We are all different and I even suspect we even see things actually really different so this kind of discussion will always be very personal. Me I like my hi-cri lights best of all, I simply like to see things in colors and with natural depth like I would in daylight.
A lot of people here really seem to need their zillion-lumen lights but me personally I don’t need a lot of light and judge my lights much more at low-level performance than at how powerful they are. Still like to play around with something powerful once in a while but I’m done with anything above NW, I really don’t like the blue and washed-out flat view the CW lights give so I’ll gladly trade some power for better color and depth to look at.
Amen, preachin’ to the chior! Almost all of my lights that are 18650 or bigger have some kind of FET driver, because I like the software, but I find I rarely get into the FET level output. I also will not ever go above 5000k for a general use light, only a few of my throwers go higher. I am a bit of a tint/cri snob and each EDC candidate gets compared day one with a 219b sw-40 light and a well binned (not green) sst-20 light. From that moment, I decide if it will get new leds or not. I usually compare at ML and about 400 lumens as they always get better with hard driving and high amps.
For artists, auto techs, quality control techs, medical or forensic pathologists, technicians, or crime scene investigators, who need accurate color rendering.
I don’t know why I buy high CRI emitter flashlights, mainly it’s due to this place. I take the advice of respected members who I trust and that goes into my purchasing choice. I used to only buy 6500k any CRI lights, ive now changed and don’t like using those cold lights as much anymore.
I’m also feel the same way where I prefer high CRI vs high lumens for my EDC.
BUTTT, you can also get high CRI with 5000K+ temperature. An example is the Nichia Optisolis SM653-P9-Rfa00 6500K LED. It has the highest CRI that I believe you can get from an LED. It’s like other high CRI LEDs where the lumens is not that great. It also has a slight bluish tint which is expected for 6500K, but renders colors amazingly well!
Personally I prefer a temperature between 4000-5000K, but high CRI is still most important to me.
High CRI sells itself if you’ve properly experienced it.
But for those that have not, I would ask them these 2 questions as a retailer.
Are you familiar with the benefits of polarized glasses? What about the benefits of a 4K television? Ok great, well High CRI is like a cross between both of those technologies except for all real life around you. But if you’re the kind of consumer that is happy buying the absolute cheapest TV with the worst image you can find, then a High CRI flashlight may not be right for you.
This, plus xtars threads are itself marketing, giving the brand visibility with not much effort. I might be mistaken, but he starts topics but never really enters the discussion.
In all honesty I don’t see it as a problem. Xtar is following the trend of hobbyists, which is the cutting edge and the way forward. The more decent leds that flood the market the better right…? Sure I may not clearly notice the difference myself but I’m sure there are a lot of Muggles out there with better eyesight than me. I say muggles because I’m pretty sure most hobbyists are aware of cri and make their own choices.
I just wanted to comment that it looked like a marketing ploy. If xtar was straight up and said so I wouldn’t have posted.