Emisar D4S review

Nah she’d stand out too much in “the dangerous place” and probably die :stuck_out_tongue:

I’ll have to hold it at shoulder height or they will be thinking BLF’s first radioactive member will be coming down the snicket.

I mean the wife will have to hold it at shoulder height :blush:

Well, that was easier than expected :slight_smile:

I followed advice from BLF forums for the kit, pin mappings, avrdude, and firmware (thank you Toykeeper). I used some 5 Amp fuse wire in the end of the connectors. Now I’ve got Anduril on my D4S.

My thanks to all of you who have been so helpful on this forum.

So which one of the VIA layouts is the final one? the 2x3 or 1x6 ?

Had to make a new “adaptor” for the 1x6 layout :smiley:
Luckily the via distance still matches a breadboard, so i plugged them in, in the correct order and hot glued them in place.

I’ve got a grey with amber in the mail right now. Second to my black/cyan.

You know I was thinking this earlier… For myself though, haha. I honestly like pink LEDs, and I think pink in green would look good. Or pink/black.

From what I've read, the 2x3 was on the first prototypes and on the first batch of lights sold by intl-outdoor, and the 1x6 is on later batches and on those sold by mtn electronics.

But there has been no clear confirmation which one is the new one and which one is the old one, but I like that he uses a 100mil spacing. The 2x3 also had 100mil on the 3x side but the two groups were off by a bit.

1. What is the purpose of the auxiliary LEDs?

2. Would it be possible (at the factory) to implement neutral white auxiliary LEDs and use them for a functional micro-lumen moonlight mode? I want neutral white moonlight below 0.5 lumen.

3. Is the D4s intended to be a replacement for the D4, or merely an additional product offering? I really like how tiny the D4 is, and I don’t want to go bigger in an EDC. I would like to see the improvements made to the D4s applied to the D4.

1. It does the same thing as tritium vials… only better. It looks cool and it helps locate the light in the dark, mostly.

2. If a color isn’t offered on Intl-Outdoor.com, it’s not available. But you could replace the aux LEDs with other types if you want.

3. The D4S is not a replacement for the D4. As for the new things the D4S has, Hank might update his older products with newer ideas at some point, or he might not. It’s hard to say for sure. He has already updated the D4 a few times though, and it seems to be a pretty popular item, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see more updates in the future.

Just got my D4S in XP-L HI 4000k last night and all I can say is that its phenomenal. Fantastic work on the UI and the light itself. Threads are clean and smooth, knurling is great, fit and finish is pretty great. Not a huge fan of the lanyard hole because its rather sharp, but otherwise its a great form factor. Im really surprised how much I like the tint so far, I typically gravitate towards clean, neutral white but the 4000k 5D is VERY nice for general use and walks.

Curious though, should the battery ever get critically low from the aux leds, will the light shut off completely with over discharge protection?

The only thing I would potentially change is the “high” setting of the Aux lights, or possibly include a “medium” and id love a candle mode like Anduril has.

I still wish lockout was 4 clicks like Narsil, but im guessing quite a few use momentary if its prioritized.

The main reason I have not purchased a D4 is I’ve read it has no reverse polarity protection. Has that been updated? As Tyrion Lannister says, I get drunk and I put batteries in backwards. Or something like that.

If he updates that and Adds Aux LEDs in colors I’m down.

The low-voltage protection only works while the light is awake. So if something drains the power while it’s asleep, like the aux LEDs do, it can’t respond. About what happens while awake though, I’ll have to double check what LVP does with the aux LEDs. At the very least, they should get dim when voltage is low, or even turn off entirely, since they’re basically direct drive with a resistor in the way to reduce voltage.

Due to the way the aux LEDs are implemented, it can only have three levels — high, low, and off. To do a medium mode, the light would have to stay awake to quickly pulse the LEDs on and off, and that would cost more power than just leaving it in high mode.

If you want 4-click lockout and candle mode, you could reflash the firmware…

The D4S fixed those things, but the original D4 has not been updated in that way. It still has no aux LEDs, and the reverse polarity protection protects the driver but not the battery. But maybe that can be updated sometime.

Thanks ToyKeeper.

In this case where the driver isn’t asking for current, is the biggest concern static electricity?

Already have a USBASP and a SIOC8 clip on the way for testing on junk drivers before modifying this one. Not too worried about modifying the code, but ive never recompiled into a hex before so that will take some research.

Well, modifying TKs extremely well written (and VERY nicely commented) is pretty straightforward. Makes some of the Powershell and Python scripting I see at work look very janky and disorganized. Only difficulty I see is going to be recreating/consolidating some of the structure for some of the calls in the code to other define files.

I was intentionally NOT wanting to open this thread for a long time because I knew that if I did I would probably get one… Guess curiosity killed the cat! :person_facepalming: :laughing:

So now after a very long decision process ( probably 10 seconds Ha! ) I want one! :partying_face: I will order the XP-L Hi 3A tint in either black or grey (What is the consensus here? Which one looks better? Does the gray color match head body tail color?) with either Cyan or Amber Aux light (Again which one looks better?)

I really want to get both magnetic and non-magnetic tailcaps, if I select the “Magnet in the tailcap Yes ( $2.99 )” option, will I get BOTH tail caps?

Thanks in advance for your help!

AlexGT

I have a green host with Nichia and cyan AUX LED. The green host seems to tint the main beam and the AUX LED toward green FYI. You could get a green host with red for that Christmas spirit lol

I also have a black XPL HI 5000k like you’re considering, with cyan AUX LED. The beam is very nicely white and no green, creamy white even next to my Nichia. Super bright.

If you choose Magnet in the tailcap for 2.99 and extra tailcap without magnet for 3.99 then you’ll get both. It is confusing. It’s an extra $7USD for both tailcaps basically.

The gray looks consistent to me. I can’t say that it doesn’t, however I really like the black in this torch. I’m thinking of an Amber in black for myself.

Also anyone. I’ve had my green one for some time and just got the black yesterday. The AUX LED are MUCH brighter for some reason in the new black. Both are Cyan colored. I’m doing a battery drain test today. I found ToyKeeper’s amp draw chart however I don’t think my old Fluke is cooperating. Any idea why the huge difference in AUX LED brightness. and Yes, I set both to High in the UI.

I bought a Titanium D4 and got the short tube as well, then put the Titanium 18650 tube on my black D1S, the silver tube matches the silver switch retaining ring and looks really sharp. :slight_smile:

I got a couple of the small colored Ti tubes. I like their looks and the added weight on the D1.