I suggest buying a S2+ in neutral white
And go from there
Add the short tube
Mod it into a triple
But just start with a NW Cree since it I very pleasant on the eyes.
(Personally I’d take a brighter NW over a Nichia and I compared them side by side.
But it is personal sobthe S2+ is a great platform for
easy mods (emitter swap, lenses to get rid of hotspot
Harder mods, triple LEDs
I can only say this in Dutch
Staar je niet blind on de Nichias
Test it
While reading and seeing all the pics I thought “yeah need those Nichia” ordered a bunch of 219b and one RMMs 219c
Put the 219c in a C8.
Nah didn’t do it for me so it is back to its original XML2 NW.
And check the Astrolux A01
The head is a bit bigger, but still small and it has nice knurling and in black ALU cheap.
S2+T6-4C the best choice imo! :+1:
I can only say this in dutch 
: Nichia’s hebben gewoon een betere tint dan Cree leds (geldt ook voor Lumileds trouwens), en de 90+ CRI geeft een zeer prettig beeld, of het nou 3000, 4000 of 5000 Kelvin kleurtemperatuur is. Cree heeft helemaal geen 90CRI in boven de 3000K, behalve nu in XP-G3, maar die komt pas over een maand op de markt, moeten we nog zien hoe dat uitpakt.
Of course it says above that I agree with The Miller :innocent:
Thank you for all the advice and recommendations so far, I have a lot to think about and I’m sure I will have more questions. That Conway S2+ does look like a good option but if I’m willing to forego a 219B I might as well take another look at the AstroLux S1? I’ll have a look and see if there are any S2+ reviews on Youtube (I’ve seen the S1 review and some others from mhanlen/knifebro I believe?). Might end up ordering more than one 
.
Steering away from the light itself for a while, any words of wisdom on IMR vs Cobalt Li-Ion? Keeping in mind that I might want to store the light in my car. I’m probably not concerned so much about less capacity and I’ll probably be using 18650s rathern than 18350s.
Been reading a lot about batteries including various opinions regarding IMR, hybrids etc. with some claiming that hybrids combine safety and high-drain capacity and one other site claiming that hybrids are not as safe as pure IMR. Pretty difficult to get an authorative answer.
Regardless, I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good online shop to order batteries for someone in the Netherlands. If it’s not allowed to post such links in this forum a PM would be great too.
I want to make sure I get proper batteries from a reliable brand and not fakes or recycled ones. I’ve seen some online shops here sellings these for vaping but I’m wondering if they are reliable and knowledgeable. Is there any point in buying from an online shop ‘locally’ because of shipping regulations for Li-Ions or other reasons or could I just as well order from, say, China?
Looking for 18650s and possibly also 18350s, probably of the IMR/hybrid high drain variety and if those are available with PCB even better (although I don’t know if that combination is even possible).
Also need a reliable plug&play charger. Is there a reliable top 10 list available somewhere?
I’m pretty sure I will end up ordering more than one light. Still looking at the Convoy S2+ but perhaps I will also try the AstroLux S1 and S41. Also still eying that modded S2+ with 3 Nichia’s from Mountain Electronics, don’t think I have the time to do it myself (and possibly also not the experience to do it properly the first time).
I read something about not all 219B’s being high CRI (depending on the bin/output) in an overview of emitters somewhere on this forum (can’t find the link at the moment). I assume the S41 or the modded S2+ from Mountain Electronics do use the high-CRI versions?
Sorry for all these noob questions but the more I read about this the more complicated it seems to get.
Nkon.nl is a very nice shop. Good prices, quality and fast shipping.
I’ve had a lot of chargers, but now only use the Opus BT-C3100. I can definately advise you on buying one, it’s very versatile.
Nkon sells it as well, I bought mine at gearbest.com
I only use panasonic (NCR18650B, high capacity) and 30Q (High drain) quality 18650 batteries. All were bought from china. Never buy from ebay, or **fire batteries.
But fasttech, banggood or gearbest should be ok.
Shipping is now somewhat more difficult sometimes. If you can order them, you’re usually ok. Just be (very) patient.
High drain cell’s don’t have protection boards, since they will cut the power when used in a high drain flashlight.
I don’t own any of the lights you asked about, so maybe someone else can answer on the nichia’s. Djozz posted a lot of specs and testing on the led’s.
You’re just getting started, lots to explore! Enjoy the ride…!
agree:
choice 1: nkon
2: nkon
3: nkon
Only drawback, he stopped selling Efest batteries because of false capacity and current claims from Efest. But some of the Efest batteries are quite unbeatable, especially the IMR 10440 V1
nkon it is then 
Are there any battery brands/models that have low(er) self-discharge rates? At least one of these flashlights is going to sit in my car until needed (along with a AAA backup). Would be nice not having to re-charge it every 6 months.
The Efest 10440 were the reason I started ordering from NKON in the first place. Never knew why they discontinued them, now I do
Glad I ordered a few on spare. I do hope they reconsider…
Good li-ions will discharge very slow. Should be oke for a few years. They’re not too fancy about heat…
In the car I use lithium primaries. I also just bought a few packs “ready to use” AA and AAA’s from IKEA. Cheap and good quality low self discharge cells. Some say it’s the same as Eneloop’s… Should be oke for a year or two.
Yeah, that could be a bit of a problem leaving them in the car. Maybe I should forget about that and just keep a AA (regular or primary Li) flashlight in the car? I’ve already found out primary 18650s do not exist.
Been using IKEA batteries exclusively for some time now, especially after this Dutch documentary on alkaline batteries which I guess most Dutch members will have seen. Presumably the outcome will not be a surprise to anyone here. Can’t find the whole thing online but there’s a shortened version available (Dutch only): Rekenkamer in de klas - Wat kost een batterij The automatically translated Google subtitles are absolute rubbish so if you don’t speak Dutch don’t bother.
Well, ordered a number of flashlights today. Does that make me a flashaholic?
Still looking into chargers. The Opus BTC-3100 uses a separate PSU (probably a wall-wart). I _hate _wall-warts. I despise them. The only good wall-wart is no wall-wart. Did I mention I hate wall-warts? Bricks are not much better than wall-warts.
Anyway, what would be a good charger for 18650/18350 that connects direct to 110/230V AC? I noticed the Nitecore Digicharger D4 EU can connect to an outlet directly but some say it’s slow. Are they just impatient, or perhaps always using it to charge 4 batteries at a time? Unfortunately it’s currently not in stock at nkon.nl.
Any other reliable chargers that will connect directly to an outlet? Preferrably with a disconnectable power-cord like the Nitecore has. A standard PC power cord (C13) would be even better than the C7 that Nitecore uses.