This looks like a nice upgrade from the original. I have an original that I bought as an empty host, then configured how I like — Nichia 219B ~4700K 92CRI and a FET+1 driver with lots of extra modes. I keep it in 18350 shorty form. It’s still one of my favorites, years later.
Ish. I wouldn’t really trust Bistro’s thermal regulation here. It works okay-ish in a BLF X6v2, which has lower power and higher thermal mass, but it was never meant to handle a triple in titanium.
I love that pattern on the left, with the blue and magenta blend. I hope I can get something like that some day.
The H17F has some downsides:
- Increases the cost per light. For legal reasons, the hardware cannot be mass-produced and there is a license fee for each unit.
- The code cannot be modified for this project.
- Its thermal regulation is very slow, probably too slow for a titanium triple. However, this is probably also true for Bistro.
- Configuring the light is even more complicated than the current driver.
- Can’t do med-press, so no reversing.
My main concern with both drivers is the slow thermal regulation. I improved that quite a bit in Crescendo, and again in Anduril, but this isn’t the type of light which can run Anduril.
Crescendo could work, but it’s a little awkward and I’d at least want to update it first. Also, it doesn’t have regular modes or mode groups, which can be considered a drawback. Instead, it has ramping only… and some misc blinkies. Ramping on a clicky is kind of neat, but also kind of awkward. For example, with memory disabled, each use must ramp up from moon. Or with memory enabled, there is a delay before going to the memorized level.
Of course, the user can just be careful to avoid overheating when using the light. That works too, and is a good idea regardless.