from elzetta;
” In tactical applications, where one may search for and identify persons based on the color of their vehicles or apparel, faithful color perception is essential. Imagine searching for a suspect known to be wearing a red shirt and last seen near a light blue house. With a cool-tint flashlight the red shirt will appear black and every white residence in the neighborhood will seem to match the described blue house. With a neutral-tint beam, however, colors are accurately observed and proper identification may be achieved quickly. All Elzetta Alpha Models and Bravo and Charlie Models equipped with High Output AVS Heads produce neutral-tint beams.
Further benefits of neutral-tint beams manifest when smoke, haze, or fog is present. In such conditions, cool-tint beams tend to “splash back” with greater harshness than neutral or warm beams. While such harshness is generally more of a perceived phenomenon than a quantifiable one, most people find cool-tint beams to produce more glare in adverse conditions than neutral-tint light.
The pursuit of high lumen ratings has led manufacturers to use cool-tint LED’s in the vast majority of tactical flashlights today. Unfortunately, like so many other features which are driven by Marketing Departments rather than thoughtful user-based engineering, these bluish beams sacrifice real-world performance. When faithful color rendition is important, as it is in tactical applications, look for a flashlight with a neutral-tint beam. After all, there is nothing “cool” about being blue. ”