Jaxman E2 measurements (Nichia 219B, bargain high CRI 18650)

hi, thanks for the detailed review of E2 :+1:

I only have the 5700K version and everything looks really vivid with the E2. With mine, the whites to look “white”.
I can see for someone who prefers warmer lights, the 5700K version may appear too cool.

But in terms of CRI, I’m guessing same CRI, but the 4000K version will make things look a bit “yellow”?

I personally find that 4000K looks yellow to me, even when it’s high-CRI. But I also find that 5700K is a bit too cool. The sweet spot seems to be about 4900K, right between the two. D’oh.

This is highly dependent on personal preference though. You can’t really know which you’ll like without seeing them.

After trying out high CRI lights, it’s so hard for me to use none high CRI lights anymore… I’m finding I’m preferring about 5000K. I don’t mind going down to 4500K, but that starts getting a bit too warm. The Jaxman E2 is a bit cool for me. My Zebralight H600Fd is just a tiny bit yellow. My favorite is one of my BLF 348 at ~5000k that has a hint of rosy.

In my dreams, I’d put my BLF 348 led with my Armytek Wizard Pro honeycomb TIR lenses into my Zebralight H600Fd with the H600Fd’s output and runtime! :smiley:

For me:

- Anything between 2700 - 4500K are all nice and pleasant as mood booster, especially when the GF is around.

- 5000 - 5700K are definitely my choice for mountain hiking and woods walking.

- 6500K is the best for work and general uses. White must be white. You’ll find it hard to clean your toilet with warm CCT, is it clean yet or not……ewww

  • 6500K and above are only best to blind people (or yourself) and when you want to show-off your ultra tight beam toys in foggy nights.
    A floody (>90 degree) headlamp with three adjustable CCT is my ideal EDC. And yes, no less than 85 CRI

I received 2 Jaxman E2 and measure color temp., (by RAW shots + Photoshop).

Jaxman E2 warm/newtral “4000K” (max. mode) : 4050 auto , 3950-4050 (manual)
Jaxman E2 daylight/cold “5700K” (max. mode) : 5600 auto , 5550-5650 (manual)
Zebralight H600FC (max. mode) : 3850-3900 auto , 3800-3090 (manual).

Conclusion: 4000-4050K and 5600К,
Warm white Jaxman E2 works well in tandem with Zebralight H600FC.
Unfortunately, I can’t test now, how works daylight/cold Jaxman E2 in tandem with H600FD, but will be continue few weeks later.

Very interesting original review. Good to see a low cost tube light with high CRI emitters as standard, including a cool(ish) high CRI option.
Some things I’d like to see with the E2 (or any other high CRI tube light):

  1. A higher mid mode option (around 60%) to allow as high as possible continuous output without getting too hot to handle.
  2. More CCT options e.g. 5000k (a common Nichia tint), or even warmer 3500/3000k (not so common).

Why not make a few photographs with different lights and same camera settings?
Colorful stuff and food for example. That is the main idea of the cri light.
I dont have a high cri emitter yet, when i recieve one i will make photos myself too.

Photos are mostly useless in showing benefits of high CRI unless the difference is very drastic.

As a photographer, I would disagree. Just look at the hand photos earlier in this thread.

I would say the same. Also as a photographer. That is my main goal for high cri. To make the best light in a room/set/environment.

Furthermore I would boost the current from the 1.2 default to around double that for the max setting. The led should take that with no problems.

The advantages of high CRI would only be visible when comparing lights with identical CCT (and preferably also tint). The camera exaggarates white balance differences too much to be of any value. It just doesn’t reflect reality at all.

You are right.
I can’t compare different LEDs with different CCT and CRI by camera shots, because post-processing (even nice post-processing in C1 or Photoshop) blurs real difference between LEDs.
On these shots I see difference between LEDs with different CCT , but not CRI diff.

Here’s a 92CRI Nichia 219b emitter:

Here’s another one:

Now here’s a ~75 CRI XP-G:

… and a ~65CRI XR-E from a bargain bin light:

… and a ~65CRI XM-L:

See much difference? I don’t. I mean, obvious differences in beam pattern and exposure, but the CRI changes appear very small despite a large difference in specs. Digital cameras and computer screens can only capture/display three wavelengths, which makes them mostly incapable of portraying CRI differences.

As a bonus, here’s a wide-spectrum light. In person, it makes the most vivid colors:

Back to old school film camera’s and pass-around via snail mail. Thanks for the info; I’m learning a lot here :slight_smile:

Thanks for the comparisons. Vivid colors are often described as “preferred” in color rendering articles. I wonder if that wide-spectrum light would measure high in the new TM-30 method’s Rg (gamut, color space) metric. Normal high cri lights tend to be around 100.

I’m not sure if there’s a technical definition for wide-spectrum, but I was aiming for something like a normal CRI curve except a bit wider and flatter. So, more light high and low in the spectrum and less in the middle, for an effect similar to a vivid colors post-processing filter. I made it by mixing four Cree XM-L2 tints.

Unfortunately, pictures don’t really show the difference. Maybe I can get my spectrometer working eventually and show it in spectral form. I don’t have a way to calculate CRI or color temperature with it, though.

The High-CRI test of this light made me buy it for a reference. I got a 4K and a 5.7K, just looked at the 4K so far and I like the beam color characteristics. The UI is well…. not for me with blinky modes in the main loop. The light is a bit lower output than I expected, but should be fine for my hi-CRI uses although I may need a diffuser for that will not change the color. The manual is kind of funny, and is obviously written in the event you get a kit with a battery and charger. The good thing about the manual, 1 you get one, and 2 the print is large enough to read. I won’t list the cons of the manual because you guys will never read it :slight_smile: Mine came in a much smaller box than shown in the OP. It can fit a pretty long battery, probably 70-71mm, I used the new Lumintop USB rechargeable battery (LM34C) which is really too long for many lights (the length may kill this product) so I was happy it worked here to test this light so I didn’t have to rob a battery from a working light.

If you have a soldering iron, you can change the UI of the E2 driver by soldering a star. When you “solder a star”, you connect the inner half of the star with the outer half of the star with solder. You don’t have to make the solder connect all the way to the edge of the driver.

Rotate the driver so the stars are facing down towards the ground:

  • Jaxman E2 driver
    No stars : L - M - H - Strobe - SOS
    Left star : M - H
    Mid star : L - M - H
    Right star : M - H - Strobe

And in case anyone’s interested about the Jaxman M8 driver:

  • Jaxman M8 driver
    No stars : H - M - L - Strobe - SOS
    Left star : H - M
    Mid star : L - M - H
    Right star : H - M - Strobe

Until monitor display and camera sensors developed to show/capture true wide spectrum, the only reliable way to share CRI picture report digitally is to read the measurement graphs - and trust the result.