I have not been able to find any specific discussion in regards to differences between these two drivers. I am mostly interested because I am trying to decide between a Skillhunt H200 (519a) and Armytek Wizard C2 Nichia (144AR).
I have seen different pictures and video of the Nichia and it has a rosy tint to it (although a few users here have reported a greenish tint instead). There’s a video comparing the Wizard with the H300 (XHP50.2 high CRI 5k), in the forest at night it seemed the H300 had more neutral colorw, the rosy tint of the Wizard was very prominent, made trees and leaves look rosy when compared directly with the H300.
I am not a big fan of this rosy tint but everyone says that the Wizard Nichia provides one of the best color rendition. Maybe it’s different when seen in person? I am wondering how does the 144AR compare to the 519a in the H200? Is the 519a more neutral?
Has anyone experience with comparing these two drivers/lamps?
The 144AR cannot compete with the 519A in color rendering. It is a R9050 emitter like 219C (CRI 93 typical, R9 60 typical), while the 519A is a R9080 emitter (CRI 97 typical, R9 90 typical). So the 519A will make colors, particularly reds, richer and more saturated.
Moreover, the 519A is much more consistent in tint and CRI between samples, while there is quite a lottery with the 144AR.
Thank you @QReciprocity42 that’s really useful! A bit of a shame as I really liked the Wizard but not so happy about the tint lottery.
I will have to rethink this through. The warm C2 is out of the question as too yellow, and the white C2 I believe is around 5700k but I don’t know what low CRI means.
Both 519a and N144 are High CRI
and these two tests by zeroair show the Tint is very close… All LEDs have lottery…
519a shows Red colors a bit more vividly than N144… thats what the R9 number is, Red Color Rendering:.
True, though some lotteries are riskier than others. With the 519A I’ve never even heard of a bad sample. With the 144AR, there is a nonzero probability that you’ll get this:
“High CRI” is a vague and non-quantitative term, and not all “high CRI” emitters are created equal. In particular, the 519A’s light quality is superior to that of the 144AR.
But I am likely prioritizing emitter quality more heavily than you do or the OP does, so do take other factors into consideration.
Ive seen 519a with very positive Tint DUV, and others slightly negative, the lottery is real
my ace in the hole is knowing I can DeDome the 519a, to change the tint to be more to my liking…
but OP has not yet learned what CRI and Tint are… he needs first hand experience, not an endless wall of words from other people (guilty as charged… lol)
to me the Armytek is uggly as sin, but, its potted, drop proof, and water proof, to a greater degree than the Skilhunts
OP needs first hand experience to decide… you and me talking, wont give him the experience we have… he needs to get his own lights to develop his own experience
whatever the OP chooses, buying on Amazon gives an easy return option… hes narrowed it down to two choices, so… the time is near to open the wallet
There is a very good chance this is due to choice of secondary optic. I’ve sampled a combined 40ish 519As, containing all CCTs and purchased 2 years apart, and none of them is remotely green under the right optic (such as a Carclo 10507). A S2+ reflector, AAA flashlight reflector, or a Carclo 10509, on the other hand, will turn every single one of them green.
On the other hand, a 5000K 219C and LH351D were green under every optic I’ve tried.
This is very true. On the other hand, I really wish someone had guided me through when I first started on flashlights–it took me a long time (5 years) to finally discover just how good quality lights can be in every department, from throw to CRI, because I was not exposed to lights/emitters that are the best in their department, such as 519A for CRI. Some experience is certainly good, but it is also good to skip the Maglites and Ultrafires and other mediocre stuff, and get right to the good stuff.
If the OP does not mind the hassle, this is a viable strategy. I would personally rather avoid the hassle, and cut down on the resources wasted in getting an extra light shipped and sent back.
I think I would probably go with H200 (in 4500K) over H300 and Wizard, just because I like the 519As so much more than the 144AR and XHP50.2, which is the ugliest of the bunch. An additional red light channel is nice too. I have not looked into the Zebra offerings.
Apart from tint, one other think to consider is max output, sustained and candela IMHO.
I would probably go with the H300 myself.
I have some lights with LH351D, 219C, 519A, 719A and B35AM, and while I like the 519A after getting some B35AM I’m never going back to the 519A.
me too,
I value an optional Red secondary,
and my favorite LED is the DeDomed 4500K 519a… because DeDomed 519a gives me a tint below the BBL that I prefer over the more neutral Domed 519a.
here is my EC200s Mini w red, before and after DeDoming the 4500K 519a… I like the color of the beam on the right, other people like the one on the left… with 519a we get two tints to pick from
Completely understandable. I still stick with the 519A for 2 reasons: for one, it is 3V and has a common footprint, so I can stuff it anywhere. Also cheaper and more robust both mechanically and electrically.
The main reason, however, is that I can use it with the Carclo 10507 optic. I still don’t understand why, but the 10507 optic appears to increase the CRI of the beam from the same emitter, compared to other optics and all reflectors. If I were to line up a 519A 5700K in a generic optic/reflector, a 519A in a 10507, and SunLike violet-pumped emitters, the quality of 519A with 10507 appears between the extremes, and noticeably better than through a reflector or generic optic. Less pale, less yellow/blue, more accurate representation of blue-green and dark green objects.
But for single-emitter setups, the B35AM is almost always preferable.
Makes complete sense! Even though I currently prefer domed 519As (as long as I can find the right secondary optic to give it good tint!), I did go through a lengthy dedomed 519A phase, and they are very pretty. 4500K dedomed also used to be my favorite of the bunch!
Thanks a lot for the interesting discussion. This is not my first lamp actually. I have a HD15r with a LH351D 5.000K 90CRI. I am satisfied with the tint, although I have no other serious flashlight to compare with but it seems quite neutral, maybe would be useful if someone had a side by side with the 519 and 144. But it’s not ideal for close range work, I want really good flood. For a work lamp I want a neutral tint as much as possible, for a camping light I might want something a bit warmer but it’s not the case for now. The H200 is slightly different in terms of the modes, the high mode has half battery duration compared to the C2 main3.
I find ironic that most reviews focus on turbo modes when such modes only last a few minutes, when most of the time headlamps will be used in the lower modes, a bit ridiculous if I may say.
@jon, I definitely prefer the ec200 domed tint. I am not buying any of these from Amazon as they just act as middle man and have higher prices, so I would have to return both if I did what was suggested. My preference would be the C2 sand, but it only comes with the 5700k driver which I think it’s too harsh. Comparative pictures such as the one jon showed, with my current driver would be very useful.
Curiosity, what is the typical K and CRI of smartphone lights? My Huawei light seem to give pretty good neutral CRI.
Convoy H3 and H4. IIRC H3 has Orange Peel reflector whereas H4 uses TIR optic. Unfortunately both use 21700 battery and would be way too heavy for me.
For OP, IMHO/to my eyes, 519a 4500k not dedomed is yellow (too yellow), whereas B35AM is less yellow, more whitish creamy and one of the most beautiful Nichia beams to me. B35AM is very throwy in my Convoy M21B, if this is for closeup work, I would think the H4 w/ TIR is better. That TIR looks like it has diffusing beads. This is a heavy headlamp so I would think you need two-strap type head band (one around, one on top).
Above 90 CRI, sadly, cameras are ill-equipped to pick up (and screens ill-equipped to display) differences in color rendering–both processes lose too much color information. Remember that color-rendering is about the completeness and balance of the spectrum, while any spectrum displayable by a screen consists of just 3 spikes at RGB. The differences between, say, a 144AR and 519A, can be very obvious in-person, but pictures through a camera might have issues picking it up.
I don’t quite understand this sentence, because type of driver and color temperature of LED are completely unrelated things. Can you say more?
Varies a lot from model to model. I’ve seen anything from <4000K to >5000K, and CRI ranging from <60 to 99.
