Before we finalized the NFS-1, we ran a survey through Typeform and got 12 responses. Twelve is a small number and we're not going to pretend otherwise — this isn't market research, it's a conversation with a dozen people who do this work every day. But the answers were consistent enough to be worth publishing.
Who answered
Five mechanics, three HVAC technicians, and four from other trades. All working professionals, not hobbyists.
What they said
Battery life was the number one priority
Not brightness. Not weight. Not price. Battery life came first, and it wasn't close. The reasoning was consistent: a light that dies mid-job is worse than no light, because you planned around having it.
Eleven of twelve wanted rechargeable
One holdout preferred disposables for a specific reason — you can always buy more at a gas station at 11pm. Everyone else was done with buying batteries.
Eight of twelve said they'd be interested in lighted safety eyewear
The consistent objection from the other four wasn't the concept. It was durability — a reasonable worry about putting electronics on something that gets dropped, sat on, and left on a hot dashboard.
What we did about it
The battery answer shaped the design more than anything else. The NFS-1 uses a rechargeable, swappable battery system rather than a sealed pack — so a dead battery is a ten-second swap instead of the end of your work session. That single decision came directly out of this survey.
The durability objection is fair and we take it seriously. Our answer is IPX5 water resistance and building to ANSI Z87.1 impact requirements, so the eyewear is rated as protective equipment first and a light second. You can read the full spec on the NFS-1 product page.
Why we're publishing a 12-person survey
Because it's what we have, and because the alternative — quietly citing "industry research" that's really a dozen responses — is how a lot of product marketing works and we'd rather not. If you work in a trade and want to tell us we got something wrong, we'd genuinely like to hear it.