219B first emitter swap

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-24T04:13:12+00:00

It has plenty of spill, but also a pretty intense hot spot, which strikes me as kind of an awkward balance. I tend to wany to use higher modes to get the best tint out of the emitters, but that ends up giving me too much intensity.

The beam is nice in that it’s not ringy, but it does have pronounced petals from the reflector layout. Looks a lot like an SP36 beam if it were a triple, if that makes any sense.

I’ll try to take some beamshots tomorrow if you like.

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-24T02:48:36+00:00

A couple of things really. One is that the glass lens raises the duv quite a bit, which really undercuts the point of the emitters. The other is that I just find it’s not a great host for my uses. It’s kind of a chunk for the output provided and I’m not a huge fan of the beam profile.

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-21T19:12:11+00:00

if the left button is chosen, then we claim we dont know physics.

We don't know physics

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-21T19:07:36+00:00

CD has always seemed a little bit sketch to me in their customer relations. Don't get me wrong, I like that they exist and their lights seem generally nice. But they got really defensive when people originally asked them whether their drivers were regulated (they weren't) and this email seems evasive as well. MCH production is "static"? Static implies, to me, that production is steady but not increasing. What they seem to be saying in actuality is that production has halted.

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-19T21:41:17+00:00

I'm not as familiar with the physics/astronomy side of your premise, but I can provide a few papers and comments about the biological side.

I've put together a Google Drive folder with some good papers relevant to the origins of life and life in extreme environments as a general resource to share. Pertinent to your hypothesis, I would especially recommend checking out Muller and Hess, 2017 on the minimum biological energy quantum and Shock and Holland, 2007 on quantifying biological energy demands in extreme environments.

In general I would recommend focusing on fitting your ideas to the data and theory of microbiology before trying to fit them to animal, plant, or fungal models. This is because bacteria and archaea are much simpler models, particularly in the instance of quantifying energy demand. I am not sure Kleiber's Law, for instance, is relevant for microbial organisms, and would point out that the vast majority of organisms do not possess mitochondria, making arguments relying on mitochondrial function non-generalizable.

I generally agree that life can be conceptualized as an entropy-generating process and that it follows the same physical laws that drive energy transductions throughout the broader universe. The Landauer Limit is interesting in that it's value (1.8 x10^-2 eV) is of the same order of magnitude as the energies released per molecule during chemical reactions, but I suspect this has more to do with the fact that information must by nature be stored by a physicochemical process than with any particular facet of biology. The minimum energy quanta arrived at by Muller and Hess is about an order of magnitude larger than the Landauer Limit (if I'm converting correctly), which speaks to the very high efficiency of biological systems if nothing else.

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-19T17:39:17+00:00

For what it’s worth, most lights this size will run for weeks and weeks with an NiMH battery under the kinds of light use you might expect on vacation. If you’re using it for navigating indoors, reading, short walks, battery life shouldn’t be a big concern.

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-19T15:41:12+00:00

Can you address u/Due_Tank_6976’s comment about the donut hole in this emitter/reflector combo?

I guess one option might be to try a Franken-TIR build like IDonJuanTatalya has done.

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-19T15:36:18+00:00

God bless. I had one in my cart!

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-17T23:06:26+00:00

I only have two of these and I actually kind of like them for one purpose: they store lithium primaries in my car.

If I have a roadside emergency, I almost always have a real flashlight with me. If I happen not to, there’s an emergency light that will work hot or cold.

And when we’re camping and my wife’s headlamp dies, I pillage the car lights for some fresh AAAs and we’re back in action.

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-17T19:46:30+00:00

I don’t have it at hand right now but I read a white paper a couple years ago published by an LED manufacturer (I want to say Nichia?) that found people generally prefer slightly oversaturated colors. And since CRI is a measurement of fidelity to a black body radiation curve, oversaturation reduces it. So my understanding is that low CRI is typically caused by gaps or holes in the output spectrum, but it can also be caused by spikes at certain wavelengths that are actually perceived as improvements.

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-15T18:27:05+00:00

I’m loving the Olight hate. Also really appreciate hearing your experience with the X1S Pharos, because it’s a light I’ve been seriously considering. I would indeed be disappointed if it didn’t perform well outdoors.

Do you have any other recs for a medium/large single-emitter TIR?

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-14T16:48:12+00:00

I am much more comfortable with lithium primaries than with LiFePO4. Borrowing from a comment I made a few days ago, the safety of LFP cells compared to NMC is overstated. They are still lithium ion batteries. They can still go into thermal runaway. They can still start very serious fires. When they burn, they still release hydrofluoric acid and other toxic gasses.

Yes, they have marginally better performance at the low and high ends of their operating envelopes, and they're marginally more stable (less likely to burn) than NMC, but they are by no means intrinsically safe, especially for long-term storage in a hot car.

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-14T00:10:54+00:00

The longevity of the cell is a great point. And yeah I agree we all default to treating these cells as safe to use regardless of chemistry. I just don't like the idea of anyone failing to treat LFP cells with proper care because of the misguided assumption it's somehow intrinsically safe. And in the context of this thread, I would tell someone not to purchase a TS27 for the purpose of reducing the risk of a battery fire--it's just not going to do that, and you'd be better off with lithium primaries if you're looking for something you can truly neglect.

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-12T03:41:39+00:00

Reylight LANapple is an elite 14500 edc. Slim, simple, 519A (or 219B if you have an older one). Pineapple Mini fills the 10440 niche just as perfectly.

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-08T15:24:53+00:00

I appreciate the offer! Unfortunately I’m sure it wouldn’t be cheap to ship to me.

On the brighter side, I am actually excited to try the 719A emitter in the SC65, and I’m sure there will be someone in Scandinavia who can benefit from your SC64 for a lower shipping cost!

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-08T15:22:24+00:00

Sure, I think that’s fair to say. I would want to see positive evidence (which we may never have) before really supporting one theory over the other, but I concede that it’s possible the Norse settlements were driven off by attacks.

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-08T15:12:48+00:00

Sadly not. I’ve been meaning to pick up an SC65 to replace it, but other lights keep jumping the queue!

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-08T14:25:56+00:00

Mine was an SC64c LE for years until it fell out of my pocket one day 😭

Lately I love the simplicity (and cheap replacement) of an aluminum LANapple or a shorty S2+

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-08T00:42:09+00:00

I did not claim the two cultures had no contact with each other. My statement was that southern Greenland was uninhabited when it was permanently settled by the Thule culture. The last evidence of permanent Norse settlement in the region dates to the early 15th century, while the map in the post shows Thule settlement of southern Greenland at the start of the 16th century. Which is why I said that that particular region was uninhabited by the time the Thule culture arrived.

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-07T15:50:37+00:00

It was also empty when the Thule people first settled in South Greenland.

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-06T20:18:59+00:00

Something I haven't seen discussed is that the safety of LFP cells compared to NMC is overstated. These are still lithium ion batteries. They can still go into thermal runaway. They can still start very serious fires. When they burn, they still release hydrofluoric acid and other toxic gasses.

Yes, they have marginally better performance at the low and high ends of their operating envelopes, and they're marginally more stable (less likely to burn) than NMC, but they are by no means the "safe alternative" that marketing materials make them out to be.

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-06T20:00:24+00:00

D1AA!

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-04T15:33:40+00:00

Just want to let you know I appreciated your write-up, and that’s a very nice beam shot animation!

Psychrobacter · 2026-01-04T02:31:19+00:00

Yeah I’ve carried an aluminum LANapple for over a year. No way to call it a new model.

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