Guys just think which other vendor would be dedicated enough to the hobby to put Nichia 219b in a headlamp? It’s nuts, unprecedented, and unlikely to be repeated.
The warm beam color just flat out KILLS my other top headlamps: Sofirn D25L, $$$ Fenix HM65R-T, Coast XPH30R. BTW like nearly all Convoy lamps they run hot and hence remain top-class with respect to prolonged brightness. And at 20 bucks with the present coupon, how could we lose? :innocent:
Recently I used Yajiamei 10 degree (in different host) and it looks like this:
Looking forward to your tests with the other TIR optics, cannga. I just ordered the light and the optics pack and will be sorely disappointed if the optics don't perform well.
You won’t be disappointed. My S21D with 60° likely has the brightest and most useful beam on the market for a quad 219b light, at least vs D4V2 (which I still love for other reasons). The other optics are just flavors for us hobbyists to tune the light to personal preference and above all, have fun.
I’m sure you already know but 219b lights are not born to be world-class bright thrower. Even the “best” of these quad-LED lights, which IMHO the S21D is, is still only a borderline walk light, and most definitely not a “safety” light wrt brightness and throw. They are simply lights of unique and beautiful color/tint that is simply unmatched, even after all these years, most useful for use around the house etc.
I have D4v2s with XPL HIs under 10622, and 219bs and E21As under 10623, so I definitely have higher than average expectations, or should I say hope, for beam quality with TIRs. I ordered my S21D with 4500K 519As. I'm just hoping there won't be bright or dark rings and/or many artifacts in the beams with these Convoy TIRs, and that the differences in beam angles and flat vs beaded are obvious.
I find it very obvious (I dont overlap the beams):
(but I dont have your light, those are Lumintop AAA Tools w 219b LEDs)
imo, here is an example of how NOT to compare beams:
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and how I think that beamshot looks better:
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Thanks, Jon.
BTW Jon is showing orange peel reflector vs TIR, what we will be comparing are TIR optics, frosted vs clear.
For the D4V2 TIR optic that we have (10623 frosted vs 10622 clear), I’ve found frosted optic makes beam more homogenous/beautiful (see pic below), but it cuts brightness at the hotspot by more than half as measured with my Opple.
Below are comparison shots when frosted optic (10623) in E21a is replaced by clear (10622). You could very clearly see how that yellow ring is disguised by the frosted optic. E21a with frosted is nearly identical to 219b like magic. The fun we have with these lights are endless :-).
yes, same as the photo g_damian posted, a reflector beam compared to a Tir beam
I agree also with your observation that frosted optics are less bright than clear optics
also true for wide angle optics, they are less bright on target, than narrow angle optics
Can you PM me the page with the discount code? Thanks!
S21D one of the best lights IMO
I know they’re different lights but would you go with the S21D or the H2 
Could I also get the discount code for it down to $20? I only see a discount for orders over $26.78, you get $1.34 off. You could get a US $7.14 discount for Orders over US $142.85 
[quote=jon_slider]
IOW there is a price to pay, a give and take whichever direction you take. Like nearly all of my hobbies, or life :confounded: ?
Also adding the following based on my (limited) experience - what do you think?
TIR optic tends to “beautify” the beam, picture perfect clean hotspot and spill. If you don’t like beam artifacts stay with TIR, and for perfection goes one step further, FROSTED TIR , but brightness may suffer.
Reflector doesn’t hide artifacts such as extra rings besides the classic hotspot and spill. My Reylight Pineapple Copper, presently the only vendor brave enough to use smooth reflector with 219b 4500K, has so many rings on white wall hunting I stopped counting. Not the fault of the light, just the way it is with reflector.
Sorry guys *!@#^ Aliexpress tricked me again with the “tricky” discount code advertisement ; it’s for $140 purchase. So no discount, but doesn’t Simon post discount code on his BLF thread? (I’ve not used one.)
S21D vs H2: S21D quad LED with TIR will have much brighter beam and less artifact than H2, which has single LED with Reflector albeit Orange Peel. OTOH if you need a headlamp…. of course it’s the one and only H2 :+1: .
Yup, everything has limits, want a more diffused beam, willing to use less Lux? etc
I personally tend to avoid fuzzy beams, diffusion, frosting, etc… If there are artifacts, I live with them or move on… but I generally dont add filters, films, or diffusion. Otoh, I really like Pebbled Tir… (consistently inconsistent, I am… lol)
as far as reylight, the one I worked on had a perfect beam. I actually use it as an example of what good looks like:
look at the first two images in this album: Beam profiles - Album on Imgur
(those are all single LED, I dont use quads, and seldom use triples)
For owners of Emisar D4V2 wondering about the difference between D4V2 and S21D, I have a more concrete answer with arrival of the Oppel Lightmaster.
First, wrt quality of beam, from picture below I see beautiful beams from D4V2 with quad 219b LED and 10622 clear TIR. When you are near perfection like D4V2, there is nothing the S21D could improve upon IMHO.
Where the S21D is better, is prolonged brightness. In real life use, I have noticed that the D4V2 starts bright but then becomes too dim to use for me as a walk light. Photographs also show a dimmer, smaller beam versus S21D. With the Lightmaster Pro, I now could roughly quantify the stepdowns of D4V2 vs S21D 219b 4500K using ceiling bounce method. The number is percentage of lumens of max Turbo start. The 2 lights start at roughly same brightness level, but watch the difference in subsequent stepdowns.
D4V2: 100% start, 40% at 2 minutes, 28% at 5 minutes, 22% at 10 minutes
S21D : 100% start, 85% at 2 minutes, 68% at 5 minutes, 39 % at 10 minutes
Roughly, 90 seconds after Turbo start, Convoy’s lumen values are twice those of D4V2’s.
BTW, prolonged brightness seems to be the hallmark of all Convoy flashlights I have, big or small. They do all run hotter than other lights (60° C at the head is par for the course), and they do seem to stay bright. Conversely, very rapid/significant stepdowns seems to be the behavior of my small Nichia lights with Anduril, Wurkkos TS21(even worse) and D4V2. PS Still love all my Emisar’s, for many reasons 
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Btw the D4V2 has max stepdown temp set to 55 C.
When I have time maybe I will rerun the test with max temp set to 60 to equalize the equation.
Also maybe rerun at one level below Turbo (lower starting brightness) to see if that helps the light to not stepdown to such a low level.
Those results are no surprise. Convoy’s rather basic heat management usually results in relatively high and stable sustained brightness.
(NB this post will be edited as I acquire more lights.) I first got into this hobby with headlamps, and remember Sofirn D25L with fondness as it was first time that I saw actual description of the LED used, Samsung LH351D, on Amazon. Hence the realization that I needed to investigate. (That was about 20 flashlights ago. 
)
The hobby obviously took a left turn from max brightness to max beautiful beam. I’ve read hundreds of reviews, bought a few excellent lights, but this headlamp hobby seems to be at the end of the road now with Convoy H2 and the ultimate LED lol, Nichia 219b 4500K. Only Convoy would be brave and nutty enough to do something like this, and the result is - how could it get any better?
WRT brightness, as with all the Convoy lights I have, prolonged brightness is the hallmark. It makes Convoys lights the very best for walk light for me.
Weights of headlamps with battery:
Fenix (16340 battery) - 1.9 oz - 55 gm
Skilhunt H04R RC 3.4 oz - 97 gm
Sofirn D25L 3.7 oz - 105 gm
Convoy H2 4.4 oz - 126 gm
Coast XPH30R - 4.44 oz - 126 gm
Fenix HM65R-T 4.83 oz - 137 gm
Reviews:
Skilhunt HO4R RC: Flux 350 lm. Throw 84 m. The star of the 18650 shows because of its extreme light weight. Mine has Nichia 519a 4500k version which has gorgeous beam color that’s on the golden yellow side, but output is on dim side. Magnetic charging is a plus (quick) or minus (not USB-C means another wire on the desk and during travels) depending on how you look at it. The headband it comes with is beautiful and designed in such a way that it could be removed quickly.
Convoy H2: Flux 580 lm. Throw 155 m. (3500k throw = 146 m) Overall this is the most favorite of all my headlights. I have two H2’s:, one with Nichia 219b 4500k and second one with Nichia 219b 3500k. Considerably brighter, and heavier, than Skilhunt. Headlight above 4 oz needs a headband with overhead strap. You have a choice of 4 straps: Convoy ($6), Skilhunt 1, Skilhunt 2, and Olight.
Sofirn D25L: This is consistently one of the most comfortable headlamps to wear. It has a fantastic floody field that is very useful and is my favorite for work around the house. My D25L model has LH351D and unfortunately I lost the tint lottery here: this is the greenest LED in my collection (similar to SST20 4000k in its green tint, meaning very bad). But still I use it very often because of its non-glaring and wide floody beam.
Coast XPH30R: Throw 211 Turbo, 144 High. A zoomie and I actually love it. It’s the best for camping for example where you could adjust to flood while preparing diner and change to throw when walking to water source. I place specs for Hi level because this light step-downs and doesn’t recover well when you use Turbo mode. Hi is much better.
Fenix HM65R-T: Flux 710 lm (the SST40 LED) Throw 143 m. Dual LED: Luminus SST40 White and XP-G2 R5 Neutral White. Probably my least favorite headlight, because of its weight and cost and poor design. The headband is cumbersome and does not have overhead strap, a big problem for me for this very heavy light. To make matter worse, you can’t remove from the light from the headband if you like to try third party headbands. I don’t like the dual LED design and rarely use the flood part, but this is personal preference/YMMV. Beam colors are so so. Construction quality is first rate and output is great, but personally I would pass on this one.
Fenix 50R v2: A little light weight gem for use around the house. Cree XP-G3 S4 “White” is cold bluish.
I over-exposed the shot to show the faint ring outside of the traditional hotspot and spill of Convoy H2 4500K. Don’t think of it as a flaw, think of it as bonus extra spill 
. Kidding aside, yes visible on OCD white wall hunting, but invisible in real life use (it’s too faint and outside field of vision). HIGHEST recommendation.
Reading from Opple Light Master Pro.
Nichia 219b 4500K
CCT 4775
Ra 95.2
x 0.3486, y 0.3287
Duv –0.0135
For me 219b 3500K always threatens to take the crown from 4500K big brother.
The 4500K is brighter subjectively and makes colors pop, but 3500K has a very warm, more comfortable beam color.
I don’t know why 219b 3500K is not talked about as much, but I love it both in Convoy H2 and Emisar D4V2. If you’re new to Nichia, after 219b 4500K, this might be the next LED I recommend, over 519a 4500K.
Please note my close-up beamshots as in the post above always “intensify” colors (increased saturation). In real life use, once the light beam is spread out over a much larger area, it looks a lot less intense/saturated. So you just have to imagine that the beam color of 291b 3500K becomes more of a nice warm golden tone, with rosy tint, especially if you compare it against the some greenish LED’s like LH351D and SST20/40.
Nichia 219b 3500K
CCT 3484
Ra 95.5
x 0.4001, y 0.3732
Duv –0.0067
