Review: Skilhunt H04 RC Virence edition headlamp (18650, 4xE21A, 3500K, CRI97)

Thanks Maukka! Great review although it is making the wait more painful! :smiley:

Awesome review as always. Shame about the mediocre efficiency but looks like a great package nonetheless. Really looking forward to receiving mine!

Awesome review as usual. This light is a CRI baby’s dream. With respect to the unprotected optic, I find beaded optics are typically pretty hardy and don’t really show damage in the beam unless it’s quite significant. It’s also really simply to swap out the optic in this light, so it couldn’t hurt to order a couple spares.

Is the L1 duv measurement correct?

I would bet it is. The reason it bucks the trend is likely due to that mode being pwm controlled.

Thanks maukka for the skillful review.
I will study this review till my H04rc is built.

Great review Maukka! Thank you

As I suspected, the beam profile would not change too much in throw using the quad E21a with different optics.
The use of Quad e17a seems like a better options for those looking to get a better range between floody and throwy, unless ofcourse flood is all you want, than may as well go E21a.

I’ll be installing Quad e17a in one of mine. I will report back regarding how each optic behaves.

Thanks for the great review Maukka. As I told you before, the sample I sent you has 0,04mm off center MCPCB. That and the too small 16mm optic might be the reason for lower optical efficiency. I will find a way to move the optic closer to the LED (I made 0,2mm LED to lens clearance). Hope this will improve the transmission efficiency. Optical efficiency is higher with quadtrix E17A (3535 footprint) but still less bright than quadtrix E21A (4646 footprint).

[Clemence]

I’m curious about the lumen differences between each optic. From the GIF, it seems like there might be a slight edge in efficiency/transmittance with optic #2. I’m guessing they are all very close when measured, but that’s just the way it looks to me.

Clemence or Maukka, have either of you determined the split in losses between the driver and the optics?

At such low levels some accuracy in the meter is sacrificed, but as JaredM said, it’s also being driven differently to the higher modes. Even so I’d probably consider the tint equal on all of the modes except for T1. A difference of 0.0010 is not really even visible. In any case the difference in brightness probably has more of an effect in perceived color temperature and tint than what the numbers would let you believe.

You can’t really make such judgment from an image due to the limited dynamic range and the fact that the complete beam doesn’t fit in the image (not that it would matter since the edges would appear black anyway).

Even slightly throwier lights will almost always appear to have more total output when looking at a beamshot photo. I didn’t measure the output in the sphere with other optics, but looking at the beam profile data (area under the curve) they are very close in total output.

Thanks Maukka. As always, your work, attention to detail, and organized presentation is very much appreciated and respected!

Fist Class review ” maukka “, Great Job !! :+1:
We all Thank You for taking time to provide so much detail information. :smiley:
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Excellent review once again! I’m very excited to see Clemence’s high quality workmanship in person!

Suprised the 3500k is below the bbl at all modes. I was expecting it might be above at the lower modes. But still not rosy enough for my taste so I will stick with mixing CCT.

I know the beam quality wouldn’t be any good, but I’m curious how the reflectored version would perform efficiency wise?

I tested the module outside the headlamp without any optic vs properly installed with widest optic and the loss is significant. It was approximate measurement but as recorded about 22% hit in efficiency. This is the price for using small 16mm optic. Efficiency can be improved slightly with 20mm lens or even better with total flood setup (special high mount adapter and only AR coated cover glass)

[Clemence]

I wonder if there are any of the new type fresnel/TIR lenses could work well here? Examples like Klarus E1, Trustfire MC1, etc. These have intrigued me lately.

Maybe even just a heavy frosted glass and OP reflector? A pebbled/frosted convex lens and LEDs elevated?

I’m sure you’ve tried different things and I’m in no way suggesting I know any better… just throwing out ideas and am curious how different set-ups perform.

Maukka, with your eyes, how would you say the tint on the 3500k E21A compares to sunlight at Golden Hour? Is it pretty close?

Any progress on moving the optic closer? Hopefully the postman arrives soon if he hasn’t already!

I think I just found the holy grail of headlamps. Any chance for a rerun of the groupbuy or any alternative?