Poor Mans Zebralight?

Why choose? You need to buy a few different flashlights …
I have SC600w, D4, D4s and many more and I do not have to wonder which one I should choose. How cool it is to have it and that’s it.

Don’t worry so much about the price. Get the 600w HI or Plus, or the 64w HI, and you’ll be a lot more happy with it than several budget lights that don’t quite measure up.

The real problem is stopping buying so many damn Zebralights!

My first suggestion is get the SC64w HI. It’s a fantastic all-purpose light. If you find you want something a little better for outdoors, then get the SC600w IV HI. Fantastic pocket light for a little throw outdoors, while still being useful for closer distances. Or get the SC600w IV Plus, if you need a lot of output in a small light; it’s probably closest to the Emisar D4.

Besides the great programmable user-interface, the best thing about Zebras is their efficiency and flat regulated output. I like having 2300 lumens, whether my battery is full or almost empty.

Budget lights with their FET drivers are impressive on a full battery, but it’s annoying that they dim so fast and go through batteries so quickly.

Yes…copper is very conductive, unlike Ti. Furthermore there’s threading between the head and the tube on Emisar but not on a Zebra.

If you can keep(care) your flashlight/headlamp, you should get ZL. It’s a very cheap investment if you think the money spent per uses over time. Definitely incomparable to Emisar. The closest to “budget ZL” is Skilhunt H series.

EDIT: If you need throwaway headlamps (seriously, this happened to me many times) just get Energizer. There was a time period when I had to armed my men for night shift works. They were super careless bunch of workers, treated the tools as nail and hammer. Use them, get the jobs done, period.

- Clemence

Zebralight UI does not have a ramping even as an option….pretty last decade….(even if it did it would not ramp up to half of the competition :wink: ) and potting your driver with some putty does not make it mil-spec….people bitch about zebralight problems here often….its all pretty much the same CE stuff from China, just a little different design ‘philosophy’……(OH! ….and the brand loyalists.)

I know you are just looking to start a fight between people, but what is better than a Zebralight for the price?

I’m not looking to start anything - just seen before how this goes. Loyalists get personally invested in a brand - of flashlight - and take it as a personal insult when a little objectivity is offered.

Better than Zebralight? - Depends what you are looking for and for how much doesn’t it? Sometimes it may be the best answer - sometimes it’s not. Nothing personal.

Just save up, I got lucky and got mine as a present. If I’d known how cool this light was I could have saved hundreds of dollars looking for my favorite light. I carry it everywhere and the rest are riding the pine.

You obviously are trying to be confrontational with phrases like “its all pretty much the same CE stuff from China, just a little different design ‘philosophy’” with philosophy in sarcastic quotes, and “……(OH! ….and the brand loyalists.)” with no context to clarify who you consider to be a brand loyalist, which you obviously intend in the pejorative sense. If you have criticisms, then just say them! We don’t need to read your snarkiness. Nobody is going to force you to buy a Zebralight. You can live your life without them, just like we can live without your snarks.

So don’t give me this “I’m not looking to start anything” routine where you aren’t willing to stand behind what you just said a few minutes earlier. You love to be confrontational and we can all see that, but as soon as someone else actually confronts you, you shirk responsibility for the conversation and try to slip away with excuses about how you’re “not looking to start anything” and implying that everybody else is wrong for getting insulted by your insults. I’d love to hear your objective take on the topic, but nothing about your posts has been objective yet.

someones stripes are getting ruffled.

Oh look! - just as I predicted….hope you are at least getting paid. Love your ‘we’ notion - is that we the company, or the owners community, or just you as a brand-loyalist?

FYI - I stand behind every word that I used about Zebralights. You can look back at the criticisms I listed several in my first post on this thread - I have not edited anything.

I have more than a few ZL’s. They are great lights. Some of my favorites are ZL. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the only light I grab. Depending on the situation or where I’m going to use it, sometimes its another light that finds it’s way into my pocket, jacket, or bag. I have never had a problem with any of them. Seems no matter how well or thought out a light is there is always some that fly by the QC guy. Independent of brand and price there hasn’t been a light yet that has a perfect record.

I likepotting in lights that I don’t plan on taking apart. I have potted a many of lights for people that needed a rugged bike light. Some years back I needed a weapon mounted light. I tried the two go to in all the “tactical” publications. Not of one of them could stand any kind of prolonged abuse. A few thousand rounds made them useless. I had ordered a cheap $7.99 horribly tinted weapon light off ebay. Took it apart, potted the hell out of it and mounted it on a pistol. 1000 rounds of 45acp, same on a AR-15, same on a AR-10 in .308. Still works. The high dollar ones couldn’t make it past the pistol stage. Was I just lucky? Possibly but, I’ll never know. It just keeps on working.

I say this to point out that although ZL’s are potted and they are well made, just like the big two I bought, doesn’t mean they don’t fail just like anything else. Would a Emisar stand up to that abuse? I don’t know, I doubt it but, I’m just not really sure. Honestly, I wouldn’t even try it. One thing can be almost guaranteed, any light will tolerate one shot, anything more is just a bonus.

I like ZL’s UI. Something about having a 3 very well spaced and regulated modes. I am not in the ramping UI fanboy group. I find it just okay to use. It’s not something that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside while I am playing with my flashlight in candle mode or lightning mode or disco mode or whatever else is crammed in there. Just not my thing. Lights, knives, and guns are tools to me. That is it, just tools to perform a specific purpose. I don’t care how they look, if they get scratches, marks, ding or dents. If it works as it is suppose to that is fine.

ZL’s or any other light should be judged as a tool first in my opinion. Nobody keeps a broken TV laying around because it use to have a good picture. It was just a tool that don’t work anymore. If you collect lights based on looks, UI, and max output. Playing with them around the house and just enjoying them, then what the heck, buy whatever makes you happy. If you aren’t happy doing it, chances are you won’t do it for long.

X brand vs Y brand is ridiculous and serves no greater good. Thats why many other gun, knife and flashlight forums are utter misery to visit. If you think flashlight guys are brand fanboys, visit a gun forum and say one bad thing about Glocks or 1911’s. They will lynch you in your sleep. Even if what you say is true, they will come unglued and lose their minds.

Take care my friends. Lets not have hard or bad feelings over brands and petty differences. Live long and may a potted SK68 with Andruil and 14500 extension tubes in 7000K 40cri light your way.

Thanks a lot toddcshoe , I was looking forward to spending my Saturday night watching this unfold.

:smiley:

I really would like to try a HDS one day. Heard good things about them. The only two things that keep me from trying them out. First of course is the price. They are quite expensive for things that light up other things. Speaking of lighting up things, I could use it to be a bit brighter. Now that is just my personal requirement. I live fairly rural so the space in between where I am and what I need to light up is sometimes quite a distance. A bit of extra brightness would be a bonus.

Maybe I can pick up a used one sometime to play with and check it out. I very well can’t down anything I haven’t tried yet.

Sad day, when I realized my HDS was not bright enough for my EDC needs.

If I had to pick a light to call the “poor man’s Zebralight”, I’d go with the Emisar D4.

This is because:

  • The D4 looks and feels lot like a typical zebralight such as the SC600. Both are compact single-18650 lights with side switches and both are available in grey coloring.
  • Both the D4 and the Zebra have a good UI…
  • Both are available in a variety of emitters.

Zebras however, have some advantages:

  • more efficient buck-boost driver.
  • more refined and detailed body shape.
  • better thermal management due to unibody construction, which is superior to the D4 which has a separate head.
  • potted electronics
  • better anodizing

However, the D4 also has a number of advantages over Zebralights:

  • some of the emitter/tint choices are better.
  • much, MUCH higher max output.
  • ramping UI
  • half the price
  • available in blingy copper-titanium
  • much easier to mod

If you can carry a stack of rare earth magnets with you it might.
Put it in high and move the stack of magnets around the head until you find the sweet spot that makes it output higher. No guarantees that it won’t harm it, but I’ve done it to many over the years.

Sure wish someone would steal zebralight superior clip attachment method. It puts all of the budget clip-on clips to shame. fW3A looks like a nice clip. Most are an afterthought.

Thanks for the magnet idea, I no longer have a HDS. I lost a SC52 twice because of there clip. Great looking and well attached for sure. They just set to high in my pocket. The SC62 road better cause it was longer, but I still had a couple close calls with it. I also lost a Novatac because of the clip. I imagine the FW3A clip will give me the same issues.

Just my experience.

Because I don’t have that kind of discretionary income. I have to be very choosy.

Stop projecting.

If liking flashlights made by a certain brand is such a bad thing, then you are a hypocrite, since you own three of the same model of flashlight made by Emisar.