Ive done some searching. Doesnt seem like a common combo. But its available.
I would love some beamshots if anyone has one, or views on what it may be like in this host.
The reason i ask is that in summer where i live. Monsoonal rain, cyclones are fairly frequent in summer. It wasnt until i got my emisar dik in sft70 3000k that i realised how much more visibility it gives in the rain. When out in the rain i have a s21d 4500k dd with 10deg flat for out in the paddocks when its pelting down. Its was ths best rain visibility light i owned until the d1k. I dont want to risk dropping my emisar in a pile of cow shit or muddy runoff tbh. The s21d is getting pretty flogged. I was thinking an s21a in b35am might be a good replacement. But then i saw the sft70 3000k option.
I love high cri which is why i wanted to try the b35am. I dont have that emitter yet. But its purpose is to be abused… frequently… in the wet and dirt. So performance matters also.
Edit: i forgot the s21b and s21g. Which may be better hosts for the sft70 and or b35am?
I have an M21E with SFT70.
I liked it, but I wanted more flood and less throw.
I ordered the M21E with LHP531, and I like it a lot more.
It has moderately less throw, but it’s throwy enough for my needs.
It’s also a heck of a lot brighter.
Although this is my experience with the SFT70, I don’t know if it’ll help you with your decision.
The SFT70 3000K has higher CRI and power than the B35AM 3000K, just an objectively better emitter.
The S21 series hosts are all pretty great; for optimal waterproofing, I’d take S21A/G with the pill-based design, which lets you fully tighten the head and seal the O-rings. Also grab a couple of 21mm 5050 TIRs (for S21E), to experiment with various beam profiles. Grab some needle-nose pliers too from Convoy, to help you open the head and swap TIRs if you wish.
My favorite TIR for the SFT70 is 15 deg beaded. Virtually the same throw as the 10deg TIR, but no donut hole in the beam, plus much better flood.
This is more or less exactly why i use the s21d now. I run the 10deg clear in that. Shes fully greased up and has held super water tight so far. The besel ring makes the tir easier to swap out. But it was designed from the outset for it. So i can se how the s21b may not be as optimal for waterproofing as the s21d?
I kinda forgot about the g on account of the fancy a colours lol.
Is there any difference at all between the a and g in terms lf reflector/head length. Or is it merely knurling/cosmetic?
I heed the b35am advice. Sft70 is damn sweet. I’ll go that way.
I don’t have experience with either light in particular, but I’ve noticed that generally, lights with a shelf-based (rather than pill-based) design tend to have worse waterproofing. The thicknesses of the MCPCB+gasket+optic+lens+o-ring must add up to exactly the right number for waterproofing to work. On the other hand, a pill-based light lets you adjust the space inside the light to whatever components you use, so you can always get waterproofing to work.
The tradeoff is that the shelf design has better thermal performance, but it really doesn’t matter unless one is chasing the highest output/intensity.
Don’t trust me on this, but I’ve heard that the changes are solely cosmetic: they use the exact same interiors.
Yeah B35AM is generally nice, but for 3000K, SFT70 is much nicer.
Despite my positive experience with the s21d. I agree with the theory the pill seems better design wise. Its one less oring basically. So one less ingress point.
Which is why i initially overlooked the b and g variants.
The tir lenses for this host seem to have vent holes in some of the pics. Not so sure about that.
The O-rings are just to ensure that water cannot get past the glass lens (which you need to keep, in addition to the TIR). If water gets past the glass, it doesn’t matter if you have a TIR or reflector, neither of them do any waterproofing.
So changing reflector to TIR–doesn’t matter what TIR you use, vent holes or not–does not affect the waterproofing at all.
Ok… i got the bits to upgrade my old S21A XHP 70.2 5000k to sft70 3000k. Some tir’s.
I threw in a M21B in sft70 3000k orange also.
Pity abiut the b35am. I was keen to try one out. Is it a fundamental underpinning flaw, a pot luck… or maybe a host issue? Are brass s2+ b35am having the same issue. They better at sinking heat.
That. The B35AM has no dedicated thermal pad, and performs poorly on all but the most specialized high-performance MCPCBs. I’ve heard reports of B35AM smoking well under 2A, while the SFT70 easily survives 8A.
It’s a pretty enticing offering for 3500K and above. For 3000K though, the SFT70 is just better in every way, from output and throw to CRI.
The host material is not gonna matter a ton if the LED is capable of self-destruction shortly after turn-on, before the heat even reaches the host.
