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

BLF Special Edition Products
1601

The size of the X5 has not been provided - yet. Also, the size of the X6 has not been provided yet but is assumed to be very close to the other X6 variants.

The copper is coated by Manker to give some protection from oxidation but how much protection and what type of coating is not known and the info is not available - yet.

As far as I know, the only way to keep copper from oxidizing is to spray a clear coat on it (vinyl or acrylic or …?). Here is one example:

As for a patina on the copper which I don’t like because that means the pretty copper becomes dull, I would spray a clear coat on the copper ( I have never done this before but this is a plan off the top of my small head):

1) Remove the SS bezel and SS battery tube from the X6 host and put them aside.
2) Use tape and mask off the LED MCPCB at the front of the copper heatsink.
3) Mask the driver PCB at the rear of the copper heatsink.
4) Mask the threads on both ends of the copper heatsink
5) Mask the mating surfaces of the copper heatsink which press up against the bezel and the battery tube.
6) Go to a hardware store and buy a spray can of clear coat (glossy or matte finish) which adheres to bare metal surfaces. Maybe a clear primer of some sort would stick to the bare copper the best? Primers tend to stick best on most surfaces since primers are used to get the final coat to stick.
7) Spray coat both outside and inside the copper heatsink and let dry. I would leave out any final coat - just use the primer.
8) An occasional touch-up job would be required as the coating wears off at various areas.
9) An expensive option is to take the copper heatsink to a plater and have them nickel-plate the whole heatsink. But then the whole host would be a shiny silver.

Also use the same principles above to coat the entire X5 host.

What is the lesson in all of this? Pretty things are high-maintenance items - whether made of copper or whatever - they don’t stay pretty without a lot of work.

1602

I don’t have any multi-emitter flood lights. But if Dale is right, and his statement seems to make good sense to me, I would leave this single emitter X6 well enough as-is and not be tempted to mod it into a triple or quad. Expending battery energy into making the immediate surroundings so bright, causing my night vision to decrease, making it more difficult to see further into the night seems like a goal not worth chasing. This discourages me from going toward mega-spill, short range flood, multi-emitter configurations.

So why are some mega-flood lights like the Noctigon M43 and other soda-can lights so popular?

1603

I guess it all depends on what you want. Dale uses some of his lights for cattle checks and coyote spotting where he needs distance.
That being said, an xhp70 or mtg2 will still throw an awesome amount of light for a good distance and light up everything in its path, just not at a distance of 1000 metres.

What kind of throw have you got out of these larger types of emitters Dale, distance wise?

1604

Please put me down for 1 set of

Al NW

Thanks!

1605

The MT-G2 can be pushed up around 4300 lumens and in that case, you can still see out to 400M pretty easily. The white barn at 610 yards shows the light reaching all the way there but you probably couldn’t identify a person walking around at that distance.

Likewise, my Intimidator with it’s 96 CRI XHP-70 is doing big lumens and from sheer output it illuminates a similar range as the big fat MT-G2. I need to do a side by side with those two lights, hadn’t thought of that. The LUM 5-90 in the Intimidator is huge, I really like the beam profile from it and the High CRI emitter is probably closer in tint to the MT-G2, I like em both quite a lot even if they show a bit on the warm side.

There’s a lot of times that a bunch of light in a short distance is very useful, and my X6 Triple with CUTE-3 SS optics isn’t all that floody, neither is it a throw monster. It’s got a surprisingly tight beam due to the large individual TIR’s inside the triple optic. In a similar way that the huge BTU Shocker has always been a popular triple, it works well for a general set of circumstances. I really really love the X6 in a triple like this, better than a quad even if less overall output.

I’ll measure throw on my MT-G2 Solarforce M8 and the Olight Intimidator, see exactly what they’re doing as my memory and being sick for the last 2 weeks don’t play well together. Heck, I’ll do the X6 Triple while I’m at it for comparison purposes.

1606

Don’t get me wrong, I like throwers, but if you’re lighting up stuff at closer ranges the tiny hot spot of a thrower isn’t as convenient, even though the dim spill is very nice. At close ranges the contrast between the tiny hot spots and the spill isn’t nice to look at on higher modes.

I think both have their uses for sure, but a mega thrower and a mega flooder produce different styles of light.

1607

That’s right, you wouldn’t want to go out for a walk using a pencil beam thrower, it’s almost disconcerting. That’s where a more floody light comes into play. Or watching the kids throw snowballs in the night, lots of places for a more floody or general purpose light. Specific needs for a thrower, usually.

Ok, 3 lights, vastly different sizes and set ups.

Eagle Eye X6 with Triple XP-L V3 2B HI and CUTE-3 optic
This one right now, on an LG HE-2, is doing 3201.6 lumens out the front pulling 11.78A and making 45.25Kcd for 425.44M throw

SolarForce M8 with 8 ounce copper pill and MT-G2 emitter
Again, as of a few minutes ago on a pair of LG HE-4 button tops it’s making 3329.25 lumens pulling 6.5A at the tail for 55.5Kcd and 471.17M throw

Olight SR-90 Intimidator with Illuminations Machines LUM 5-90 reflector and XHP-70 96CRI at 5000K
With an aging pair of Efest Purple 26650’s at 4.18V, it’s making 4554 lumens out the front with 139Kcd and 745.65M throw.

It’s almost comical comparing the relatively diminutive X6 Triple to the Intimidator with it’s massive size and gigantic reflector diameter, but as you can see, the little X6 is a force to be reckoned with.

I’ve had the M8 running a bit over 16A to the MT-G2 in direct drive before, figured it best to scale it back to the 12A range. :wink: This one is unique in that it has an hybrid reflector, the area directly adjacent to the emitter is orange peel while the upper 80% or so is mirror finished.

All 3 of these are using FET drivers, with the M8 having about all the modification that can be done… it’s baked to a military olive drab finish and has a Tofty 10A switch with the FET driver being Zener modified as well. The Olight SR90 also has a Zener modified FET driver and the proprietary battery tube has been modified to hold a pair of 26650’s with effectively more capacity. I also put a clicky switch in the end of the battery tube for a mechanical lockout to prevent the Zener from draining the cells. I once had this light doing 645Kcd with a de-domed XM-L2 emitter but changed it to this set-up for the much more useful beam profile. It still won’t fit in my pocket though…

All in all, this is the kind of reason that this exotic offering of the X6 is so exciting, the tough SS construction and the heavy duty heat sink in copper give it the ability to take hard use at extended Turbo run times so it’s really a merging of quite a lot of technology, into one special order group buy package made just for us here on BLF. It Might get better than this, but it’s gonna take some doing!

1608

Compare the “Niwalker Nova MM15 MB 2*XH-P70 (4*18650)” to the “Niwalker Vostro BK-FA01 XM-L2 (4*18650)”, on the following link, for when you don’t need to see 100s of meters down range. Whether (depending on your personal paranoia) there’s a stalker along side the wall or a velociraptor in the over head beams, there is no hiding from the MM15 :slight_smile: The M43 is also on that page.

I don’t need anything like those lights. I use a simple triple XP-G2 to see most everything close by, and a XP-L HI in something like an M1 for whats farther away. The triples are some of my favorite flashlights.

1609

Some great numbers there Dale. Love those big emitters for sheer output. How often do you use the SR-90 or do you much prefer something more pocketable?

1610

In an ideal world, a PVD Titanium Nitride (TiN or AlTiN) coating that is claimed to be three times harder than chrome and resistant to corrosion should be the way to go.
There are differnt colors possible, cooper is nice, but Hematite Black would look very cool. 8)

OK, I know, but to dream is not forbidden…

Regards, Juergen

1611

I mysteriously wound up on the HAIII list. Please put me on the SS/Cu NW list. My original post is #1606.

1612

The X6 sees the most time as it’s so easy to carry.

When I do use the SR-90 I really do like it, it’s just so massive it’s difficult to tote around. I’ve got it set up with a 7 mode reversing UI, so it’s easy to use whatever mode levels I want… also keeps it similar to the A6 UI for a pretty consistent type of operation. I should probably rig it up with a sling to make it easier to carry.

1613

I’m in!

retiro675
1 set: SS/Cu
tint: NW

thank you, this flashlight is awesome!

1614

Because sometimes you need a sniper rifle and other times you need a wrecking ball.

1615

:evil: :wink:

1616

Or phaser spread fire vs photon torpedos?

Of course I still like my modded dedomed 5B1 J12 so much better: massive light output with nice amount of throw, much better run time, costs significantly less and still feels like some protection if you needed it alone in the forest :slight_smile:

1617

Can I please be put in the list I asked a couple pages ago but don’t see my name on the list ss/cu nw please thank you

1618

It seems that if this X6 v2 is modded into a triple emitter XPL-HI, the throw will remain about the same (50Kcd vs 45Kcd) but will have more total lumens (1200 lumens vs 3200 lumens) ?

1619

I And drain your battery 3 times as fast, and output will drop even faster.

(not to be a downer, just want to give the full picture)

1620

Sounds like a reason to use a 26650 host for a triple instead of the 18650 X6 host. But most here seem to prefer the X6 host for a triple. Go figure.