to improve, we noticed most readers are on mobile, so we are optimizing for that. There’s also a Table of Contents that you can click to expand and help you navigate.
Table of Contents
High End / Custom Flashlight Briefing
Artech Custom Flashlights
New exotics are available from Akradiy! Not only more lights, but also in progress is a new custom driver for these lights.
Copper and Current
The Hinton first run interest list has closed, but it’s worthwhile to note that it was a raving success, and we’re pleased that Mike is making this light happen!
Creative Bureau
From Instagram, we’re seeing a very unusual user interface for this custom flashlight light by Creative Bureau. There is a mechanical slider for an on and off switch, and the LED’s are individually addressable via what may be an accelerometer.
Focus Works
Jordy has posed the question: Blue or orange? Despite having a massive effect on the reflector, it appears this is “just” a glow in the dark centering ring around the emitter. Very impressive.
Gyorgy Kemenes
Gyorgy, already a maker of impressive (and sometimes impressively small) flashlights has gotten his hands on some drivers from Copper and Current and is incorporating them into some new builds
JC Customs
Most notable for modifying existing flashlights, JC Customs is getting into building actual bodies, too! These are being turned by hand on a manual lather, here’s a particularly beautiful example- damascus with a brass bezel. Availability and pricing has not been announced yet, the one pictured has an owner already
Joel Abernathy
From Facebook: Joel Abernathy is using leather to make belt carry options for the M2R Pro and i3t and Warrior Mini tactical flashlights. Looks like these will go for around $40, and Joel seeks feedback on the design.
Laulima Metal Craft
Joshua Dawson of Laulima Metal Crafthas teased a mokume gane body for his flashlights! Looks great! An astute observer will notice this is a new flashlight design as well. We’re eager to see what he comes up with.
Rick Brady
Rick Brady, owner of the updated Thrunite TN42 V2 made a leather case for both protection and carry of the light. It’s unclear if these are for sale, but find Rick on the Thrunite Facebook group if you want more details.
Like what you’re reading so far? Sign up to receive future issues to your inbox
Menton Boss
We’ve talked here about the flashlight teased by Menton Boss. There’s an actual prototype in the works now, and we have this bit of information about it. No other details are available yet, but so far it’s looking very nice.
Phuoc Trinh
This unnamed copper flashlight was teased on Facebook recently. Details are very limited at this time, but it does seem that they can be purchased.
There are other versions of this light, too, each more fetching than the previous.
Reylight
Popular flashlight maker Reylight has worked with Kizer to make a knife with the popular pineapple pattern scales!
Tom Harlow
We’ve seen other interesting things from Tom in the recent past, but now he’s working some straight up magic. Designed to fit a Convoy S2+, he’s made an array of RGB emitters – 16 shown below (but more possible) that can be individually addressed and controlled in fun ways!
TorchLAB BOSS
You may know we here at PhotonPhreaks love some custom engraving. There’s a new engraved flashlight out there! It’s an engraved TorchLAB BOSS in copper. The work looks to be done by (or owned by?) Yongqiqn.
Yellowday Energy
There’s a new Wreck-IT! It’s the “Rotor” model. Even with all the updates, the new Rotor will still interchange with other Wreck-IT parts!
Flashlight News Intermission
Alright, that was a lot of info. Before we continue with the flashlight news, take a deep breath and a bathroom break, self care is important.
If you’re having trouble finding the right flashlight for you, check out Parametrek. It’s the most detailed flashlight search engine that I’ve found and they help make the Phreaky Briefing a reality.
Production (tactical) Flashlight Briefing
Acebeam
You’ve probably seen it all over the web lately, but the Acebeam E70-Al Tactical Flashlight has been announced. It’s quite a beast, using 21700 cell and with the Cree XHP70.2 emitter. It will also be made in other metals, copper has been confirmed so far.
Amutorch
The Amutorch SD5 is a Luminus SST-40 thrower, powered by a single 21700 cell. This light will have great throw (over 750m), and should have good runtimes with the high capacity 21700 cells. Here’s the ZeroAir review.
One more bit of news from Amutorch – the E3Q will soon be available. This is a “keychain flashlight” (likely 18350 sized), but with a tail switch. ZeroAir reviewed the E3S and liked it lot!
Armytek Tactical Flashlights
There’s a new Armytek on the market – the Prime C2 Pro Tactical Flashlight, which has the standard magnetic charging base, but gets a spec bump with the new emitter, and overall better usage, too.
Armytek has also announced the Wizard C2 Pro Max Magnet USB – a very long name for their newest 21700 cell headlamp.
Brinyte
A new Brinyte headlamp is coming to market. This headlamp will have a head that can be rotated, and also a magnet base. It’s an interesting (and likely extremely useful) headlamp design.
One more bit of Brinyte news – they’re moving office! We wish them the best in their move.
Convoy
While these colors have been offered for a while in the S2+ line, Convoy is now offering color options in the C8 lineup, as well!
Emisar
The Emisar DT8 dual quad flashlight has been released. While the light itself is unusual, it’s nice to note that this is a fairly inexpensive way to get Anduril2!
Fenix
Fenix has produced a single “big version” of their extremely popular PD36R. No photos show the light working, but it’s still spectacular even as a show piece. We assume the human in the yellow shirt is a fully normal sized human.
Fenix also has released the new WF30RE, which might not be much interest to “flashlight enthusiasts” but is an impressive entry into intrinsically safe flashlights.
JETBeam
JETBeam has announced the new KO-03 EDC Flashlight. Other details are slim at the moment, but this one looks to be a fairly simple, robust e-switch flashlight. Fortunately we know JETBeam makes a quality product, so we look forward to more details.
Klarus
There’s a new tail switch from Klarus. This is a dual action switch, to allow quicker reaction and faster control. The new tailcap looks to be for the XT2CR PRO.
Lumens Factory
Sometimes we feel like Lumens Factory is just making things they like and we’re not sure who the items is for. But that’s the best kind of product! This is an example – the 10X-LED module for the 10X Dominator. The 10X Dominator is a tactical Surefire, so it’s nice to see new life breathed into those products!
Lumintop
The FW series of flashlights by Lumintop are very popular, and Lumintop has certainly capitalized on that success. Here’s one more entry – the FWAA, which is a 14500 sized light, but still a triple! ZeroAir has already reviewed this one!
The GT Nano in aluminum was great fun. Then came brass and copper, which were even heavier fun! Now the GT Nano is seeing titanium iterations, and there are a few! There’s polished, stonewashed, and blast finished versions.
There’s a new LEP on the market! While it doesn’t look to be a US release, Lumintop is making a “white laser” (LEP) out of copper! There are tritium slots, too!
There’s a new lantern by Lumintop! We leaked this one in a previous Briefing but more details have emerged. The CL2 is powered by 14500 sized cells (from 1 to 4 cells) and has USB-C charging!
More news from Lumintop – the FW3X, which has an RGB emitter dead center on the mcpcb, is now shown featuring Osram main emitters!
Right smack in the “just for fun” and/or “why not” category (right up there with the large Fenix light mentioned above), is this fun glow bunny by Lumintop.
Mooch
Famous cell tester Mooch has tested the Samsung 25R8, the “latest version of the classic 25R.” Mooch indicates these cells test very well.
Nebo Tools
Nebo has introduced the Torchy 2K. This light has quite a feature set (click the previous link for details and to purchase), and is a great entry from Nebo into the higher quality flashlight world. The charge base shown for the Torchy 2K looks remarkably light an Olight MCC charger!
Olight
During the Olight Warrior Mini tactical flashlight kerfuffle, it seem the only solution offered was to return all of your Warrior Minis. This wasn’t satisfactory to many users, and Olight has changed the solution to being more agreeable. Now you can return whatever selection of your purchases from OlightStore.com for the fix that you wish. Details are here.
If you check out the Olight Store you may notice that all Warrior Mini listings are marked as “sold out”. Watch for our posts as we track these developments!
This may count as “Custom Flashlight News” but here we have an Olantern with a custom cover – a sprinkled donut! This work comes to us courtesy of Eddie Barrios on Facebook.
RovyVon
Rovyvon has a few new entries in the keychain/EDC market. The A1x is available in purple:
The RovyVon A3 is available in green:
And finally, the A5x is available in purple, too!
RovyVon also has the S2, which has been out for some time, but may make a comeback. This is an interesting light with a bunch of emitters, including sets on both sides of the handle, and dual e-switches, and a voltage display!
Streamlight
The Streamlight Pocket Mate is a keychain light that would make an excellent gift, It can double for cap uses, and boasts USB recharging.
Thrunite
Thrunite Tactical Flashlights has been looking for product design input, and seems to have settled on the design for their new headlamp. A name isn’t known, but here’s the general design.
There’s another call-for-input from Thrunite. This time for the T1 Tactical Flashlight. The T1 will see an upgraded version, most likely to include USB-C charging, but possibly with some other features or design changes. They’re still working out details.
Wuben
The Wuben E6 is a tiny little thrower, powered by a 14500 (or AA!!) cell. This looks to be a great combination of “sleeper throw”, hitting over 400 meters!
Wuben has also released a tiny bit of news about a new product – the T2. We know little about it, but we can say it’s an e-switch light and probably 2xAA or 2xAAA. A Wuben penlight!
Congratulations on completing another Phreaky Briefing! Consider yourself up to date on all the latest flashlight news!
What’s New with PhotonPhreaks
Here’s a quick rundown of the latest happenings:
- Oversize Desk Mats and Work Mats The first run sold out really fast but we restocked! so go grab a work mat for all your modding and photo backdrop needs.
- Phredator Blem patches are available with steep discounts
- Green, Aqua, and Pink Flood Rings are in stock and ready to ship! Our Flood Rings are machined in the US out of US made Hyperglow material, only best for you guys, no 3D prints
- Always a popular theme, Boba Phett patches have dropped and almost sold out!.
As always,
Spread the Light!
Simon
You must be logged in to post a comment Login
You must log in to post a comment.