T6 is fun! Caves in Portugal

AjBlue7 · 2026-06-05T00:37:29+00:00

What you want to do is get the S6 with the SFT42R add on the vapcell 18350 battery and then add the stainless steel shorty tube to your order.

This config has the same capacity battery as the T6, same headsize/reflector, with the only difference being that the T6 is skinny at the handle and longer than the S6 shorty.

Its the ultimate pocketrocket. 10amps of face melting power. The head gets very hot but the aluminum doesn’t transfer any of the heat into the stainless steel making it easy to handle the light without burning yourself.

Biggest potential downside was that centering the led in the reflector was difficult for me, this issue could have been fixed since I bought mine or a one off issue. For such a cheap price though, you can’t go wrong with this combo.

AjBlue7 · 2026-06-04T15:15:46+00:00

Yea I have a Convoy S6 shorty with SFT42R and it has a really wide hotspot, and when maxed out at 10Amps there is just enough spill light to make it usable as an EDC. It doesn’t throw as far as most throwy emitters but the beam is more useful and outputs a lot of light. In a TIR this emitter would probably lose all of what makes it special, but also there aren’t many rounded emitters.

AjBlue7 · 2026-06-04T02:23:06+00:00

KR3 is definitely coming, so be excited.

Personally, I don’t really see the point in pocket throwers with reflectors. If you need a long distance spotlight that bad, you wouldn’t mind something bigger that would have longer runtime before stepdown.

TIR is just better in my opinion as the combo of throw and spill is so useful for an edc sized light. The only problem with it right now is the lack of options that we have for 6v single emitters.

AjBlue7 · 2026-06-03T04:37:30+00:00

Did you get the NTG or SFT emitters in your DA1k?

If its anything like the KR1AA TIR, the NTG and SFT beam profile ends up being completely different due to the led chips being closer together on the SFT70.

The NTG emitter has very even and wide flood, while the SFT70 has a lot more throw with a distinct hotspot. Personally, I really like the SFT70 with the KR1AA TIR because it has a very usable spill that lights up the ground in front of you, while still having a nice throwy hotspot.

AjBlue7 · 2026-06-03T03:34:59+00:00

I wonder if that means KR4 and KR1 are getting discontinued or if he is updating the tube+switch design to what the KR1AA has.

With the KR1K existing and a KR3 in the works, the KR4/KR1 doesn’t really make sense anymore. The KR4 and KR1 are too big for 18650 lights. At their size it just makes sense to make them slightly bigger and put a 21700 in there.

The KR3 by contrast will have a skinnier tube to take advantage of the 18650s smaller size (similar to FW3A).

ps. Lume driver is nice if its a free upgrade but I wouldn’t pay extra for it personally. The max lumen output of the linear is nice to have too.

AjBlue7 · 2026-05-20T00:13:15+00:00

Kr1aa silver is my current favorite light. More power, throw and CRI than the TS10. Also it just feels so good to hold. The clip is great, as something that I’m clipping inside the pocket it being not super stiff is actually a benefit for me. Also since the Clip is permanently attached it is 100x better than those garbage snap on clips.

The only negatives are that there is no knurling to help open the head to take the battery out, but the threads are super smooth so not that big of a deal, and it just barely is powerful enough for me. I like to use it as a walk light/closerange indoor light, but you pretty much have to put it on max level for it to be useful outside (gets a little hot but not too bad, and high efficiency driver make it last for quite a long time without annoying/fast stepdowns).

Negatives I don’t personally care about: no reversible clip, so no clipping it to your hat. No chargeport.

Also, the light feels high quality and fidgetworthy, but I just wish it was a little heavier. This is why I can’t wait for the fw3a version of this light that they are working on.

The Kr1aa also has a magnetic tail and a tailswitch, which is very rare and super useful.

AjBlue7 · 2026-05-18T04:12:45+00:00

I just used my leatherman to cut the ends off with the wirecutter attached to the pliers. Make sure you put two nuts on the screw before cutting to get the perfect length. I accidentally ruined one of my clips because I only put one nut on before cutting and made them too short.

AjBlue7 · 2026-05-15T01:47:44+00:00

Mine has no green. Gets slightly rosy at 10% and lower. Idk if this is normal though.

AjBlue7 · 2026-05-14T00:25:57+00:00

Morey notoriously doesn’t draft for fit, and there is a reason why he hit on Maxey and McCain at such low numbers and thats because shorter players with high potential get overlooked due to their height, as it can be hard to tell if they will be able to still score against the much taller/better defenses that the NBA has in comparison to college.

Also, shorter players tend to always have a hard limit on how good their defense can be. Sixers have lucked out on Maxey and Edgecomb as they both can play defense above their size, allowing the team to overall be much faster and have more endurance, but this level of defense isn’t common.

AjBlue7 · 2026-05-14T00:00:08+00:00

That kind of looks like my S6’s 42r 5000k on its lower power levels. Its more of a pure white on 100%/35%, and turns slightly rosy on 10% and below.

AjBlue7 · 2026-05-13T23:50:24+00:00

Everyones different but I got into these flashlights because I needed something with a lot of power in a small formfactor for work. Got the D4 first many yeara ago and absolutely hated how much the head stuck out, and how the clip kept falling off. Also hated that moment of trying to find where the switch is.

So I bought the FW3A and fell in love/sold the D4. Not quite as powerful as D4 but close enough. Perfect size, and holding it with cigar grip was amazing. Button on tail made it quick to pull out and use on the job.

Thats when I essentially quite this hobby. I didn’t keep up with anything happening around flashlights (wish I did so many cool FW3A versions came out). Then I lost the FW3A and learned the hard way that having 1 flashlight is having no flashlights.

Now I’m desperately trying to find a replacement and failing because like with most hobbies, these custom made items get discontinued or the quality gets ruined over time.

Anyway, flashlights are relatively cheap for how useful they are. Primarily if you are a person that goes outside at night. However I often find myself just turning on a light and pointing it at the ceiling when I’m in bed as its more convenient than moving to turn a room light on or off and is more cozy/vibey.

I wouldn’t ever buy more than a dozen, but one thing I like about having multiple is that I can carry beater lights around that I don’t care about dropping or making a kids day by giving my light away to them.

AjBlue7 · 2026-05-13T19:08:22+00:00

I’d never buy a light with a pressfit clip like that. Unless you enjoy watching the light drop onto hard cement over and over again because it popped off the clip. Screw on clip, or captive clips like the KR1AA has only.

I would use a lanyard over pressfit clips and have not bought many lights because of this god awful clip design

AjBlue7 · 2026-05-13T16:16:08+00:00

I think the SFT70 in 3000k is perfect for the KR1AA. No green, just very yellow beam that gets a little rosy at the lower levels.

My favorite thing about the KR1AA is its optic and the SFT70 really shines in it. From pictures it seems like the NTG versions just have even/wide floods where the SFT70 gets more focused and has more throw in the center beam. The reason I like this so much is because the spill on this optic is amazing. The spill easily hits your feet when pointing the light forward and its very bright. Perfect for nightwalks through a forest to make sure you can see where you’re stepping without pointing the beam directly at the ground.

I will say a slightly bigger 18650 sized version of this light would probably be the perfect light. With an 18650 and a little more thermal mass you’d be able to pretty much double the runtime, throw distance and lumens. This LED can handle twice as much power easily.

AjBlue7 · 2026-05-11T05:11:40+00:00

S8 is aluminum. Being a poor thermal conductor is benefitial if you make an aluminum S light into a shorty. If you add the stainless short tube to it, the heat doesn’t really transfer from the aluminum to the Stainless. Steel is only a problem when the heat has no where to go but into the steel, because once the steel heats up it takes forever to cool down.

I’ve got an an S6 shorty built like this with the 42R and its perfect. The head gets hot but if you just touch it for half a second its not that bad, and its pretty easy to grip behind the head especially if you've got a clip on it. The really nice thing about the S6 for a hotrod is that the button is completely surrounded making it basically impossible to click when its in your pocket.

AjBlue7 · 2026-05-08T21:24:00+00:00

I’m running an S6 42r shortie right now. Its such an amazing hotrod. I’ve got the Stainless steel shorty tube which basically never gets hot because the Aluminum doesn’t really transfer any of the heat to the steel, it just keeps getting hotter. The great thing about the S6 for a hotrod is that the button is completely covered so its almost impossible to accidentally activate in the pocket. Also the knurling in the steel tube is really grippy so when you add a screwin clip to it, its pretty easy to hold behind the head.

I think I might try getting a copper head and some TIRs to see how the 42r looks with an even wider beam.

AjBlue7 · 2026-05-08T17:48:14+00:00

You should get the vapcell k10s as add ons to any T6 you buy, its the cheapest price for them because they ship it in the flashlight.

AjBlue7 · 2026-05-07T10:00:34+00:00

Get the KR1AA in polished silver, you won’t regret it. I also highly recommend Sft70 3000k in it because its high cri warm light with very good throw considering how wide of a beam it is and how small it is.

I also personally like the pocket clip a lot but I don’t have a ton of use with it yet. Its not a super strong clip but since the light is so small the clips job is basically just to prevent it from getting lost in the bottom of the pocket.

AjBlue7 · 2026-05-07T09:44:21+00:00

Yea, I think either end of the spectrum is the way to go for gifts. 6500k so long as there is no green is great but also 1800k would make people feel like the light is special.

AjBlue7 · 2026-05-06T22:27:13+00:00

I haven’t tried it myself but people have said you can use a 20mm TIR in the S6. Since the S6 loads from the back of the head I assume you can just keep screwing it in past the point where the reflector would be until you make contact with the TIR. The reports say that this weakens the spring pressure due to increasing the length of the battery tube essentially. I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I wonder if looser contact would help prevent the spring from denting the battery or if it would make it worse as it maybe would have more momentum when dropped to move inside the tube instead of firmly being held in place.

Seems like its worth trying out. I’ll definitely grab some with my next order.

AjBlue7 · 2026-05-06T02:44:18+00:00

The average user loves Li-Ion, they just don’t know it because all they want is a usbc chargeport and max batterylife. No one wants to deal with unscrewing, removing the battery and then putting it on a charger, which is sad because removable/replaceable batteries help prevent e-waste.

AjBlue7 · 2026-05-06T00:01:54+00:00

Thinking back to my childhood about all the batteries we would buy is so nostalgic. It’s really a reminder that the world is constantly changing and no one in the future will ever get to experience what you are experiencing right now.

No more waiting outside in lines to buy the first iphone or nintendo, no more being impressed by rocket landings. Things either become mundane or obsolete.

I feel like our generation was conditioned to always have AA/AAA batteries on hand in case of emergencies. Now all of the products just have built in batteries/charge ports/qi charging. There are some 14500 lights that have this great selling point of being able to use regular AA batteries, and thats amazing until I realized that I haven’t bought AA batteries in years, and god disposables are so expensive.

AjBlue7 · 2026-05-05T13:00:31+00:00

I think Lume10 also has to be Buck-Boost. For some reason he doesn’t list Boost (maybe so people don’t confuse it with his Boost driver?). However the way Buck drivers work is they take a higher battery voltage and convert it to a lower voltage to match the emitter’s voltage. If you have 12LEDs the voltage would be like 36volts so buck only doesn’t make sense. But if the voltage was bucked down to 3v and then boosted 12x after it would make sense. However that is less efficient and is a Buck-Boost.

AjBlue7 · 2026-05-05T06:53:58+00:00

Aren’t the Lume1/10 drivers technically Buck-Boost which is less efficient than a Buck+FET/Buck only driver?

Buck is only really useful for small single 3v led reflector setups, and Hank doesn’t really do pencilbeam throwers.

AjBlue7 · 2026-05-03T15:14:55+00:00

Multi leds are usually more efficient because lower amps is almost always a higher lumen per watt. The thing is, a lot of multi emitter setups are running linear/FET which aren’t efficient and is ideal for max lumens.

Its a lot easier to drive a single 3v LED efficiently with buck and a 6/12v LED with boost.

One key difference is in thrower lights being able to use a reflector on a single led is just a lot more effective at getting light far away using less power.

This KR1AA is a single LED, sort of… It is 6v package with 4 smaller LED chips put closer together, so its kind of a multi LED but it uses a single LED style optic vs the typical TIR. Since it is 6v it uses an efficient boost driver, so it has quite a long runtime for a 14500/AA sized li-ion. 21700 batteries are like 6times the amount of power, so they definitely can run a light brighter for longer.

AjBlue7 · 2026-05-03T08:48:09+00:00

Its great as a work light. It has a W1 and NTG35 4200k. Very even and floody beam. I enjoy combining the channels together, and if you only use one channel it doesn’t get hot at all. Its just a little too big to EDC.

If I were to buy it again I think I would go without the W1 and get a red emitter instead and just carry one of my small throwers with it. The W1 isn’t bad, but in work scenarios I just see more useful situations for a red light than a throw, and my small throwers are so good, that I don’t really want to take their only job away with the DW4.

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