Baltic AAA - Which emitter??

[gjg]

Hello All:
Decided on a Baltic in SS as a gift for my dad. One big question though - which emitter do I get? The limitation I have - I don't think I could ever get him to use rechargables. Lithium primaries possibly, but he won't mess with a recharger. Bright as possible, he only uses his lights in short bursts or to show off to his buddies, so runtime be damned. I got him a Fenix L2D CE last year, so I don't want anything that's TOO much dimmer, so going with a Luxeon makes me a little nervous. Is going with a lower power level P4 going to work? I hope somebody has tried this combination and can give me some feedback...
THANKS in advance,
Greg

Considering the 1AAA version. Tint isn't an issue with him - it's all lumens....

 

[Cobweb Hunter]

Greg,
Are you looking at the 1x or 2x AAA version? I can give you my experience with a Baltic SS with momentary switch, 2xAAA, P4-super version. I can also try it for a short time with a dummy cell.
You should also CALL PEAK and talk to Curt. He is very helpful.
I will say that the two P4's that I have used (the first one crapped-out and had to be replaced (good service from PEAK)) have had their drawbacks: a very yellowish hotspot with a noticeable smile-shaped artifact, surrounded by a purplish corona. The spill tint is fine. (You can find out more about the artifact, a potential characteristic of this emitter, in other posts.)
I put a Roscolux #162 filter behind the lens which really improved the beam pattern without noticeable light loss. It got rid of the smiley, blended the corona, and smoothed the outer edge of the spill beam nicely. It is now a very nice beam from such a small diameter reflector. The hotspot is still yellowish, but I can easily live with it given the other improvements.
I cut the filter from a Rosco sample swatch. So far it is holding up to the heat.
After drawing down the primaries that came with the torch I went to eneloops which work very well. IIRC, I got decent life out of the 2x primaries, but once output drops off from still otherwise useful batteries I am not happy. My gut says that 1x AAA with a super power engine would be pushing it for me. Like I said earlier, talk to Curt.
The output and construction is impressive. Keep in mind that SS is heavy.
Good luck!
Cobweb

 

[Norm]

Or you could always buy a P4 that suits you and Peak will build you light using the supplied LED. I Have none of the above problems with my Peak P4's there is some variation in tint but nothing objectionable.
Norm