Light of Xiuhtecuhtli - Update

The Light of Xiuhtecuhtli, or LoX, illuminating a mountain about 4.3 miles away, despite first having the beam reflected off the surface of a lake. To be fair, this isn’t a huge accomplishment, as at this many candela the LoX is actually rated for ______ ANSI throw distance.

You didn’t think we’d forgotten about the Light of Xiuhtecuhtli, the most powerful flashlight in the world, did you?

A big thank you to everyone who reached out after reading our initial announcement to provide design input, or simply to be put on the inquiry list. This has shaped our plans for the LoX regarding design direction and of course price. To be clear though, we’re not going to HMG Sturmgewehr this project, we have not and will not take a penny until the production design is complete. If you’re interested in adding your name to the list though, please reach out via the contact form in the top right hand corner. When the light is ready, everyone on said list will be given an opportunity to purchase one at a discounted price.

Light painting with the LoX. This was a 30 second exposure at F11, giving just the briefest of moments to wave the light back and forth across the landscape to “paint” it with light. Note the point is a quarter mile away, and the far side of the lake is a mile away. More than a few insects were roasted as part of this process.

So where do things stand? Well we think we are about 90% of the way to the final electrical and optical architecture. Test mule specifications stand at 54 million candela (54,000Kcd which roughly converts to 54,000,000 lux@1 meter. There are severe limitations to measuring at 1 meter though, read our Test Protocols page to understand why.) and about 6,000 lumens.

The process from here is primarily about converting this light into something as beautiful as it is exceptional. Much like we’ve done with the optical design, we have every intention of taking our time and ensuring every last little detail is just the way we want it.

Just a few of the evening’s casualties. Note this is just a rough test mule for the overall architecture of the light to test the critical performance aspects, thus the hodgepodge of parts, it does not in any way represent the style choices of the final product.

Testing this light most recently revealed something somewhat unexpected: this light is an insect killer. The beam is so intense, so powerful, insects are not only drawn to it from miles around, they’re killed simply by flying through it. It was a calm night when we were doing photography, and you could see on the lake surface drops, like rain, beneath the beam of felled insects. All lights will attract insects, and some of our other lights are powerful enough to harm them if they fly close, but we’ve never seen the likes of this before. A simply inestimable number of insects falling out of the sky and into the water as far away as we could see. And not just small insects, many of them are quite large, some as large as your fist. The above photo was taken hastily with a cell phone, we didn’t realize the bezel was full of insects until we’d carried the light back and were about to pack it up. Surely there must have been more before we jostled/carried the light around?

Just something to keep in mind regarding this light, these power levels mean it is not a toy and should be treated with care and respect.