ZL offered a SC52cā¦?
Hmm, maybe not. There was a SC52d though, and itās weird that theyād offer the ādā version without a matching ācā version. I wonder why they did that.
Thanks for the correction. Meant to say neutral white.
Anyone have success modifying ZLās? The AA form factor looks like itās a no-goā¦ canāt 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.
Itās 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 āwā emitters.
Another complaint from some people about the Luxeon was due to the smaller hotspot.
Beware :smiling_imp:
I quite like my Zebras.
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 itāll drop down quickly when itās 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.
Hereās 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:
So everything equal, which one runs longest?
ZebraLights should run the longest at a given lumen level. They tend to have some of the most efficient drivers on the market.
Thatās what I thought but after researching regulated vs non regulated drivers, I still canāt 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.
My run-times, using a somewhat-used Samsung 30Q cell:
Zebralight SC600w MkIV HI @ 264 lumen setting (regulated):
5.5 hours, when light steps-down. Cell voltage is 2.87v.
Zebralight SC600w MkIV Plus @ 358 lumen setting (regulated):
4.85 hours until step-down. Cell voltage 2.80v.
On a Sanyo GA cell, I get 18% longer run-times.
Itās hard to compare that to a D4, since that isnāt regulated.
I havenāt measured it. I wouldnāt be surprised if it ran 20% longer at the same lumen levels, just as a very rough guessā¦ but the ratio will be different for every mode. Maybe the average is 10, maybe itās 30. Couldnāt really say without detailed measurements. Maukkaās reviews might be a good place to start, since he tends to measure efficiency, but I donāt know if he reviewed the right lights for this comparison.
The other big benefit of a well-regulated driver like Zebralightās 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 canāt a regulated driver be produced for next to nothing? Or why hasnāt 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.
Note that when I said the Zebralight SC600 IV Plus stays much brighter than the D4, I also said āwhen held in handā.
The Zebralight uses a 1-piece head-body unit. The body tube around your hand heats up much faster than the D4ās two piece unit consisting of head + body tube. Sure when tailstanding, results may be somewhat similar, but when held in hand thereās just no comparison. The Zebra blows away the D4.
Also, turning the D4 on, itās rather hard to tune the output to exactly 2200 lumens. Usually, when you turn it on you get either max or min. And on max it heats up and ramps down very fast.
Also, some D4 ramp down faster and more than others, especially if you put in a powerful cell. I tried one of my D4 yesterday with a VTC5A and it ramped all the way down to around 50 lumens within a minute and stayed there. But another of my D4 only ramps down to around 500 lumens or so before stabilizing.
Indeed. You can immediately see a Zebralight begin to ramp back up, if you grab a āhotā one that has been tail-standing awhile.
When cycling, I can keep the SC600w MkIV Plus operating at itās full 2300 lumen output, as long as the air is coolish and Iām cycling at a reasonable speed. It only lasts about 30 minutes at that output, though.
I still havenāt convinced Hank to update it to RampingIOS V3 or Anduril, which both make it a lot easier to hit specific output levels. Updates also make it a lot easier to calibrate lights to have nearly the same thermal response. Even on the old version though, the thermal behavior can be calibratedā¦ just not as quickly or precisely as the new version.
It would also help to use a 3-channel driver instead of 2, like use a FET+N+1 instead of FET+1. That makes the middle modes a lot more stable, more efficient, and less hot.
You could start a āwant to buyā thread here.
_
Iām not that Hank, Iām the other one
WTB Emisar D4 2.0 with the following features:
- RampingIOS V3 or Anduril
- Option for Oslon Square LED (not sure if these fit on XP footprint though)
- One-piece head and body tube for much better thermal management (like a Zebra).
- Body tube fitted for 21700.
- Knurled body tube