Kroma...I'm Persuaded!

OK, you guys who own a Kroma...persuade me that it's a worthwhile addition to the flock.

What do you do with it that makes it useful, especially since it's a pretty expensive light?

What are you using the blue LEDs for (you can skip blood and ATF trails, those are in the catalog )

Does "only" having 50 lumens limit its usefulness?

Would you rather have the mil-spec version to get the yellow-green LEDs?

Would you buy it again?

Re: Kroma...Persuade Me?

JNewell said:

OK, you guys who own a Kroma...persuade me that it's a worthwhile addition to the flock.

What do you do with it that makes it useful, especially since it's a pretty expensive light?

What are you using the blue LEDs for (you can skip blood and ATF trails, those are in the catalog )

Does "only" having 50 lumens limit its usefulness?

Would you rather have the mil-spec version to get the yellow-green LEDs?

Would you buy it again?

Click to expand...

I bought one back in October/November of last year. I was thinking that it would replace the A2 since it's got multi-color LEDs and such. I ended up selling the Kroma. It's nice, but I guess I don't really need color LEDs. It's too long for me to EDC and it's not nearly as bright as any of my other lights. So long story short...I can't persuade you. Sorry.

Re: Kroma...Persuade Me?

Unless you need the things that make it awesome, it will be a waste of money. Output wise it should be fine. I think CPFers sometimes forget just how bright 50 lumens can be.

Re: Kroma...Persuade Me?

Think of the Kroma as an excellent low output performer. By that I mean in the civilian model you get excellent low and high red or blue colored almost perfect floody output that is ideal for moving about the house, yard, etc... yet high white is only a pushbutton away if needed.

The runtimes on the colored or low white are quite good. High white is only 90 minutes and when it drops out of regulation you instantly drop to whatever low color you have selected. I really like the high white beam. It is quite nice for an optic. There is one ring on the far outside edge of the beam, but it has a nice hotspot with spill. I also prefer the civilian over the milspec as since there are fewer red and blue LEDs in the milspec and the colored flood is more ringy and far less useful to me for that reason.

My Kroma sits on the nightstand and is used quite regularly during late night trips around the house. If you are not going to use the colored LEDs, then the Kroma is probably not for you given the price to benefit ratio. As you said, it is an expensive light.

Re: Kroma...Persuade Me?

If you need persuading about the practicality of the blue LEDs, then chances are they would be a waste.

Regards,
Tempest

Re: Kroma...Persuade Me?

Tempest UK said:

If you need persuading about the practicality of the blue LEDs, then chances are they would be a waste.

Regards,
Tempest

Click to expand...

Humor me, though - other than the advertised uses, what is blue useful for? Red is obvious and useful to me every day (well, every night - I have a red L1 for night navigation in the house), but blue is a minor mystery.

Re: Kroma...Persuade Me?

I looked at one of these in person for some time and saw no real use for it.

Blue is supposedly good for tracking blood. I'm not an expert (heck, not even an amateur) in this field but I have Wolf Eye's Raider with the blue LED tailcap and shined it on an animal that was killed on my property and didn't see anything. Maybe the blood got washed away, I don't know but I agree with the posters above about this light not being worth the massive price tag.

You can buy a blue AND red Photon Freedom keychain light for 10 bucks and a brand new Optimus and still be way, WAY ahead.

Re: Kroma...Persuade Me?

I have had the civil Kroma bit I have sold it, not really any complaints but I needed the money for something else. I found the blue colour usefull because high visibility (neon) colours (yellow, orange) become quite... visable, while the rest stays blue. So in a tent or wherever I could use the blue to instantly find things that were "tagged", a knife fot instance.

I would not really miss the blue, but I did find it usefull.

My 2 cents

Re: Kroma...Persuade Me?

When i had mine i did use the blue for getting around the house.it was plenty bright enough but i found that the kroma was more of a novelty for me.

Re: Kroma...Persuade Me?

I bought a Kroma late last year but sold it within a few weeks. It is a very solid well built light, but I found that I didn't really have a use for the red and blue leds. It was also a larger form factor than I prefer. The high beam could throw quite well though with the larger optic even though it was only 50 lumens. I prefer the A2 over the Kroma.

Re: Kroma...Persuade Me?

If you turn the tailcap in so that the light is constant...and quickly switch back & forth with the selector ring...you can get a strobing effect with the Red & Blue. Looks like a cop turned on his lights in your room. haha.

I don't advise you doing this out in public, though. Unless you're a cop and need to tell people to get out of your way. haha...:laughing:

Re: Kroma...Persuade Me?

May be you can consider similar products, like the Tomahawk MC (you can choose green or blue leds)

Re: Kroma...Persuade Me?

I think that the Kroma w/a 60 lumen high and a 3 lumen low would be a fantastic light if it used the same LED's and optics as the KX2 head.

Re: Kroma...Persuade Me?

Has anyone owned the mil-spec version? The idea of having red, YG and white on demand in a single light is somewhat appealing.

Re: Kroma...Persuade Me?

For what it's worth, I would get the Milspec because I find the YG leds to be better for map reading and low light navigation than the blues (less harsh).

Re: Kroma...Persuade Me?

I agree with ''KeyGrip''. The addition of YG leds make this light versatile.

-Aaron

Re: Kroma...Persuade Me?

JNewell said:

Has anyone owned the mil-spec version? The idea of having red, YG and white on demand in a single light is somewhat appealing.

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I had a K2 MILSPEC, and sold it. It's one of those *superb* lights that were totally overkill for my needs. The flashaholic in me regrets selling it, but it wasn't really doing much sitting in a drawer and I can't stand lights collecting dust like that.

If you have uses for all those different LED colors, then it's a great light.

Re: Kroma...Persuade Me?

KeyGrip said:

For what it's worth, I would get the Milspec because I find the YG leds to be better for map reading and low light navigation than the blues (less harsh).

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On paper, for me, it seems to make more sense - if this makes any sense for me, personally (bows toward GreenLED). I have a couple of red L1s and I don't recall ever having used them in high mode. By definition, when I want red, I want low. So, the single low red of the Milspec would be fine...the YG would be useful.

Has anyone replaced the IR LEDs with UV?

Re: Kroma...Persuade Me?

I don't own the kroma, but have played with it. The beampattern on the white LED in the middle is not really great. It comes through whatever lens the kroma uses, and the beam looks like a squarish spot. Obviously almost no spill. 50 lumens in a little squeezed square aren't really any useful to me. Personally, I don't think even an avid hunter would encounter a lot of instances where he needs to track a shot BUT not killed animal at night, especially. It just looks like a christmas light to me with all the pretty colored LED's.

Though the kroma is made to be like the ultimate outdoorsman's flashlight, the improvement could be making more modes on all the LED's and getting rid of that aspheric lens and using that good floody TIR optic that they use on models like x300 and the L4.

Re: Kroma...Persuade Me?

I have a Kroma running a Seoul P4 emitter. My use is more for hiking at night. Now the beam is much brighter on high with a very useful beam pattern. The low is a bit brighter too. I use the red LEDs on low sometimes to preserve my night vision.

It is really a specialized tool. If you don't have a use for the colored LEDs it probably would be a waste.