Zebralight SC700d – A Short Technical Review (lumens/runtime graphs/temperature/PWM/current draw)

Looks like a nice 21700 light.
But considering the light only has 900lm output (turbo doesn’t count) and for me Zebra is mostly known for extreme PWM, I’ll skip this light.

Baby it's cold outside - and wet and rainy up here in the Pacific Northwest - so I can't motivate myself to go outside for beam shots - and I'm not as bothered by tint variations as some. I assume the "other" forum will have beamshots up soon. I wanted to focus on the technical stuff I'm good at.

Are more recent Zebralights (say the last 2-3 years) known for PWM? Although I've seen some minor ripple, I haven't detected any obvious PWM on my other three Zebralights (SC600fd IV Plus, SC600w III, SC53Fc).

so whats the conclusion?

I don’t think PWM has been an issue for Zebralights after the old SC51. So at least 5+ years.

Zebralight definitely isn’t known for PWM now. Today’s Zebralight drivers are excellent with top notch thermal management and good efficiency.

Thanks for your excellent review Terry.

Great to see that the light hits Zebralights claims. Even the temperature is on spec (on all current Zebralights with PID the target temperature in the default setting of the PID is 50°C/122°F).

It would be interesting to see (in case you want to and/or have time to do some further testing) what the sustained brightness (and runtime) is with the PID turned all the way up (and possibly down as well), i.e. runtime graph with PID +5°C (and perhaps -5°C).

Yeah Zoomie’s impressions are quite a few generations old now. I’ve got lots of Zebras, from the old to the new, and visible PWM hasn’t been an issue for a long time now. What has been an issue, however, is their reliance on Cree’s latest-gen emitters which tend to have…um… less-than-perfect tint and tint-shift. Some folks are more bothered by it than others of course, like PWM for that matter, but if anyone is holding off on these newer Zebras because the old ones had slow PWM, they should stop holding off. Current Zebras are awesome lights that definitely do not have noticeable PWM.

Thanks for the review Terry. I’ve been on the fence about this one because of the XHP70.2’s weird tint-shifted corona issues, but the light is almost nice enough to make me overlook that :slight_smile:

Looks like a super efficient and practical light. How’s the beam?

Terry, any chance you can add or superimpose the runtime graph for the SC600w mk4 Plus in your charts for comparison?

Thanks

Did you notice that I snuck in a graph for the SC600Fd IV Plus? It's gives a nice comparison for both lights at about 583 lumens. The SC600Fd graph (@ 557 lumens) was done last summer for my own interest, don't have any graphs for higher levels on the SC600Fd.

Don’t know how I missed that. Thanks!
One good reason to upgrade to buy the SC700D is that it can run at a much higher sustained output over the smaller siblings.

Great review, I also linked it in the german TLF.
Looks like Zebralight delievered us a technically perfect flashlight again, I can’t wait to get mine.
And it would be great if you would write the temperatures also in celsius so that every non american reader don’t need to read it with a calculator at hand.

OK, added a conversion to Celsius for the highlighted readings.

Excellent, technical review Terry!

I got my sample last week and it is amazing to think how far ZL have come as a brand. I wasn’t super early to adopt (SC50/60 era) but jumped on as soon as I saw the critical acclaim the 750L SC600 received.

This is slightly bigger, obviously, diameter wise, but not much changed in terms of length. The main thing is it is so much brighter and efficient and is also HI CRI!! Not only that but it will look after itself and not over heat. Marvellous!!

I used mine as a bike light and the max output was fine for pretty fast offroad trail riding. I wouldn’t hit downhill at night anyway but others may find it bright enough to inspire confidence for that too…

Overall it is a great light and I see ZL selling A LOT of these…

I actually want the flood version now too to replace my SC600Fd just because the 700 seems so much more stable in terms of output

I would also be interested in the floody version. I emailed Zebralight sales, and asked if they could do a custom order for a floody SC700d with the frosted lens. Their response . . .

"We will release SC700Fd in mid or late Feb, 2019."

I wish they’d come out with a HI version.

Excellent Review. Thanks!

I’m also waiting for the 700Fd version of this one, I think this is possibly a good platform for them to make more of a thrower with a smaller LED as well.

I’m liking the SC700d, but I think Zebra light can do just a bit better with an Fd version, and more of a thrower version. It’s a great flashlight, but it just falls a little short on the beam characteristics compared many of their past lights.

The thermal design of the light seems to be their best yet, very impressive.

I hope they adjust the battery tube diameter just a bit to remove the battery rattle, but maybe they are trying to allow for a few more batteries, as people often complain their favorite battery does not fit their ZebraLight on the 18650 lights, but I’ve had no issues.

Has it quit raining enough there for some outdoor beamshots yet?

AKAIK, there is no HI version of the XHP70.2 emitter.

Honestly, I've never done outdoor beamshots. Would a white poster board suffice (indoors) - showing the tint and beam pattern?