I’m wondering if the FA3 and FA4 bin SST-20s I bought were not actually the bin they were labeled as, of if I just got “unlucky” with tint lottery with all twelve LEDs.
They look every bit as green as an SST-20 4000K you’d receive in an older or cheaper light, or a light that has not had an emitter selected for tint quality, if that makes sense.
I believe I already mentioned it, but I have only ever seen a single nicely tinted SST-20 4000K. Maybe that’s actually an FA4 and what they’re supposed to look like?
My DW4 12x mule (skylunen MCPCB) has 8x “FA4” and 4x “FA3” and IMO it absolutely requires Lees 1/4 minus green. Even still, it’s too green for my liking, same way with my FW3M.
Even FA4 looks pretty bad to me. There are multiple reasons why:
SST-20 is inherently greener than most LEDs.
Most of the green shines sideways, where it hits the reflector and gets aimed forward into the hotspot, while most of the redder shades are in the spill area, which produces a green spot in the middle of a pink spill, which makes it look extra-green.
It gets even greener when used at low brightness levels, and I mostly use just 30 lm or less, frequently split between 3 or more LEDs… so it’s extra extra green.
It has unusually poor rendering of blue-ish shades, which makes a lot of things look weird.
~4000K is the CCT where green beams look the worst. It wouldn’t look so bad at 5000K or 6000K.
The one and only SST-20 light I’ve seen which looks okay is a purple-anodized Mateminco MF01S where I removed the optics. It has 18 LEDs, with a direct-drive style FET for power, and I use it almost exclusively at high levels, for photography lighting. This direct-drive power circuit puts the SST-20 LEDs into the least-green part of their range. The mule beam style means the least-green part of the beam shines forward. The purple anodizing, combined with the mule beam, means the greenest parts of the beam shine onto a purple surface which absorbs the green-ness. So the overall result is pretty nice. But it’s still a bit green around the edges.
But when focused by an optic of some sort, and used at a more sustainable power level… SST-20 is just egregiously green. Even the “good” bins.
… four are okay, four have a 1/3 chance of being above BBL, and eight are above BBL
Very true, which is why I stayed above 4500K until we got emitters like the FFL351A and NTG35. Even dedomed 519a’s look a little green to me, though I have no such issue with domed 5000/5700K.
It has unibody construction so I see no easy way to get to the driver. And at this moment I would not bother since I do not have equipment for led swap anyway.
I just updated both of my kr1aa to the anduril version that was released today.
It’s a great update!
I like the new aux additions, but most of all the ramping is 1000% better!!!
The good thing not sure what I dislike more green or rosy tint
Initial appearance that SFT25R 5000K have worse green tint compared to SFT70 5000K but it could be effect that I comparing at different current levels. These leds has to be driven at least 1A to be tolerable judging by the eye.
D3AA even with default frosty optics is more throwy compared to SFT70 KR1AA.
Offtopic: what happened with D3AA clip it has become 2 times shorter
correct
there is also a big difference in CRI.. that may not matter outdoors, where Low CRI works mostly fine, and makes foliage look nice and green
otoh, Low CRI is not good for skin tones and other things like food on a bbq.. you really cant tell how done a steak is with Low CRI
true..
fwiw, it is possible to use a KR1AA clip on a D3AA.. it is a personal favorite combo because the tip of the clip does not sit on the D3AA knurling (less of a pocket grater)..
but its not a direct install.. the KR1AA clip when used on a D3AA requires adding a contact ring to fill the gap:
(using solder wick as suggested by Firelight2 works really well for me.. I just change batteries through the head and keep the tailcap closed)
It is not as easy to move the KR1AA clip to bezel up carry, for use on a baseball hat, because it is fiddly to move the clip past the O rings, and the head end will also need the solder wick contact ring moved from the tailcap.
if you want the option to use the light on a baseball cap.. the press fit clip is easier to move from tail to head and back..
Also the press fit clip probably has more bite, will hold onto the pocket tighter.. if you do cartwheels.. its probably the better choice.. LOL.. otoh.. I love how easy it is to put my D3AA w KR1AA clip onto my pocket seam, one handed
The new clip is almost unuseable from the first impression. It stiff and near convoy T5, T6 level bad if you ask me. Previous clip was stiff but because of greater length you have more leverage and need less force to clip it to something.
KR1AA clip is probably the best clip since it can bend. Of course there could be a potential problem with permanent deformation. I recently had issue with skillhunt m150 clip to bend permanently which also not great.
Tend to agree. The SFT25R is probably not the best led to be used in EDC segment since to be tolerable you need drive it with something like 1A and more which is doable but simply not practical to always blast environment with 300+ lumens. And at low level is it VERY green.
SFT40 so far only luminous product I have which is decent on tint side.
Here I made a mistake since I forgot the issue is 3 times worse in triple since it has 3 times less current per given led. For single led setup you will need 3 times less output to have same level of green control.
Yeah, my day job drives that point home. Even off the clock though, I find proof that people are weird. I tried to show someone CCT with my two L60 Mu Auras, one 4000K and one 5000K, and the only difference they saw was that the 5000K was brighter.
It took me a little adjusting, but now that I am used to it, I actually prefer it in many ways.
If you are taking the SFT25 over something like the FFL351A or 519A then odds are that you aren’t really after an EDC, you’re just chasing numbers. The SFT25 is far better in single-emitter lights with optics far larger than many folks would tolerate (30mm or more) where the candela difference translates to real-world usable throw. It’s not terrible in a Ledil Angie-S, but a waste with Carclos.
Take this table with grain of salt since I do not have time to cross reference it. But my idea was to get “proof of concept” how I would like to anduril 2 flashlight with candella per lumen around 6-8 range. SFT25R config can get me there so I can see how given beam profile works for me. Even with frosty optic D3AA SFT25R has something like 30% tighter hotspot compared to KR1AA SFT70.
I noticed that M150 with 15 cd/lm is too throwy for day to day so I wanted to try something in the middle.
I’ve got to fix my D3AA clip. My most carried D3AA is cyan with 219B 4500K. Somehow I bent the clip away from the light pretty good at work the other day.
I have recently swapped my red D3AA (originally W1) from FL351A (2x5000K 1x 1800K) to domed 5700K 519A, and the new textured medium Hank optic. I like it MUCH more now even though its pretty high CCT. I’ve got a cut FWAA clip on it until I order more KR1AA clips from Hank.
I guess I just kinda don’t like tintmixed lights, at least not when the emitters are so far apart in CCT. My two 519ADD 4500K/5700K Hanks are nice though. I think it’s the different colored shadows cast from warm/cool
After using for a week KR1AA NTG50 5000K and D3AA SFT25R 5000K main takeway for me that I prefer Nichia 519A 5700K tint.
Also I do not like D3AA SFT25R with throwy optics - carclo 10507 since:
At close distance it produces a lot of ring artifacts. It is ok at medium distances but then you have next problem
It has a ugly green tint shift at center of hotspot
So I reverted to use default Noctigon N203M which do not exhibit such issues. The price that default optics is only touch throwier compared to SFT70 KR1AA so you better to pick that option (and if you ok with 3000K then you will have it all). Tint wise SFT70 5000K and SFT25R in triple are more or less the same. For people sensitive to a green tint not a option. For me tolerable but I do not enjoy it.
NTG50 5000K tolerable as well but I do see its tint as if there a rosy filter slap on optics and I prefer when that not the case.
So if I would order an another light for myself it would be either one more D4V2 Nichia 5700K or KR3 Nichia 5700K)))
From that perspective Wurkkos made smart move with selecting Nichia 519a for their TS10 V3 as there no stock option of KR1AA with neutral tint for those outside of US which does not require modding.
