KDLitker P6-TRI Triple Nichia 219b P60 Dropin Review
KDLitker makes many P60 drop-ins but the P6-TRI Triple is a great choice. A Nichia 219b triple, it has good build quality and low cost!
Official Specs and Features
Here’s a link to the KDLitker P6-TRI Triple Nichia 219b P60 Drop-in product page.
Versions
This review is for one specific drop-in, but KDLITKER has many p60 drop-ins. I’m not going to list them all.
Price
I think it was a little more when I purchased it, but this drop-in is $16.98 at this time. You’ll need other parts in order to have a working flashlight, so bear that in mind.
Short Review
It’s 219b, but it’s not 219b. This is a 5700K 219b, which isn’t the rosy favorite of this lowly reviewer. Still, it’s a good tint, and the drop-in itself is nicely built and functional.
Long Review
The Big Table
KDlitker P6-Tri Triple | |
---|---|
Emitter: | Nichia 219b (5700K, CRI92) |
Price in USD at publication time: | $16.98 |
Cell: | 3V – 9V ( 1 or 2 x 18650 / 3 x CR123 ) |
Turbo Runtime | High Runtime |
LVP? | Yes |
Switch Type: | Mechanical |
On-Board Charging? | No |
Claimed Lumens (lm) | 1000 |
Measured Lumens (at 30s) | 496 (49.6% of claim)^ (tested at 4.2V – 780 at 9V) |
Claimed Throw (m) | – |
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s) | 117lux @ 4.652m = 2532cd |
Throw (Calculated) (m) | 100.6^ |
All my KDlitker reviews! |
^ Measurement disclaimer: Testing flashlights is my hobby. I use hobbyist-level equipment for testing, including some I made myself. Try not to get buried in the details of manufacturer specifications versus measurements recorded here; A certain amount of difference (say, 10 or 15%) is perfectly reasonable.
What’s Included
- KDLITKER P6-TRI Triple Nichia 219b 5700K Dropin
Package and Manual
The drop-in ships in a film canister. Remember film?
There is no manual, though the product page does cover things a manual would anyway.
Build Quality and Disassembly
The brass may look a little dirty or patinaed on this drop-in but I’d used it for a while before doing art for this review. Anyway, that won’t really affect functionality, and it’s not coated brass, so it’s to be expected.
There is no lens here. The retaining ring (seen above) holds the optic in place. The P60 host you have will likely have a lens anyway (my Solarforce seen in this review does, for example).
That retaining ring on the front unscrews easily. The large spring on the tail also pops right off, and a retaining ring on the bottom end also unscrews easily.
Here’s a bit of disassembly. All the parts broken down, first. A driver change or mcpcb change would be very easy.
The leads come to the mcpcb through a hole in the center of the drop-in.
Plenty of space in the drop-in for excess wire, too. This would be a great module for a beginner to play around with.
This is a standard Carclo optic.
I use the drop-in in a Solarforce host. This is the L2C, but I did runtimes with an L2M, because 18350.
Size and Comps
It’s a P60 dropin. Whatever size they’re supposed to be, this one is. I didn’t have to modify anything to make it work in my Solarforce lights. Officially that’s 26.5mm (Dia.) x 37mm (Including Spring).
Retention and Carry
Whatever your host supports. This is just a drop-in, not a Swiss army knife.
Power and Runtime
The drop-in claims 1000 lumens, but it also has an operational voltage of up to 9V. Being that I tested it at only 4.2V, it’s likely that higher output will be obtained with running cells in series.
The runtime is about what you’d probably expect. Unregulated, just falling off as voltage falls off. The drop-in does have LVP, which is noteworthy.
On bench power, the drop-in seems to shut off at 2.19V (this isn’t really “low voltage protection” though, it’s different….) The main emitter flashes intermittently when the voltage is low, too.
Modes and Currents
Mode | Mode Claimed Output (lm) | Claimed Runtime | Measured Lumens | Tailcap Amps |
---|---|---|---|---|
100% | 1000 | – | 496 (780 @9V) | 2.51 (1A at 9V) |
30% | – | – | 139 | 0.63 |
5% | – | – | – | 0.04 |
1% | – | – | – | ~ |
Pulse Width Modulation
PWM on all but the highest mode. That’s not the least bit fantastic. I don’t really notice it in use, but I do notice it in some certain way that’s very hard to describe. Some outputs just seem “softer” than others, which my data tells me is me picking up on high-frequency PWM. I don’t really relish this ability.
Here you can see a “baseline” – a chart with almost no light hitting the sensor.
Then there’s the Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight, which has some of the worst PWM I’ve seen. It’s so bad that I used a post about it to explain PWM! Here are multiple timescales (10ms, 5ms, 2ms, 1ms, 0.5ms, 0.2ms) to make comparing this “worst” PWM light to the test light easier. That post also explains why I didn’t test the WF-602C at the usual 50us scale.
User Interface and Operation
I used the drop-in exclusively with a forward clicky, but there’s no reason it won’t work with a reverse clicky. There are four modes plus a hidden strobe. The modes advance L toward H.
Here’s a user interface table!
State | Action | Result |
---|---|---|
Off | Click | On (Mode Memory) |
Off | Half press | Mode Advance (Click at desired mode) |
On | Click | Off |
Off | Double tap | Strobe (hold for momentary, click for steady strobe) |
LED and Beam
As discussed, these emitters are Nichia 219b, 5700K. They’re good, and I like them, but don’t buy them because they’re 219b emitters. They’re 5700K, which might be cooler than an enthusiast wants. That said, they’re good and have a very nice temperature anyway.
These beamshots are always with the following settings: f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure. These photos are taken at floor level and the beam hits the ceiling around 9 feet away.
Tint vs BLF-348 (KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b version) (affiliate link)
It’s just a bit more of a stark white than the rosy 219b.
I compare everything to the Killzone 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!
Conclusion
What I like
- Low-cost triple for P60
- Well built
- Easily modifyable
- All brass construction
- Nice voltage range acceptable
What I don’t like
- PWM on 3/4 modes
Notes
- This light was provided by me for review. I was not paid to write this review.
- This content originally appeared at zeroair.org. Please visit there for the best experience!
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