Put me down for one too, if it’s not too late.
Not too late, we have a long way to go I fear 
But one thing I’ve learned about BLF lights (if the BLF A6 was any indication, that is): the longer the wait, the better it is.
And I gotta say I get off on seeing smart people dedicated to just doing something damn better. It’s awesome, and contagious… you can feel it.
You say, “Removed AR coated lens because of tint shift”.
To what direction this shift is going with AR?Warmer or cooler?
No idea …
And at that time it was tint where now we would not bring it back because of costs, since it is all extremely tight as it is
I have just finished building a quad SRK up to test Tom E’s driver and find out what sort of spread the XPL emitters would give in this light.
I’ll start with the driver. Wow. What doesn’t this driver do. I’m probably the last person to ask to test a driver like this as I get lost in my driveway let alone try to get my head around the workings of this driver. I’ve been playing with it outside in the shed, the driver hooked up to an led and my power supply and got so lost.
I eventually had everything together to assemble the SRK when I dropped the lens and yes it shattered, me as well.
The light is now operational after waiting nearly three weeks for a lens. I started with this light. The XPL leds sit on 16mm Noctigons which themselves sit on a 5mm plate. The depth of the head was machined to suit the above stack. 20AWG wires channel the current to the leds from the Narsil driver which has the latest firmware. The stock springs in the tailcap were given a bypass with 18AWG wire.
Back to the programming. I was still lost and had all sorts of modes working but had no idea how I got there. Yes I did have the instructions in front of me.
I took the instructions inside along with the light to a warmer part of the world than outside and sat down in front of the TV in my comfy chair (no pun intended 
) and the instructions clearly laid out in front of me.
No luck. There was just to much going on with flashes and my poor brain not deciphering the flashes they were seeing.
Looking up I could see the light flashes reflecting on the tv screen (the tv was off). H’mm, starting again I watched the reflection of the flashes on the tv and it all of a sudden made sense. For some reason my fuzzy brain could decipher what the eyes were seeing on the tv screen, yes today the tv was a real idiot box.
The difference being was that I could clearly see the light and count accurately the flashes to work out where I was, working with the instructions.
Now to some beam shots. lts roughly about 50 meters, give or take a few, to the shrub at the end of the driveway.
Fistly is an X6 HI with XPL HI led and BLF A6 DD driver.
Secondly is a stock Convoy C8 with XPL HI led.
Thirdly is my last years comp build quad. This has four XPE2 Torch leds running a 5 amp driver from RMM with the leds wired in parallel.
Next is a ZY T08 with XPL led and BLF A6 DD driver.
And finally the modded SRK. Batterys are Q30’s. It was slightly foggy outside during the whole shoot. The pictures are pretty close to what I see in real life. This light just overwhelmed the camera though.
The SRK front on with the four XPL emitters. One day when I grow up I’ll be able to solder like Tom E and not melt isolators with the soldering iron.
And finally one of the reflectors backside showing the Noctigons and isolators used. On this light I relieved around the reflector holes to prevent any possibility of me able to create shorts.
I can’t see my name in the list.Should I look again?
MRsDNF - outstanding job on that 4X XPL SRK clone, considering the quality of the clone you had to work with!
These are the original posts on tint shift with an AR lens, I believe:
Post #66: [quote=1dash1] Are you sure that you wouldn't want a UCL lens, instead of AR-coated one? _(Why use a high CRI emitter, if you're going to shift the tint with the AR-coating?)_ [/quote]
Post #70: [quote=ToyKeeper] FWIW, Nichia 219 + AR-coated lens is a recipe for low CRI. I'd suggest that you go for good tint or AR coating, but not both. [/quote]
If this was all relative to high CRI Nichia's, then it might not totally apply to regular XPL NW LED's? I really dunno, but probably can't add an AR lens back at this time, as The Miller says. I use UCL and UCLp lens mostly, and their quality is much better than typical AR lens we can buy from our regular sources, and don't notice the tint shift, but that's me - it might be there. However UCL and UCLp lens are available from only one source, and it's in the US, and are a bit pricey for our use in this group buy, if even possible. Chris at Flashlightlens.com, though is great to work with - I've communicated with him many times over the last few years, and has made a few custom UCLp sizes at my request. He does not seem interested in using distributors for re-selling his lens though, so I doubt he would be willing to get involved with group buys on lights.
MRsDNF great story, i just can’t see more then two pics 
Yes Tom that was it!
Yes later when I am behind PC I update OP
I think its Photo Bucket causing the problem with the pictures. It was extremely slow up loading cut down pictures tonight.
Ha I see the pics
Wauw what a wall of light!
Nice!
Please include me on the list. First time reading deeper into this thread, it sounds awesome
Yeah that’s pretty epic, wowee
I’ll take it, put me down for one.
In my limited testing of AR glass thus far (I did just get a working sphere all of 2 weeks ago afterall), I would say that it is not that important, a great thing to have don’t get me wrong but not a make it or break it type of deal.
So far in the lights I tested I have only noticed a ~2-3% increase in lumens on the high side with AR glass over whatever came in them stock. Although I have also not had a real good direct comparison where both AR and non were of the same quality. I will be building some lights before long that should net more reliable results although mine seem pretty in line with what others have noted.
Overall while I will not turn down an AR lens, that is something I can also upgrade myself later. It is simple enough that anyone could make that upgrade easily.
Oh, in other news I built an M6 yesterday with 3x XP-L HI’s and while a great light I like the 4x/5x better. They all have the same throw but the M6 is less lumens obviously and the hot spot while smaller is not as “usable”, it is kinda funny looking actually. I need to check the focus on the emitters to see if that is playing a role.
So the choice to go with the 4x is really a great one, it truly seems to be the best balance between all the emitter numbers. Can always swap in / build an 8x SRK reflector if you want max lumens, I will admit that an 8k lumen beast in a SRK form factor is quite fun, if not pure flood.
Now, to build that XHP50 8x version I have been considering or not. Only thing stopping me there is lack of 10mm DTP stars and the motivation to wire them all up. Anyone have any data on the XHP50 with an aluminum star?
interest!
count me in!
great shots thanks for the “firewall”
Amazing beam shots, thank you!
It would have a little more reflector area and therefore a little more throw if the LEDs were farther from center. This is generally true of SRKs. I don’t know if the way they are has advantages. I really like the idea of Siamesing the parabolas together. That seems much better than spacing the LEDs out to get a full circle for each emitter.
I really like this project. It is good work, and it may have an impact far beyond the group buy list. They may have to switch to a simpler user interface for the regular production version, but maybe this one will be an option. It seems that Sky Ray felt they could make more money quicker by competing with the clones than by maintaining quality, and that may have left a gap of unfilled market that this light will fill. $40 seems low for the price, but it is too late to change that, as it would invalidate the interest list.