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:
That’s what I thought but after researching regulated vs non regulated drivers, I still can’t quantify the difference. Is it 10 minutes or 60 minutes more run time for instance? It would have to be significant to warrant spending twice as much over the D4 which I have and love. Could you give me a ball park figure. I know there are many variables.
I haven’t measured it. I wouldn’t be surprised if it ran 20% longer at the same lumen levels, just as a very rough guess… but the ratio will be different for every mode. Maybe the average is 10, maybe it’s 30. Couldn’t really say without detailed measurements. Maukka’s reviews might be a good place to start, since he tends to measure efficiency, but I don’t know if he reviewed the right lights for this comparison.
The other big benefit of a well-regulated driver like Zebralight’s is you have access to turbo for most of the cell capacity instead of a slowly declining maximum output.
I always thought electronic components could be sourced cheaply. Once a driver is designed and parts are bought, why can’t a regulated driver be produced for next to nothing? Or why hasn’t someone reverse engineered the Zebralight and stamped it out? I not advocating this but simply wondering why good drivers have to be expensive in this day and age. Powerful calculators can be had for $10 that do more than my first Texas Instrument that cost hundreds.
