I truly have no clue about heat from each emitter. But I know people always say that high CRI is less efficient. That leads me to believe that you would get better runtimes from lower CRI emitters. On this light though, It has an efficient driver and will likely hold pretty close to the same constantly outputs once the turbo drop-downs happen. I could be wrong but if you don’t rely on turbo much anyway, you should probably just get whatever you prefer. CRI or output or whatever. You will have a great driver to hold a decent steady output either way.
I just checked, and Fireflies has the E07x Pro with XPL-Hi 4000k’s as an option, so I’d imagine they can be requested in the E12R if in stock…
https://www.ff-light.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=64&product_id=81
There will still be a significant measured difference between low-CRI and high-CRI emitters in regulated modes due to the different efficiencies of the emitters. Visually it might not be so much though.
I just stumbled upon this thread and I am wondering: Why dos the title state 15000 Lumen when the maximum output the FireFlies web site states is 12000 Lumen, with the CREE XPL2 HD W2 6500K emitters?
Thank you for answering that. Now that you explain that. My mind realizes that of course the low CRI would have a higher regulated output. They put out more lumen per amp so DUH. Just looked at my E12R box and the specs say the 12,000 lumen version will regulate down to 2580 lumen. So naturally, something like the Nichia’s will probably hold something closer to like 1500 lumen or so. And every other emitter will be somewhere in between those two. Makes perfect sense. Thank you again. Especially for showing me how little I was using my brain here.
Edit: And please correct me if I’m still wrong about something.
Hey there, sorry i just saw the thread updates here!
So yes, the xpl-hi 4000k i ordered was a "special request" from Jack. I just emailed Jack AFTER I PLACED MY order, with the order number i got from the website, and asked for the xpl-hi 4000k emitters. I also put a note in the "special comments" section when placing the order. I usually do both just so they are less likely to miss it. They are pretty good and Jack or Oliver will email you back confirming your request. He told me it took an extra 4-5 days to make my xpl-hi request, and he was right - my light shipped out 6 days after i ordered it lol (i consider a 2-3 day processing time on a regular order to be normal).
Yes, xpl-hi 4000k are Not Hi CRI, as u/Lojik has stated. I do not mind a all though, i have the sst20 4000k FA4 version of the e12r and e07x and also the xpl-hi 4000k version o fthe e07x, and i really prefer the nicer tint of the xpl-hi 4000k 5A and 5D bins over the Hi CRI versions of the sst20 (this is my opinion, and most people may disagree). But i agree 100% with Lojik, once you find the tint and emitter you truly like, you will use it to judge every other emitter off of. that is what i do with a nice tint of xpl-hi 4000k (and Jack at FireFlies has nice bin tints, the 5A bin)
I prefer xpl-hi 4000k for its much higher output, better tint (my opinion) and better efficiency. efficiency to me means that its cooler/using less amps to be as bright- at non lower modes while running the light. So at turbo it still gets HOT, like all the other emitters, but at lower amp outputs it puts out more light with less energy needed. which is good in the small-ish hosts.
The only other emitter i would seriously consider is the Nichia 219b 4500k, i know Lojik can attest to that! lol. But i have that emitter in a emisar and it is really nice! also, i have read (in this thread earleir on) negative things about the samsung LH351d 4000k, that it is not as hi CRi as the sst20, and that it is green especially compared to the nicely tinted FA4 bin sst20 4000k emitters FireFlies uses.
so that is confusing, but basically i would go for these emitters, in this order: xpl-hi 4000k, nichia sw45k 4500k, sst20 4000k.
i like 4000k by far the most.
even though i own (and i really like) the sst20 4000k version, if i could go back i wouldve ordered the Nichia version. but, keep in mind, the output capabilities of these three 4000k lights will rank like this:
xpl-hi 4000k
sst20 4000k
nichia sw45k 4500k
So if your looking for that HI OUTPUT and Hi CRI, maybe stick with sst20 4000k, because it will give you a good middle ground.
Good luck! What color are you going to get? I have the sand and i am waiting on the black to come in. Pretty excited myself.
Hey man! i think you are right on with what you said, about lumens per amp. Also, the AWESOME reviews done by the team at 1lumen, had done a FANTASTIC review of the e12r, with Nichia LEDS - they have run time graphs, output and throw, even beam shot comparisons. The review was done by my favorite modder/reviewer (here from BLF nonetheless) GCHart (Gabriel). he really showed everything someone would want to knwo about the e12r, especially with Nichia LED's.
heres the review of the e12r Nichia version: https://1lumen.com/review/fireflies-e12r/
i have probably read that review 5 times lol. especially before i bought the light. you would've thought i would have bought the Nichia version because of it, but at that time i had no idea how much nicer tint they were than many other LED's.
Thanks I actually see that he have XPL Hi V2 5A 4000K up now…
I consider it… I am not sure if CRI is very important to me or not… since I have not have the luxuary to compare flashlights a lot side to side… and I have most experience with CRI flashlights…
the XPL Hi V2 5A 4000K will run cooler… and use less battery and bettery output… so what is the cri of this one ? also do you have any comparison or beamshots that would help me choose ?
The Nichia is my second choice probably… it is just that I have heard the the effenicny is bad on it not sure how much though compared to the samsung and sst.
And lastly… when I navigate too FF light.com it say “sold out” in the title but it still seem to be possible to put an order…
He also seem t have the black colour only I want the desert one… I see nealsgadgets hhave the desert one… but it is little bit more expensive to order from there…hower shipping from USA to Sweden is probably faster then from china…
I tested the E07 2021 Edition in the V2 5A xp-l. It’s a really nice tint, easy on the eyes, but not high CRI. I like more CW tints, but the 4000k xp-l is better than the 4000k sst20. I measured only about 82 CRI. Better than the 65-70 of the NW and CW xp-l and sst20 (and no green at low current). Output wise it’s coming in below the 5000K and 6500K xp-l and sst20 by about 400 Lumens, but not enough to make a difference.
I emailed fireflies if e12r and Nov mu21 is sold out as it say in the title but in stock in the product pagehe said e12r and Nov muv 21 is sold out.
Anyone know what is going on?
It is strange since it’s his newest flashlights. And u can’t order them currently.
I have been in contact with Jack quite a bit over the last 3 months, and asked him about the Nov-Mu, e12r, and e07x coming back into stock (they have been out of stock for about 4-6 weeks) and he told me they would be back in stock by about April or May 2022. He told me that FireFlies gets the micro chips for the buck drivers from TI in the US, and that the shortage of these chips is what is holding up the production of those specific lights.
Im hoping to see them come back ic stock so I can finally try the Nov-Mu, although i may try and grab a pl09mu in the mean time, but it does not have the same driver as the Nov-Mu of course.
He is releasing a Antique Brass version of the new 2021 E07 though, in the next couple of weeks. That information came from Lojik over on Reddit.
Thank You ArtiT59
Thanks for the info… I asked him about it no reply… But this explain why… I just wish… He was more transparent and did explain on the website… It’s confusing since you still can order as nornally… And says it is in stock even.
I fixed my E12R annoying buzzing noise, other people have also reported this problem with the new fireflies drivers (buck+FET), sometimes with lower CDR cells.
The first thing I did after disassembling the light was to test the driver with a large capacitor at the input, that immediately fixed it, even with my bench PSU with which the buzzing was much higher and it couldn’t reach max output. I forgot to screencap the oscilloscope but there were large oscillations, not always in the audible range and not at all input voltages/output current.
Anyway that confirmed that the buck converter is not stable due to lack of input capacitance, so I added some caps where I could :
(The pic isn’t great, sorry)
2x 10uF 0603 (red) on on top of the two original ones and a 22uF 0805 after removing some soldermask (purple). To be sure I also replaced the compensation capacitor (blue) for the Op-Amp as a value too low can also make the feedback loop for the constant current regulation unstable, a high value makes it too slow, that leads to a flash when powering up on low modes and slower strobe. I think the original value was 100pF but I did that a while ago so I’m not sure, new value is 1nF, it flashes roughly the output of PWM level ~4 when powering up on PWM level 1, not much of a problem since level 1 and 2 flickers and I use 3 as min level, but an optimal comp value would probably be something like 470pF so there is no flash at all while still helping with stability.
thank you for describing this information! I wish I understood it better, although I haven't experienced the annoying buzzing I've seen other people talk about when using lower CDR batteries.
^ Was Jack apprised of this issue and the solution that thefreeman came up with to address it for subsequent production units?
I emailed them about it a while ago, no reply.
That’s one thing that makes me hesitant to pull the trigger on another FF flashlight. I have two FF lights and the build quality is great… but I had comm problems and when an order got screwed up (spare battery left out), a subsequent order to get it (he wouldn’t ship the battery separately) resulted in the battery left out yet AGAIN. Then long gaps in replies. Hank has been pretty consistent on replies and that goes a long way. Another issue is the FF website has lots of inconsistencies within products or across products (e.g. drop down list shows one price for an accessory, but product details text shows another; dropdown list shows one set of emitters, but product details page shows a mixed set; some spec info is included with one flashlight but missing on another). It also looks to get updated “on the fly” with no annotations about updates made. I wanted to give FF the benefit of the doubt and attribute it to just a busy stretch around holiday time, but things hadn’t changed after that.
Looks like they’re more active on Facebook than anywhere else (BLF, Reddit).
The coming lineup looks interesting:
- Fireflylite P01 14500 EDC Flashlight
- Fireflylite P02 18650 EDC Thrower
- Fireflylite LEP01 / LEP02 White laser
- Fireflylite E12C (noted in recent group buy)
- Fireflylite X1 - XHP-70 V3 Thrower w/ Buck Driver
X1 in particular…
Correction: they did see it because it was in a discussion about another subject (sales), they just didn’t give a reply about this topic.