Looking for an SST-50 single 18650 flashlight

hi ...

I'm looking for an SST-50/SSR-50 @ 2.8A flashlight, 3 modes, reliable (!), good heatsinking ... Should be able to run it in my hand on high till the 18650 lost all it's capacity (I think one hour so). I'm willing to spend 80$.

thanks
lovecpf

Even with good heatsinking, I'm not sure if this is possible. Eventually the heatsink has to transfer the heat to the host and eventually your hand. Maybe others with more experience can chime in.

The only thing I can think of is the Lumapower D-Mini VX Ultra. It retails at $99 so it's not too far off from your budget.

Olight M21 but it will be about $110 from 4sevens with the discount.

Dereelight DBS, Catapult V1...

There is something funny about the Dereelight DBS with the SST-50 and single 18650. I can't remember exactly but I think it is unregulated and not as bright on a single 18650.

021411 said:

The only thing I can think of is the Lumapower D-Mini VX Ultra. It retails at $99 so it's not too far off from your budget.

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The D-mini is 2.1 Amps.

Thanks ... The Olight M21 Warrior or the pocket Rocket from Domload would be perfect but they are to expensive for me There are no picture according heatsinking in the Olight M21 Warrior or the pocket Rocke. I've crashed 3 Drop-ins due to overheating so need something reliable.

You might have to make sacrifices here and there to get what you want. Just because it's driven at a higher amp doesn't make it better. Heat is killer on these LEDs. You might want to reconsider your specs. BTW, I wasn't aware what the D-Mini was being driven at.
Maybe a lower amp is better in this case.

A friend of mine has build a Mag 2C single 18650 2,8A SST-50 ... It's bright enough, the bream is great but it's to big. A Mag 2c schrinked down to a single 18650 (diameter and length) would be ok. Seems as if there is no flashlight out there which meets my requirements :mecry:

There really isn't. You would have to go custom and spend a lot more than $80. Or mod a light with a 2.8A driver board. (which cost under $10) And still it may be too much heat for a small host to handle for the amount of run-time you want. Just wait till the end of summer. The Cree XM LED's will be out. They deliver exactly the same output at 2.1 Amps, as an SST-50 does at 2.8 Amps. 750 OTE. And I know 2.1 Amps is a reasonable amount of power for even a D-mini to tolerate for extended run times.

I bought the Olight M20 Titanium, which uses an SST-50, but returned it.

The LED was driven at 1.7 Amp, producing 250 lumen OTF. The light was overheating and after 10 minutes the output dropped further. The fact it is built of titanium added a further heatsinking problem, since titanium is a worst heat conductor than aluminium.
The driver also was not up tp the task, since it is loosing regulation around 4 V, when the 18650 has still plenty of energy. I believe this is due to the higher Vf of the SST-50 compared to a Cree R5.
The light was of excellent manufacture and had a really wonderful beam profile and LED tint, but I couldn't take the low efficiency and low luminous flux.

I believe that the current state of the art doesn't allow to built a typical 2x123 sized light using an SST-50 efficiently. A further step in progressing large junction LED efficiency is required. At 2.8 Amp current, an MC-E will literally outshine an SST-50.

The latest trend in LED development has accustomed all of us to very bright and easy to built flashlights because the LED manufacturers increased the flux by increasing the efficiency of the LEDs.
Luminus Device made very bright LEDs (I mean the SST-50 and SST-90) by working out some different parameters other than efficiency. As conseguence, their LEDs make a lot of light, but also a lot of heat; therefore, they aren't a direct swap in existing lights.

Lights using SST-50 and SST-90 needs to be MASSIVE, of which the Catapult and the SR-90 are a good example.
When designing a light around those LEDs, previously un-considered parameters, like the coating of the heatsinks, variability of heat conducibility of thermal grease, torque of screws, efficiency and designs of the converters, wire size and other obscure variables, suddenly become of utmost importance.
Conseguently, you need very skilled designers and/or a lot of trial-and-errors to produce a good and reliable light using Luminus Device LEDs.

The unspoken risk in this game is the fact that the other LED manufacturers may sooner or later achieve the same brightness increase Luminus Device did, by increasing the efficiency of their LED line, and not the LED die size and its thermal management.

In this case, we will find ourselves handling a number of club-resembling, heavy, expensive, power-hungry and obsolete flashlights - in almost no time.

Regards

Anthony

You'll need to go custom, as already mentioned.

I had 2 6PLs laying around and went with an SST-50 in one and an SST-90 in the other from Nailbender.

The SST-90 gets the most use and usually lasts a week on 2x CR123As. The SST-50 lasts a few days more. These are short bursts, usually no more than 1 minute max. Although I did run the SST-90 for 3 minutes one night at work.

I'm not sure how rugged you want the light to be. If you buy a Solarforce host and a drop-in from Nailbender, you'll get close to what you want but will go over your $80 limit.

Buy the host, then save up for the drop-in. That's what I do when funds are short or a limit is set.

Tedfs....tell me how the two nailbenders compare in throw, and how long will the SST-90 run before it's too hot? Anything else you can tell me is appreciated. Thinking of trying an SST-90. I have a P60 SST-50 2.8 Amp drop-in now. How many amps are you drawing on the 90?

kengps said:

Tedfs....tell me how the two nailbenders compare in throw, and how long will the SST-90 run before it's too hot? Anything else you can tell me is appreciated. Thinking of trying an SST-90. I have a P60 SST-50 2.8 Amp drop-in now. How many amps are you drawing on the 90?

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The 90 has more throw but keep in mind I'm using a 6P host so it's not anything spectacular. It does what I need it to do which is light up around a 10 foot wide area with very bright , white light.

I have been told from people that work in another area about 100 meters from me that when I turn the 90 on it looks like the intense bright light from a welder. You can't look directly into the beam even in a well lit area from 100 meters away. It's not a throw monster in a 6P by any means but provides the intense bright spill I require with an OP reflector.

The only reason the 90 serves me better is it has more spill than the 50. the 50 is still very bright but doesn't light up as much area as brightly as I need it to.

You'll have to ask Nailbender about the amps as I have no clue. The SST-90 is a direct drive 1 level drop-in that holds up to the abuse I put it under. Which is worth every penny to me.

Heat has been a non issue. My EagleTac T20C2 MK II gets way hotter than the Nailbender drop-ins do but I suspect that may be because the pill isn't getting as much contact with the 6P host as the T20 module does with it's host.

Honestly after a month of use I'm thinking of getting something a bit longer that would be easier to reach out of a kydex holster. The 6P platform is my default favorite but it can get lost in a pocket or belt full of other equipment.

The Solorforce L2 is nice and I have a couple of those as well but don't feel as well built in my hand as the 6P does. The beauty of the L2 is you can mod the heck out of them. I need something that has decent water protection and can stand up to being dropped onto pavement/concrete or used as a weapon. The L2 feels lighter and thinner than the 6P but is a bit longer.

I still smile every time that 90 lights up though. People can't understand why the "bulb" cost more than the flashlight until I turn it on.

My intentions are to save up and get a FiveMega host and another SST-90 drop-in from Nailbender as funds permit.

I have the Aurora SH-44 here. The Reflector is a really nice and deep reflector and it provides good throw.
However, Heatsinking is in my opinion pretty good and the light is really heavy.
But the current on high is only 1.75A from a fresh 18650.
I have the one with 5 modes and i'm thinking about swapping it to a sb p7/mc-e 2.8A driver.

Ok ... Maybe I'll have to do a custom Mag 2c/3C. There is enough mass for the huge amount of heat which is produced by the SST. Though it'll cost more than 80$ and it's very heavy. Hope there will be a new LED in the mid future which meets my requirements ....

I have the Uniquefire C8 sku:32592 Its 2 mode unfortunately but at least its high low off so it always starts at its brightest setting. Im not in love with the sizing but I think its a tradeoff you are going to have to make with heat. The postive thing about a head that size is that the throw/spill is just great.

You might consider some kind of multi-emitter setup.

For example, the Trustfire TR-1200 from DX uses 2x18650 and thus is kind of big.
However, it is a good example of a decently well built 5x emitter setup with very nice throw and lots of light. I think it runs at over 3 amps, but doesn't give off near the heat of an SST-50 because each emitter is being driven at a very efficient level.

Ive heard there are several triple XP-G dropins being worked on. That would certainly do the trick.


I think I could run my dad's itp Polestar till it drops, 2 hours later. Uses 6 AA eneloops, but the light fits really well in ones hand and isn't all that big. Its an MC-E though and very floody.


I do own an XTAR Outrider I got for 70 bucks. It has an extender tube for 1x or 2x 18650. Uses an SST-50. Is pretty bright and driven at 2.5 Amps. It does get hot after 15 minutes of use though.


Anyways, I think your requirements might be kind of tough.

googol said:

hi ...

I'm looking for an SST-50/SSR-50 @ 2.8A flashlight, 3 modes, reliable (!), good heatsinking ... Should be able to run it in my hand on high till the 18650 lost all it's capacity (I think one hour so). I'm willing to spend 80$.

thanks
lovecpf

Click to expand...

For $80 you can only get the module alone from Nailbender. That module is on a pill rather than an actual heatsink.

I'd say only Mac's SST-50 EDC does what you're looking for, and the price is more than twice what you're willing to spend.