Zebralight SC52 1aa/14500 awesomeness

I must agree. The UI on the V11R was one of the main reasons I chose something else. It’s simpler in the same sense that turning off the lights makes it easier to see. True for some specific situations or interpretations, but more generally the opposite of what observation would suggest. Great for Morse code though.

RRT01 interface: Twist. (for all operations)
SOS mode also available, but can be safely ignored.

V11R one-handed interface: Click, flip, twist (on, adjust). Or twist, flip, click (adjust, on). Or twist, flip, click, flip, twist (to make it start at zero and ramp up regardless of previous setting). Or, if you’re lucky enough to have it on the setting you wanted already, just click (or half-click-hold, depending). To turn it off: click; or flip, click; or click, flip, twist; or twist, flip, click. Or for momentary signalling, click, flip, twist, flip, click, half-click-hold many times. It has mode memory (ish), but it can forget due to bumps and jostles while carrying. Take care when clipping or unclipping, to avoid torquing the clip off. And if you added an AA extender without really thick glue-like lube, be sure not to twist the ring too fast or the light might shut off as the body unscrews.

V11R two-handed interface: same as above, but remove all ‘flip’ operations.

I don’t know how far the sipik throws but here’s how the SC52 throws with Eneloops and Duracell Duralock alkalines (which I wouldn’t recommend for this light).

IIRC, selfbuilt measured the SC52’s lux at 2050 cd or so on Eneloops, and I’d estimate around 3800 cd on Li-Ion (2050 * 540/290). I think the SK68 gets around 5k to 15k lux, depending on the individual unit and the batteries used. So, I’m pretty sure a SK68 (even with alkalines or Eneloops) will out-throw a SC52 on 14500s.

The 219s have different types as well, from warm to cold. Around 4500 for NW
IllumSupply is only offering the NW as far as I know.
But there are more bins out there.
I have a WW, but it could be a Nichia 119 as well.

Pretty much anything out throws the SC52, it’s more of a flood type light

Toykeeper, I like the SC52 UI. Double clicking through all modes would be a hassle. With mode memory, if I turn on the light st L2 but want L1, I have to click six times to get to it. And I would hate it on high as I would have to pass the strobe mode. One thing I like about this light is I have never accidentally activated strobe.

I could go on… but I think as is, it works for most people.

As for throw, it is not a throw monster, but I think it does a pretty good job considuring its size. Especially on a 14500.

BTW, I also have the SC600 mk II. Sure the SC600 mk II can go brighter, but I think the SC52 is more impressive because of its size. The SC52 is a winner.

I think the SC52 is nearly perfect. Despite my minor gripes, it’s the #1 non-angled light I recommend to people for general lighting needs, or #2 overall (after the H51). However, I still usually reach for something else (RRT01) when I want a moon mode because it’s hard to get the levels I want on the SC52.

I think what I really want is for Zebralights to come with source code and be re-flashable.

Thanks for the update!

^yeah, what he said!^ Glad I decided to wait.

ToyKeeper, I agree, the H51 is a great edc pocket light. I think too many people dismiss it as a headlight only. What many don’t realize is how useful it is without the headband.

For example in other flashlights candle mode, the H51 will light up a side wall. And if you want candle mode, simply lay it on its side and rotate the clip until it is pointing up. See the clip will keep the light in position, lay it sideways on a table and the clip will keep it from rolling. So you can aim the light anywhere from straight horizontal from its position to straight up. So if you have a table, bed, floor, anything flat, then you can aim the light where you want.

Now if you use the clip, now you can clip it to hats, coats, shirts, pockets, etc, and have a wide range of aiming options. Clip it to a necklace or string around your neck for easy hands free reading. I have even cliped it to a seat belt for reading in the car.

So I do like the H51, and can’t wait for the H52. The SC52 is a awesome light, just not as versatile as the H51.

Oh, definitely. The H51’s versatility is the reason I consider it the best light on the market. I normally either keep it clipped to my purse facing forward or wear it as a necklace, both for hands-free use. I use it occasionally as a head-mounted light, but usually only if I’m biking or working on something up close or if I’m spending an entire evening in the dark. I’ve also clipped it to a sun visor for reading in the car, to a button-up shirt for use as a torso light, etc. It could be clipped to a shoulder strap too. I’ve even seen one worn as the centerpiece of a bolo tie. Although it has a lot of aiming freedom in candle mode, it has even more aiming options if you carry a small magnet too. The magnet can hold the clip to any ferrous metal surface and then it gets full 360+180 degree aiming freedom by rotating the clip on the magnet or the light in the clip. Oh, and even if I’m using it a few hours per day, I still get at least a month per charge… usually much longer.

My favorite mod, if it can even be called that, is to replace the H51’s stock headband with something smaller and more versatile — a piece of double-sided velcro, a wide stretchy shoelace, and a cable lock. This allows it to work as a necklace, a head lamp, a handlebar lamp, a wrist or back-of-the-hand lamp, or anywhere else the shoelace can fit around. It’s also small enough that you can clip and unclip the light without removing the makeshift headband, or easily fit it into a pocket without removing it. I tend to wear it as a necklace when my partner will let me get away with it, and it can be hidden under a shirt. I’ll have to post pics sometime in a new thread.

The SC52 is a great light, but it still has the major flaw that it generally requires being held in a hand during use. So, I use the H51 more often because it puts light where I need it and leaves both my hands free to do other things. It may look a little weird, but it’s ridiculously useful.

I hope they decide to make a H52 soon, with Li-Ion support, longer runtimes, more sub-lumen modes, and hopefully a better way of switching between adjacent sublevels. Maybe they could do something like “click, click+hold” to rotate quickly between sublevels similar to how “click+hold” rotates through primary levels?

I held off and waited for this SC52w in NW and was going to pre-order one today, but after reading statements like these I wonder if I should just go with the CW version?

I have a xeno E03 XM-L NW, and a DQG tiny18650 NW, (tint is about equal on them) not sure I’d want a tint much warmer than those.

Anyone have a SC52 and other NW lights to compare? Does anyone else agree that the sc52 CW is “actually neutral white” as ToyKeeper reports?

The CW of my SC52 isn’t as cool as my CW SRK if that helps any

I’m not sure my color perception is worth listening to… I have weird eyes. Traditional 2700K incandescent lights make my eyes hurt, but computer screens and cool white fluorescent lights are comfortable for me. I’m biased toward relatively cool tints.

However, that said, the best light I’ve seen so far was a L3 L10-219 with Nichia 219 4500K 92CRI emitter. To me, it looks just about right. Compared to the 219, the SC52 looks pale and green and the H51w looks rather uncomfortably yellow. The second-best beam I’ve seen is the JETBeam RRT01, which is lower-CRI and a bit cooler, but otherwise very nice. The L3 L10-219 and RRT01 have become my most often-used lights, with the SC52 now mostly just sitting on my nightstand for use as a night light or mood light.

In any case, what I’ve found is that warmer tints can be okay but only if they’re very high CRI. I don’t mind low-CRI cool tints as much as I mind low-CRI warm tints. I hope Zebralight starts making more high-CRI lights; I’d love a H51d if it existed (85+ CRI, 5000K tint), or H51n (with the same Nichia emitter I mentioned above). Or, at least, Zebralight should start using the tint bin the RRT01 uses, instead of the greenish LEDs they seem to use now.

I have three CW SRKs and they’re all different.

My SC52 does look greenish to me, unlike my SC51.

i dont think that the discussion of cool light, neutral light, warm light, Kelvin temperatures and tint bins is very helpful. i think we should use RGB codes, black is 255,255,255 for example :bigsmile: . seriously here are some facts:

- every sc52 has a consistent hue across the entire beam profile. there are no tint variations (e.g. white, yellow, green, purplish from hotspot to spill end as known from many other lights, e.g. TM11, TM15, EA4, EA8, and basically all other Nitecore XM-L U2 lights!). this is good. i hate beam profiles with green-yellow corona and purplish spill.

- the degree of it, how deeply and long the LED fell into the bucket of tinting so to speak, varies between each ****ing copy, but basically it has the same hue kind as other samples. so all sc52's are consistently from the same tinting bucket, meaning, if your copy has a light pink beam, then others have the same pink beam, with little variations between the copies (1 is light pink, 1 is deeper pink, 1 is dark pink, 1 is very light pink ... but they all look basically the same: same kind of pink).

- on the lower modes, the hue becomes very apparent (and annoying). at this point nobody will ever say words such as "cool white", "neutral white", or "3B" or "3C" or kelvin temperatures because it doesnt apply anymore. against a white wall you see a color. so wtf don't you name it by its color.

- the hue is lime/green. every sc52 has it. dealers and users will still claim that they dont see it. well what can i say then? it's not a matter of claims and perception. hue is a fact. you can measure it online, you can capture it, you can film it, photograph it and then measure it, etc. hue is a fact. and every sc52 has a lime/green hue, and it's more pronounced on this model than on other xm-l lights (say pd32ue, or eagletac xm-l t6), same way as every olight s10 cw (titanium and aluminum models) is green. s10 and sc52 have a totally different hue. but every s10 has the typical s10-green hue, and every sc52 has the typical sc52-green hue. that's what i mean with "all sc52's are consistenly from the same tinting bucket". fine, if you don't see it on Hi1-mode, then be it as you claim: your eyes dont see it. but as said, hue is a fact. it is there, and you can measure it, and you can see it, if you compare the sc52 beam against ANY ****ING OTHER light source, e.g. a reference nice XP-G or XP-G2 light. if you are perceptive to tints and dont like green, then stay away from s10 and also from sc52. personally i do love the green tint. green is the color of nature and hope. the sc52 is a source of hope to me.

For white wall beam comparison shots which capture the sc52 tint very realistically, see for example:

http://www.forolinternas.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6475

( in the spain discussion, all people complain about is the green sc52 tint. other than the tint, they love their light. )

- i have no idea what the tint of sc52w will be. i have d25lc2 nw .. and it's known to forum readers that eagletac's nw is warm (orange-ish), see also my penlight review for beamshot.

wallbuys gave me a very good price volume discount so i have ordered a whole bunch of sc52's and when i got them all, i'll reconfirm this post and also post some helpful beamshots.

probably the sc52w tint sucks (yellow-ish).

but the sc52 tint sucks too (hope, nature).

how is the xm-l2 cw tint???

this post deletes itself within 24hrs.

Just wanted to say, I like the anodizing color Zebralight uses. All black lights are boring.

I prefer the CW of the SC52 over that of the NW on my EA4W (the only NW light I have - i like the NW on it when it’s on Turbo mode, but at the lower modes it looks too yellow to me).

I wasn’t sure if I’d like the anodizing color of the SC52, but I think it’s grown on me over time. It is a bit refreshing to see something other than black. I think it’s also kind of a gimmick for ZL as well to differentiate themselves from the sea of other flashlights out there. It’s pretty easy to spot a ZL even without the odd color - they’ve got a very specific profile for their lights.

Thanks for all the replies, a lot of helpful info so far, please keep them coming, especially if anyone has an SC52 and other similar NW lights to compare between.

I agree too bad more of these manufactures don’t offer a wider selection of different cool light, neutral light, warm light, Kelvin temperatures / CRI / tint bins, and Nichia 219 option in the same light.

I’ve been trying to not let color hue of tint bother me lately, I think when I find the perfect combination of tint/UI/size/switch type/clip I will find my perfect EDC. (and then something new will come out!)

i recieved my sc52 CW package ( came with a zebra 14500) for $59 a while back and overall im very impressed with the light :slight_smile: cannot think of much more to add to the above really. its in my out of work EDC rotation with a rrt-01/v11r/ eagtac d25c 2013 Ti ( i work in construction, balls to taking it to work to trash it… trust me i would) i highly recommend an sc52 :slight_smile: