I had a CCT revelation tonight

So many here may roll their eyes or some may see this as painfully obvious, but…

I installed an sst20 4000k into my Astrolux C8 (previously xhp50) this afternoon. I turned it on tonight, My mind was blown. Actually it was opened. It was blown open.

I’m fairly new to this, and I had 1 (yes, one) 4000k light before today - my fw3a sst20. All of my other lights (20 or so) were 5000k except my sbt90 lights and osram lights which are obviously higher. I have never been concerned with cct being low or warm. I honestly thought it would be the waste of a thrower. The low lumens that is.

Well my Astrolux C8 throws better with the sst20 4000k then my xhp50 (obviously, it’s a smaller led) but I thought the output would be so low it would be underwhelming. It’s NOT. it’s AWESOME. I have multiple other low CCT LED’s (sst20 2700k, Samsung lh351d) I ordered sitting in my workshop, and tomorrow afternoon I’ll be putting them into my ft03, Yootoo sd3, noctigon kr1, and whatever else I have time to tear into. I just wish I ordered more!

This may be a phase and I’ll find myself swapping everything back in a month, but I’m really liking the light quality and throw this little led offers.

That’s all. Apologies to those that know this to be true, but for those worried a sst20 4000k (or whatever, pick a 2020 format warm led) won’t impress you like the output of an xhp50.2, fear not. You may be impressed.

4000k is my favorite cct!

Try the TO46R in 4000K. :heart_eyes:

I think 4000k is the sweet spot of the warmest CCT you can go and still within neutral white.

As for 4000k 90 cri in a thrower, it’s fantastic. I put a 4000k 90cri xhp35 hi in my Manker MK39, and the beam doesn’t reach quite as far as before, but the quality of light and increased clarity is well worth the trade off. I find our eyes quickly adjust to the steady output of light from a flashlight, so a 20% difference in output is barely noticeable especially after our eyes are given a chance to adapt. On the other hand, our eyes can’t make up for lost colour in low cri lights.

I think the new FF T9R light looks like a great candidate for an SST20 high cri LED. :slight_smile:

I have a modded Eagletac G25C2 with a Ledil Iris TIR and a dome-on 4000K SST-20 running 4.3A linear CC driver. One of my favorite and go-to lights despite throwing less than the more compact Convoy M2 with Osram WF1. I eternally struggle with high CCTs. 4700K is my threshold typically. 3000-4000 is the sweetspot for all around use IMO.

Back in 2019 december, Noctigon K1 was available with SST-20 3000K and 4000K - I almost instantly grabbed a 4000K, and that was one of my best decisions.

K1 with that emitter resulted in a thrower with the most clarity.

I would even buy a Lumintop GT74/94 (probably with another type designation), if that would exist with this emitter.

Thanks for the input folks, glad to hear others’ preferences. I am curious to see the 2700k in action and the Samsung 5000k as I don’t have anything with emitter. But where I stand now I want to buy10 more sst4000k and swap out all my throwers (except the sbt90.2’s of course).

That would be awesome. I saw a review on YouTube with that emitter a little while back and it looked awesome! Honestly what was made me think of doing this originally

This is where I feel like I’m heading!

I saw you mention this light somewhere else, and it is on my list! I love my wubens, although I only have two.

Oh, what are people’s thoughts on dedoming the sst20 4000k or lh351d 5000k? I like dedoming my leds and the resulting increased throw. But I know with my xhp’s it really greens out the tint.

Should I leave them alone or is it worth trying?

Based on what I have read so far here on BLF about other people’s experiments:

- SST-20 dedoming won’t result noticeable increase in throw (not sure about tint changes, though)

  • LH351D dedoming will result in significant tint changes (not sure about the throw changes, but I guess, here we can expect some), somebody tried to slice it at different heights of the dome, and did measurements as well

The SST 4000k is my favorite flashlight LED at the moment too :slight_smile:

I called it devine in 2019 when I discovered it. [Review] SST-20 in FW3A is divine!

For some reason I never became fond of warm LED’s. They remind me too much of the old incandescents of the past. I also have not come to appreciate lights with higher CRI. When I see a side to side comparison of high and low CRI, I see a different but when I shine a light outside, I dont.

Burn, witch! Burn!

4000-ish K is the sweet spot if you want a warm but still neutral beam that doesn’t make browns, oranges and reds pop too much like warm white does. Sadly all I have in this CCT is an XM-L2 with not the best CRI ever.

Next light I buy (once I get my credit card under control after two GPUs and a 29” mountain bike) will be a C8+ with an XP-L HI in the 4000-4300K range. I’m itching for it already!

My astrolux mfO1s I think has this led. Great color, one of my favorites.

Its a funny thing, i never thought i noticed a difference (outside) either. But one of the the biggest “aha!” moments i had last night was when i took the sst20 4000k C8 outside with my sst40 dedomed 6500k yootoo SD3 (basically a shorter C8 style light, really nice by the way) and shined them into the vast wooded area behind my house. There was almost a blue reflection on the dense trees form the sst40 and the sst20 was reminiscent of daytime. it was easier to see, well everything, with the sst20. comparing the two after about a minute made me very uninterested in even using the sst40 6500k. which sucks, becuase i previosuly thought that was the “perfect” white light. its not, its blue. Now ill be ordering more sst20 4000k. Also, from a visual perspective, the sst20 throws just as far as the sst40 in that setup. maybe a little less bright but i don’t care because of how nice it looks.

bahaha

For indoor home LED light bulbs, I would never use cool white, its horrible. Warm is best. I just dont feel the same about flash lights used primarily outdoors.