I’m very happy with my two Zebralights, but if I was ever pressed to get another I’d definitely give that one a try!
Thanks for showing pics next to a variety of other lights. It’s hard to tell the size when just photographed in hand. Now I can compare it to my Zebralight, D4 and SC26.
The size of the light is fine, it is the beam quality and maintaining brightness which is remarkable, I think the tests will prove it is a next level light .
Some folks over there are overly picky when it comes to tint and anodizing finish. ZL uses natural HA so every light may vary sightly, and the tint seems fine from what I’ve seen in pictures. There have been far worse tints in other XHP70.2 lights such as Acebeam L30 (I like mine but the corona drives me crazy when used indoors).
ZL are workhorses and not just pretty shelf queens which you turn on once in a while to admire how perfect it is. Based on the comments from the other forum and their obsession with the “ZL tint lottery” one might think they are really that bad, but actually even the worst tints are pretty decent, I mean they are Cree emitters after all and for $120 I wouldn’t expect cherry picked leds.
I would. I can buy or build a light with nearly perfect tint for a quarter that amount.
Zebralight’s refusal to use Nichia emitters is beyond puzzling and ridiculous at this point. They are the perfect candidate to use the 144A and E21 quad with their amazing drivers.
Zebralight tends to concentrate on small lights with efficient drivers and high output. I think they generally stick with Cree because of their output and relatively good efficiency.
It might be that there’s not enough market for a Nichia emitter, considering they’d have to redesign their PID thermal controls for it, and probably the driver too. A swap might work for those inclined to mod a Zebra, but it might not be an optimal design.
There are LEDs that are:
as efficient as Creee top binnings
come in same package
have a lot less angular tint shift from LED source
have very good tint groups (smaller variation window on CCT)
and are even cheaper
so sticking to Cree makes no sense
We got good Nichia, Samsung, Luminus and Lumileds that beat Cree in many ways
In total agreement……can the CREE brand name be as important as performance for the lemming market?
- ZL could stress their drivers and other strong points, but they need to boast about what they can to the masses. If they coveted the mod and budget market, they would not make their models so difficult to violate, maintain their prestige level price points reminiscent of Sony, or ignore the flash forums.
Okay, since we’re talking about the Zebralight SC700d, which uses a Cree XHP70.2 emitter. What do you propose as an alternative emitter, that is just as bright and efficient?
The L351D also has angular tint shift. The Luxeon V doesn’t have much tint shift, but is not available with high-cri. The Luxeon MV also doesn’t have angular tint shift, but the tint is above the BBL and the 90CRI version is not available with a neutral-white CCT.
The Nichia E21A is better than all of them in regards to angular tint shift and tint in general. It’s not efficient at high currents though.
It’s not a bad choice for a frosted optic. But the ZL SC700d uses a clear lens, and from some of the beam shots given elsewhere, it seems to have more throw than I expected.
Frosted lenses are fine for headlamps, but not really that practical in hand-held lights, IMO. But, sure, if Zebralight offers a frosted SC700, and they likely will, it might make a good choice. Then again, with a frosted lens, domed Cree emitters look pretty good anyway, since the tint-shift is mostly blurred away.
Over on cpf, the people that already have the light, seem to be pleased at the tint and say the beam is nice. I’m kind of surprised, as the XHP70.2 has a lot of tint shift from what I’ve seen, but I’ve never seen the high CRI version that Zebralight is using.
IMO, Zebralight has got a lot better at using nicer tints with less shift, over the past couple of years. My old Zebralights from a few years ago have a lot of green in their corona, and are not very pleasant when white-wall hunting.
The ones I bought last year are way better. Two of them use the XHP35 HI, though, so I suppose they should be good. But even the one that uses a domed XHP50.2 has a relatively nice beam.
I would question the choice of a 70.2 in general since its not being pushed to nearly the levels it is in other lights. I suppose its for increased efficiency but the trade off is that they had to make the reflector much bigger than the SC600 to maintain a similar beam pattern to other ZLs.