New generation tristimulus colorimeters have been developed at NIST in the last few years. They were designed to realize and maintain colorimetric scales for light sources with low uncertainties. Instead of traditional source (lamp) based calibrations, the colorimeters were calibrated for absolute spectral responsivity in radiant power and irradiance modes at two different NIST facilities. The colorimeters were characterized for filter fluorescence, filter transmittance attenuation for ultraviolet and near-infrared radiation, stray light, spectral-spatial-, and angular-responsivity, noise equivalent illuminance (sensitivity), and long-term stability. The Y channels of the colorimeters can be utilized as standard photometers for illuminance. One colorimeter was extended with an additional (fifth) channel to apply matrix corrections for several different kinds of test source distributions. With this correction, the color-difference errors were decreased by more than a decade for single-color light emitting diodes (LEDs). The uncertainty in measuring color-temperature is 4 K (k=2) for tungsten lamps.