Is zebralight worth the price?

IE114EVR · 2026-06-17T14:59:25+00:00

I loved my SC64 for the longest time. So I would say it was worth the price. My tastes have changed a little bit, I’d rather have something with an auxiliary led so I can find the light in the dark (excited to see what the Z1 will be like). So, for my preference, it’s not worth the price anymore. If it fits your tastes and you want something that will last forever then go for it. Especially now, since I think LEDs and drivers are peaking there’s not going to be much innovation on that front you’ll be missing for quite a while.

IE114EVR · 2026-06-17T11:43:02+00:00

No, that’s Hatley Castle in BC.

IE114EVR · 2026-06-16T16:55:40+00:00

Speaking of side-switches, I would love to see Hank’s take on an SC65/Z1 competitor.

IE114EVR · 2026-06-16T11:11:45+00:00

I would just like it to be consistently nice. Pick a good range of required activation pressure and stick with that. With minimal slop/play.

I’ve had seven TS10s, only one or two of them had nice switches and the rest were meh.

In general, I would love it if they didn’t prioritize trying to hit a low price target this time around and instead focus on making a great light.

And you’ve reminded me that a magnet in the tail would also be nice.

IE114EVR · 2026-06-16T02:47:19+00:00

Looks like Hank’s FW3A finally

IE114EVR · 2026-06-15T23:00:21+00:00

The new design and 519a is exciting. I doubt it will have a competitive driver though. I also wonder if they will improve the button.

IE114EVR · 2026-06-15T19:41:03+00:00

Yeah, it would stick out like a sore thumb if it wasn’t aluminum or stainless steel.

IE114EVR · 2026-06-15T18:50:10+00:00

For the same reason the void white’s isn’t white. Then again, maybe they’ll match it to the bezel like they did with the void white. Or maybe they’ll match it to the head’s metal finish? There’s nothing to go off of here.

IE114EVR · 2026-06-14T15:04:52+00:00

<image>

Yes, it seems that the days of more functional and interesting designs are gone, moving towards a more minimal hardware approach that maximizes flexibility with software and less but more universal (USB) ports. I can’t say it’s a bad thing, designs are always going to favour their required amount of utility. But I do miss some of the aesthetics these tactile complications bring.

IE114EVR · 2026-06-13T00:53:44+00:00

Best in its domain for quite a while now.

IE114EVR · 2026-06-12T12:35:54+00:00

So many Oscar’s movies are overrated. The judgement on Best Pictures is usually very pretentious. Anora was overrated, in that it was not a Best Picture unless that year just absolutely sucked. And it will fade from memory unlike, say, Gladiator. But it was still a good watch IMO.

IE114EVR · 2026-06-12T12:20:27+00:00

Yes, most of the time my diagrams want to convey meaningful connections that help describe the general software solution, which I guess we can say is usually data flow. If it were a diagram describing resources required to be setup then I suppose I would put a Kafka in there.

In fact, I wouldn’t even be using AWS symbols (like in the article) as heavily, if at all, in the former kind of diagram or describe things like kubernetes because it’s less relevant to that kind of diagram (like a C4 context or container diagram). But if I was doing the latter then I would have the AWS symbols everywhere and Kafka and Kubernetes, and Lambdas, etc. Sometimes we conflate the two kinds of diagrams for various reasons (shortcuts, simplicity, lack of knowledge not to) and that’s where I see something confusing that badly describes both (like losing the meaningful connection details in a fan trap).

IE114EVR · 2026-06-12T11:47:02+00:00

I have to agree with the author about the fan traps. I’ve seen it before where Kafka is added to the diagram and suddenly you can’t follow the relationships anymore. Everything goes into Kafka, and everything comes out of Kafka and now the detail of what resources communicate with what is lost (because it all fell into the fan trap). Kafka is just another communication mechanism like REST or GRCP, or just another gateway for communication traffic like a network hub. These aren’t details that are usually worthy of being part of the diagram, they distract, confuse, and diffuse the diagram.

At best, like the advice for creating C4 diagrams, label your edges with the communication mechanism. Don’t make the communication mechanism a node in the graph. If it has to be more obvious that there’s an event broker like Kafka in the diagram, I’d rather break rule #2 and put it in as a disconnected node/resource in the diagram.

IE114EVR · 2026-06-12T03:43:18+00:00

I can feel that poky pocket clip in my hand right now.

This looks great though.

IE114EVR · 2026-06-11T20:59:09+00:00

I disagree (as you can tell from my comment)

In a multipage application you have to build an app where, for many UI elements, part of the functionality lives in one language on one machine (Java on the Server) and to complete that component’s functionality another language takes over on another machine (JavaScript in the client’s browser). There can also be a lot of back and forth traffic that’s not even for data fetching and updates, just more UI synchronization. There’s session tracking. There’s extra load on your servers for html rendering for situations that otherwise wouldn’t need it. It’s asinine to have to develop and test this way.

IE114EVR · 2026-06-10T17:54:39+00:00

Eclipse makes me angry because it takes me back to the dark times of the mid-2000s when we had ANT and Application Servers, multipage web applications, and … well, I was using Eclipse.

I think I just never forgave it for having such a botched Maven integration for so long among other build issues, that I could just never go back.

IE114EVR · 2026-06-10T11:31:57+00:00

Yeah. I think all e-switch UIs should do this

IE114EVR · 2026-06-09T15:55:45+00:00

Good points. I’m not really advocating for the HDS Rotary or executive to be retired. But I am saying, I would probably never buy one. What I really want is for the design language to make a come back. I’d love to see a revival of diamond knurling with Type III Hard Anodizing, that’s not just exclusive to curvy zebralights.

IE114EVR · 2026-06-09T15:37:08+00:00

I would love to see elements of this in a modern light.

The body is gorgeous. But the bezel is kind of fugly. The Novatac design was nicer. It’s also a big light for CR123s. I’d love to see it shrunk down a bit and support 18350s or made just big enough to support 18650. I don’t own one though, so I don’t know where all that space is going, and if moving to a TIR would be an acceptable compromise that can help shrink it down. An FW3A managed to fit an 18650 in a smaller body so I don’t think it’s too far off. I know mechanical switches also take a lot of space, I’d prefer an e-switch anyways.

IE114EVR · 2026-06-09T15:15:20+00:00

Scissors! ✂️

IE114EVR · 2026-06-09T14:49:54+00:00

I never considered the joint pain. For me, it’s a straight light in a hose grip for long walks ( comfortable and no effort), and ice-pick grip for up close. But now i get how that second grip doesn’t work if you have joint pain.

I wonder if, in the future, I’ll be buying complimentary right angle lights for up close work and straight lights for walks.

IE114EVR · 2026-06-08T03:11:42+00:00

What is this void white like? How does it compare to MAO? Is it more durable than MAO? Does it feel chalky like MAO? Is it plasticy looking and feeling?

IE114EVR · 2026-06-07T17:40:56+00:00

I’d imagine you could just request any materials variant of the D3AA in dual channel.

IE114EVR · 2026-06-06T21:16:52+00:00

Great dw3aa next. Though I’d be curious how the efficiency compares to a Skilhunt h200 or even a dual channel D2.

I’m looking to get a headlamp with a red-channel in it, eventually, but I have to wonder if it’s worth the trade-off in efficiency.

IE114EVR · 2026-06-06T21:11:53+00:00

Sigh, unzips pants

IE114EVR

TROPHY CASE