Looking for a 18650 flashlight

If you just want a flashlight and have no idea beyond that maybe think about the Sofirn SC18. It is a crazy good deal right now at just $10, as outlined by this Piercing The Darkness video.

Thanks for the replies, Everyone!

I’ll look into everyone suggestions.

The reason behind the USB charging is I can charge almost anywhere, or in the car. I don’t need to take out the charger.

Looks pretty good. Can the battery be replaced with a larger one? Or can it be unscrewed at all?

It doesn’t unscrew. Although I’m pretty sure it could be disassembled. But I’ve not tried and the instructions don’t cover this. I think it is intended to be sealed light really.

I’m not so worried on this. Run times seem good so far and performance. On the other end of the spectrum the UI is quite good the beam is superb and in 4000k the tint is wonderful. I also really like the design and compact dimensions compared to other 18650’s.

Try the Sofirn HS40…Convoy has something similar. Its my new EDC and so handy.
USB-C charging port
2000 Lumens
multi use with the right angle light
Easy to find the button
Easy UI, anyone in the family can work out how to use it
Magnetic tail cap
and can use as a head lamp which makes it a truly flexible light but buy the Skilhunt HS3 headband on Aliexpress for 1/2 the price.
and if you like clips, buy one of those too.

Sofirn have a sale on currently - the SC31Pro sounds like it would suit. There are a lot of models on sale.

Seems like a nice light.

Is the SST40 LED known for a green(ish) tint?

I just got my SC31T Pro that has a SST40 and it has a very green tint especially on the lower levels. On max it’s not that noticeable outdoors but it has by far the greenish tint of any of the 30 or so lights that I own.

Otherwise it seems like a nice light and has the typical good Sofirn quality to it.

Just about all emitters will change their tint a little bit depending on current level (in conjunction with heat, also). Here’s the datasheet for the SST40. Look at the bottom two graphs on page 7 that address typical chromatic shift. The red “Y” line is what is showing the change in tint (hashed line is the zero BBL). This is at the standard 1.5A for the datasheet. You can see that with lower current the plot point rises up above the BBL giving you slightly or more and more greenish…the emitting fairly cool at those low currents (you can compare with the temperature chart on the right). As you increase current/heat the Y plot point goes below the BBL and will be looking more neutral and clean (they don’t really get warm or rosy or anything). It’s more complex than that but that’s the gist of it. How much or how little an emitter does this just depends. The SST white emitters and some of the Samsung bins seem to do this more noticeably. The bin selection is important but often that’s never shown in product ads.

Important to remember that the color temp and the chromacity bin are graded and sold using whatever standard current the manufacturers specify in their testing/datasheet. Like the SST here is shown at a current that is higher than we typically see from other manufacturers/emitters (but is closer to what We do in real life with these…). Many specify lower currents because they are aiming for maximum lifespan, minimal loss via “lumen maintenance”, lower heat, etc, etc so what we see in our flashlights that are being driven higher/hotter looks good and maybe any tint shift isn’t hugely noticeable until you drop down into lower 500mA levels or less…just depends, and again, the bin is all important. Some vendors seek out the better bins and some don’t. So, say, an LH351D from brand A might look very different from that emitter that brand B purchased (and optics/reflector size can affect this, too).

Thanks for the information!

I was told by Nitecore that the yellow/green (ish) tint was done in the assembly process. Something about the LED isn’t sitting flush. The off color is the light bouncing off the reflector. It went something like this.

My flashlights by Sofirn with the LH351D had a great tint, plus beam pattern.

Which LED is known for perfect tint without any discoloring?

The tint of the 519A is usually very close to neutral. That’s part of what makes it so popular.

I don’t think you can nail one brand or one emitter model for that. Really does depend on several factors. The domes on most emitters don’t put out the same light across every angle of emission so there is always some tint shift at various points. Reflectors and optics help to gather and blend that light so it’s more homogeneous but it doesn’t always happen cleanly of course (type, width and depth, height of the emitter in relation to the base of the reflector, etc). Nichia is usually known for great CRI and tint, but again…you can get cruddy or less-nice bins from them like you can with any other manufacturer. People have been saying a lot that the Sofirn LH351Ds lately have been greenish. None that I’ve gotten from Sofirn have been overly green at all, and the bins that I bought from Simon and Digikey were fantastic (I hear Hank has nice ones, too, but I don’t have any of that emitter in the lights I have from him). But it’s entirely possible that they decided to save a penny and chose a cheaper bin, or perhaps they got what they could get their hands on in the midst of component shortages the last couple years. I think all manufacturers have more or less the same ordering and product structure, but Cree is famous for having some cost saving bin programs (one is the “Easy White” group where the emitters received won’t be as exact as some of the individual listed bins on the datasheets…less specific and that gives them less wasted product or skus that aren’t moving, so they can offer them at a slight savings). So….you can start with wanting, say, a 5000K color temperature, and then you further choose the qualities by the bins that are available. Bins are so important but are like 95% left out of consumer advertising. They specify the chromatic qualities as well as the efficiency (voltage and output). The same 5000K emitter may have five or eight bins listed on a datasheet (but in real life, perhaps only three or four are actually available to buy…).

So…read up on the binning and give the datasheets a good examination…looks all greek at first but it’s fairly straightforward. And ask the manufacturers if they’ll provide that binning information for you (either text or sometimes a photo of the label on the reel)…then you can go for an educated decision and hope they did a good combo with the rest of the business end of the light. Sometimes they’ve shared that in threads here when asked, or one of us chimed in with the details after asking them in private.

What Nitecore told you is probably accurate but even if the emitter is flowed correctly and sitting flat on the board, that’s not a guarantee against the tint shift or rings and such, since that is a major function of the interplay between emitted light and the reflector/optics it’s being pushed into. Sometimes you can change gaskets and improve a beam’s quality, or swapping a reflector from smooth to textured, or to a plastic optic, etc.

In the datasheet you’ll also see a spatial distribution graphic that shows how the brightness and tint shifts present themselves on a bare emitter…most of them look really similar to each other but you’ll see bigger differences between domed and flat emitters for that representation.

So it’s really the whole package of parts plus the skill of both the designers and the assembly workers, not just an LED model.

How about a Convoy S9 with micro USB charging?

It’ll be around half of your desired 1000+ lumens, but if you don’t already have a 4500K 219B flashlight, this would be an awesome choice. Nice and rosy with no green tint at all. There’s also an XM-L2 version with if lumens is higher priority. Too bad Simon doesn’t offer it with a 519A LED.

I’ve given several to family/friends and the latest has ramping firmware which works pretty well.

For $22 including a battery, it’s a great deal!

This is one of my fav lights at the moment, wurkkos fc12, under 30$ and a good thrower overall with the emitter sft40 so no ugly green here, in this price range hard to beat and comes with 5 different colors to chose from.

I guess I’m been lucky with Sofirn light. Been happy with the tint.

When I spoke with the rep at Nitecore. He replied that, He watch the boss take a light with ugly green rings around the hotspot/outer ring. Did some cleaning up from the manufacturing process. Then put everything back together. Now the ugly green rings are gone. Nitecore can’t take apart every light with the ugly green rings.

The Thrunite lights I have, has the greenish tint. It’s nothing major but noticeable.

Does slicing/de-doming the dome off the LED improves the beam tint? I read it’s popular.

Sometimes, can make it worse too. Depends on lots of things really, but largely on the type and tint of LED you start with.

If you start off with ugly tint. Will I still have ugly tint after de-doming?

Is it possible to change the tint this much after de-doming the LED?

Slicing and dedoming are usually done to increase throw, notsomuch for changes in tint or temp but both of those are affected by the lost of the dispersion dome. Generally some intensity is gained while overall lumens will take a loss (in a reflector anyway). There are some great old threads here if you search those terms…beam shots as well as measurements (and techniques for getting the job done nicely…).

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

@Correllux

Thanks for the informational replies, Appreciate it!