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!

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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.

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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.

For reference, here’s a baseline shot, with all the room lights off and almost nothing hitting the sensor.  Also, here’s the light with the worst PWM I could find.  I’m adding multiple timescales, so it’ll be easier to compare to the test light.  Unfortunately, the PWM on this light is so bad that it doesn’t even work with my normal scale, which is 50 microseconds (50us). 10ms.  5ms.  2ms.  1ms.  0.5ms.  0.2ms.  In a display faster than 0.2ms or so, the on/off cycle is more than one screen, so it’d just (very incorrectly) look like a flat line.  I wrote more about this Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight and explained a little about PWM too.

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 UI 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.

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

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Notes

• This light was provided by me for review. I was not paid to write this review.
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