Hi mate - depends on your budget, how much trouble you want to go to, and whether you want your light to get burning hot after a few minutes or be able to run on “high” until the batteries’ protection circuits kick in (direct drive).
There are several threads on how the X6, de-domed and with a driver change (9 - 11 Amp drive) makes it into an amazing thrower … but from what I’ve read the drivers have been found to drop down from its high setting after only a couple of minutes, and also the host gets very hot. Also the X6 is very hard to open up to do a driver change in the first place.
With the ST90, it is massive and solid with more than enough heatsinking to run on its highest setting without getting too hot to hold. Also it is running Direct Drive, meaning it will draw as much current it can (around 9 Amps I think) from your batteries on “high” settings. It does have a larger reflector than the X6, but unfortunately (for a throw junkie) it is a faceted reflector so you will lose a bit of sharpness.
SO … if your modding is to “simply remove the dome” (no messing around with drivers or further modding etc) then ST90 will be a much better thrower with much higher output (mine had one some issues as its output was not good, but dealing with Wayne has been great and I have a replacement LED and board coming my way which should fix that!!). The ST90 will also not overheat, being so massive and solidly built, and also being Direct Drive its output will slowly start to taper (this could be a “con” to some people, who may prefer a regulated output).
BUT … if you want to muck around with tracking down a reliable high Amp driver, and trying to open up the X6 to mod it without causing too much damage, then the X6 (from all I’ve read and researched) will give you a much narrower intense hotspot and further throw due to its smooth well designed reflector! It will however get hot very quickly due to its smaller mass.
Either way, you will get good results, but obviously void warranty. But just throwing an idea out there - if you’re after an great budget DIY thrower, how about modding an XM-L thrower with an XP-G2 and either direct driving or upgrading the driver? You’ll get much less lumens that you would from a de-domed SST-90, but you will get a smaller and more intense hotspot at much greater efficiency (less current and less heat).
Thanks. Not only did you answer my question, but you gave me all sorts of other fun things to consider in my decision and buying process… I appreciate your extra thoughts.
How did you determine that your ST90 had issues?
One of my fears with making a large investment in a boutique manufacturer (or reading and falling for the slick marketing hyperbole of a larger company) product is just not getting what I expected.* The forums are very helpful and there is a fair amount of feedback on this particular unit. Also for the Trustfire X6 I am considering, the Fenix TK70, the Shadow and then there are the new models constantly springing up that make you wonder about what you just committed to buying.
My interest varies too (from big thrower to big flood), as what is out my back door at the house is not necessarily what I need or want when we go to the dark forest for a weekend outing (or as my wife says, who takes 5-8 flashlights to go camping?!).
And with any of the better units, I will also invest in 4 new ‘best’ grade batteries to get the most out of the unit.
Decisions, decisions…
*no lux meters, etc in my gear closet. Nasty old analog multimeter, decent batteries and charger, I have those.
I’m finally getting around to doing this, and am trying to get up the nerve do de-dome the SST-90.
So, as I understand, all that’s involved is to use a needle nose pliers, grab the SST-90 dome, twist, and then pull. This is with no pre-heating or anything.
Is that right?
Thanks,
Jim
Edit:
Scaru,
Per PM I sent to you (again, sorry), I also was wondering about this other thread I found:
and was wondering if, after de-doming the SST-90 emitter in the X6, would the X6’s reflector need to be somehow adjusted in order to optimize the beam with the de-domed SST-90?
ohaya, you don't really need to do any mods to the reflector, it works fine with the dedomed LED. As for pulling it off, yeah most anything should work, but my personal recommendation is tweezers.
Thanks for the info. I have tweezers :), so just grab, twist, and then pull, right? Sorry if I’m being repetitive, but a bit paranoid, plus I’ve never done this before, and finally, it just sounds too easy :)…
What do you mean by “was causing me a problem”? Did you try it with two different SST-90s, and had “a problem” when you pulled on one, so you tried on a second one, but just grab and twisted?
I have to think about this more :(… I’m kind of worried about trashing the SST-90. If I did it and had a successful de-dome, I’d be happy, but if it goes wrong…
I mean I had difficulties when it comes to pulling part. So instead of grab and twist and pull, I just grab and twist, it worked for me.
Don’t worry, success rate is very high, so far I haven’t read anyone spoilt his SST-90.
Yes, I think that will work too. SST-90 is so easy to dedome.
I am thinking to put the dome back though, have to check the dome is scratched or not. Not so impressed with the dedomed result.
