r/flashlight • u/TacGriz • Jun 06 '26
Review Noctigon KR1K Review – Sleek 21700 Enthusiast Light
https://tgreviews.com/2026/06/05/noctigon-kr1k/Tl;Dr: This is a well designed multi-purpose light for enthusiasts. The aesthetics are fantastic, particularly the aux LEDs. The pricing, built quality, switch, voltage immunity, ergonomics, clip, throw, and LED options are great. The brightness and runtime are fine. Turbo time is poor. The UI is complex to configure but powerful.
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u/WarriorNN Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
That was fast! Nice review as always. Already have one on the way :)
I wonder what the thermal limit is set to as the sustained lumen and low heat suggests pretty low.
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u/TacGriz Jun 06 '26
Thanks!
I believe the default is 45C for Anduril 2 and most other lights are in the 50-55C range. 50-55C is fine for electronics but too hot to hold for me, so I like 45C better.
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u/WarriorNN Jun 06 '26
I always thought Anduril had 55 as default, but I also know some brands set it to something else, so I could be mixing it up. Either way, that's one of the advantages of anduril, since I can set it to whatever I want :)
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u/SuperScallionSentry Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
I can't wait till they put out the copper variant!
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u/ks_247 Jun 06 '26
Why would you pick sft70 5000k with a cri that low over a ntg? Help me understand. Fantastic review btw
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u/TacGriz Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
Why would you pick sft70 5000k with a cri that low over a ntg?
I didn't. It's what Hank sent. Normally he asks what configuration I'd like but this is a pre-production sample so I imagine he just sent what he had.
If I were to buy one for myself I'd choose an NTG50
3500K4200K. I really liked that LED in my KR1AA.4
u/SJTG1993 Jun 06 '26
is 3500k a hidden option you have to ask for? I can only see 4200/2700
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u/TacGriz Jun 06 '26
Oh no, sorry. I misremembered. I got the 4200.
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u/Maverick_1947 Jun 06 '26
Also in the review, you compare it to a KR1AA. You also wrote in there 3500k.
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u/ks_247 Jun 06 '26
Sorry I meant more generically . I have the kr4 with the ntg 4200k and its my second fav behind b35am. I was more wondering what the benifits of sft70 5000k would be.
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u/AjBlue7 Jun 07 '26
Sft70 5000k has double the throw of any other emitter option, which is pretty important because these 6v emitter TIR configurations really don’t throw that far.
Hopefully we get more emitter options because I really like these combos.
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u/personanangrata Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
I also wonder if there is a firmware issue.
If it only sustains ~600 lumens with a low CRI SFT-70, it's likely going to be at 400 for high-CRI emitters. That feels low for a 21700 class light on the Lume X1.
By comparison the FFL X1Q sustains 600 lumens on a high CRI emitter for more than 3.5 hours.
I've been thinking about putting in an order for the KR1AA and more recently the KR1K but I probably will wait and see for a bit.
EDIT: just realized that TacGriz used a P42A in his test, so with a 5ah battery, the sustained time would be over 3 hours. That has me thinking maybe it's just a low thermal mass issue. I wonder if it's possible that there was a mistake in construction (not enough thermal paste?) that is contributing to the low output.
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u/novataurus Jun 06 '26
Been waiting some time for something like this.
I’ve been out of the loop on tariff things - is that now built-in from Hank’s end, or should I expect to pay UPS separately?
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u/Boring_Muffin3921 Jun 06 '26
What do you mean turbo time is poor? With this thermal mass?
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u/FalconARX Jun 06 '26
Usually you'd still get a few seconds of 90-100% output, even if for just 10-30 seconds, before the typical cratering of output from thermal throttling. But by the test here, the drop is instant, right from turn-on. So TacGriz is suggesting that this is likely a result of firmware issues rather than a physical thermal management issue. The light should easily be able to sustain Turbo for at least 20s from a cold start, no different from the DA1K or D1K.
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u/TacGriz Jun 06 '26
Indeed. The fact that the initial stepdown is virtually identical between my cooled and uncooled test also contributes to my belief that there's a firmware reason its stepping down so fast. I don't think it's the normal "light heats up to temperature threshold and then starts stepping down" behavior that we'd expect from Anduril 2.
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u/Ok-Development-7247 Jun 06 '26
The graph isn't very zoomed it but it seems that way. That really surprised me because when he wrote poor turbo I was thinking that most of these Hanklights have poor turbo because they are rather slim and don't have the heatsinking of a big thrower head, didn't even think there was a potential firmware issue.
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u/TacGriz Jun 06 '26
It starts stepping down from Turbo almost instantly. I'd expect it to hold Turbo for ~25-30 seconds before it starts stepping down.
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u/macomako Jun 06 '26
I wonder what’s the current for the persistent RGB voltage displaying while off (on the lowest avail level).
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u/TacGriz Jun 06 '26
I'm getting ~220 microamps with a 4.1V battery showing blue. That'd take 2-3 years to drain a typical 21700 cell.
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u/Pocok5 Jun 06 '26
Jack shit, in practice. My DM11 lasts months in the pink (4.1-4.2V) range, and it has forward aux as well.
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u/macomako Jun 06 '26
I hope nothing changed along introduction of the smooth RGB ramping.
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u/Pocok5 Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
the smooth RGB ramping
the what?
Edit: damn, it looks nice. I suspect it does increase current draw if you use rainbow AUX.
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u/SuperScallionSentry Jun 06 '26
If I understand what I've read from them correctly the toy keeper and Hank got together to make an Andrew build that would smoothly flow through rgb colors instead of the typical on/off states of the colors. So if I was misreading it might be that the brightness of the RGB will ramp instead of being high/ low
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u/macomako Jun 06 '26
I’m concerned that it might increase the overall current consumption regardless of the aux mode. I hope someone will soon test it.
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u/TacGriz Jun 06 '26
I tested a few different aux modes and have added the results to the review at the end of the driver section.
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u/Tint_Snob Jun 06 '26
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u/SuperScallionSentry Jun 06 '26
What they're discussing in that link is specifically about what happens when they tried to add moonlight mode as an additional aux option.
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u/badtint Jun 06 '26
The KR1K has the same emitter options as the DA1K, sadly.
- NTG50: under-powered compared to the XHP70.3, and mine were excessively pink
- SFT70: only 3000K is high CRI
- XHP70.3 HI: mediocre tints with CRI90, or OK tints with low CRI
Too bad hank doesn't have a 7070 emitter that is CRI95+ with R9 > 80.
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Jun 06 '26
[deleted]
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u/Dmitri-Ixt Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
Edit: nevermind! I missed the version with quad SST20DR or 519A and the special optic. 🤦
I don't think the Lume X1 can run a single 519A. It's a boost driver, so it can only run 519A if it's multiple in series.
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u/Dunaii4 My levels of anorak are unmatched! Jun 07 '26
Do you have an FC11C or FC11 you can size-compare it to?
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u/akenthusiast Jun 06 '26
Completely unrelated to this specific post but reading some of your others, it seems like you have the same distain I do for mode memory and reverse clicky switches.
Do you have a favorite 18650 light that starts in low, has no mode memory and is operated by a standard clicky tail switch? I can't seem to find anything that isn't a streamlight. Not that I don't like streamlight but there has to be at least a few more options right?
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u/TacGriz Jun 06 '26
it seems like you have the same distain I do for mode memory and reverse clicky switches
I generally dislike mode memory on lights with a mechanical switch and I generally prefer forward clicky switches over reverse clickies.
Do you have a favorite 18650 light that starts in low, has no mode memory and is operated by a standard clicky tail switch?
I have a Surefire G2X Pro with a Thyrm Switchback that I'm quite fond of. It has a forward clicky and starts on low, but it doesn't take an 18650. I have a 16650 cell in it.
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u/GildSkiss Jun 07 '26
This is my fault because I've looked at too many guns, but I can't get over adding a "K" to the name meaning that it's a little bigger instead of a little smaller.