First post here, sorry it has to be a bit of a desperation post. I am in dire need of an 18650 flashlight to bring with me on a trip with me. I will be leaving California on monday 11/8 and will be gone for most of a year, so there is a quite a time crunch. I was trying to get a custom D4V2 from Hank, but he wasn’t able to ship when he said he would and now I am left in a situation where I can’t source a light in the remaining time from a vendor.
The light I was trying to order was a D4V2 with dual channel Osram W1 and SST-20 2700K 95 CRI. Does anybody have any comparable products or pieces, such as a K4 or bare drivers/emitters? I have a body I could retrofit onto and might be able to get some basic parts like optics in time.
I would be willing to pay a bit of a premium, seeing as my options are limited. Maybe you could spare me one of your lights I’ll buy you your next upgrade? Let me know, I will be checking my PMs. Help is greatly appreciated.
It would be quicker to get a light in your own country or you might be able to get a light shipped to your destination after you have arrived.
However one light is not always enough, as they say in the prepper world, two is one and one is none.
Sorry I didn’t specify, I am located in California. I will be gone most of the year, frequently find myself traveling at night, camping in remote areas often, and use a flashlight to hunt and fish. I am aware that there are some flashlights on Amazon that I could purchase and receive before I leave, and I am will do that if I need to, but I was hoping for something that suits my needs better than what is available on Amazon, since it will be my only light for some time.
I wouldn’t trust ebay with the shipping timeframe.
I am too far away to get anything to you even if I did have what you were looking for.
I am thinking amazon unfortunately would be your best bet.
Good Luck
Amazon US carries several well respected brands.
Sofirn, Wurkkos, WOWTAC, Fenix, Olight, Lumintop, Nitecore, Others…
A headlamp is indispensable for camping and cabins with no electricity.
Pick up an extra battery or two from a trusted supplier - NOT Amazon.
And I’m sure there is an REI someplace that might have something.
All the Best,
Jeff
Yes, I also recommend Jackson Lee. He is an authorized reseller for Hank lights in the U.S… I bought a D4v2 from him and he ships out orders FAST, and is very responsive to requests/questions.
Thanks alot for the suggestions guys. Unfortunately Jackson Lee has basically no stock right now…. it’s looking like Amazon is going to be my best bet. I’ll probably get a budget triple and put these xp-g3 high CRI I have in them. I was just really hoping for a more versatile option, especially since I was feeling the limits of this same set up on my last trip.
Thanks again for all the tips guys. I just paid $35 for a Sofirn IF25 in “very good” condition delivered tomorrow from amazon. Pretty lucky find, I didn’t know this light existed and it ticks most of the boxes for what I was looking for in an $80 custom light. Dual channel warm high cri + higher output/throw, waterproof, light up button, it even has usb c charging and takes a 21700 cell which is a plus. I will need to retrofit a magnet to the tail cap and find a pocket clip for it.
Now I just need to source some Osram W1 emitters and I will be a very happy camper. Does anybody know a good source with fast ship time/have any lying around?
Side note, I’m looking at Wurkkos and man, they have some really cool dive lights.
IF25 is a great light. It has one of the best interfaces available of the variable tint lights. Much better than the Lumintop FW4X. I have an IF25 and quite like it.
Some observations on the IF25:
Personally, I find the IF25 too large for pants pocket EDC. But it is a nice size for jacket pocket use. And with the right clip, you could clip it to a belt if you are going on a night hike.
The UI is very well done. The ramping interface for variable tint is elegant and simple. Sofirn also did not sacrifice the rest of the interface in order to fit in ramping.
The driver is set to keep output fairly similar regardless of tint. It will not go “balls to the walls” with a FET like some other lights. As a result, the maximum brightness of an Emisar D4 or FW3A is much higher. But the Sofirn can sustain its lower brightness for longer.
The IF25 has USB-C with a well-made and secure charging port cover. Unfortunately, like most lights with internal USB-C chargers, it is only USB-A to USB-C. The true USB-C cords that came with my ipad and Samsung phone do not work with it.
No clip, but I found a random clip in my clip box that fits.
Regarding replacing some of the emitters with Oslon White 1 or White 2 emitters:
If instead of dimming, you want one channel to be for throw and the other for flood, you could swap the 2 cool white emitters for Oslon emitters.
However, the remaining flood beam will be at 3,000K. If that’s too warm for you, remove one of the warm white emitters and replace it with one of the cool white emitters. The result should be around 4700-5000K flood.
Note that the SST-20 is already one of throwier emitters out there. You should get noticeably more throw swapping 2 of them to Oslon White 1, but the light will still never be a thrower… the TIR reflectors are too tiny.
Reflow Difficulty
Be warned that the Oslon White 1 and 2 emitters have a 3030 footprint (3 x 3 mm), while the SST-20s that come with the IF25 have the more common 3535 footprint (3.5 x 3.5 mm).
It is possible to fit Olson emitters onto the slightly too large 3535 pads on the star. However, the reflow may be difficult. The LED may tend to jump to one side or the other rather than sitting in the center. Expect to need some trial and error to get it right.
After reflow and before installing the star, I recommend the following:
Use a DMM and check the positive and negative terminals for shorts to ground.
Use a magnifying glass to carefully inspect all solder joints under the LEDs (an aspheric lens from a cheap zoomie flashlight works great for this).
Use a battery carrier with some wires and a low-power li-ion cell inside to check that each channel works before reinstalling the star. (Note: this will only work if the IF25’s star is wired in parallel. I haven’t checked that it is, but most multi-emitter lights are).
