Rolling wave of High CRI Triple or single N219b, or stock Jetbeam RRT-01 Rotaries

some beamshots, iPhone, auto white balance, 8am overcast. This is to show beam shape, not tint or color temperature.

imho, the triple Carclo 10507 (narrow clear), has the best beam with the least artifacts or rings. The center IS brighter than the spill, but the transition is quite smooth. I really like the consistency and spread of the triple, useful for indoors and close range:

the single 219b has the most rings in the beam, and the tightest hotspot, it throws the most. I really like the small hotspot of the single 219b, but not the rings in the spill. I tolerate irregularities in the beam, though I wish they were not there, some of my use is very low light, and then I only see the hotspot, not the spill. Also, I am a whitewall hunter and very very picky. Some people would not notice these rings in actual use:

The stock XM-L has a larger hotspot, and some rings in the spill, less obvious than the single 219b. The stock XM-L is Low CRI, which is why I have my lights modded. Im all about High CRI:

My thoughts on LED choices and applications:
imho, the 4500k is the most versatile EDC. During the day it looks pink, at night it looks bright white. This is due to differences in the white balance of my brain, under different ambient color temperatures.

The 3500k is a beautiful warm color, I prefer it at night, and on the nightstand, at which time the 4500k is cooler white than necessary, imo.

bear in mind my bias is that I use 3000k incandescent in my home. Compared to incandescent the 3500k looks slightly “whiter”, as it is slightly cooler. The 4500k actually looks blue by comparison.

For these reasons, I EDC a single 4500k, and switch to the triple 3500k at night. A single LED is more efficient, imo. It takes half as many lumens to illuminate a small target, compared to a triple, which illuminates a larger target. Im not into efficiency though, I use rechargeables, and these Original RRT-01 accept 18350 (Unprotected only, the new model accepts protected, but its an ounce heavier, and its fatter, so I prefer the Original.)

I have not tried the 4500k in a triple, note to self, keep one for myself :wink:

Thanks Jon,

That triple looks great.

glad you like it, I do too

we all owe a huge debt of gratitude to pinkpanda3310, who has agreed to build these lights for us.

Im also very grateful to everyone that is participating in this group buy project. It is my first experience organizing, and Im honored to have everyone’s trust.

will keep you all posted on progress.

here is how it broke out
5 stock
2 3500k triples
5 4500k triples

I will place the order for a total of 12 lights in this set, later today.

Anyone on the fence, this is Last Call… speak now, or Peace!:slight_smile:

Status
a total of 12 lights have been ordered and paid for
Optics, boards and LEDs have also been ordered.

The ship has sailed.
Thank you all for coming on board, forecast is for smooth sailing :slight_smile:

We should be docking for Shore Leave in about 10days, to begin modding and assembly.

This is a truly International Crew, LEDs coming from Andy Zhu in California, Lights flying across OZ, to be modded by pinkpanda3310, currently on 10 day leave in Japan, reservations organized by yours truly in Cali, with additional support from Msrs Noctigton and Carclo 10507 (with a bonus 10508 included at no added expense to you), from parts known.

Stay tuned for further updates and weather forecasts…

Anyone who missed the boat and is interested in catching the next Wave, PM me and I will start an interest list, and will update if another Cruise can be organized. There are potentially 50 berths available but presently no Master Modder has been enlisted. This round is being built with the generous support of pinkpanda, because he wanted to show some love to the BLF community, as he is working for peanuts. The man is an Artiste with a Big Heart!

I am very grateful to be on board with all of you.

Thanks for everyone’s effort and Jonathan’s excellent communication!

Those NOS models really do look great. Thanks for making this possible (I mean I missed out, but still)

Great work jon :wink:
As a happy owner of RRT01s, I know you’ll made many folks here happy too :wink:
:beer: :beer: :beer:

Thank you MascaratumB
it was you that inspired me to discover the RRT-01, after which I sold my HDS Rotary, because I prefer the RRT-01.

fwiw
Ive asked pinkpanda to add a glow ring to the tail, its not definite that will happen, but Im hopeful:
(pic is a link)

self adhesive and removable, whats not to like?

Well done Jon & pinkpanda.

:+1:

That would be great Jon. Thanks for trying.

Hey you all. Since i’ve missed first wave i’d like to get on another one.
Please put me on the interest list for RRT-01 Triple 219B 4500K

Cheers folks!

Theoretically wouldn’t the output be higher with the new RRT-01?

Either way, I’d like to be on the interest list for the triple if you ever make more

glad to help, if I can
will need to determine if pinkpanda is willing to build more, after this round is done…

Yes, I think the new model has higher driver current. Stay tuned for the offering from Clemence, he is testing a new model to be built with E17a quadrix and triple.

thanks for your possible interest in the Original model… I will post here when a new batch is planned. Im happy to organize the build, there are many more Original RRT-01 available in stock form… I just dont know yet if pinkpanda will be interested in the job again. He agreed to do this round more out of kindness than capitalism. :wink:

Im also interested in promoting a batch of single LED Original RRT-01, converted to N219b, but there are rings in the beam that I have not yet figured out how to overcome. Im hoping someone with a lathe will take the project on. It entails a bit more than just an LED swap.

The triple that pinkpanda builds has a truly excellent beam imo, but a single throws more, and is more suited to outdoor distances. otoh, the triple makes a beautiful wall of light at close range. Both is better… LOL

now the waiting begins :slight_smile:

I will post updates in this thread, and there will be photos when my sw45 triple arrives… for now, enjoy an inspirational photo of my triple sw35 :wink:

fwiw, until I can organize another group

anyone interested can buy the stock light directly
this is the source:
http://www.aushunteronline.com.au/spotlights/torches-accessories/jetbeam…

and for anyone interested in N219b LEDs, contact
Andy Zhu

.

I would like to organize another batch of modded RRT-01, w single N219b.

I need a modder interested in doing the LED swaps

If anyone here wants to collaborate, please PM me.

btw, just to show how picky I am about beam quality, one of the reasons Im not impressed with HDS is

rings in the beam

so, when I tell you the single LED mod to the RRT-01 has rings in the beam, it does, just like an HDS… LOL!

tbh, the RRT-01 reflector is worse, has more rings:

I live with it, but, I wish I knew how to improve it

other trivia
for reference, the stock XM-L with 18350 gives 700 lumens, on my homebrew meter
I put a fresh 18350 into my triple 3500k and got 470 lumens, thats a 33% drop to gain High CRI
I put a fresh 18350 into my single 4500k RRT-01 and got 360 lumens, thats a 49% drop to gain High CRI

from which I infer that with 18350, the triple 3500k, despite having a less efficient LED is making 30% more lumens than the single 4500k.

for reference, the stock XM-L with 16340 gives 640 lumens, on my homebrew meter
I put a fresh 16340 into my triple 3500k and got 370 lumens, thats a 42% drop to gain High CRI
I put a fresh 16340 into my single 4500k RRT-01 and got 320 lumens, thats a 50% drop to gain High CRI

from which I infer that with 16340, the triple 3500k, despite having a less efficient LED is making 16% more lumens than the single 4500k.

fwiw, the single 4500k LED uses half as many lumens as the triple 3500k to illuminate its hotspot, because its a smaller area…

no wrong choices
more is more better

Need to swap in a different reflector to get rid of the rings in the beam. And even then there may still be a slight ring at the edge due to reflection of the edge of the bezel.

I like the shape of the old RRT-01 better than the 2019 version. However, the 2019 version definitely has a better beam pattern.

which reflector do we need, something from an early SPA Defense Novatac?

fwiw, there are 2 reflectors on Original RRT-01 and Eye10 lights, some are smooth, some are Orange peel
I only have Orange peel on mine… they are not very good, they have rings in the beam, in fact, they look like the reflectors in the later issued Novatacs, that have visible rings at the base of the reflector surface itself, almost like a fresnel lens…

earlier novatacs had better reflectors, with tighter hotspots and no rings.

The new smooth reflector does seem to lack the rings present in the Original RRT-01 OP reflector
found these pics of the new version RRT-01 modded to 219c:

I agree the new model RRT-01 has a better reflector and better beam than the Original RRT-01 OP reflector

here is the beam of the Original stock Eye10 w XM-L (which I consider essentially identical to the Original RRT-01):

I can see concentric rings in the corona, that resemble the rings in the reflector pictured on the right in the group of 3 reflectors above. The rings get worse with the smaller N219b swap.

I have a beat-up early run old version RRT-01. That light originally shipped with a smooth reflector. It had one of the ringiest beams I’ve ever seen. Absolutely horrible. The new 2019 version’s beam pattern looks perfect in comparison.

I recall at the time the old RRT-01 came out lots of other people complained about the bad beam pattern. Someone found an OP reflector on one of the big budget sites that fit with only slight modification. That reflector gives a fairly clean beam pattern. Unfortunately, I don’t recall which budget site I got the reflector at or what the correct size is.

I recall the Niteye Eye10 shipped from the start with an OP reflector which gave a better beam. I think later run early version RRT-01s were changed to an OP reflector and short clip.

I really love my TCR-01. Great light. But when it comes time to grab a light it feels awkward. I could grab the beautiful TCR-01 with 5A2 XPL HI installed and maybe 500 lumens output, or I could grab my modded Emisar D4 with 18500 tube, metal switch button, quad 95CRI 4000K SST20 and Lee 279 minus green filter.

Both lights are about the same size and feel great in the hand, but the Emisar has 6x the output, better CRI, better tint, more throw, and more flood.

yes, so Ive heard
here are pics of the smooth reflectors
smooth reflectors:
you can see the “fresnel” rings at the bottom of the reflector in this pic:

here the rings dont show

Im also unimpressed with the OP reflectors that followed in the second run of Original RRT-01 and Eye10 that also have short pocket clips.

and fwiw, the TCR-1 also has the same smooth and OP reflectors used in second run RRT-01… Im underwhelmed

part of the issue is not only the fresnel like rings in the OP reflector, there is also the fact that the base of the reflector has a rather large hole, to accomodate the larger XM die

the smaller N219 die is not well matched to the OP reflector in the second run Original RRT-01, that are the ones this Group Wave has obtained.

though although I like and want single N219b moddedf Original RRT-01… the beam is a concern, until someone with beam tuning skills, possibly a lathe, or a source of better reflectors, enlightens us on how to improve the beam of Original RRT-01, especially when swapping to smaller die LEDs

We should visit some of the budget sites and see if we can find a reflector that is a better match. Or maybe a single-emitter TIR.