Wow! Color contrast is much better with the Samsung.
I’m about shaving mine in my Klarus Mi1C for reduced greenish tint. Would you say this can be worthwile in this sense? And would it reduce the hotspot size significantly, what do you think?
disagree
the wood looks the wrong color w the LH351d, there is still a green cast, even though that LED has been shaved…
it is very difficult to get a good photo because of the hotspot in the beam. even with the sw45k, the wood looks extra pink, the beam has a pink cast
no LED actually renders colors like sunlight… :
I have no slicing experience, the data I have seen from contactcr is that slicing reduces CCT by about 500, lowers duv, by about 0.0020, and makes the beam have more throw…
Im trying to figure out why some people like the LH351d. afaict it is mostly due to more lumens, but the R9 is only 50, on the sw45k the R9 is about 95.
so imo, reds are richer w sw45k
and I still prefer pink tint over green tint, more lumens is not my priority, I dont use maximum on my lights
these next photos are from lights with diffused beams (optics), not reflector hotspots
I think you can tell the sw45k is showing redder reds
Thanks for the sunlight picture. Looks superior.
Coming up next in light technology: Hydrogen fusion.
Yes. And still your wife’s pendant shows slightly deeper reds in the Samsung picture and the wood shows green colors that are missing from the Nichia picture. That’s what I mean with color contrast. It’s not necessarily the nicer picture. But richer somehow. Or this is just me, don’t know.
I don’t prefer any of my LEDs. I love to have many different tints 
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Where did you source your LH351D from?
they came from contactcr
I suspect all 3500K are from DigiKey, see below:
2700,4000,5000 are available multiple places.
No, I can’t, still like the Samsung illuminated scenes better. They bring out more colors and more variety of reds. All just subjective.
ok, Di Gustibus Non Disputandum
however, the R9 difference, and duv difference is more than just subjective… it is substantive
in any case, photos are difficult to get consistent results, differences in white balance, and other variables
the best way to really know how you feel about any LED, is to try it in person. 
Si quis est in vinum, et in sapientia.
But I’m (slightly) colorblind.
It’s a solid high power, high CRI LED, especially when sliced. Sometimes you get lucky and have a nice tint “out the box”. R9 is low and colours don’t pop as much, but I would much rather that than have an overly rosy (in the minority here I know!) or green tint.
no dispute over personal preferences
but to be clear, the choice is to have rosy tint, or green tint… there is no tintless option… imo
I find that the shaved 3500K LH351D 90cri actually makes reds look redder to me. No scietific test, just a comparison from what I see.
I prefer any of the samsung leds shaved. Better beam pattern to me and slightly tighter hotspot. I also like the lower tint shift and lower Duv it gives.
You lose some lumens but well worth the trade off to me.
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Its really hard to show a pic or verbally tell someone how the produced light looks.
People prefer different things in what they thnk a flashlight beam and color should look like.
I just feel that more people would like the LH351D if they tried it both shaved and domed.
Some like it and some don’t but that can be said about the ever popular 219B SW45K also.
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You can buy a few of these leds and try them out for yourself, shouldn’t cost more than about $20 to try out a few.
If you like them great, if not then your grail led search continues and your out $20 bucks.
Its about the only way you will ever know what a particular led looks like to you.
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I have searched for awhile and spent alot of money and time chasing down certain bins of alot of different leds and at the moment the shaved LH351D 3500k 90cri is my grail. This is just what I prefer, alot of people prefer the 219B for the pinkish hue but I dont see much pink in person. I can see it in pics but not so much in person. It does look good though, like natural sunlight to me.
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Not everyones grail led is the same because we dont all see the same thing or look for the same characteristics in a flashlight beam, I guess is the point I’m trying to make. About the only way to know what you like is thru trial and error.
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Just my two cents
Nice classic!
Your pics are a bit heavy btw
Thanks, that was elaborated. I’ll shave the LH351D :+1:
Here, the Nichia (top, shaved D200 bin) looks better than the Samsung (dome), but that could be a matter of shadows. Camera was set to full auto.
Edit: Now I remember, where I left my second LH351D. It went into the Zippy!
Thanks Contactr and Scallywag, I actually ordered a bare host from the Sofirn website if that makes any difference on why the tailcap is different than a fully assembled light. Yeah, the screw together board and reflector is a good idea, it makes assembly a lot easier and less change of turning the reflector with the bezel and dedoming/ruining a mod at one of the last steps in assembly.
Will definitely get a stainless bezel, does the stainless affect the beam at all since it reflects light compared to the matte black anodized bezel? I only notice the “clover leaf” effect of the triple reflector when indoors, and this thing is way too bright for using inside.
I think I’m going to build a 3000k-2700k version next, and use the C8TT head modified to use a reflector by Kiribaru to build photo red hunting/gun light since. Red leds seem to be even more heat sensitive than others, as per djozz’s any others testing, so can’t decide if I should use the C8TT or not. Also probably going to go with a Noctigon 32mm board for thicker traces and more copper, I think some people posted that those work with the C8F, they just don’t have the screw hole already drilled. I hope noctigons are still compatible with the current version being shipped.
@contactr I used the pain-in-the-butt teflon because I hadn’t used it in a while, and it’s one of those things that when you use it, you say you never will again, until you forget about it a year later and try to use it again 
It actually worked out well this time, and coiled into the driver cavity with enough extra wire to change the driver later without removing the bezel if I wanted to. I’ll probably switch it just because the teflon seems to sheer more easily than the silicone insulation, and could short inside the body at some point in the future theoretically. It thin and high current, but gets stiff when you solder it, which also means it could pull off a trace on the MCPCB or the driver if knocked around. I should just throw it away to save me from myself
Sofirn store ships fast right now though and the C8F hosts are too-easy to assemble, even for someone that’s broken more mods through stupidity than I can count.
Are your MJ1’s protected Joshk? Maybe the protection board causes self-discharge? If they’re unprotected, any way for you to verify if they’re genuine or not? Mine aren’t protected and haven’t self-discharged that I can tell at all after 2 years of various uses from a pack of 8. Pretty good experience with them.
I use an old tenergy protected cell for testing that’s maybe 6-8yrs old just so I don’t totally zap something with an unprotected cell if there’s a short or other goof-up. The light would hit turbo for maybe 4-5 seconds before the over discharge board kicked in on the tenergy.
They are unprotected. I can only assume Liion Wholesale was selling genuine cells. Their capacity was a tad low but acceptable too if I recall. But I did buy them on a clearance sale. Maybe that’s why they clearanced them? Idk.
I checked, and for me the issue is the host, not the image size.
I will have to check, I still have the original bezel somewhere, just need to find it.
As for breaking things… it is a learning experience! Plus an excuse to buy “backups” of parts, and then some day you have enough backups to build a light or two extra…
Probably the closest so far to the sun is the Nichia Optisolis SM503. Not the brightest, but has awesome CRI. I really like them in my triple S2+.
SST20 4000k vs
