I have a hard time telling it from a well driven incandescent to be honest. I mean I'm still stubborn so I keep using my incans, but it's very nice. A 95 cri led is nice
Incan vs LED?
- Thread starter LiteTheWay
- Start date
Help Support Candle Power Flashlight Forum
aznsx
Flashlight Enthusiast
My wallet shelled out for 4 lights with that emitter last year. Two of the smaller ones are now my most-used lights inside around home (and have been for some time), while larger ones now accompany me when I'm going to be out in the 'real' world (natural terrain) near or after dark. I guess my actions / experiences speak for themselves, so I won't even get more detailed. My preferences have spoken for me, so I'm listening!
My other likes from that experiment that started last year (and continues) are sporting 219C 4K 90+(?)CRI. They're a close second with a little different (and also useful) dispersion pattern, but the hi R9 of the SST seems to give it a little edge in that respect.
I've learned a lot during this experiment. Spectrum analyzers and data and theories are absolutely wonderful, but in the end it's the 'end-to-end' human optical system's opinion that counts most, and actual experimentation in real world conditions has been 'enlightening' (surprisingly, I must say) for me.
Last edited:
A couple years back a fellow put together a group buy of Malkoff drop in modules with SST emitters. I'd never heard of any SST since I was a little kid and SST was a company that made toy cars.
Intrigued by the idea of an LED that puts out around 25 lumens I got in on the action. A Brinkmann maxfire sat on my nightstand table largely unused since it had a special (and hard to find) bulb.
The Malkoff M61N4L arrived and when installed in the maxfire it was not easy to tell it wasn't a light bulb. The beam from that LED had a light bulb-esque shape to it. Glad I bought that module. If I recall it has a 4000 kelvin tint. And I'm sure in side by side white wall tests the difference between that and a maxfire bulb would be obvious. However, after sticking it in a flashlight head and pressing the on button it was treat to behold.
I still prefer this dude……
A generic 2c cell using a PR2 bulb
Intrigued by the idea of an LED that puts out around 25 lumens I got in on the action. A Brinkmann maxfire sat on my nightstand table largely unused since it had a special (and hard to find) bulb.
The Malkoff M61N4L arrived and when installed in the maxfire it was not easy to tell it wasn't a light bulb. The beam from that LED had a light bulb-esque shape to it. Glad I bought that module. If I recall it has a 4000 kelvin tint. And I'm sure in side by side white wall tests the difference between that and a maxfire bulb would be obvious. However, after sticking it in a flashlight head and pressing the on button it was treat to behold.
I still prefer this dude……
A generic 2c cell using a PR2 bulb
aznsx
Flashlight Enthusiast
If I could remember the day clearly, I'm sure I'd recall that the day I got my Streamlight Strion incandescent, I probably thought that I'd likely never need to buy another flashlight. Although comfortably quaint and nicely naive, sadly that would not prove to be the case. Now I'm using an LED I couldn't have even pronounced then, when an SST was only a very cool aircraft
If the SST is the same tint as the XP-G2 M61W was I prefer the 4000 kelvin.
The XP-G warm version had a look of used batteries in an old incan light where XP-GN had a look of brand new batteries in my stock SureFire 6P.
Either way I like the old school type incan-esque beam pattern of the SST.
The XP-G warm version had a look of used batteries in an old incan light where XP-GN had a look of brand new batteries in my stock SureFire 6P.
Either way I like the old school type incan-esque beam pattern of the SST.
Yeah I agree completely. A warm 3,000 k LED just does not look right. To me. Others can disagree. But I do see a 3000k LED as a incandescent with almost dead batteries.
I just recently went to a local store to get some GU10 halogens when they told me they arent allowed to sell them anymore. Told me to toss my old fixtures in the trash since the EU is putting a ban on incandescents. Now I dont know how true that is since online they are still readily available & have been for years. I know a ban like that made news a few years ago but up to now I never noticed anything.
A lot of equipment still requires incandescent bulbs, most famously car headlights (which cant usually be replaced by leds due to the reflectors/optics not working correctly with them). I also know of many microscopes still using halogen lamps due their truer colors. Many devices which utilize heat, such as lava lamps. I dont know how such a ban would even be possible, but its certainly a worrying development. It was only a couple months or so ago that I got a few G4s at that very store.
A lot of equipment still requires incandescent bulbs, most famously car headlights (which cant usually be replaced by leds due to the reflectors/optics not working correctly with them). I also know of many microscopes still using halogen lamps due their truer colors. Many devices which utilize heat, such as lava lamps. I dont know how such a ban would even be possible, but its certainly a worrying development. It was only a couple months or so ago that I got a few G4s at that very store.
I have a warm white high CRI XP-G2 in an Peak El Capitan, yeah, it doesn't look the greatest. I do have a Folomov EDC C2 with a 3000K Nichia E21A and that looks much, much better. Cree never seemed to have the best looking tints.
There aren't to my knowledge any lights on the market other than the Malkoff that use a 3000K SST-20. I'd really like to try one out, but I don't have a host for an M61W and I can't mod myself.
A flashoholic doesn't have a P60 host? Any 6p/g2 will work. Even a g2 clone from the PRC works fine since it's mechanical. And Malkoff makes a nice one too with hi/lo.
I'm not big on PRC clones, besides, putting a Malkoff in a cheapo knockoff feels like putting lipstick on a pig. I've been keeping an eye out for a genuine Surefire for sale, but I always seems to change my mind when I think about the total cost in the end.
A p60 host should stay incan. That host is designed to isolate the light engine from the host. Exactly what you want with an incandescent bulb. Exactly the opposite that you want with an LED. With how many good made LED lights there are out there, there's no need to do this. Maybe 15 years ago when LEDs were new
idleprocess
Flashaholic
An old-school G2, sure, heat extraction will be a problem since it's almost wholly plastic. A 6P on the other hand can sink heat if the dropin is designed to make good contact with the head.
If the drop-in is a perfect slip fit to the particular then yes it will have good thermal properties. But then it's not really universal anymore. Listen I like the 6p to 9p size lights. They fit really good in the hand and they are nice to use. I just feel that with so many other options out there that are designed from the ground up as a heat sink for the emitter, I see no reason to specifically buy one just to turn it into an LED light. If you have to go through the trouble of foil wrapping the drop in and wedging it into the light, then it's not universal anymore
idleprocess
Flashaholic
This is generally true, however the P60 lamp formfactor has become one of those enduring things - like ¼-20 screw threads for camera mounts - that's sprouted a cottage industry around it continuously developing new products around it.
Need? No. Want? Obviously. Not to mention there's nothing out there that compares to a G2 with a low output, high CRI M61 variant with regards to simplicity, reliability and non-aluminum body.
You should try a streamlight polystinger before making that claim!
But yes they are nice lights. I'm just saying that using a light that was specifically engineered to keep the drop ins heat away from the body is a bad choice when making a high powered led light. Something where the pill threads into the body or head is much better. Maglites are the same with the pr based LEDs bulbs that people.used years ago. Not to mention p60 lights are so good as incandescents. Why put an inferior led in it😁
But yes they are nice lights. I'm just saying that using a light that was specifically engineered to keep the drop ins heat away from the body is a bad choice when making a high powered led light. Something where the pill threads into the body or head is much better. Maglites are the same with the pr based LEDs bulbs that people.used years ago. Not to mention p60 lights are so good as incandescents. Why put an inferior led in it😁
Last edited:
I've been looking for LEDs that reproduce Incan for years, and they all look alike, but they are all different.
In the end, I concluded that it was best to use P60 instead of Warm White LEDs.
However, compared to 10 years ago, Warm White's LEDs have become more and more excellent.
So I enjoy them not as a replacement for incan but as something else.
In the end, I concluded that it was best to use P60 instead of Warm White LEDs.
However, compared to 10 years ago, Warm White's LEDs have become more and more excellent.
So I enjoy them not as a replacement for incan but as something else.
Does the PolyStinger come in high CRI?
Why put an "inferior" LED in a G2. Because I like runtime and reliability. Nobody needs to worry about heat with an M61L or LL, even in a Nitrolon body.
I was being facetious. No the polystinger doesn't. Still very good though. And yes I was mostly referring to high power dropins. Like those quad xpl hi MOSFET drive that were popular for a while
