What the Flex?!

It's like acknowledging the Nintendo as a great console in its time, and hell, the games are still fun. Sure, the newer consoles have bigger and badder games, especially in terms of graphics (maybe not gameplay), but we should still acknowledge the contributions of the past products, especially in pushing the envelope.

To that end, the Flexdrive is still a good driver. It has just been abandoned and other drivers are picking up the slack. Also, with so many different drivers around, the notoriety of any specific driver is diluted by the others that do about the same thing. You say the "Flexdrive" and you know what it does, and its capabilities. I honestly wouldn't know which of the buck-based drivers to use if I needed one without first looking over all the stats.

Meatball said:

I do not know how you've managed to accumulate 450 posts in 6 months of time

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Is that a jab? What exactly are you driving at with that?

I get it, the flex is an established driver and a fan favorite for some, and yes I've only been around LPF for 6 months, but as a newcomer(relatively), I have a fresh perspective on the hobby that isn't any less valuable..

From what I've gathered, the flex is a well established buck/boost, but the game has changed with more powerful diodes and Dr Lava isn't around anymore, also the ones that are left are stupid expensive. This driver is fading out. We have very well made boost and buck drivers on the forum, and here we have the E-drive in development that has great stats and good pricing. Let's support what we have here and now and let go of the relic. We have better options.

Note: That being said if you get that warm fuzzy feeling using a flex, there isn't anything wrong with a little driver nostalgia :yh:

The game hasn't changed, the supplier has. All these new drivers were born out of necessity not ingenuity. Drlava and Ryan at rckstr were the real pioneers. A great linear driver and a great buck/boost.

Duke, you keep trying to ring blood out of a turnip. Everybody has already acknowledged that the other drivers are good. What answer are you trying to get?

As to your fading out comment. Maybe it is, but not for the reasons you state. I notice you ignore all the good points about the flex drive specifically that it has an adjustable pot. It's like yeah a Honda is a good car, but a Mercedes is better.

I for one feel like you are purposely trashing the flex. How is it a relic? I for one choose it just on the fact that is a million times more versatile than the completion. It's tried and proven.

Michael.

^Agreed.. the only thing wrong with the flex drivers (both the flexdrive and the flexmod) was the scary and unpredictable process of attempting to do business with their creator directly. Now that Jeff (Flaminpyro) supplies them we don't have to worry about that anymore. They are great drivers, very innovative, flexible and easy to use.

YA DAWGS I HERD U LIEK FLEXDRIVES SO I HAVE 2 SPaRE oNES FOR sALE. $80 ShIPPED FOR BOTH K?

ElektroFreak said:

Now that Jeff (Flaminpyro) supplies them we don't have to worry about that anymore. They are great drivers, very innovative, flexible and easy to use.

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Yeah, you just have to wait a year before they become available (Jeff does not make them he resells them).

There are 3 buck/boost drivers out there, wake up people.

^That goes back to my previous statement about trying to deal with drlava directly. The only bad thing about drlava is that he apparently figures that the laser hobbyist community is just a small, insignificant part of the greater drlava show. If you want to use his products, you're going to do it by his rules, and on his timetable. While the products are quite good, dealing with drlava is enough to thoroughly negate any quality that they might have. The wait times are lousy, but you have to remember: Drlava controls all. If you mistakenly think that lava has even the slightest regard for the community that has always supported him, you are LAUGHABLY mistaken. Should you happen to voice your concerns (as any worried consumer might when faced with APPALLING customer service), the good Dr. would be happy to provide no response whatsoever. At all. Ever. Regardless of whether he's collected your money aready or not. If it wasn't for Flaminpyro I would never use lava's products at all. Flaminpyro is far easier to deal with than the Chinese IMO, the Chinese being my other source for laser show drivers.

Flaminpyro said:

Besides what every one else has said about the V5 it is set apart from the other drives by the fact it has a pot to set the current
and solder points to set the current range you want, so there is no resistors that need to be removed or replaced so you don't
have to tell the person your buying it from what current you want the output to be set at before he ship's it.

And I can not think of a laser diode that we use that needs more than 3 amps of current and you can get that out of two V5's

For my money the V5 is still on top of the growing pile

I just talked to DrLava on the phone and he the V5 drives are supposed to be here before Xmas so PM me and get your orders in now.

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Sure hope that's true!

Yes there are great drivers available. I like the drivers that lazeerer is building these days... (X-Drive and X-Boost)

But there is still a need for the FlexDrive when building a red. (or any diode that doesn't have case neutral pins)

And as mentioned, it is unique in that it can buck as well as boost, plus easily configurable output ranges. With a pot as well.

Truly a one of a kind driver that is still needed...

Bionic-Badger said:

How many of the other drivers out can even do boost-mode? The ability for a high powered laser to work off a single cell is just awesome, leading to smaller builds, single-18650 flashlight hosts, etc. Nearly all the drivers on Cajunlasers are buck-mode exclusively (X-drive, BlitzBuck), or linear (Mohgasm Driver). Some are just adaptations of the AMC7135 chip. Some of the boost-mode or boost-buck are huge compared to the Flexdrive (e.g. the FMT drive). I can only think of the X-boost as being on-par with what the Flexdrive ever was.

Flexdrives were as cheap as any of the other drivers that are out now--at least before they became scarce--at about $20 a driver. They went up over time as demand grew and supplies dwindled. Were they still available in quantity, they'd still sell like hotcakes, and many of those other drivers would probably never have been made in the first place.

The main claims to fame of these other drivers are: 1) they're actually available, and 2) relatively high currents which few diodes even need. The other drivers are rarely cheaper (ignoring scarcity), or smaller than the Flexdrive, and most don't have boost mode. Hell, the Flexdrive could probably manage most of the amperage needs with some tweaks, as it has been able to keep up in successive updates.

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jayrob said:

But there is still a need for the FlexDrive when building a red. (or any diode that doesn't have case neutral pins)

And as mentioned, it is unique in that it can buck as well as boost, plus easily configurable output ranges. With a pot as well.

Truly a one of a kind driver that is still needed...

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Alright... I understand that the flexdrive was a great driver, that it set the bar for most other laser diode drivers today, and will probably continue to do so for the future.

However, you guys seem to be missing, or just not paying attention at all to this section of the forum... I hate to be advertising the E-drive, (I'm not a pushy person like that) but, the E-drive can really do anything and everything the Flexdrive can do, and better as well.

It's the same size, sports a potentiometer, full adjustability, active customer support (me) and much better availability than the flexdrive, which you have to wait several months on end for just to get one.

Oh, and the flexdrive costs $26 per, plus shipping.

E-drive costs $16, plus shipping.

I understand that legacy and tradition, and knowing full well how the driver works is definitely something to consider, yes, but from what I've been reading it's almost like you guys don't really notice other drivers...

I've worked my butt off, (Tsteele included) to get the E-drive born out there... It wasn't something that was just created overnight, and it took endless hours of redesigning, testing, and poking and prodding all while in college and in school to get it where it is today... Not to mention a good amount of money too.

The main purpose of it was to replace the flexdrive, that's why I created it. I wanted to help out the forum by giving a cheaper alternative, that's better, and carries more features than the flexdrive, while maintaining the positive aspects of it (size, adjustability, etc), and testing the HELL out of it, to make sure it's 100% stable spike free, etc, so that it doesn't have any of the problems previous new drivers have had.

I don't claim it to be the perfect driver by any means, no.

Sorry for my rant, by the way, but... just, understand that drivers do take a lot of time to research, and to create, and that they ARE created for a purpose.

Do I want the E-drive to become extremely popular, yes, I do, very much so...

Which reminds me. Does, ANYONE know where Dr. Lava had the flex-drives assembled? I'd like to inquiry on that, so the E-drives become much more available.

That's what I cannot wrap my head around. Why pay $26 for an inferior drive from a jerk, when you can pay $16 for a better drive from someone who is here.

SORRY the business I was describing here has closed :-(

TheDukeAnumber1 said:

Is that a jab? What exactly are you driving at with that?

Let's support what we have here and now and let go of the relic. We have better options.

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TheDukeAnumber1 said:

That's what I cannot wrap my head around. Why pay $26 for an inferior drive from a jerk, when you can pay $16 for a better drive from someone who is here.

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Take it how you want it. I'm saying that those of us who still like the flexdrive for what it is, have (did you notice) been here a longgg time. We've seen a lot of circuits come and go. You just aren't to that point yet - even for as much as you post.

Dr. Lava may not have been good to deal with himself, but when I bought from his website - they always arrived. They were always available at hightechdealz and modwerx (for those of you who remember those stores).

I will probably be supporting what we do have all the way to the end. But its a free market - people will buy what they want to use. And if someone chooses to buy a flexdrive since he already knows how it works, he should not be chastised for not "supporting" what we have.

I think Jeff might be the only guy to go to, if you want a chance at figuring out where they are manufactured. Jeff MIGHT be able to ask Dr. Lava himself.

I've never been a big builder, but I do have a thought to throw in the pot here.

People who have been around here a while (more than a year or so - or before the Summer of 445) have personally heard about hundreds of builds that have been done with Flexdrives.

The few times you did hear about a failure, it was always due to a user error. I can't recall any Flexdrives killing diodes because of a defect - someone want to chime in and correct me?

None of the new drivers have that amount of field testing yet. Now that we're using $50+ diodes, and some builds are done with obscenely rare, freakily efficient diodes, some more established builders still prefer to use the older, much more proven drivers.

To me, putting a couple Flexdrives in parallel is a way to ensure a nice, long life for your brand new laser based on an indescribably rare efficient and high wavelenth 445nm diode.

Perhaps the new drivers will gain more acceptance once they've been shown to work trouble-free for months and years on end.

Trevor

Trevor said:

I've never been a big builder, but I do have a thought to throw in the pot here.

People who have been around here a while (more than a year or so - or before the Summer of 445) have personally heard about hundreds of builds that have been done with Flexdrives.

The few times you did hear about a failure, it was always due to a user error. I can't recall any Flexdrives killing diodes because of a defect - someone want to chime in and correct me?

None of the new drivers have that amount of field testing yet. Now that we're using $50+ diodes, and some builds are done with obscenely rare, freakily efficient diodes, some more established builders still prefer to use the older, much more proven drivers.

To me, putting a couple Flexdrives in parallel is a way to ensure a nice, long life for your brand new laser based on an indescribably rare efficient and high wavelenth 445nm diode.

Perhaps the new drivers will gain more acceptance once they've been shown to work trouble-free for months and years on end.

Trevor

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^^ Agreed...

445 diodes are tough as nails compared to reds and blu-ray...

You can even get away with a cheap flashlight driver with a 445 build.

I'm all for having availability and choices of drivers though. Looking forward to seeing how this new driver pans out, maybe even testing a few...

I think it is hilarious how antiquated this guy thinks the flex's are. It might not be able to do 1.8 amps by itself, but power out put doesn't dictated quality.

There is not a better quality driver out there!

Michael.

jayrob said:

I'm all for having availability and choices of drivers though. Looking forward to seeing how this new driver pans out, maybe even testing a few...

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That's a great idea Jay. I can't say I don't normally gain perspectives and opinions about the parts and tools you use.