Any cost associated with maximizing thermal performance at the mcpcb is well worth it. I’d gladly pay an extra 2 or 3 dollars per light to keep these Nichias cool. 3oz copper pour over the whole board and the thinnest dielectric should be sought out.
Olga is a nice optic, and LEDIL is a generally a good choice IMO. The Olga RS will probably be the best for SFT and maybe XHP35 HI where absolute max cd is the goal, but for the SST40 and B35, check out the Gaggione LLC25N. It’s a similar sized optic without any injection sprue so the bezel / oring design and machining will be simplified. This line of optics is color mixing and doesn’t project a ghost image of the emitter in the corona. Cd/lm is on par with the Olga RS for larger emitters , both offering about 14cd/lm for the B35.
If any 1mm² or 2mm² Osrams or Cree emitters are also offered, I’m not sure who offers the best cd/lm and clean beam in the ~30mm optic range. The Gaggione LLC05N is rated at ~145cd/lm for the 1mm² flats which is impressive IMO.
Yeah I have a few Gagionne lenses on my wishlist, still haven’t ordered yet because the shipping is expensive despite same country shipping , I’ll add this one.
I don’t see any ghost image of the LED with the Olga though. I’ll take a pic once I have installed it in a light.
I would really love to see it be no wider than the KR1, and possibly narrower. I’ve been wanting a Noctigon FW1A for a long time. Something I can comfortably carry all the time.
Please just make the best light possible and don’t worry about the cost. None of these lights are really unaffordable and we all have lots of lights. If the new light ends up using more of our flashlight budget, it just means we buy fewer total lights. I’d rather have two or three great lights than spend the same amount on five crappy or compromised ones.