Noctigon K1 info / review

I won’t order W1. I find cool white throwers have more visible backscatter, I don’t find ultra-tiny hotspots all that useful, I’m tired of linear drivers, and I haven’t yet found a light that throws far enough to make me stop caring about CRI.

I’m waiting to see how the XHP35 HI model performs, especially if Hank sources some of the 80 CRI Easywhites, with which I’ve had very good results in other lights in 4000K and 4500K. Barring that, I’d consider SST-20.

Yet none had any linear driver until K1.

All of the Emisar lights use Linear + Fet drivers. The Linear part of the driver is responsible for the regulation which many of us seek in a light.
I believe Zak’s comment was extending beyond the Noctigon line of products, and I too agree, waiting to see more buck and boost drivers and limit my purchases to these flashlights as well.

And you are absolutely right!

Waiting for the XHP35 version as well…

What can we expect from the XHP35? More lumen and less throw than XPL-Hi? Maybe alike 4000K SST-20?

Compared to XP-L HI - more lumens and similar throw.

So what would be the reason to get the XPL-hi? No tintshift?

XP-L HI doesn’t have a tint shift either.
The reason would be more lumens and therefore wider beam.

Yes thats what i said :smiley:

I meant: what i the reason to take the XPL-Hi over the XHP35? I don´t see any. If throw and tintshift is comparable and XHP35 makes more lumen, i would always choose XHP35.

Ah, right. :slight_smile:
XHP35 HI doesn’t have a tint shift either. I guess the main reason would be price.
ADDED:
Maybe tint selection as well. Maybe longer runtime / turbo time? XP-L will surely not need a thermal stepdown. XHP35 HI might.

The no-PWM linear driver in the K1 should be a bit more efficient than a 7135-based PWM driver. If the 7135 design has multiple channels though, it’s only a small difference.

A direct-drive FET is also frequently a nice addition, to increase the maximum brightness on lights which can actually handle the extra power. It’s mostly just for turbo use though.

Compared to a linear driver or a linear-plus-direct-drive hybrid driver, a boost driver typically is more efficient in the medium modes. However, it’s usually also not able to go as bright as a FET turbo, and tends to be less efficient on really low modes too. So, not as good for moon or turbo, but usually more efficient at most of the levels in-between.

There are some known cases where a boost or buck driver ended up being less efficient, like how the Lux-RC 371D driver is ~30% less efficient (even in medium modes) than a simple amc7135 driver… but that doesn’t seem to be the common case.

Yes, the difference is the driver, since it’s 12V the driver needs additional components which makes it more expensive than a regular 4V driver.
The XPL-Hi and SST20/40 are easier to drive, that will probably be the reason they are already available.

But the difefrence between SST40 and XHP35 probably won’t be very much, apart from the fact that the XHP35 HI will throw farther since it’s domeless and does not experience the bad tint of SST’s

A wider beam (The Osram throws like hell, but the hotspot is very tiny) a better tint, more efficiency, more usability, that’s my main reason to wait for the XHP35

I’m a huge fan of lineair drivers, simple, cheap, small, do the job more than adequate, very robust/reliable, efficiency is fine. And although it has not been proven to occur often, I fear for voltage spikes coming from drivers with inductors (I had a precious 90CRI XHP50.2 killed by a KD boost driver).

Yeah linear up to 1Amps in D4, over that is direct drive in D4, but not 5A linear or 8A linear drivers, quite a massive difference.

So, out of curiosity I noticed a fair amount of people on r/flashlight have been mentioning getting shipping notice for the lights going out as early as the 30th of November as well as receiving the light in the mail. It maybe my paranoia but I also placed an order once the K1 dropped on hank’s site and my order and payment has been confirmed almost 12 days ago by paypal….

Am I just overthinking things or have I been overlooked or missed in the shipping of the light ?

90 CRI XHP50Bs are precious? Arrow has them in single quantities (for some CCTs). Arrow doesn’t have free shipping with no minimum anymore, but if you need $50 worth of stuff….

I have lots of lights with linear drivers. They work fine, but they contribute a lot of heat, which has a significant impact on sustainable output for a lot of the smaller EDC lights they’re used in. The K1, with its large surface area, thermal mass, and battery compared to say, an FW3A is not a terrible application for a linear driver… I’m just tired of them.

I’ve observed that with some lights as well, but Zebralight seems to do it well with one test seeing 319 days for an H600Fd III on its lowest mode and another still going with an SC62w at 339 days. I’m not expert enough on the subject to know why others fall short, but low modes aren’t a priority for me for a thrower. If Noctigon made a boost driver EDC light, on the other hand…. Maybe I shouldn’t have skipped that Wuben TO50R HC group buy.

What CCT is it? Did you measure the tint? Very interested in such an emitter. :laughing:

I ordered my K1 in black with W1 on November 29, 2019 03:29:04 EST. It is still processing on my account. I do not know when will mine ship out, but on Hank’s site said ship before December 15th.

For a subjective impression, I have a 90 CRI XHP50B in 5000K in an Armytek Wizard Pro. The honeycomb TIR means it doesn’t have the usual tint shift issues, and otherwise the tint looks a lot like a 5000K LH351D (slightly green, but not bad).

Mine shipped on the 7th of December