Nutnfancy SHOT Show 2011 flashlights: "The 4Sevens Way"

4Sevens CEO David Chow is not content with the status quo. That's why his company and team continue to press the envelope in handheld lighting technology. Honestly, sometimes it's hard to keep up with 4Sevens advancements and if you blink, you'll miss a few. Generational upgrades in LED chipsets, power cells, and form factors are fast paced at the company as upgrades in burn times, throw, and brightness are sought. Welcome to the Nutnfancy 2011 SHOT Show video which may help you to keep pace. Along with PFIDude and David Chow, we take a look at 2011 new products. Kinda' like the Maelstrom X7 spec'd at 480 Lumens, XM-L LED, smooth reflector, 5.1 ounces. It seems to be an excellent pocket bomb with excellent area lighting characteristics. Other CR123-based lights include the 375 Lumen S2 LED G5 Maelstrom (seems to have even more impressive throw than XP-G version) and Quark Turbo X 123 with 450 lumens (also featuring the XM-L LED die set in this version). But the 123/18650 cells are still power/duration limited. Upgrading to a proprietary power source (shown, discussed) results in handheld power houses like the X10 at 640 OTF Lumens (5.6 oz), the S12 at 800 OTF Lumens (5.6 oz), and the bigger S12 pushing out 1200 OTF Lumens but with a bit heavier 23.8 oz weight. David discusses the heat sink revelations in their testing in the S12 and its final configuration. The S18 seems to compete well against the Olight SR90 or SR91 (2200 and 1500 Lumens respectively) although pricing/value levels are not certain yet (at least with me!). Then we take a foray into the whiteout that is their prototype XM118 with its 32-18650 battery bank. With that juice it slams out 18,000 Lumens that will surely piss off the neighbors ("Hey honey is that a 747 landing in our front yard?") and attract nearby alien spacecraft. At almost 11 pounds expect it to be portly and the cost to be astronomical. David also lays out the news on his association with Olight of Shenzhen, China, also maker of some killer lights. He's now the CEO! Having collaborated for years, the integration and as he puts it, the "synergy" is now official and the shared technology will benefit both lines. But he says the two product lines will remain separated and individual (all things subject to change). With this fast paced progresson of LEDs used, I recommend to David that educational pages are placed on the 4Sevens website that spells out the advantages in understandable terms. If you're new to these high powered lights then getting the latest 4Sevens product should ensure you have the latest and greatest LED. But don't fret when another model comes along: the high performance levels of the XP-G R5 and previous Cree LEDs are still outstanding for EDC and utility light roles. But if gains in demonstrable throw (tight beams past 100 meters which I have yet to see from CR123-based lights), area lighting, and burn times can be achieved then these new lights are attractive and worth the coin. Also impressive and yet simple are the loop-over pocket to be made available for the still-awesome Quark series. And lest you forget, the Preon series and Quark Mini AA are still setting lighting standards for their size and weight. 4Sevens is not the only game in town when it comes to handheld lighting products but it in terms of value, evolution, durability, service, and brightness, their models run with the best.///////////////////////////////////// Cool music licensed licensed to TNP from TNPr "ElDudio" at wwwyoutube.com/user/eldudio