limited production :: hand crafted :: high performance :: rechargeable :: premium flashlights

This is my blog about creating a startup LED flashlight business. I'm a designer, fabricator, and strategist and I'm passionate about making ideas real. I believe that products are about people, that they should be built to last, deliver real value, and that we need to do a better job than we have in the recent past.

Most of my career has been contract or freelance work and I've crafted products and strategies for both big international companies and startups. I also used to work in the "industry" fabricating special effects for film and TV, along with the occasional hot rod. Bottom line, I love making things.

I'm starting this blog so you can follow along, from day one, and see what it's like to start a business, or fail in the process. Only time will tell, but I hope you find this interesting enough to stay tuned, comment, link, like, tweet, and (most importantly) participate in turning this idea into something tangible and valuable.

For a good place to get started with general info about who, what, why, etc., check out the "Stickies" on the left side of the page. Thanks for stopping by and please don't hesitate to ask questions and get involved!

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Monday, May 12, 2014

Customer Story: unplanned torture test of the Beta QR

One of my (happy) customers sent me the following email. Always nice to get something like this :) If anyone else has harrowing story about a Prometheus product, please send it in! Remind me to tell you about the time an elevator repairman dropped an Alpha Ready-Made 9 stories...down an elevator shaft...onto some bullets. Okay, no bullets. that is a quote from Mystery Men. It did fall 9 stories though; conservatively 100 feet.

 Thanks for the submission Ben! 

--------------------------------------------------------------

 Hi Jason,

I'm writing to you to share my own "unplanned torture test" of the Beta QR.  A friend and I went in together and ordered a couple of the Beta QR on Kickstarter and I had it for a few weeks and was impressed with the quality and the color reproduction. Not long after though, I dropped it out of my jacket pocket one day (around January, 18th) when I pulled out my gloves.  

 We just had a fresh dumping of snow that morning and I saw this indentation on the ground thought nothing more of it other than "that's weird, how did that get there?" It didn't hit me till later that evening when I needed the flashlight that the indentation from this morning was where my Beta QR fell. I immediately grabbed my snow shovel and started clearing the snow and sifting thru it as best I could. After 45 mins I had no luck.  Defeated, I dumped the snow carefully between my house and my neighbor's with the hope that when the snow bank melts, my Beta QR will be there.   

We had the most snow storms this year than any other year here in Ontario. It was only today (April 8th) that our snow bank finally melted down to about a foot high. As I was throwing out the garbage this morning, I did my usual routine of check of the snow bank for signs of the Beta QR and the first image I attached to this Email was what I saw. I was so happy! I picked it up and turned it on to see if it still worked. It totally did!!! Under the snow from Jan 19th - April 8th...That has to be some sort of record. 

There were some white chalky buildup on the brass quick release and the part it connects to the Beta QR which I was able to clean off. There were some parts where the electroless plating have chipped off but I'm not sure if that's from me pushing it with my shovel when I was sifting thru the snow...At the base, there was a little bit of corrosion, I assume from the salt. The key ring was totally rusted but that was easily replaced. Other than that the light was perfectly fine. The O-ring protected the internals from any moisture. The front glass was also clear. 


So happy to have found my Beta QR again! Just wanted to share that story with you. I wanted to know how much a new body would cost but then I started to think this one may have some scratches here and there but it has character now and a story behind it. It is a true testament to how good your flashlights are. I have the Prometheus pen too and it is still looking sharp as ever. I can't wait to see what you come up next on Kickstarter or on your website.

Thanks Jason

If you want to use this article on your page feel free to do so, I give you authorization.

Regards,
Ben
Posted by Jason at 10:21 PM 1 comments

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Mike Bond with a new Kickstarter pen that I dig

If you are like me, you spent a lot of time with felt tipped drafting pens many years ago. They had a distinct aesthetic, like the exposed metal nib (tip). Why the awkward sticky outy part? The original drafting pen was designed for precision work and running against a straight edge. The bare nib give you line-of-sight to your work and clearance for the straight edge. I never actually knew that until I saw this project!

Check out this new interpretation by Bond, Mike Bond. It's not a drafting pen, it's just nostalgic for one. Mike has a small shop out of Hawaii, makes everything himself, does great work, and is a downright decent human being. He's a veteran of 6 Kickstarter projects...basically a granddaddy at this point. Oh and the pen has magnets. All things considered, what's not to like?

Here is the link to his project. Only 60 hours left! 

I know...you can't trust KS project creators who promote other projects. After all, I haven't even used the pen. However, Brad Dowdy from The Pen Addict has used the pen, and he is (I'm not kidding) the internet's foremost expert on pens. He loves the TechLiner. How can you argue with that?


Posted by Jason at 9:13 AM 0 comments
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