BLF Kronos X6/X5 GB - Group Buy now closed.

Cheap IR thermometers definitely don’t give good numbers on shiny surfaces (there are IR thermometers adjustable for emissivity, pricey though)
To make the infrared thermometer useful for checking shiny surfaces, you can, as suggested above, paint them (heresy indeed)

Easier, though — put on a patch of painter’s tape (the removable stuff). It wil get just as hot as the metal surface under it.
The infrared thermometer reading the tape will give you a decent result.

I understood why years ago, but I’ve forgotten; ’oogle will remember.

Hi there,

just want to inform that set #207 of 400 in 3B arrived in Germany! :slight_smile:

Man - what hefty and beautiful flashlights! This must be the king of the hill. The lights are in pristine condition, although they where heavily bouncing inside the box while in transit. You can clearly see the marks inside the box foam from rambling around. Luckily the lights did not touch each other, so they both are free from blemishes and simply look gorgeous! :slight_smile: Also the LEDs are very well centered and the tint is “just right” - a punchy strong neutral with only a hint of warmth. The magical UI from toykeeper is simply fantastic and the illuminated tailcap is an eye-catcher par excellence.

Now the downside:
The lights were packaged upside down! :open_mouth: I think this is the main cause, why the lights left their places in the box. Also the packaging was “poor” to say at least. Nearly all corners are slightly “crunched” and unfortunately the long back edge of the lid got a heavy ding, nearly breaking the wood. :frowning:

But all in all i’m very impressed and already LOOOOVE these lights!
Big THANKS to everyone involved! :slight_smile:

Thank you for reminding me to get a bigger flashlight tool box it’s getting to full! :wink: If your going to take things apart you have to have tools Or call your mechanic,the maytag man or send your flashlight to your friendly flashlight modder.

Before you resort to boiling water or heat, I always try these gloves. I recommended them several times in other threads. Worked for me many times:

They are cheap, in my case I bought them at a local store. I even used them to break LockTite on threads in some cases.

Yes those work good for me too.

About the copper shedding heat: I think copper is used in flashlights mainly for conducting heat away (from the LED mostly and secondarily from the driver). Shedding is expected to be done through physical contact with a human hand, not through any kind of emissivity. That being the case, this flashlight was not designed for easy reading with an IR thermometer.

Edit: Also, with the same considerations in mind, I will expect the Aluminum flashlights to be not quite as good thermally. That is, unless you will be leaving them tailstanding on a table for several minutes or longer (where emissivity is to be the primary means of shedding heat). :wink:

Not sure I can personally see the appeal either. Having a short tube on a large headed torch doesn’t make it any more portable or pocket friendly (less so, as more tendency to tip if you carry it upright). All you’ll get is massively worse total runtime, likely lower PEAK output (depending on config) and certainly pathetic max output runtime.

This reminds me of an issue on another flashlight.
About a year ago I wanted to see which of my 4 HD-2010 throwers worked the best.
The brands are Fandyfire, Trustfire and Tangsfire. All of them are the older good batches with the direct drive East-092 driver, of these the Fandy had the worst indoor 5 foot white wall beam. Big ass donut hole. So I spent probably 2 yours trying different centering rings, reflector height, lenses, etc. Got it a little better but not clean like the others.

Well wouldn’t you know that “bad one of the bunch” is my best 2010 thrower when you finally get around to using for what it was meant to be, an outside flashlight.
I went back to the original spacer with the even bigger donut and the throw got even better.

Also got a Conrui Big Head flashlight from a fellow BLF member that he had been modified. Upon arrival it had bad donut hole and a couple slight rings.
Thinking WTF, that guy doesn’t know what he’s doing. Then night came, THEN I saw that sucker was dialed in for what it was made for. He had it right.
Sometimes we have to accept the fact that not all inside beams are going to be pretty.

So, point here is, that little bit of yellow that a certain member is obsessing over, is not visible at any real distance, so no big deal.
It may be less visible with reflector tweaking or it could get worse. Even worse would be to get rid of it and only then discover that you lost output of got the dreaded “Rings of Saturn”

I have one Kronos X6 that has the yellow spot, I consider it the laser center:)
Not Touching it.

P.S. To get the reflector loose, try covering the top to keep inside surface protected and blast the rim with Computer Duster spray with the can turned upside down. The cold blast may help it come free.

HTH
Keith

I would agree with this, with one added negative - balance. These dense lights are already kinda top-heavy in the hand. A shorty tube would probably make the thing feel like you’re holding a small bowling ball (with a little protrusion). I wouldn’t be interested in that.

A triple head, however, is another matter. I know there’s been some talk already and I hope it comes to fruition. What I’d really like is another copper “light engine” piece for my stainless light that’s cut for a triple. Just unscrew the reflectored light engine from the bezel and battery tube and swap in the triple engine.

+1 to all those points.

Just ordered my SS/cu set. Thanks to everyone involved that made these happen and for giving me the opportunity to join in a bit late. That won’t happen again after experiencing the A6 first hand. Now I refresh the special edition lights section everyday. Thanks again!!!

How about an adapter ring to fit a A6 head onto a X5 body?

I got mine yesterday, and all the serial numbers lined up. These lights are so impressive, and the workmanship is crazy great. I really don’t know how the manufacturer can make any money on these. Anyway, I showed my wife these, and she of course does not support my flashlight obsession. After playing with, she said, Can I have one?! And of course I told her, “Go get your own! Ha!

These lights are awesome! The X5 throws like a beast…

Some close up shots:

Just noticed in a pop-up ad from Banggood something that looks exactly like the BLF Kronos X6/X5 for $199. Wondering if anyone knows if it’s just the result of something automated on their site, of if they’re actually available, and if they are, do they say KRONOS?

You are right, the only way to see the spot is inside on the wall or ceiling, outside it will have no impact. Will try the duster spray trick, but it’s not so important now that I know that I can live with the yellow spot. I’m not going to use this light just inside, I have so many other lights for that.

Sorry Bugsy36 for all my complaining… see others have the same issue, but they can live with it. But still something to take with you and the rest of the team for the next GB, to make sure the producer have better QC on each light. Can we agree on that?

Hope you can pull of a 3 or 4 led light, but then in a X6 or some else light with 18650 battery, so you actually can enjoy it for some time, and not just minutes before the 14500 battery is empty.

It’s a placeholder for the light in the store. But you need a code to buy it. But they have to list it on the store so people with codes can buy it.

Will34: Really nice pictures.

Reasonable assumptions can sometimes lead to unreasonable expectations.

I LOVE building triples and quads, really, I do! :bigsmile: But while we can reasonably assume much greater brightness and output, it’s not reasonable to assume that it’s a good thing to do. A good triple is going to pull 9-11A. Since we don’t have any 11,000mAh 18650’s, (well, you know) then it SHOULD be obvious it will take a light with a minimum of 3 parallel cells to supply power to a good triple. This means a big light. Most of us don’t want a big light. So we put up with the shortened run times from the little beasties. :wink:

I really like how the SS acts as an insulator against the heat, protecting the cell from the truly incredible amounts of heat that can be produced in the pill. The SS/Cu X6 is a perfect candidate for a triple XP-L HI. I’m actually amazed at myself… my SS/Cu X6 is still virtually pristine! (This too, shall come to pass…) :wink:

I need to get some higher drain batteries, the laptop pull I’m running in the X6 isn’t cutting it, and neither is the efest red imr I’m using in the X5, I think I’m way under-driving them. They’re still very bright but I’m definitely missing out.

I should walk out to the car and get my meter but it’s snowing and it’s warm inside. What a horrible situation I find myself in.