The day he can put some osram emitters in it is the day I would buy one.
I really want to jump on this…
But it looks like I’ll have to wait several weeks until my cash reserves recover
Anyone know the throw and overall lumens if you go with XPL-HI?
Aux possible?
Horrible throw and oodles of overly floody lumens. (Based on my experience with a D4s with XPL, and another with SST20 LEDs. The int-outdoor website D4s page gives a good comparison between emitters to give you an idea).
Fireflies E07 gets a lot more lumens from their XP-L LEDs vs their SST emitters. Emisars lumen values on the D4s are very close between the two. SST has far more throw, almost the same lumens and $50 cheaper (in the D18). If the D18 is the same as the D4s I’ll probably go SST for the win.
I kind of like how my SST lights have a warmer tint on low settings, then go bright white at higher settings when I really want to light something up. The added throw and cheaper price are just a bonus.
Good news from Hank! 
It is possible to get the Emisar D18 without leds for 10$ less. 
Nice. I now have a TK D18 on the way.
That's a joke right?
Are you wanting to buy 18 SST-20’s? I’ll buy a D18 and sell them to you for $25
I would rather pay 10$ for an empty mcpcb.
What would be the best combo for throw with a neutral tint ? I’m not opposed to mixing them up
The regular SST-20 5000K flavor is probably the best option for that.
That would be too easy…no mixing tints, no challenging Vf problem?
Any chance it’ll come with standby LEDs similar to the D4S?
I ordered a D18 with SST20 3000k and 4000k. I like both Colortemperatures, so i thought this might be really good.
the 4000k has a bit green on low levels? do you think mixing in 3000k will hide that greenish look?
I dont use my lights on very low levels though so i will not suffer to much, but still.
Im not sure which layout Hank chose when installing the emitters, but i would guess its like TK’s layout, for maximum blending.
Thanks !
No, probably not.
Order another one with 3000K, 4000K, and 6500K. Now I have the perfect 4500K mixed!
No joke, you can PM Hank to ask. I also thought it would be more like 15-20$ less for a D18 without leds. But maybe it disturbs the manufacturing process somehow, who knows. :person_facepalming: It would just be easier and faster to solder leds to an empty MCPCB instead of having to remove the previous ones.
Thank you for the offer, contactcr, but I would just buy the normal D18 then. 
If you get 18 SST20 leds for 10$ it could even be worth the effort to remove the leds from the MCPCB and replace them with Luxeon V2’s.
Can you post some pictures of beamshots and close-ups when you receive it? What did you end up choosing for the layout of the 3 tint mix?
Oof.
That isn’t going to look all that good.
If only there was an SST-20 5000k 95CRI.
Would make things easier.