Noctigon K1 info / review

I find it totally unnecessary to stress over the beam profile at close range when it’s a long range light. Perfect or slightly off at 8’ will be completely irrelevant at 5280’.

BOOST HX!! YES PLEASE!!! :+1:

It’s an indication that the reflector isn’t focused properly. Could be leaving performance on the table.

Mine were worst than that actually.

It looks worse the farther back you go when inside. Of course, outside at night I can’t tell there’s a problem. I just don’t want that nagging feeling that it’s lacking performance.

That’s a good option Jos

Rayoui, fully aware of what it indicates… can you see that tiny performance gain at a mile if you get it perfect? Which was exactly my point… relevance. Sure, the OCD in us makes every tiny bit seem life and death, but it’s really going to be difficult to find the difference after spending the time to make it perfect, even on the meters, the eye will only ever see it on the wall in a white wall hunting expedition. There are a very high percentage of times when it pays to leave well enough alone, after some 1000 builds I am figuring this out… :wink:

It’s likely that very small non-centeredness makes no difference to the beam center intensity. Even with a small LED like the WF there is some room for error.

You can check whether the focus is good enough. If you make a pinhole in a piece of thin cardboard or Al foil and move it around the reflector face you can isolate the parts of the beam from different parts of the reflector. Essentially if the isolated beams from different parts of the reflector overlap at the beam center than you are utilizing the whole reflector area and the beam intensity is maximized. My description is probably not clear to someone not already familiar with these ideas, but see here for a more complete procedure.

On second thought, this test is sensitive to the vertical focus of the LED, but I’m not sure if it works as well for lateral focus.

I’m well aware the difference would be small and likely unnoticeable. The same could be said about a lot of things people worry about here, like different batteries giving you a 10% delta in lumens. I personally wouldn’t worry about something as minor as a tiny misalignment like the one shown. But, on the other hand, isn’t fiddling with lights to squeeze out maximum performance what we do around here?

P.S… Any word on the XHP version?

I’d like an XHP as well. I ordered the creamy green also, I figure it’ll be a great camping tool for signalling.


I’m looking to buy a K1 as my first thrower. Got the D4V2 last week and im very impressed.

I’m wondering if anyone has thought about offering a D4 head swap on the K1 body since it has the 21700 battery/charger.
Is that feasible? or if not is a 21700 d4v2 in the works?

I doubt the parts are compatible at all since the K1 has the charging port and circuit at the head side of the battery tube.

I don’t think Hank is interested in making his EDC-style lights in 21700 since they simply become too big for most people to pocket carry. Better to keep that for throwers that already have large heads and just offer the slightly chunkier D4S for people that want a light with more capacity and mass for heat.

Any news for the XHP version?

What do you mean by XHP? If it's not a XHP50.2 3V, then it means a driver redesign. Did Hank say he was working on a new driver?

I love the idea put me in for a couple !!!

How about Osram W2.1?

I re-quoted this as the 300kcd go clipped to 30kcd…
Stock the gt mini with osram was…130kcd…?
I had a GT mini Vn that hit 300 kcd, very nice.
I wish we could see 1000 lumen and 400kcd in a package that small….

Ahh, that was 5 months ago. Seen a lot of posts after that talking bout it, but nothing that said he was actually planning on it - thanx!

He works with outside contractors for the drivers, so might even be a BLFer, dunno. 2A is a little under powered but it's the common level for XHP35 boost drivers. Certainly nothing new - a lot of lights on the market have single cell boosts for the XHP35 and HI, specially popular in the tactical market. The drain on a single cell is very high. It's what we, and DEL, found out the hard way with the original BLF GT. At 2 amps, the draw is significant, very difficult to achieve 2.5 amps. The XHP35's draw about 13.8 volts at 2 amps.

With loss's, I'm guessing it would have to draw 9 to 10 amps on a single cell to maintain 2 amps. 9 amps is like 20 minutes on a 30T if it can hold the draw til it empties, 27 minutes on a 40T, and that's optimistic. The XHP35 and HI have been around a long time now, doesn't make it obsolete, but it's not the most efficient. Granted though, if you can get one in a good tint, that's where the advantage may be. It also doesn't have the tint shifts of the 2nd generation of CREE's.