I started a post for the replacement drivers: Haiklite MT09R GB replacement drivers
I got an email from HL on 6/7, telling me that the replacement driver would be shipped on that date.
I don’t think it’s safe to assume anything on these lights. I will be interested in the reviews once these factory lights ship to see if they got the drivers and UI correct and see if they come close to specs.
Haikelite does normally do warm whites. Typically they just use cool white and neutral white. So there could be an error in the description.
That’s the million dollar question. There is a pass around MT09R light heading towards our friends of TLF, so I suspect za Germans will give us the answer first.
Prototypes can look bad, but function good. I wouldn’t focus on it unless it used inferior components. I will reserve all judgment until they are officially released and reviewed.
The real reason for Haikelite not putting in 4000k 80CRI emitters were not because they were hard to find. I easily found them at Mouser and Arrow, and I could easily order them myself.
The problem would be that the top bin of 4000k 80CRI is quite a bit more expensive than the lower bins, which is why Haikelite did not put them in their lights.
4000k
3000k (NASA had me install these into a GT for them, looks like an incandescent light, pretty neat actually)
In the real world the 80cri have a much lower forward voltage and usually are only a little behind the 70cri in lumens from my testing. For example the P2 4000k in my L6 was a bit over 9k lumens and my 80cri M4 bin 4000k is around 8500 lumens, it just pulls about a fair amount more current to do that.
I can also get different xhp35 HI tints as well:
70cri D2 bin 5700k
80cri C4 bin 4500k
80cri C2 bin 4000k
80cri C2 bin 3000k
XHP35 HD (HD has the dome still on it, a bit less throw but more lumens, I like them in everything but a dedicated thrower myself):