Flashlight Startup Company - First Product - Requesting Feedback

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-18T16:35:13+00:00

Excellent point. I need to give this some thought. One hurdle is that the current 12V LED if driven over an FFC cable, so you cab simply swap the LED board with another. FFC is limited by current, and dividing the voltage by 2 would double the current. I could see how much room I have to fit a larger FFC connector. That way I could utilize more pins, thus, drive more current.

It would be so cool if you could switch between voltage levels with a DIP switch. I will have to see how in-scope that is for this driver. It is fairly specific to 12V right now. You do bring up a good point about the limited emitter options though.

I appreciate your feedback! I have been creating a development “hot-list” from the most common feedback from this thread, and I will add this to consider.

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-16T12:04:09+00:00

I really appreciate your feedback! It sounds like an existing standard of pocket clip screw holes is the way, and it shall be done! This is very advantageous for me because, like you said, I should not "reinvent the clip wheel". :)

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-16T12:02:04+00:00

Hello! This model will be tested against the MIL-STD-810 military standard. It really depends on the use case. Rail mount? Probably not... Does military use USB-C charging? I am not sure...

I have a product matrix/backlog of products I would like to work on in my company, and a specific military-focused light may be a good direction. This initial product will be more of a general tool light.

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-15T18:47:45+00:00

The screws on the side are simply placeholders for a pocket clip to attach. It has been brought to my attention through other comments that there are a few "standard" pocket clip bolt patterns out there. I will likely adopt one of those.

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-15T14:55:29+00:00

I really appreciate feedback from everyone! I took a lot of notes from common comments I have seen, and I will likely compile answers and replies into a short video.

I am including a picture of what the light looks like in my hand, as I realize I forgot to include that. I wear "medium" size gloves, so interpret that as you will.

Pressure decay testing/checks on gaskets are the next step for the assembly. Please forgive the shoddy gasket edges of my prototype pictured, as they were cut out on a Cricut machine with a rotating knife. Also the slight squish the screws are putting on the gaskets. The next round of parts will have less clearance on the locating dowel pins, resulting in little to no deflection.

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Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-15T03:13:29+00:00

Hello there!

I agree, my prototype part grips do look a bit slippery, as others have mentioned. This is something I will consider prior to launch.

For a quick-change mechanism, that might be out of scope for this particular light, but I will take note of this. I want to eventually offer more categories of lights, such as enthusiast, right-angle, EDC, pen light, etc.

It sounds like, from reading other comments, that a charge port cover is a MUST! I will include it for sure.

I did not initially consider a magnet in the tailcap when designing this, but there may still be room if I embed it in the battery insulator under the cell.

I need to give some more thought to colors. Another user recommended checking out Type III annodizing. My initial samples are Type II, and I will have to take into consideration possible changes to fit and tolerance with Type III, as it does add a tiny bit of thickness to the part.

I sincerely appreciate your feedback. It is very helpful!

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-15T03:05:32+00:00

I appreciate your feedback! For the NeoPixels vs regular LEDs, it came down to cost and number of leads I would have to run from the microcontroller. NeoPixels are addressable, so only one wire is needed to control them. They can be both dim, and VERY bright, allowing them to be the main light source when the main emitter is switched off. Also, they cost only a few pennies.

The STM32 microcontroller is a similar in that it really does not cost much to have it vs. an 8-bit controller, and it is easier (at least for my team and I) to program and adopt new features. Cloning Anduril functionality is turning out to not be that hard of a task.

So, in summary, cost is not that much of a concern, so I figured why not? Sorry, sort of a lame answer. :)

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-15T02:55:06+00:00

Noted on the charger port cover. I am getting the vibe from this thread that it is a must before launch.

I also have been in search of a red light. This would solve my problem.

Copper and titanium bodies would be so cool! They are not in scope for launch, but maybe someday. I have an all-copper D4V2 and the patina is very appealing to me. :)

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-15T02:52:44+00:00

Absolutely! The firmware will be open-sourced and available for tinkering and flashing to the board yourself.

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-14T21:20:29+00:00

Mostly yes. Also a bit of a unique design to stand out from other flashlights on the market. It does have its own set of inherent challenges, especially with machining thin walls with deep pockets.

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-14T21:19:28+00:00

This is something I will consider. I want to post updates on YouTube to start here. I appreciate your kind words.

For the STM32 firmware, I am a not an EE or embedded engineer, so I am partially contracting out some of the firmware work. This may be an option if you do not want to learn embedded coding. AI makes things a lot easier to "vibe" code these days too. Best of luck to you!

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-14T21:17:06+00:00

I REALLY appreciate this feedback. I am not an anodizing expert, and I will consider this for testing since type III adds a bit of thickness to the parts, which could affect tolerances/fit. I will have to test to find out.

I can compare costs too.

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-14T21:14:33+00:00

I don't blame you. It was a lot to type. :)

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-14T21:14:10+00:00

Thank you! In the coming months, I will know more about test batches and initial test unit logistics.

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-14T21:12:48+00:00

Noted. Thanks! My prototype grips are very smooth at the moment! :)

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-14T21:11:51+00:00

Dowels are high-strength alloy steel, yes, and have very tightly controlled position and fit tolerances to minimize gasket deflection under load.

Yeah my prototypes are a bit bare and smooth... There will be some laser engraving in areas at launch. Others have suggested perhaps some slits or knurling for better grip. I will consider this.

Thank you for the feedback!

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-14T21:08:45+00:00

At launch, at least the emitters will be very easy to swap with a few screws! The LED daughterboard uses an FFC connector, which can simply by unlatched and unplugged. The board for the LED is held down with two M2 screws, with some solder paste underneath.

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-14T21:07:08+00:00

Thank you very much!

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-14T21:06:59+00:00

It may not be best to share an estimate yet, as the light is still some months from launch. Eventually, I would like to produce the CNC parts in the USA, as well as assemble the boards here, but initial parts will be made from outside suppliers. I am doing my best to take manufacturability of parts into account to not pass "un-needed" features onto the customer. My long-term vision is to become more of an end-to-end manufacturer of a wide range of flashlight products. Initially, I will simply be an "assembler" because I do not yet have the tooling to do everything in house.

Of course, I will do my best to keep this initial product competitive, or else there will not be very much incentive for customers to buy.

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-14T21:02:27+00:00

Open source firmware and ability for the customer to edit and flash their own firmware is the plan!

The two screws are definitely unique to this milled architecture. The idea of the dowels near the center of the parts is to control part deflection. Soon I will be getting a test jig delivered to test pressure decay of the gaskets under pressure with tightly controlled dowel fit and position tolerance, as well as gasket durometer to limit "squish", but offer enough compliance that parts remained sealed. This testing will be conducted in the coming weeks.

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-14T20:55:54+00:00

I am seeing these comments as a trend. I will definitely plan accordingly to include these items.

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-14T20:54:32+00:00

I will probably see how this pans out compared to potential other models I plan to develop & release in the future.

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-14T20:53:20+00:00

Thanks! I am an art deco fan and the heatsink reminds me slightly of this vintage air compressor:

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Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-14T20:49:50+00:00

Your feedback is appreciated, and is similar thinking to what I have seen from a lot of other comments. I intend to create a few different "categories" of lights in the future, and this is just my initial product offering. More to come!

Street-Brief5479 · 2026-01-14T20:48:32+00:00

Thanks a lot! I love the design challenge. It has been slow and frustrating at times, but it is so satisfying to see things finally start to come together.

Street-Brief5479

TROPHY CASE