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D4 - in over my head? (lemdro.id)

submitted 3 days ago by Thoven@lemdro.id to c/flashlight@lemmy.world

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Looking to upgrade my faithful old FC11C. The switch is starting to have problems and I'd like something with a bit more output. I actually love the featureset of the Loop Gear SK05 Pro, but for my EDC use case no moonlight mode is a death sentence.

After shopping around I land between the ec200 and a D4. I like that the ec200 has most everything I want in a non-enthusiast package - notably apart from the D4, USB charging. I dislike the lack of ramping brightness and lack of a shortcut to the lowest moonlight. Looking at the D4v2 or D4K, I'm concerned that the head is 28mm. I carry to the outside of my back pocket and don't want something that's going to be uncomfortable. I note that while they have different body sizes, both models have the same head size. My other concern is reliability. I know that in a lot of hobbies the enthusiast grade equipment can be prone to having problems and needing frequent tinkering to keep working well.

If I were to end up with a D4, is there a good list somewhere explaining all the options and a comparison of emitters? What about for batteries?

Needs:

Magnetic tailcap
Moonlight mode
Deep carry clip

Wants:

High CRI
Ramping brightness
USB-C charging
(Easily) swappable battery

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[–] IMALlama@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

25mm head diameter for the ec200 vs 28 mm head diameter seems pretty close, but sometimes small changes can make a pretty big change in feel.

I've had a number of flashlights, from cheap to enthusiast, over the past 10 years and none have failed through nomal use. Dumb things have happened, like me dropping my m43 in a basement and breaking the glass front cover or my kid chucking my Frelux Synergy1 and breaking the driver board, but its never been the light's fault and things were repaired. Flashlights are generally pretty simple if you're familiar with basic electronics and most enthusiast brands are easy to disassemble which opens up the world to repair (replacing switches, glass/optics, drivers, etc).

On the front of emitters, the D4 has been around for a while so you're going to find writings on a variety of emitters that may not be available anymore. IME different stores can also offer different emitters.

Make the color temp, tint, and efficiency vs CRI trade-offs you want, but I wouldn't worry about agonizing over say two warm high CRI options. I don't know their current emitter line, but the choices available are generally pretty good. Emitter size influences beam shape, but in a floody optic light like this it's not going to be a super dramatic difference.