Assuming that D25S aims to a target group with emphasis on a "no frills" light for a true budget price, I would definitely say YES.
Yes, I believe that kind of headlamp would sell well. Eventually, it's all about the right target group and the budget this kind of group is willing to spend.
In my humble opinion, D25S does not aim to be a highly sophisticated premium flashlight, not even close. If I am not totally mistaken, the odds are good that Sofirn (and maybe Wurkkos as well) will be developing their own dual emitter headlamp which provides both white and (deep) red light. That flashlight will probably put more emphasis on a more flexible UI, better host design, native USB-C support, better driver components, way more flexibility on minimum LED current, etc..
If I was to give recommendations, I would suggest downsizing a light like Wurkkos HD20 or D25S to AA/14500 format (or at least keep 18650 size), strip everything down to be as lightweighted as possible and use an efficient constant current buck/boost driver (depending on battery chemistry). 300 lumens of white light is a lot for a small headlamp and should normally suffice in most situations for close-range illumination. With deep red in addition you may get up to 30-40lm of pure red light for preserving your night vision in dark caves or too reduce backscatter of light in misty ambient conditions. Thinking about preserving one's night vision, I would suggest to have ultra-low "firefly" mode(s) for using deep red, again something that D25S is not designed to for.
In the end, it's about the right advertising and fulfilling the needs of your target groups.The majority of customers will always follow the way to get most lumens for the best achievable price. I believe in order to catch the spoiled flashoholic's attention it takes to highlight terms like constant brightness, 95CRI color rendition, high efficiency driver, ingenious user interface.
I’d certainly get at least one! (certainly if it has Type C, I probably won’t buy any more lights for myself with micro-USB) I got a HD20 and I really like it but as a full-time headlamp it’s rather heavy.
That sounds interesting to me - an inexpensive light that offers both red and white light! I’m a little torn on whether mode memory is ideal on it, though.
I find that without shortcuts, having a moonlight mode is less useful if you may need to cycle past the highest mode to get to it.
Barry, if we're talking about $15.99 (fifteeeeeeen-ninety-nine!)...what are we waiting for? :-D
Can you divide the 1,000pcs into small variations of D25WR? Suggestions?
500 pcs SST20 4.000K 95CRI + SST20-DR 660nm
300 pcs SST20 2.700K 95CRI + SST20-DR 660nm
200 pcs LH351D 5.000K 90CRI + SST20-DR 660nm
I would even fancy a mini batch of D25AR using XP-E2 amber ("amber" seems to be a quite orange yellow) and SST20-DR 660nm. Both tints work great in full darkness to reduce overstraining the eyes and to have less backscatter in fog. It would be quite unique too and a risk of loss of sales margin is quite low here. Just my thoughts... ;-)
[quote=Barry0892]
Let call it D25WR with SST20 4000K (or 2700K) + SST20DR 660nm is no problem. 3A current can make it 500LM roughly at High, 5mA-10mA makes it 1LM or dimmer at moonlight. The minimum quantity is 1000pcs to get it started. That is what stops me from do it right now. If the price $15.99 for D25WR without battery; $17.99 for D25WR with battery, how do you guys think? Come on guys, I need some confidence!
I’d add the headband strap upgrade at whatever price Barry thinks that reasonable.
Considering XP-E2 PC Amber could be also beneficial, as PC Amber (phosphor converted) is also gentle on eye (not simple Amber, because that is inefficient, and as the emitter gets hot, it starts to lose output considerably - but in terms of driving the LED, PC Amber acts more like a white LED, than a monochrome Amber/Red):
I guess, the only reason is, that SST-20 is not available in 5000K CCT (edit: as high CRI - I would not even consider "standard" CRI). If SST-20 would be available in the cooler white CCT range, then that would the choice without question :-)
LH351D 5.000K 90CRI has been rated to be a great tint choice on BLF (see Wurkkos WK30 or Sofirn SP36 BLF Andúril for comparison). And yes, it is "floodier" (or more floody?) than SST20 but it should fit in D25WR as it's the same 3535 footprint.
SST20 5.000K 70CRI is possible but not with HighCRI and its tint is know to be very greenish on low currents.
Generally spoken, yes. SST-20 5000K 65CRI was out of question, I wouldn't even consider that for any headlamp.
I just told, that if SST-20 95 CRI range would expand beyond the 2700K-4000K CCT range, that could replace even more emitters as "best default" choice.
Cree seems to be falling out of the innovation race. If I were them, I would also develop the corresponding HI (high intensity) variants for their XHP50.2 and XHP70.2 - and try to do something with the ugly rainbow beam.
XP-L HI warm high CRI emitters are treasure on their own kind.
I wish Cree (or the new owner) would offer more XP-L HI in warmer (and HighCRI) tints but lately XP-L HI 4.000K are very difficult to get.