Emisar D4 with Nichia 219c. What's the appeal of this tint?

My third (don’t tell my girlfriend) D4 I got with the Nichia option and I just can’t dig the greenish bluish twang to it. I love the light but I absolutely love the color of the xpl HI 5D. Just wondered if anyone else felt the same about the Nichia. I quite like the 4000k 90+ cri 219c i have in another light however. Tints and Kelvin and CRI and TLCI is all very interesting to me, I find myself reading posts by Makkua a lot. Anyway, happy flashlighting.

I didn’t own any Nichias before my D4 cyan came in January, so that was the appeal for me.

I’m not a tint freak, sitting at home on the couch, eating Ding Dongs and bouncing it off the wall, telling myself how perfect it is.

It’s a tool and so pretty much any tint will do when I’m trying to see in the dark.

Chris

I find the D4 useless. Just a novelty item and to think I waited almost two months for it,lol. Flashlights are tools and the brighter the better for me. Any tint that looks yellow I can not stand. 5200K and up for me.

Yeah, you got burned badly on the D4.

On the other hand, I like mine and actually use it outdoors and in. It helped me put a water heater into a darkish closet with poor lighting.

I’m glad I got the 219C cyan.

Better luck choosing your next light.

Chris

There’s a certain amount of variation in the manufacturing process, so although the Nichia target is pure white at the specified colour temperature, they can sometimes have a green / yellow tint when they vary to one side of the line, or a rose / magenta tint when they vary the other way.

It seems to me that you’ve been unlucky with the variation on your particular samples. If you’ve seen people here talking about “losing the tint lottery”, that’s what they’re talking about.

I have one very rosy Nichia, three slightly rosy ones - my favourites, they never leave the house so I can’t lose them - and several pure white ones. I’ve been lucky enough never to have seen a greenish one.

In general, I find the 90+ CRI Nichias much better at rendering true colours:

- My Nitecore MT06MD sees a lot of use for reading resistor colour codes and checking wire insulation colours.

- My BLF-348s are great for finding things I’ve dropped on the carpet. If they blend in with the carpet, I just can’t find them with a low-CRI light.

- My Astrolux S41 renders natural colours wonderfully when I take it outside. I can spot mice and other small animals that I would never see with a low-CRI light like my Fenix UC35.

Of course, as Chris says, almost anything will do when I’m just trying to walk from A to B without tripping over stuff. That’s where my 5000K XP-L lights come in. Lower CRI, but higher efficiency and more lumens to see further ahead with.

Good to know I'm not the only one doing that lol

Actually just picked up the Acebeam L30 and really like it. The run times are great and it throws serious light. I paid full price from a US retailer and had it in four days! I think I am done buying untested project lights from new companies for a while. I take my gear very serious and can’t stand wasting my time or money on items that fail or have problems. So far I have wasted my time and money on the D4, DN35, DN70 and the Q8. My EDC is a fully customized Glock 35, 9 years and over 15,000 rounds without a hiccup. My Zero Tolerance 0456 in CPM 20CV, seriously sharp blade with one hell of a bite! My Klarus XT11GT which my be switched out to the new L30, great flashlight so far. It has nothing to do with snobbery, I my need to depend on my tools in a life or death situation one day and god forbid the tool I am using fails. 3 is the number of times I have been in just that situation and that is to many for anyone in a single lifetime. I have had multiple backpacks fail so now I carry the First Tactical Tactix backpack and its worth every outrageous penny on there price tag. I am a firm believer in the saying buy once cry once, because you only die once.

I have two D4’s, one smooth green the other is Cyan both with Nichia 219’s. Although they step down quickly on high, the appeal of the tint to me is that it’s a nice neutral white…no blue, no yellow, and especially, no green! To my eyes, it’s the most consistent NW color from center to edge of the spill of the beam. I still have and enjoy most of my lights with other emitters, but sometime you win and sometimes you loose in the tint lottery. My D4’s are not an EDC’s, but nice shelf queens and fun show-off lights, especially outside in the winter.

Yes I had one just like it. My D4 is at my 4th LED setup…with 4000k luxeon v. Pure flood…over 5000 lumens.

I have the D4 XPL 4000k 5D and it is the absolute best rosy (non-yellow/non-green) tint I have ever seen and I own dozens of flashlights. I was going to get the 219c Noctigon Meteor but Hank was very honest to confirm my concerns that his current batch of 5000k 219c does consistently appear greenish in tint.

I agree on the 5D tint. It made some of my favorite tinted lights kind of look bad. So I’m convinced I just lost the tint lottery. It’s not a big deal I’ll just get different leds from Richard already reflowed. Just couldn’t I stand the hype over the Nichias. My xp-g2 3D tint it a slightly cool for me but still a great neutral white. Way nicer than the Nichia.

I’d be happy to take it from you :wink:

That is my experience as well. My d4 has the whitest, the purest, the most pleasing neutral tint I’ve ever seen. I was really surprised of that for I’d had heard numerous complaints about green/yellow in 219c

Cant really add to what has been said, other than all my 219c 5000k LED’s(from 80-90 cri) have never been blue, green or yellow in anyway. The 219c 4000k is towards yellow, more so depending if in optics(triple) than reflector. My 219c 5k in the D4 is the early 219c version(lower cri) and is a clean white beam, its used as a work back up and i am happy with it. Some of my other 219c 5000k’s from vinh have a slight(ever so) warmth and those are my fav of all 219c 5000k’s. Although you have a greater chance winning the tint lottery with nichia over CREE, the risk of loosing is still there even though small.

My D4 219C looks like “pure” bright white light, I can’t detect any kind of tint. I generally prefer 4500K so it’s a tad cool for me, but the colour rendering and high output really make up for it.

I’m looking to buy a used D4 - if the price is right I can take it off your hands!

Zed: First off, I am so excited for you and your Emisar journey. I personally believe people find different things about different subjects. Your entry points to the fact that you appreciate tint. I do too. It doesn’t make us freaks or weird to appreciate the tint. Scientifically, putting aside everyone’s opinions, neutral tint does in fact produce better clarity. So if the tint is warmer,bluer, or greenish this would present different levels with the clarity. I myself have the 5k version and am awaiting the 219niche version this week. I am in question to what I will see and feel like you do about not wanting something greenish. For what I’m told, the 219 is suppose to be the best color rendering of all types of tint. But if it’s greenish this wouldn’t be what I want either.

Half a year ago, Hank, the maker of Emisar told me that the batch of 219c at the time had some green in the tint. Not sure if the current batch still does.

I’ve got two D4’s. One with XP-L HI in 3A, and the other with Nichia 219C. I got mine back in Feb this year and I do not like the nichia one at all. It is green and not pleasant to the eyes. I love my XP-L 3A one and it is perfect. I have heard so many people rant about the nichia in the D4 being amazing but I must have a dud.

I have 3 other lights with nichia (Astrolux MF01, Meteor M43 and Astrolux S41) and they are lovely and I enjoy them. So it must really depend on what batch of Nichia LED’s the manufacturer gets.

Wow, that’s really disappointing to hear that. My light comes in tomorrow and now I’m not looking forward to seeing it. I might just give it away immediately to my Wife or friend. I was kinda happy about seeing the higher CRI.