I have two Olight S20’s but don’t use them anymore since I discovered neutral tint many years ago. I’m using an On The Road M6 which is an excellent clone of the S20, budget priced and offered in 3C/5C tints.
The S2 is great now that it’s slightly shorter (103mm) but I’ve been waiting for five years for Olight to offer a NW version and they still don’t.
But in the never ending quest for the most compact 18650 light, the Zebralight SC64 (92.5 mm) and DQG Tiny 4th (87mm) are the “leaders of the pack” Coming in second are the D4 (94mm) and SC600 (96mm) but both have larger heads (28-30mm)
.
D4… I’ve been on the fence with that one ever since it came out, at $60 for an XPL-HI I’d probably just save up for the ZL SC600, but for $40 I really need to just break down and get one in Nichia. I’ve been trying to study the UI, which seems pretty good, if I’m correct:
D4 Basic functions:
1-click…………memorized level
2-clicks…………max level (from there 2-clicks again to mem level)
Long press……Lowest level
Anytime it’s on long-press to begin ramping.
Anytime it’s on 1-click to OFF
Correct?
(Plus all the “gingerbread” functions)
.
I’m also on the list for that one, hopefully it stays at around 95mm length as projected.
I do like side switches but a tail switch is a must for a light I need to turn on in total darkness. What I really like about the FW3A is the tail e-switch. I have a few (UltraFire) budget lights with tail e-switch and although they’re pretty lame as far as output/tint/UI and build quality, they have nicest tail switches ever, truly a pleasure to use.
On the UF’s the whole driver is in the tail, no wires leading to the head. If I understand correctly the FW3A can’t do it that way because the temperature sensor needs to be out front in the head.
If the FW3A was going to be out soon, I’d suggest just waiting for that… but I have no idea how long that’ll take. In the mean time, the other options all have various drawbacks and tend to require modding to get them to a more ideal state. I’m picky.
On the D4, the stock firmware is pretty boring, and I find the lockout too slow. I like it a lot better after reflashing, but it still has no good clip options and I find it a bit heavy for EDC. The basic operation is pretty simple though, as you described. A shorter way to put it is “click for on/off, hold to change brightness”. Plus double click to toggle turbo.
If you end up reflashing one, it can also accept a variety of other interfaces. The extra UIs haven’t been widely used or widely tested, but there is one which is a near-exact clone of ZebraLight’s 2016 interface. But I personally like Anduril more and, in particular, I use its candle mode a lot.
The smooth green ones were replaced by grainy green… and I guess maybe the grainy green ones didn’t sell well? Maybe they’re temporarily out of stock? I really don’t know.
I need to open up all my Emisars again to update the firmware. I’ve been putting it off for months. It’s not as easy as a Q8, since the parts are soldered and tightly packed.
I hear ya…. I settled (for home) on an SC600w mkIII HI ( i would trade for cool if there is such a thing) and an SC600Fd IV plus (again, I could do without the ‘d’)
One punches like mad, the other floods like mad. I call them Yin and Yang. I sold a few other lights as it seemed there was too much overlap… and I bought a BLF GT to go with the Q8
Those two ZL seem like allll I need here. I was thinking of making a little ring that would extend the tailcap just enough to allow longer batteries….
I too felt the same way when I got my ZebraLight SC62w - how could there be better EDC out there! It came flawless and the tint was awesome - a slight rosy tint, no green at all. It’s super light weight without a battery, has a nice pocket clip, a great UI, super low moonlight, and a very nice beam profile. And the thermal regulation is also great - barely noticeable, and holds the maximum lumens without worry.
I would not hesitate to give this flashlight with an unprotected battery to anyone due to the thermal regulation and LVP.
My only complaint is that it’s very slippery! It has slipped out of my hands numerous times to the point where I put on a lanyard just in case.
Although the tint is very nice, the CRI is not as nice as some of the Nichia flashlights I’ve built. And even though this may never happen in a ZebraLight, I really like to have a lighted switch with my flashlights to locate them in the middle of the night and that I think it looks pretty cool.
Luckily my beloved SC62w was happily acquired by my wife. She likes the side switch and the UI. I’m glad it continues to be used rather than sitting on a shelf.
RMM has previously christened it as ‘The Chinese way of doing business’.
As with the Meteors, the first to be released revealed issues to be corrected, the V2 models had the best quality anodizing. Color varieties and emitter options expanded, the finish work was stunning at first, then became less satisfactory to some of us.
Richard had to discount some lighter colored versions to get rid of them. When the price was lowered 50 bucks to match the Manker response to the Meteor, corners had to be cut.
HWangs’ lights are milestones, his reputation unique, almost hero-like, but he does have to compete after all.
Meteors are about as flawless as you could hope for, but a pattern seems to have been set.
If they were going to discontinue the green color I wish they would have made it known in advance. Not sure how that works though in the grand scheme of retailing.
But had I known the green was going bye bye, it most likely would have caused me to “fall off the fence” and grab one while I could. When you think an item (for the most part) is always going to be available, you get a feeling you can take all the time you need to decide.
I’ve got an SC52w and even though it’s supposed to be Hi-Cri “neutral white”, the tint is a bit more greenish than on Nichia lights I own. The button control is super. I like that classic design that Zebralight is reusing on most of their lights.
My only real complaint is that on high it tends to get very warm in short order… faster than I’d expect for the lumens produced.
Thanks for the correction. Meant to say neutral white.
Anyone have success modifying ZL’s? The AA form factor looks like it’s a no-go… can’t see any easy way to access the emitter without damaging the light.
The SC600 MK3 HI remains my favorite light, with ROT66 SST20 4000k 95cri behind it.
It’s as you said, the UI, size, build quality, tint, efficiency, build quality are all top notch. Nothing quite comes close to performing as well in a complete package.
The SC52d used a Phillips Luxeon emitter, then ZL switched to CREE for later models. CREE offers a wider range of HiCri emitters, and suffer less lumen loss when compared to standard and ‘w’ emitters.
Another complaint from some people about the Luxeon was due to the smaller hotspot.
SC600w IV Plus is a great light. 2200 lumens and just slightly larger than an Emisar D4.
Run them both on turbo and the D4 ramps down to maybe 300 lumens within a minute, while the Zebra keeps going at around 1000 lumens indefinitely (when held in hand), without ever becoming too hot to touch.
Put another way, within 15 seconds of turning on both lights in turbo, the Zebralight is already considerably brighter than the D4. Unlike the D4, the Zebra experiences no rapid rampdown due to heat.
Zebralight really knows what they are doing when it comes to heatsinking. They truly are great lights.
Of course it’ll drop down quickly when it’s running at 3000+ lumens.
What if you set the D4 to the same lumen output as the ZebraLight, then do a runtime graph with both, using the same cooling conditions? Comparing apples to apples, so to speak.
Here’s what I found when I looked that up. The ZebraLight drops quickly to about 400 to 600 lm:
This is the closest I could easily find for D4 test results. It seems pretty similar, except that in this test it ramps down about 3X sooner because it starts about 3X brighter:
