New Retail Product: Stor-A-Cell Battery Carriers

Hi all, I guess you can tell I'm on a bit of a roll here with the new products. As always, my goal is to bring you more awesome and these little battery carriers are just another step in that direction. The carriers are made the the good ol' USA and were originally designed for pilots to keep spare batteries organized in their flight bags.

This is a 15 second exposure. Check out the "moon shine" material!
Most of us just call it Glow in the Dark or GITD :) 

It just so happens they'll do the same job in your junk drawer. They are also great for travel or if your job requires you to have spare batteries on had. Of course they also work with rechargeable batteries, so keep an eye out on the blog because I'll be getting in some Sanyo Eneloop NiMh AAA and AA batteries in the next couple of weeks!

NEW PRODUCT: Klhip Ultimate Clipper

Huh? Yes, I've decided to carry a nail clipper. You can imagine how awesome it is, because I'm sure you know that I wouldn't sell anything that wasn't the pinnacle of awesome. This link will take you to the new product page on my website. I spend plenty of characters relating just how awesome it is on that page so I won't rehash everything here. Suffice to say, you should check it out.

I've also reorganized navigation for "the store" so please provide any feedback you might have! 

In this case, you can actually believe the marketing stuff written on the box

In short, I love this thing for two reasons. First, it works so well you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. Second, it's actually the pet-project of a fellow I know from my days in the fly fishing industry. He's a designer/maker like myself and just got inspired one day and came up with, oh you know, something revolutionary. Not a bad day eh? Now if I could only sell as many flashlights as they sell clippers...

NEW FEATURE: Alpha Primary Seal Ring (PSR)

As you know by now, I can't leave well enough alone. I pressure tested my lights to 300 feet for 5 hours...but that's just not good enough is it? What can make the Alpha even more bullet proof (water bullets)? Enter the Alpha Primary Seal Ring (PSR). It doesn't increase the depth rating, but it should extend the exposure time and improve the sealing performance under extreme physical conditions, like impact, vibration, temperature, altitude, and submersion.

Actually, it would be cool to carry an Alpha up to the snowy summit of a mountain and then down to the ocean and into a 300ft scuba dive. Anyone want to meet me in New Zealand?

The PSR makes the front seal 110% effective (that's a guesstimate)

As far as I know, this is also a completely novel method for sealing a flashlight. Patent worthy even, but now I've done it, since I posted this picture it can't be patented...by anyone...and I think that's fair :) I digress.

This ring is custom made from 302 stainless steel, just for me, by Smalley Steel Ring Co. out of Lake Zurich, Illinois. It is now a standard feature on all Alpha lights. It does make it a little harder to remove the o-ring and get to the lens, but you should really never need to do this unless the glass get broken or severely scratched over time.

Just in case you feel the urge, you'll need four things: o-ring pick, bent nose pliers, a replacement o-ring, and the link to this video. The pick and pliers are included with the Journeyman Package. They can also be purchased separately.

I do want to note, this seal is not absolutely necessary. I tested my light to 300 feet for 5 hours without the PSR in place. Unless your light is routinely in wet environments, I wouldn't worry about it. However, I want to send out a light that is as close to 100% reliable as possible, and this checks off one of the boxes that has been bothering me.

The PSR will be available as an optional upgrade for all existing Alphas, but not until the new year when things quiet down a bit. Please don't email me until then or I will just forget :) Alpha-Blue label owners, this is a free upgrade!

NEW PRODUCT FOR SALE: Titanium Zipper Pulls !!!

Hey Folks,

Looking for an awesome gift? Want to personalize a mass produced jacket or bag? Want to win friends and influence people? Try some of my pure titanium zipper pulls!

It's been a long time coming but I pulled the trigger on a batch of these! They are machined at Hirsch Machine in Santa Clara, the same place that makes my Ready Made lights. Check out this link to purchase them directly from my site. There are lots of photos of pulls on things like jackets, sweaters, bags, and flashlights so check out the link. If you buy some pulls, please send me a photo of the item you personalized and I'll post it on my site!

I had to take a hefty bite out of my checking account to make this happen so please help me spread the word! Blog, tweet, share to Facebook, email the gear-head in your life, anything you can think of! Your help is greatly appreciated.

These are also available for wholesale, so if you are a retailer, please contact me!

Blue tailcap boots have landed!

Yes indeed. One of my customers was trolling the internet and discovered some blue tailcap boots! Now if I can just remember who that was I'll send them a free one...email me? 


Not GITD but a pretty darn close match to the fluorosilicone. Bad news is they are expensive...for tailcap boots. The good news is that I bought out every one they had...so I'm not sure any more will ever be available. 

It's new! It's blue! It's a boot! 

These will now be an option during checkout and, for any existing Alpha owner, I'll send you a boot at my cost + shipping in a first class envelope = $2.50 


Just send paypal to jason@darksucks.com and note something like "blue boot!" in the comments during checkout. 

New Prometheus Lights Logo! (again)

Hopefully I'm one step closer to having a satisfactory logo! It seems kind of crazy to keep iterating the brand identity...but the company is so new I don't really have one :) One of the advantages in starting from scratch right?

So, my new banner is at the top! What do you think? I ran a poll here on the blog and on Candlepower Forums as well. My old logo actually won both polls by a small margin. I'm not a (certified) scientist but I suspect there is some sort of bias towards things you are more familiar with :) Also interesting, most people who actually wrote a text comment were in favor of the new logo...but the majority of votes were in favor of the old. Not sure what insight to take away from that.

A few people asked me to provide some explanation on the "what" any "why" of the new mark, so if you are into, that please read on after the jump!

Ce n' est pas une zipper pull

Recently someone asked me why the heck you'd need a titanium zipper pull when all zippers already come with pulls attached?

My first answer...you don't need them, you want them...just follow the swinging pocket watch with your eyes. Second answer: rather than a 9,000 word treatise on zipper pulls I decided to post the following 9 photos.

Let's begin with # 1 shall we?

Does this really need a caption? 

More photos after the jump. Don't worry, you won't even have to read "much" more text or look at my grungy Carhart jacket again :)  

New Logo: at it again (please vote!)

Hi All,

Well I'm still trying to get the right logo. You know the drill. Which do you prefer?

The poll is open for a month but I'm hoping to make the decision by the end of the week so please vote now!

Which logo do you prefer?

Show, tell, both? Your opinions!

Sorry for the lack of updates lately but I've been in an anti-blog phase. It's actually really hard (at least for me) to keep interested in the blog. I envy those "real" bloggers who can just pump out content on a regular basis. One thing that does keep me interested is if I know people are reading and enjoying...so please comment and/or share some posts with your friends, Facebook or otherwise :)

Enough babble, here's the meat. I've been meaning to add photos to my "packages" page to illustrate what you  get when the little flat rate box shows up at your house. It's obviously the same content as the bullet lists, but I think images are a little easier to wrap your brain around no?

Click here to navigate to the "packages" page on my site (new window)

One thing I was unsure about is whether I should integrate the images as a replacement for the bullet list, or keep it supplemental at the bottom of the page...the way it is now. Please let me know if you have any feedback!

POLL: more input on my logo please!

Hi folks,

I'm not super happy with my current logo so I've been playing some more. I figure my brand identity is pretty flexible at this point so I thought I'd make another attempt. So, without further ado, what's your opinion? I have added a brief description of each, below the poll, but it's probably more scientific to vote on your first impression :) Thanks in advance and I'd love some comments as well!

Which logo do you like better?

#1 - My first attempt. I use circles in most of my designs...kind of my trademark. It also reflects the shape of the light. This is actually based on a font with two lettter "P" placed back to back. My brother mentioned it looked  a bit like a torch (what the rest of the world calls flashlights) so I added the little hotrod flame. I like it, but it looses resolution really fast when it's small.

#2 - Still working with the circle but trying to simplify things and get a little more "iconic." This is based on the Japanese "mon" or family crest. They are always inside circles and contain some sort of graphic element. I started with a hexagonal shape in the center, which is the shape of the LED boards. I added the white triangle (upwards facing) over that because it's the alchemical symbol for "fire." That was cool but it looked a little too much like a recycling symbol so I added the next round layer that actually reflects the shape of the LED dome. So...it's basically a graphic of an LED board with the triangle added.

In general: overall I'd like to get the logo to a place where I can also hand-stamp the shape, and the #2 version is much more conducive to this than #1. I can also have this shape extruded and do an "inlay" on the side of the light (instead of a stamp) which would be pretty awesome. Anyway, let me know what you think.

WIN: Prometheus Lights featured in FORTUNE?!

Yeah I know! Crazy right? Happy Thanksgiving to me! It sort of seems fake but here is the link and here is the screen shot (below). I keep checking the website just to make sure it's still here. The Alpha is also supposed to be featured in the iPad version of the actual magazine (but not the print version). I'd love it if any iPad subscribers could submit a screen shot or even just write in if you see it.

The Alpha is "techie" gadget #2 (of 6!)

I'd also love to capitalize on the momentum of this press and the best way to do that is through you, yes you dear reader, sharing the news through email, Facebook, Twitter, or anything else you can think of! Since I don't have an advertising budget, basically your good will is the only thing that will help me get the word out.

One last thing, if you are a Facebook user and haven't "liked" my home page yet, would you take 12 seconds and do it? Every little bit helps in this internet economy! This is me giving thanks to you: *thanks!*

It's official, Dark Sucks is now Prometheus Lights

Don't worry though. My tag line still says Dark Sucks! Thanks so much to everyone who voted. It makes my process a lot more fun and I hope you enjoy the fact that you get to participate in the creation of my venture.

I'm not going to post an image...because you can just look at the header of this page to see the winning logo/text combination. It was actually a pretty close race. In retrospect, it occurs to me that maybe the choices were just too similar, but hey, it's still a result :)

The paperwork for the name is still being processed but I thought I'd at least change the name on the blog to break in the new branding and see how it sits with me...and you. Thanks again!