Flowlight durability

I want to get a 4 flowlight set up, flowlight heads and handles

My only qualm is that I don't plan on having cases on the handles as the cases would make them quite bulky (as far as handles are concerned) but I don't want them to just shatter if dropped so I want to know if anyone thinks this will happen

I am told the newer flowlights are quite durable, but I am admittedly skeptical.

Also, can anyone give me an exact weight of the flowlights with crystal cases and flowmass? I've been told you end up sacrificing brightness and brilliance for an unimpressive increase in weight

I really just don't want to drop a hundred bucks and end up dissatisfied

look up the flowtoys or HOP for the exact weights involved but you shouldn't have anything to worry about, the mass barely affects the light output but does make them a much better weight to spin with. as for the handles don't worry, flowlights are really tough, unless you were hitting you handles off something hard on purpose you'll be fine. I've been using flowtoys for years and even my oldest lights(which must be over 3years old now) and have seen some serious use are still working fine. That said if your new to doing throws etc i'd get some practice in before moving onto using a flowtoys setup just to take care of them as much as possible

Flowlights are pretty hard. The only thing that can crack them are solid, hard surfaces (e.g bricked surfaces) and each other. All else requires a lot more force.

I've cracked two of my flowlights because I was spinning quickly and then they slipped (uncovered light on both ends), and they hit brickwork. I've hit wooden surfaces pretty hard, but it didn't crack my flowlights. Grass is trivial, it won't harm your flowlights.

Although, to put that crack into perspective, it's a barely noticeable crack going from the top of the battery door slot to the switch - it almost looks like it's part of the welding process.

In other words, it takes a hard drop on a hard surface with a fair bit of force.

Flowlight + crystal case + flowmass = 87g as far as I know

I have 18 flowlights so far. Big fan of flowlights. Plan on getting more.

Hope that helped :3

I've had one of my flowlights crack completely while inside the cystal case and flowmass (probably due to it hitting the other poi,I don't remember it having any other major hits). But even though the outer shell of the flowlight (not the crystal) cracked completely into 2 parts, the inner workings were still completely intact and working (due to the protection of the crystal). Putting in back together was a simple glueing job. So I highly recommend getting the crystal mass, because it will definitely not break, even if everything else does. And this keeps the electronics safe.

I want a set so bad I dont have the money and have other things I want to buy first. It's kind of like hmm, fire or flowlights? Hmm, I'll take fire please, with extra flamey goodness. Then I actually never get around to flowlights. I'm thinking maybe set aside a small portin of what I put in for equipment aside for just flowlights

Hm, I would ALSO like to get a massive amount of fire stuff, but the truth is fire is not always available or an option. So... yeah. I have some fire stuff, but I've been growing my LED/glow/other non-fire stuff as well.

So far, Flowlights are one of my favourite additions to this collection. Not as versatile as a HoP pro-series ball (which wins just by being really simple), but it's way better in different ways. Also, the photos it makes are much cooler.

I HATE the HoP pro series balls! They are so, un-durable. Pretty much if they so much as hit a fly while I'm spinning they just turn off -.-

I have to agree, my pro balls are pretty glitchy, they turn off randomly and it really angers me when I'm being photographed and we have to do it again because my light went out

I accidentally threw one against a tree (however lightly) and it hasn't worked correctly ever since, it didn't even hit the housing, it hit the soft part and bounced off onto the grass

I have considered returning them to be entirely honest

But back on topic, I am convinced to buy the flowlights thanks for the feed back everyone, now it is just a monetary issue

Same for me. I'm gonna pull out my replacement heads if I'm going to Detroit Techfest tomorrow. I have some that are untouched that HoP offered me to replace them. I haven't used them yet because I haven't had a situation where it's imperative they don't go out yet.

Mine do the same thing, every LED ball I've had so far has failed within a couple weeks at best. My flowlights have been bounce off the concrete more than once and continue to work perfectly. I've got mine in crystal cases and flowmass.

I've also used a bare flowlight as a handle, I actually find them a bit too small, think I'm going to get cases for the handles.

Then you could switch and use the one with the flowmass as a handle and use the lighter ones like glowsticks in the middle of spinning I just love that idea! I think I decided to screw fire snakes for now, I can just save up for some flowlights. I don't know which color it is that I see that I like the best. It's either water or water 2 I think.

waters got the green in there so it shouldnt too hard to tell them apart

Yeah I checked it's water What I'm gonna like is that after I get my initial set. It's only... STILL $40 FOR ANOTHER PAIR! God... Flowlights are going to rob me of my money, I eventually want a flowpoi duo as well. With Water and actually looking over the video with my favorite color combination, another water, just different setting on the two.

what video? watermelon looks pretty awesome

I don't know how easily members of the male persuasion can pull off looking cool while spinning something pink and glowing....

^^^that made me laugh

The video is playpoi's Dancing with Flowtoys. I love that color Green and blue are my two favorite colors, so that's probably why =3

get crystal cases for your flowlights. it will be more durable! as for bulkiness, it's not...

for the weights, check it at HOP they use ounces. just convert it to grams if you want...

@SOD: water is better because it has blue-white and green on the bottom which makes it eye catching.. i'm not really impressed with water II because it's just blue-white and blue!

I've actually been thinking about getting spirit and love to put in my flowpoi duo.
Should probably get a s pair of fire first though, got water, earth, and air for now.

Oh I didn't know water had white in it too I personally love that color because, well it looks awesome

i just got the waters blue/white/green they are great. i love them. also have some watermelon ones on the way

My current setup is crystal case + mass on the heads, and bare flowlight handles. I have parts on the way to make the heads double mass and put crystal cases on the handles because A) they are still too light, and B) I have cracked open my handles from botched throws that whip them into the (often concrete) ground. I'll let you know if I think the crystal cases make the handles any more unweildy.

As for colors, I think Air is one of my favorites because while the color may be slightly bland, they are really, really bright. I also have spirit, love, and my watermelon should be here soon. Spirit's probably my second favorite.

im sad! my flowlights broke! i was even using crystal cases on it but after a high speed impact it just broke... no obvious cracks or something though but the internal i can hear some click-clack sound like somethings loose but can't see it and the other one just looks like nothing has happened but it won't turn on... i changed the batteries but still both won't turn on! any advices on how to troubleshoot it or something to make it work? i just had it for 5 days and it already broke on me! i thought it was a waste of money....

Not sure if Flowtoys offers their warranty to outside purchases, but you could ask if you could get it replaced for relatively cheap.

Wow dude that sucks so much!

I checked out the flowlights with crystal cases last night and as far as handles go the cases don't add much bulk at all

Something else I noticed, they don't look like they give much protection to be honest, they are like a soft gel like case similar to something you would buy for $5 to put on your iPod - which leads me to two questions, first, do they really offer as much protection as they claim to? And, why are they so expensive? lol

i know it has been made tough compared to other LED toys but it is not indestructable. i mean, mine has no obvious cracks or anything, but maybe something internal broke for some reason. if only i know electronics that much then i would disect my flowlights and even modify them. hehehe!

@soopa ive seen them thrown against a wall in a case a couple of times and pretty hard and no damage at all. i think they work by softening any blows rather than having a solid case which can crack easily just like the flowlight itself

@Paddington Bear I wasn't suggesting they were useless, I have dropped my ipod time and time again so I definitely understand the use of a case like that, I was just saying that I've heard some interesting claims about the cases and that I think the price may be a little high

I'm still going to buy them lol and I guess to answer my own question, you gotta make money right?

I know they've said if they were more mass produced and they sold to masses they could afford to make it cheaper, but they're just a small business so they can't afford it though they would like to. That is actually on their website somewhere. Probably down as their story or something, it's been a while since I read it.

inb4 "you gotta make money right?"

Pretty much the reason, yeah. If there was the mass market, they could make the money with a smaller profit margin on each light (or whatever it is you are looking at). As it is, they get the money through a slightly higher price per unit, but fewer units.

At least as far as I understand it.

The crystal poi cases themselves are not expensive at all. They are $5 a piece.

I was comparing them to ipod cases which are a dime a dozen lol

Not saying the are expensive, just more so than one would expect and we have come to an agreement why so it's all good

Just bought them

Got to use my new rig at the Glitch Mob show last week and the crystal cases were just fine on the handles. Made them easier to hold, really, though all my poi have kinda chunky grips.

Got new cases on the way for mine too. Actually picked up several things from Flowtoys and HoP this week. It's all just components, no actually lights or anything, but I've got 3 sets of lights now so I should be good on those for another week or two.

I just ordered my flowlights, cases, and masses. I'm making a rig with swivels and colecord (the idea is for each end to be fully interchangeable for handles and ends consisting of 4 swivels) has anyone else used this formula and how was it?

I got to play with a set over the weekend and thought that would make it the best for all types of poi. (I picked 2 watermelons and 2 spirits, thought they would look good together)

I ordered some watermelons and got an e-mail that they were out

This really bothers me

Yeah they'll be out for like another week so I got mine from Flowtoys, was a bit of a bummer, but I want to get them before Click at The Paradox in Bmore so I split my order between two sites for what I needed.

I hope I get my stuff today because I have a cousin's grad party tomorrow and I really want those pants! As well as my flowlights

OMG are they really out of watermelon flowlights????? I bout my colors before I could really afford them so I was guaranteed my colors. So happy I made that choice I have my Water 1 and Watermelon already.

Out of them on HoP I think, not on Flowtoys. I must say, the Water 1's are EXTREMELY BRIGHT! It is ridiculous. It, OH NO!!!!! AS I WAS TYPING THAT GODDAMN FUSHIGI COMMERCIAL CAME ON TV!!! I heard the first couple seconds and was like, "No... It can't be... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Ok that makes sense. I ordered mine from here cuz of the amazing discount available. I am only getting my charger and batteries from the flowtoy website itself

I feel ya Smurf, but I couldn't wait so I split my order. The Watermelons are nice (got them today) they are much more pink in person where on the computer screen it's a more purple tone to the pink. I wanted my discount too so all my Colecord, swivels, crystal cases/flowmass I ordered on here (needed a new travel candle too while I was at it!LOL)

haha I used playpoi's promo code and got myself a nice discount of idk how much percent

Ya I used the playpoi123 code on flowtoys to only got rid of like 2 bucks.

The thing I like about the watermelon color is the purply pink with the green creates kind of a frosty, whitish tinge to them, so they come out having a surprisingly cold color.

Oh the code got rid of $10 for me, but I kind of had a big purchase lol

They do have a nice ambiance to them, I decided to use them as my handles with spirit as the poi for now. Gotta be gentle while waiting on the cases though. I used a pair of shoe strings today 'cause I just had to play a little!!!

Heh, that's funny, because I've been using Watermelon with Spirit as my handles

Haha my friend wants watermelon and spirit for his flow staff. Also I put my flowlights on my chains for my fire poi. My quicklinks are to big for the flowtoy so I had to use a zip tie. must be super super careful though I still have some waiting for my cases.

Well I must say, with double mass on them, these are probably indestructible o0 I love how I can have heavy lights! I can make them go slow and look like they're floating at times as well as fast I must grease the bearings on these handles though they're terrible atm.

Would they shine through a double mass? If so I believe the heavier the better and will order some more masses when I can! Maybe a set of Waters too...

Glad to hear good things about double mass. I ordered mine with double cuz I love the weight. Also I have only spun flowlights without mass, and I assumed one just wouldst be enough.

Oh they still shine immensely bright through them

Hurray for buying lights ahead of time and buying double mass without knowing if it was a good idea or not

Lol if the double mass works fine for the bottom lights, why wouldn't it work fine for the top light?

Shoot, just found out that my flowlight cracked again, so apparetnly the glue didn't hold up. The light is still somewhat working (its a little dim, but I haven't tried it with a new battery yet, so it may be just fine). But on my other flowlight, only 1 of the 3 lights is working. Did anyone (I think someone had the same question) find out if Flowtoys offers their lifetime warranty with cheap replacements to toys bought from HoP?

Was gonna buy a couple more and go with a similar setup to what Sister Eleven mentioned. But I guess I'll ditch that idea now, since if I have to replace these 2 aswell, it'll be to pricey for my wallet..*le sigh*

Damn, that was my intended set up

Great minds think alike

http://www.flowtoys.com/pages.php?pageid=31#warranty

FlowToys states that they will replace any FlowLight for half price, i.e. $10. Interestingly enough, they don't require the replaced light to be broken and explicitly state that you can even do this if you just want to switch to a different color.

All you have to do is shoot an email to them at the address provided, and they'll provide a mailing address to which you send the old light (no, you don't get to keep it) along with a check/money order for the appropriate amount.

Pretty good warranty that I've taken advantage of.

^^^^
Good to know! One of mine has already started to malfunction it seems and I'm starting to regret not picking Earth instead of Watermelon...

So I've decided to invest in the Flowpoi Trio rig after payday in a few weeks, anyone know how this long of a tubing hold up and how it performs?

Dunno why I'm so intrigued by it (getting the rig w/o lights since all flowpoi rigs empty are $40 and will fill it with what I have plus some extras on the side) but any stories or personal reviews would be great!

I'm going for it regardless because I want my LED sensations to be different from my other poi and explore possibilities and stylings that are different from anything I have.

I am worried about my flowlights, cases, and mass getting damaged from the heat. Like leaving my poi in the car when its 90 degrees F outside. Will the heat and sun damage any flowlight gear??

Smurf, extreme heat or cold plus batteries or circuitry are not a good combination. I would not leave them in there for extended periods or if you must put them in the trunk to avoid the greenhouse effect in the car's passenger area.

Trunk is a good idea. I decided not to bring my poi with me at all today.

get this http://www.flowtoys.com/product.php?productid=119 with the 4.5L handle => 59.5", 152 cm (~5') + wood core and grip for $15 and then purchase for a double flowmass for $20 then instead of a $20 poi converter, just buy the top cover for the poi converter without the cord and handle for only $5 each but you must buy two of those... all in all i think it's $90... you get a flow poi trio rig + flowstaff rig!

^^^

You're a flowtoys mathematician! But I got away for less with the empty rig I don't know how a club would react to the staff, but it would be hilarious to see the reactions of the bystanders who fear those of us swinging glowy things!

you dont want to practice with the flowlights in the case they can still be broken but fortunately for me i got them from home of poi and i am awaiting a replacement as of now

Unless you have double mass or a flowpoi case. In which case they become damage sponges.

really? how much did you get? was it all with the staff converter and clubs converter?

All I needed was the empty rig so I only spent $40 have you clicked on the rigs without lights tab on their site? Lots of good stuff as long as you already have your lights!

yah i did! yah $40 if only for the flowpoi trio rig... alright! thanks for the info...

Ok as for durability I think you must be careful with the Trio for anyone looking into upgrading. There is about 4 inches of slack room at the top and the flowlights can come apart on impact and get jolted about within the tube if this happens. Note they're really huge and take some getting use to.

Here's mine used as hooks for dance and then a transfer into swinging them, look at that CAP towards the end! *using Earth, Love, and Air*


If anything had a chance of seriously malfunctioning within the case, the amount of slack on these require extra care. None the less I love these beasts!

Hi All,
sean from flowtoys here,
just thought I'd chime in and say yes, our warranty covers all our products no matter where you get them.
UV exposure breaks down plastics, so I wouldn't leave them in the sun or on your dashboard, but they can take any heat your car can take, the batteries however, will be degraded a bit by heat, and in extreme cold they simply can't put out much power, no damage though.
regarding the extra space in the flowpoi trio, or clubpoi: as long as you click your lights in to your caps they should al stay together nicely unless the cases are damaged where they connect, the space is to fit a connector so you can make them into a staff