Can anyone help me

[wulfrun]

18 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

So, my heavily astro modded solitaire (red finish, original bulb model) seems collimated , but reckon the lumpy PVA glue that holds the layers of red acetate to each other and the front glass may be affecting the smoothness of the light pool somewhat. Anyone know the refractive index of dried PVA glue ?

By the way, for any tactical flashlight fans out there, yes, that thumb loop is glow in the dark paracord .

Probably about 1.3 for the PVA? Time to come into the modern age. FLO sells the Chandler-branded Photon X-Light red torch, you need to splurge your 12 quid on it. I have a couple of Photon Freedom Micro-lights, one with an (interchangeable) yellow LED and one which is a "covert" (i.e. shielded-end) red. The FLO item has the same functions and for astro it would be worth the pennies. Variable brightness is a must-have, so you can use the least power suitable for star charts, lens selection box or whatever. Battery lasts ages too. The Photons I have came with a ball-head, magnetic clip that you can attach to your clothes/cap-peak/scope tube etc so highly useful.

Edited December 16, 2020 by wulfrun

[Tiny Clanger]

10 minutes ago, wulfrun said:

Probably about 1.3 for the PVA? Time to come into the modern age. FLO sells the Chandler-branded Photon X-Light red torch, you need to splurge your 12 quid on it. I have a couple of Photon Freedom Micro-lights, one with an (interchangeable) yellow LED and one which is a "covert" (i.e. shielded-end) red. The FLO item has the same functions and for astro it would be worth the pennies. Variable brightness is a must-have, so you can use the least power suitable for star charts, lens selection box or whatever. Battery lasts ages too. The Photons I have came with a ball-head, magnetic clip that you can attach to your clothes/cap-peak/scope tube etc so highly useful.

Nah , I'll manage with the repurposed old solitaire in the accessory box, and easily to hand my £1 cree headtorch from poundland. It has more red acetate stuck on the front , and a velcro patch on the back (the headstrap has been removed) which means I can have it stuck on the velcro on the front  of the waist bag I use for EPs while observing. It works fine.

After many years of searching, I've found my ideal keyring torch, and it's a Fenix E05, it has all the features I want: runs on one AAA, is even shorter than the solitaire,  twist switch so it doesn't illuminate my pocket and run the cell down , can be stood on its cap to gently illuminate the tent roof if needed (altho' you can't take the front off and make it into a bare bulb tiny electric candle as you can with the solitaire !). Comes on at the lowest of 3 brightness settings, medium and bright achieved by twisting the front bezel. The single AAA lasts an amazingly long time on the low power setting.

I'm worried about my LED Lenser P3 though, it appears to be a Jones-bird design, with a convex lens in the optical train, which may make collimation difficult ...

[dweller25]

5 hours ago, reezeh said:

Yesterday morning while it was still dark I shone my little Maglite Solitaire torch ("flashlight" to you folk across The Pond) at the wall and noticed that the dark hole wasn't centred. Can anyone please collimate it for me? I've no experience at collimating torches and can't find the collimating screws!

Here's a picture of the what I was getting...

The lens in your torch is a cemented doublet - you really need a triplet 👍

[reezeh]

1 hour ago, Tiny Clanger said:

So, my heavily astro modded solitaire (red finish, original bulb model) seems collimated , but reckon the lumpy PVA glue that holds the layers of red acetate to each other and the front glass may be affecting the smoothness of the light pool somewhat. Anyone know the refractive index of dried PVA glue ?

By the way, for any tactical flashlight fans out there, yes, that thumb loop is glow in the dark paracord .

Do you know any glow in the dark paracord knots? 

[Tiny Clanger]

14 minutes ago, reezeh said:

Do you know any glow in the dark paracord knots? 

Were you hoping I'd say ... afraid not ?

 

[wulfrun]

44 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

After many years of searching, I've found my ideal keyring torch, and it's a Fenix E05, it has all the features I want: runs on one AAA, is even shorter than the solitaire,  twist switch so it doesn't illuminate my pocket and run the cell down , can be stood on its cap to gently illuminate the tent roof if needed (altho' you can't take the front off and make it into a bare bulb tiny electric candle as you can with the solitaire !). Comes on at the lowest of 3 brightness settings, medium and bright achieved by twisting the front bezel. The single AAA lasts an amazingly long time on the low power setting.

Much the same as the L0D I've had on my keyring for years then, except mine has a strobe and SOS function on top (I don't have much use for them though). And yes they drain the battery as flat as the proverbial, nowt wasted. Strangely, mine cycles mid-low-high-strobe-SOS. Why they didn't think to start with low I don't know. Very tough bits of kit, glad to see you have at least one decent, modern one 😉

Edited December 16, 2020 by wulfrun
grammar

[reezeh]

2 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

Were you hoping I'd say ... afraid not ?

 

Knot at all. I just want to know the special ones that only work on glow in the dark versions 

[Tiny Clanger]

Bowline on a light ?

[reezeh]

18 hours ago, Tiny Clanger said:

Just pointing out I believe you left out the word 'Tactical' in that remarkable instrument's name, It would be priced at least 50% cheaper without it ...

Otherwise a helpful review, thanks. Did you get the torch free from the importer in exchange for an honest review on Amazon ? 😀

🙋  How tactical is "Tactical"? And what tactics are used?  

[wulfrun]

46 minutes ago, reezeh said:

🙋  How tactical is "Tactical"? And what tactics are used?  

Actually, there's a "Tactical" version of the PD35 I posted a link to above. It's the same price, surprisingy and has some minor feature differences. As for what it means, I doubt there's a definition of what makes one "tactical" and the other not. Just a buzzword that's meant to hype it with no real logic and (usually) inflating the price.

[reezeh]

1 hour ago, wulfrun said:

Actually, there's a "Tactical" version of the PD35 I posted a link to above. It's the same price, surprisingy and has some minor feature differences. As for what it means, I doubt there's a definition of what makes one "tactical" and the other not. Just a buzzword that's meant to hype it with no real logic and (usually) inflating the price.

"Tactical" usually equals flat / matt black 😉