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New 4100 Lumen Flashlight Can Set Things On Fire

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the no-telling-ghost-stories-with-this-baby dept.

i4u writes "Engadget is reporting that Wicked Lasers has introduced The Torch. It is the world's brightest and most powerful flashlight. The Flashlight is capable of melting plastic, lighting paper on fire within seconds, and if you like, fry an egg or a marshmallow on a stick. At 4100 lumens, The Torch is 100 lumens more powerful than The Polarion Helios, the former most powerful flashlight, and retails for around $300. The Torch is apparently also undergoing review at the Guinness Book of World Records."

25 of 464 comments (clear)

  1. warning labels by LM741N · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Last time I bought an extension cord it had 4 different warning labels I had to take off. I wonder how many warning labels this flashlight will carry?
    Welcome to the Nanny Nation.

    1. Re:warning labels by riseoftheindividual · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I wish it was only warning labels. After reading TFA and watching that video, all I could think was "I better order before it's banned". Nanny nation indeed.

      --
      Patriot - A fan of expanding government power and spending while not wanting to pay higher taxes.
    2. Re:warning labels by apathy+maybe · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What the fuck? Why shouldn't it have a shit load of warning labels? I can understand you complaining about an extension cord (though seriously, some people are stupid enough to need them), but a light that can burn shit?

      It is fucking dangerous! Maybe you think that chainsaws shouldn't have warning labels as well? "Mummy what happens if I do this? Ahhhhhhhhhhhh" (though actually, all the chainsaws I've handled recently have quite good safety features).

      --
      I wank in the shower.
    3. Re:warning labels by Pojut · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm sorry to tell you this, but the reason that extension cord you bought had 4 different warning labels on it was because of morons that do something completely stupid, and then blame the manufacturer for not having a warning label telling you not to do it.

      "Hey! There was nothing that said it was dangerous to chew on the cord while it was plugged in! Nor was their anything telling me I shouldn't plug a coffee pot, a space heater, and a PS3 onto the same cord! I should sue their asses!"

      The above example may be a tad bit extreme (actually, it may not be...) but that is why those labels are there. If the company's lawyers could think of someone suing them over something, they would be stupid to not put a warning label on the product. Seeing as so many people would sue over so many little things (but NEVER over their own stupidity), a large number of labels go onto everyday products. Blame your fellow citizens for that gripe.

      --
      Living With a Nerd
    4. Re:warning labels by pla · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Why shouldn't it have a shit load of warning labels?

      Well, because anyone paying $300 for the world's brightest flashlight didn't buy it just so they can find their way to the electric panel after a breaker blows. They bought it because it can melt plastic. Thus, telling them as much merely insults us all, rather than providing any potential safety to the end user.

      Warning labels don't protect those of us with two neurons to rub together; They keep people in the gene pool who Darwin-the-Lifeguard needs to toss out ASAP.

    5. Re:warning labels by jayhawk88 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So let me get this straight: A company is building a device that can literally set things on fire with visible light, built to almost exactly duplicate the form, shape, and function of the traditional flashlight, a device that after ~100 years is nearly universally recognized and known to be relatively harmless. And you think that it should not come with a warning label of some kind?

    6. Re:warning labels by shawn(at)fsu · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well it does kind of look like a regular mag lite at least looking at the picture on TFA. If it does look like a normal flashlight one would hope it has a warning not for the buyer but for the safety of others where it is kept.

      --
      500 dollar reward for tip(s) leading to the arrest of the person(s) who stole my sig.
    7. Re:warning labels by pla · · Score: 5, Insightful

      one would hope it has a warning not for the buyer but for the safety of others where it is kept.

      Quiz time - You just bought a cool black anodized aluminum high-powered flashlight, with a huge ugly orange sticker on the handle warning you not to look at the beam. Do you:

      A) Have the warning professionally engraved directly onto the barrel of the flashlight, so it can never wear off,
      B) Remove that sucker before you even put in the batteries,
      C) Leave the sticker alone, ruining the look of your new toy, or
      D) Take it back to the store and ask for one with a more permanantly-affixed label?

    8. Re:warning labels by syukton · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They keep people in the gene pool who Darwin-the-Lifeguard needs to toss out ASAP.

      People like the child/wife/friend/visitor who picks up this neat little flashlight and, while remarking "I hate these maglite knock-offs" proceeds to permanently blind themselves?

      As another commenter pointed out, you can't use the design and form-factor of a harmless device when packaging an extremely dangerous device, because you will confuse and possibly harm people unintentionally. Would you package rat poison to look like candy bars or perhaps like a nice slice of deliciously moist cake? Warning labels protect people. They may not serve to protect the buyer of a given device, because they generally tend to know what they're buying and what it's used/not used for; but it can serve to protect somebody unfamiliar with the device, somebody who may happen upon it by random chance. If I owned one of these lights, I would have a sticker on it that said "DO NOT POINT AT FACE. EVER. SRSLY."

      --
      Reinvent the wheel only at either a lower cost, greater effectiveness, or your own personal enrichment and satisfaction.
    9. Re:warning labels by cheater512 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well why do you call it a flash light when it doesnt flash? :P

      A torch makes perfect sense.
      They used torches before electricity and lanterns to light up dark areas.

    10. Re:warning labels by jddj · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Of course they shouldn't. If someone is so brain damaged that they can't figure out that a SAW can hurt them, why shouldn't they suffer the consequences?

      Chainsaws have warning labels because they can hurt the user in ways the novice wouldn't expect by looking at the saw. Thinks like binding in the kerf and kicking.

    11. Re:warning labels by TheSkyIsPurple · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Right, but being made with boiling water, and being kept near boiling are two different things.

      One might expect to get scalded when spilling hot coffee, but not skin-melted-off-plastic-surgery level.
      McDonalds was told to cool it down many times prior to that for years and they never did.

    12. Re:warning labels by pcgabe · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If I owned one of these lights, I would have a sticker on it that said "DO NOT POINT AT FACE. EVER. SRSLY."
      Negative warnings lack effectiveness. For better results, use phrases like:

      "If you want faces to melt, point this at them."
      "For a free trip to the hospital, stick hand in beam."
      "Look directly into the light, and you'll never have to see your parents again!"
      --
      Don't put advice in your sig.
  2. But what is the point? by apathy+maybe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    OK, I can understand having rather bright spotlights (for example, to go shooting), but I cannot understand what use this sort of light has for civilian usage.

    It is far to dangerous to do many of the things that you often do with bright lights (for example, to go shooting), and so why?

    Perhaps it says something in the article? Not that I can see... (Though it does say, 15 minute battery life! WTF is the point of it then?)

    --
    I wank in the shower.
    1. Re:But what is the point? by show+me+altoids · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What use is a newborn baby? -- Benjamin Franklin

      --
      I feel sorry for people that don't drink, because when they get up in the morning, that's as good as they're gonna feel
    2. Re:But what is the point? by Stereodude · · Score: 2, Insightful

      First of all, it's not that bright. A pair of 35W HID headlights on a car put out more lumen than this thing. A 35W HID 4200k bulb will put out about 3200 Lumen. There are people playing around with lights with 400W HID bulbs (10x this thing) and brighter.

  3. 15 minutes? by KublaiKhan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    With as little a battery life as that thing has, what real practical use could you get out of it?

    Or are they anticipating the availability of those new high-capacity batteries with the nanosilicon structures in 'em?

    It seems more and more apparent that the limitations of our technology are not so much money and materials, but power consumption. Much like Tim Taylor, we're always looking for 'MORE POWER!'

    --
    In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
    A stately pleasure dome decree
    1. Re:15 minutes? by DMUTPeregrine · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It requires very close range to work. I have an oxyacetylene torch. I'll take the torch that can melt steel with a normal flashlight on the side. Cheaper and longer running too.

      --
      Not a sentence!
  4. Just curious by mcmonkey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why not? I'll admit I consider most people abysmally stupid, but they should have a pretty good grasp of the idea that you can't safely run a 20ga 100ft cord from your basement to your garage "beer fridge".

    I usually think of myself as not abysmally stupid, but why can't I safely run a 20ga 100ft cord from my basement to my garage beer fridge? The purpose of the cord is to connect an outlet at one end to an appliance at the other.

    Does it matter that one end is in my basement and the other is in my garage? I know some cords are rated for outdoor use and some are not, but what if my garage is attached? Is there something intuitively obvious about 20ga cords that aren't suitable for beer fridges? And how do you know if my beer fridge is one of those little travel jobbies that can run off AC or 12-volt DC, or if my beer fridge is a full size Kenmore? (I drink a lot of beer.)

    Something so "mind-numbingly obvious" should be easy to explain. Maybe I'm just abysmally stupid.

  5. Blade new weapon? by Stereodude · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Look at the bright side. (pun intended) When Wesley Snipes carries one of these around in the next Blade movie to burn vampires at least we'll know it's plausible.

  6. Re:Gullability at its finest by enoz · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Seems the GP was pointing out the reality distortion inherent in the article. The summary mentions that the torch can set things alight, and that it is quite bright at 4100 Lumens. Most people at this point seemed to have connected the dots to think that the brightness is related to its setting things on fire.

    Not true.

    Lumens specifically measures the visible light, and as far as brightness goes 4100 is pretty meager for a bulb, quite good for a handheld device though. Why is that a spotlight can put out 15-25,000 lumens yet the beam does not even feel warm? Reference (PDF) (and yes, I have tested this first-hand).

    The heat generated is by a light is completely irrelevant to its lumens rating, so whilst in nerdland it is quite correct that heat is just another wavelength of light, in this case the heat and light are two separate things. The light is the 4100 lumens boast, and the heat is the invisible and unmeasured infrared source coming from the bulb.

  7. TSA by belg4mit · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Now banned from all flights: any light-emitting device whatsoever.

    --
    Were that I say, pancakes?
  8. Re:Campfires! by tylernt · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sweet ... now I can strap one of these on my car, pointing backwards,
    Me too, but I want to flick it on whenever an SUV pulls up behind my car at night and fries my retinas with their high-mounted headlights.

    Revenge is a dish that is best served cold, but this would work pretty well too.
    --
    DRM 'manages access' in the same way that a prison 'manages freedom'
  9. Re:Campfires! by chiui · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Have you a night selector on lateral mirrors too? Ever tried driving at night on the speedway with SUVs trying to overtake you (slowly of course because they SUCK (in every possible way) at moderate/high speed), and all your mirrors reflecting too much light at you? I often have to use the left hand to block the excessive light from the left mirror! If you have to darken every mirror to not getting blinded they become useless. And don't tell me to buy an higher car or we're gonna to drive our vehicles with periscopes soon :P SUVs are wrong. Period.

    --
    Moderation is overrated.
  10. oh good by indy_Muad'Dib · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Now I don't need to worry about getting eaten by a Grue.