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 Retail Product: LRI X-Light Micro!

Hi everyone,

A couple years ago I was at the SHOT show and had the opportunity to meet David Allen, the founder of LRI. He was incredibly nice, unassuming, and even had some kind words to say about my little case of custom lights. There are several versions, but X-Light Micro (below) is my favorite...and it's about the size of a quarter! If you don't need more convincing, you can get one from my store! 

Flavors: Clear and Black

David is credited with being the "father" of the micro-light, which he first started manufacturing at his kitchen table back in 1993. He's basically the flashlight maker from whence the rest of us came. I know, cool right? Ever since we met I've wanted to carry his products for the same reasons you should buy one:

1. He's a great guy. He and his wife run a company of 30 people out of a small town in Oregon known colloquially as the "light house." I like knowing who makes my stuff and I especially like buying it if I know they are good folks. I'll even pay a premium for that. Call me old fashioned. 
2. All of the products are 100% manufactured in the US when this would be the perfect product to make overseas and triple your profits overnight. I guess they care more about their product than profit, which is a (very) rare thing these days. 
3. These lights friggin' rock. This tiny little light has a microprocessor in it making the LED smoothly dim-able and able to deliver 3 different strobe modes, an SOS mode, and a "signal" mode where the button works only in "momentary" mode so you can tap out your message in Morse code. You DO know Morse code right? Wow, that's good because I don't...but I could learn some day. 
4. Runs for 12 hours on a single set of batteries...on full blast. That means for keychain use...That might last me a year or more. The lithium coin cells should store for 3-5 years. 

Glow in the dark = Awesome
(in case that needed clarification)

A monkey in your mailbox...

That's a catchy title right? Don't worry, we are talking digital monkeys.

Merry Christmas!

I've signed up with MailChimp to help streamline my workflow. That's a fancy way of saying, my blog will now send you an email if there is a new post and you've signed up for the mailing list. In the past, I've sent out "announcement" type emails separately. If you wanted blog content, then you had to (separately) visit the blog and/or sign up specifically for email updates.

Monkeys love email! Or so I hear. 

I hope this is a positive improvement, and I've merged those lists and now all updates will take the form of blog posts, which will get pushed to your email inbox automatically. Basically this saves me from managing multiple lists and trying to remember where I'm supposed to publish what information. It will also mean those of you on the mailing list will actually get emails from time to time :)

How will we know if it's working? This post (yes this very one) should trigger MailChimp to send you this post in an email at 6:00AM Pacific time tomorrow. You will not get an email if I have not posted any new content during the day. Of course if you have not already signed up on the mailing list you won't be getting any Christmas email from Prometheus Lights! If you feel left out, you can go here and get on the spankin' new mailing list :)

True North Knives now selling the Alpha Ready-Made

I'm excited to announce my first retail partner for the Alpha Ready-Made , True North Knives !

Why Zipper Pulls?

So someone asked me why the heck they should buy a zipper pull when zippers already have them. I thought of a bunch of snarky responses, but my professional response: I don't know. What I do know is that I (and other people) like to take mass-produced things and give them a little personality, and perhaps some added functionality, by customizing them.

Here is your mission: open this bag...quick!
Ohhh, can't find the black on black zipper pulls on a black bag? Sorrrrrry.

I took the clunky (and black) zipper pulls off of my camera bag and replaced them with some awesome ones! First, they look cool. Second, the high-vis orange means that I can actually find the zippers when I need to open the bag. The black ones blend in and I spend precious seconds searching for the opening instead of getting my gear out and shooting. I mean really camera bag people...do you even use the stuff that you make? Fortunately (for me) they don't seem to. Zipper pulls: WIN!

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!

An Alpha at Half Moon Bay

1000 words, begin...

Feedback on my website please

Hi all,

Now that my site has been up for a while and people have had a chance to use it a bit...do you have any suggestions on presentation of information, navigation, layout, pretty much anything? I'm considering doing V4 of the website and I'd love your feedback before I get started.

First question, should the landing page be the page below that allows you to select the store or the blog? I know most blogs link from inside the main site, but the blog content is pretty integral to what I'm doing and I want to make sure people see it.

Second: I'm also hoping to integrate a more sophisticated shopping cart, but one that can be embedded into my existing site and not a complete (template) replacement for my site. Ideally I'd like it to work just like PayPal where I can insert buttons where ever I want; again, not using a template. I'm not aware of anything like this so please let me know!

Third: On the other hand, my navigation is a little crazy...maybe I would be better served by a traditional shopping cart layout? My main problem is making the information now contained in "step 1" and "step 2" easily accessible to someone who is purchasing.

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!

Two Carbon Black Cerakote Lights for Sale!

I had a couple more lights Cerakoted black. Just wanted to let people know there are two more for sale!

Cheers,

Jason

Come see me at SHOT in Vegas

I should have thought of this earlier...but I didn't. I'm going to be attending the National Shooting Sports Federation SHOT show in Las Vegas this Tuesday through Thursday. If you are going to be around, send me an email and we can meet up. I'm not exhibiting but I'll have a Pelican case full of goodies if you want to check out a few lights in person.

Cheers!

jason@darksucks.com

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!*

VIDEO: intro video

Hi folks! I'm excited to say that I have a new intro video for my landing page. My friend Chris Whitmore shot and edited this piece. This is basically an intro for a longer segment that will be coming along in a few weeks. Mainly I wanted a quick hook for the landing page, not to explain everything in detail, but to give people a feel for what is going on. Hope you like it and don't forget to leave feedback!

VIDEO: Drop testing the Alpha

I guess I forgot to post the YouTube video from a while ago...so here it is! I hosted a Candlepower Forums gathering at my shop a few months ago. Just to spice things up I asked everyone in attendance to help me drop test one of my lights. I'd never actually done this before so it was pretty frightening to do in front of a crowd. Makes for good TV though right?

So as you can see, after 37 drops and some pretty massive hits, the tailcap switch broke. Does that mean the light failed? I don't really know. It would still turn on in momentary mode...but the switch would not latch. So, you decide. I think the bottom line is that if your own flashlight ever sees that much abuse...you probably have some other broken stuff that is higher on the priority list.

One other thing to keep in mind is that the McClicky switch is literally the best aftermarket clicky switch that exists. Since my light is designed for easy repair, putting in a new switch is really easy and (if you have strong fingers) can be done completely without tools.

Disclaimer: 

This disclaimer is present in order to manage your expectations. Impact is a funny thing and people often have unrealistic expectations with respect to dropping flashlights. For example, in the video above, we dropped the Alpha 37 times and the UCL glass window did not break. I put the light on my bench. When a friend visited the next day I dropped the light from waist high...and the window shattered. Why? Impact is a funny thing.

Flashlights are not meant to be dropped. They are meant to produce light. A good light is engineered in a way that will minimize the statistical probability that something (anything) will break. Engineering is largely balanced by practical considerations like cost and physical size. They key (and the point of my previous anecdote) is that pesky statistical probability. When you drop a light, even from waist high, about a bazillion dice get together to determine the final outcome. Could I make a light that is guaranteed not to break, ever, when dropped from an airplane? Sure, you show me $10,000 and I'll show you an indestructible light. In fact, I'd welcome the challenge :)

I have seen tons of messages on Candlepower Forums where people are irate that they dropped their light, it started working funny, and now they think the light and the entire company are terrible. Do you drop your laptop (or your phone) and then complain to the manufacturer that it broke? No, BECAUSE YOU DROPPED IT. If you drop your light, you should expect it to break. If it doesn't, send the manufacturer a nice letter.

Of course I talked to someone the other day that was really mad at Apple because their iPhone had broken. I said, "What happened to it?" They said, "I dropped it." I had a hard time not saying something really rude in response.

Wired Magazine agrees with me: LEDs are the future

Check out the latest edition of Wired and their article on LED lighting. About time someone with sway picked up this story!  I don't know if this will have any effect on industry (or my business) but I have to imagine that greater public awareness can only help.

Wired must have some budget for cool photography: this image is from their article

Honestly I'm not sure why it's taking so long for companies with millions of dollars in development funds to make a decent LED light bulb. Liquid cooling is a pretty cool idea. That's one reason why the first flashlight I ever made was liquid filled. No, I'm not smart enough to come up with that on my own. My computer uses liquid cooling and there is a lot of research around "submersion cooling" of of power electronics.

One thing I am curious about is how they are keeping the liquid filled bulb from exploding when it heats up. I calculated that my liquid filled light would exert over 700PSI of pressure with each 10(F) rise in temperature. I had a couple of solutions to this but maybe I shouldn't share them yet. Hey "Switch", give me a call. I hear you are down the road. Anyway, the linked article below is worth a read.

"The future of light is the LED" -- Wired Magazine"

"Brett Sharenow is presidingover the Pepsi Challenge of lightbulbs. The CFO of Switch, a Silicon Valley startup, Sharenow has set himself up in a 20-by-20 booth at the back of the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, and he’s asking passersby to check out two identical white shades. Behind one hides a standard incandescent bulb, the familiar lighting technology that has gone largely unchanged since Thomas Edison invented it 132 years ago. Behind the other is a stunning, almost art- deco-style prototype that holds 10 LEDs and a secret fluid. It’s a liquid-cooled bulb, as radically different from Edison’s invention as anything that’s ever been screwed into a standard socket and, Sharenow hopes, the next big thing in the $30 billion lighting industry. The challenge: Can you tell which is which?"

The Economics of Purchasing

As consumers, we spend a lot of time looking at price tags but we don't spend very much time thinking about the cost of ownership. Perhaps because those costs lie in the future and we're not very good at visualizing something as abstract as five years from now. Perhaps it's because we just take the cost of ownership for granted. Do you think about how much gas you are going to buy over the life of the car? Do you think about how much your iPhone plan is going to cost you beyond the purchase of the phone? If you are like me...not really.

However, when you break it down, that doesn't make much sense. Just because you are paying less money "today" doesn't really make the price lower tomorrow. I've been thinking about this a lot. People often ask what makes a $200 light special? I think my new answer is going to be, "because it doesn't cost $1000." Let's take a look at the math.

pop quiz: 20 vs. 2,826...which one is smaller?

One lithium battery is good for about 300 charges. In the Alpha, that equates to about 471 hours of operation on the brightest setting. Think that $30 2D Maglite is a good deal? What if I told you it was going to cost you $283 in disposable batteries to get the same amount of use? Maybe you have an exotic light like the Surefire M3LT (400 lumens & $500.00) or the Fenix TK41 (630 lumens & $130.00). You better be willing to fork out over $2,500 over the life of the light (either one) to pay for the batteries you are going to use. $200 is starting to sound cheap isn't it?

VIDEO: Table Top Review

So I got an email from a guy named Trent a couple weeks ago asking if I'd do a "table top review" of the Alpha. Here it is! I couldn't afford to spend a ton of time editing so please excuse the roughness. I hope to be doing a bunch more videos in the future so please let me know if you have any requests!

WIN! Alpha Ti clips also fit Surefire, Solarforce, Elzetta and others

I had a pretty amazing (and fortunate) discovery the other day. It turns out that the stock Alpha clip fits a large variety of tactical flashlights as well. If you'd like to order one, just click this link. I'm also offering flame coloring on these clips as well. Let me know if you have any questions!

Each clip ships with 1x black o-ring and 1x GITD o-ring...

An o-ring (included) is needed for proper fit

Add a locator to your light with the GITD o-ring option! 

These clips are confirmed to fit the following lights. Please let me know if you discover others!

Surefire:

1. 6P
2. G2X Pro
3. 6PX Pro

Solarforce:

1. L2
2. L2T

Elzetta:

1. 2 cell
2. 3 cell