Edited: previously linked to https://www.sofirnlight.com/products/sofirn-if30-edc-powerful-flashlight?spm=..collection_eea4d417-4338-4a86-ba3e-1a41b66cb32b.collection_detail_1.1, replaced with an image for better Lemmy preview.
Something new from Sofirn. These larger cells (than 26800) seem to be popping up in flashlights more often now. This one lists 6500 mAh which isn't a much bigger capacity but presumably the maximum discharge must be pretty high to support 12000 lumens.
Sft-40 in the center surrounded by flood emitters. This isn’t one I’ll be picking up, maybe I’ll hold out for a 461000 cell!
I did make up 461000 but there are a few variations coming out with 46mm diameter, based on the popular format you mentioned but different lengths. And the poster of this BLF thread mentioned Lumintop GT110 which uses a 46110! (110mm not 11mm).
Interesting about these large single cells displacing multi cell lights. I guess the vendors don't trust the cell quality and/or BMS. This is all lumenitis anyway imho. By the time a light gets this large, maybe you want a night vision scope instead.
It kind of makes sense if you look at the geometry though. Look at the wasted space in the 3*AA holder and think how many more Wh you could get if that space were filled with more anode/cathode/electrolyte.
There are some adapters that squeeze four AA's into the D cell format. This is theoretically a little too thick, but it will fit in many devices where the battery tube is not too snug.
By pure volume a D cell is around 7x an AA.
As someone who started after 21700 became popular, I’ve never felt the need to buy a multi-cell flashlight thanks to single-cell existing for most use-cases and not wanting to have to think about ensuring all cells have the same charge or keeping them paired together. So I like this development since it means there can be more simple 1-cell lights.
But realistically I won’t be carrying a 4680 light around regularly (even Convoy m21b is a bit too large).