Production Upgrades
We've been working hard to get ZeroHour ready for you! Our manufacturer traveled to Las Vegas to visit our CES booth, where we shared feedback from backers and attendees, and together we have developed some great upgrades for ZeroHour as it goes into final production.
These are above and beyond what we developed in our original specifications, but we believe that wherever we can improve ZeroHour, we should, so that you can truly have the best tactical battery backup flashlight ever created!
CREE LED - UPGRADED
We have been using the CREE XM-L U3 LED during our prototype stage, but the new XM-L2 series is now available. We were very happy with the XM-L, but the XM-L2 delivers longer life and better performance, and we want the latest and greatest tech in our ZeroHour.
Learn more about the "Highest-Performing Commercially Available Single-Die LED" on the CREE website.
LENS CHANGE
We are switching from an SMO to an orange peel (textured) reflector. While the SMO is great for a tight, focused throw, the orange peel reflector allows for a beam that is very smooth and even, and provides a wider flood of light.
For those who may still prefer SMO, we will make this lens available on BackerKit and ZeroHourXD.com as an accessory, and with ZeroHour's modularity, it can easily be changed out.
FLASHLIGHT MODES - IMPROVED
One of the things we learned from testing ZeroHour repeatedly at CES was that the current mode configuration - 20/400/800/1000 lumens - may not have been the best way to go, since there was such a jump early on, and at the end, 800 and 1000 felt too close together. We have adjusted the modes to spread them out more evenly between low and high.
Single-click modes will now be 20/200/600/1000 lumens. The double-click Strobe and SOS modes will remain at our max brightness, 1000 lumens.
POWER BUTTON AND TIMING - IMPROVED
We decreased the height of the power button to reduce the pressing distance to the electronic switch below, so you may cycle through the flashlight modes more quickly and confidently (think firmer vs. squishier press).
We also noticed that the 1.5-second click and hold to power off the flashlight felt long, so ZeroHour will now power off with a 1-second click and hold. The power on/off button on the battery backup will now respond to a quick click as opposed to the 1-second press and hold we had been using.
ADDITIONAL CHANGES
Our PCB (printed circuit board) will be ZeroHour Red instead of the green color you would see on a standard PCB.
The USB AC Adapter included with your ZeroHour will be UL Certified. Our lithium-ion batteries are also UL Certified.
TIMELINE - ON TRACK
Despite the fact that our engineers have needed to reprogram and re-test these adjustments, we are still on the tail end of our original timeline to receive ZeroHour by the end of March. We knew there was a chance we would have to wait until our manufacturer returned from their yearly holiday to begin production, and we made the decision to use this time to make improvements and get ZeroHour ready right vs. ready fast. We expect to start production at the end of this month, and we'll provide an update as soon as it begins!
JOIN OUR COMMUNITY
We recently took ZeroHour out for another photo shoot. We've been posting photos on Facebook, so if you haven't liked us yet, join our Facebook community today! Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube too.
These are above and beyond what we developed in our original specifications, but we believe that wherever we can improve ZeroHour, we should, so that you can truly have the best tactical battery backup flashlight ever created!
CREE LED - UPGRADED
We have been using the CREE XM-L U3 LED during our prototype stage, but the new XM-L2 series is now available. We were very happy with the XM-L, but the XM-L2 delivers longer life and better performance, and we want the latest and greatest tech in our ZeroHour.
Learn more about the "Highest-Performing Commercially Available Single-Die LED" on the CREE website.
LENS CHANGE
We are switching from an SMO to an orange peel (textured) reflector. While the SMO is great for a tight, focused throw, the orange peel reflector allows for a beam that is very smooth and even, and provides a wider flood of light.
For those who may still prefer SMO, we will make this lens available on BackerKit and ZeroHourXD.com as an accessory, and with ZeroHour's modularity, it can easily be changed out.
FLASHLIGHT MODES - IMPROVED
One of the things we learned from testing ZeroHour repeatedly at CES was that the current mode configuration - 20/400/800/1000 lumens - may not have been the best way to go, since there was such a jump early on, and at the end, 800 and 1000 felt too close together. We have adjusted the modes to spread them out more evenly between low and high.
Single-click modes will now be 20/200/600/1000 lumens. The double-click Strobe and SOS modes will remain at our max brightness, 1000 lumens.
POWER BUTTON AND TIMING - IMPROVED
We decreased the height of the power button to reduce the pressing distance to the electronic switch below, so you may cycle through the flashlight modes more quickly and confidently (think firmer vs. squishier press).
We also noticed that the 1.5-second click and hold to power off the flashlight felt long, so ZeroHour will now power off with a 1-second click and hold. The power on/off button on the battery backup will now respond to a quick click as opposed to the 1-second press and hold we had been using.
ADDITIONAL CHANGES
Our PCB (printed circuit board) will be ZeroHour Red instead of the green color you would see on a standard PCB.
The USB AC Adapter included with your ZeroHour will be UL Certified. Our lithium-ion batteries are also UL Certified.
TIMELINE - ON TRACK
Despite the fact that our engineers have needed to reprogram and re-test these adjustments, we are still on the tail end of our original timeline to receive ZeroHour by the end of March. We knew there was a chance we would have to wait until our manufacturer returned from their yearly holiday to begin production, and we made the decision to use this time to make improvements and get ZeroHour ready right vs. ready fast. We expect to start production at the end of this month, and we'll provide an update as soon as it begins!
JOIN OUR COMMUNITY
We recently took ZeroHour out for another photo shoot. We've been posting photos on Facebook, so if you haven't liked us yet, join our Facebook community today! Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube too.