FW3A, a TLF/BLF EDC flashlight - SST-20 available, coupon codes public

Much smaller die area than the LH351D, and even optical emission area is smaller than the XP-L HI.

So they are also less bright?

@JasonWW

Q2 tint bin LH351D currently available: 340 lumens at 1050mA(minimum)
J5 tint bin SST-20 4000k(highest one available): 279lm at 1000mA, 292lm at 1050mA(minimum)

So, with the current Q2 tint bin, the LH351D is 16,5% more efficient.

With the higher R2 tint bin being available for 4 reel orders: 360 lumens at 1050mA(minimum)

With the R2 tint bin, the LH351D is 23,5% more efficient than the SST-20.

So, yeah, less overall light will be emitted.

However, since this is an EDC light, the LH351D will be much more floody, and will require higher power levels to be usable outdoors.

The SST-20 would be a better overall choice in terms of usability.

That all sounds good on paper but my Ti/Cu scratch built EDC uses a Carclo quad optic with Samsung LH351D 80 CRI 5000K (U6 power bin) emitters and works quite nicely outdoors in the big wide open areaā€™s we have here. Itā€™s certainly no thrower, but itā€™s not lacking either, even run on an 18500 cell. :wink: Beam profile is sweet, sans the Cree artifacts, with a defined fat hot spot that Iā€™ve found very much to my liking.

At what level are you running the light :slight_smile: ?

Max. Always Max. :wink:

I like the LH351D because it gives nice NW color while still giving similar output to xpl or xml2.

So the SST-20 is a bit more similar in die size and output to the XP-G3 or 219C?

From what I hear, itā€™s not always max. Itā€™s frequently at lower levels, especially candle mode. A lot of people care about the tint in low modes, not just turbo. And unfortunately, a lot of emitters have their worst tints at low power levels. The color temperature and tint can shift quite a bit between a low mode and a high mode.

Thatā€™s why I didnā€™t like the SST-20 4000K 95CRI emitters I tried. The tint was okay on high modes, but I almost never use thoseā€¦ and at the lower levels I actually use, it was a long way from white.

My Triple SST-20 5000k isnā€™t any better, unless you like yellow, even in Turbo side by side with my XP-L HI 5000k triple (same) optics, the yellow stands outā€¦

I have my Ti/Cu DBC-04 set up to always start at the lowest level, I use it according to the need. Very seldom use Max, but sometimes. Max is around 3500 lumens on the 18500.

Level 1 or 2 getā€™s used in the house a lot, outside I seem to go straight to 4 or 5 out of 7.

The SST-20s I got from Kaidomain (FB4 tint bin) are kind of yellow at low power and not really my favorite tint at any power level, but I just got done reviewing a light that came with an XP-G2 that I think was a 5S tint bin so Iā€™ll take it.

Iā€™d put more emphasis on getting FA4 or FA1 tint if I was buying a bunch of SST-20s than I would on flux bin. I have a suspicion that sometimes non-green tint and the highest flux bins are incompatible, because adding more 555nm has a strong tendency to increase lm/W, being the peak of human visual sensitivity.

The peak current of FW3A wonā€™t be 1.05A per emitter but significantly more. At higher currents the efficiency gap will be larger when comparing both LEDs at the same current.
Furthermore SST-20 actually has lower Vf than LH351D so it will draw more current. This will make the efficiency gap yet another bit larger, but it will reduce the brightness gap slightly.

Iā€™m am interested in one, please add me to the list.

vF a lot closer than you think when comparing both in high CRI. The LH351D has much higher vF in the 70CRI model but the 90CRI is a different beast.

From maukka:

LH351D 5000K 90CRI @ 4A
3.4x vF
1189 lm

SST-20 4000K 95CRI @ 4A
864 lm
3.43 vF

I would like one, in XPL-HI if I have a choice. If no choice, Iā€™ll take whatever is made.

Put me in the list for one with LH351D 4000K 90CRI emitter

I am interested in one as well please, thanks :slight_smile:

Interested. please add me. Thank you.

Interested in the XPL HI

thank you!

Put me down for one please. Thanks