Hi, I’m a new fan of flashlight, using it indoor/at home or for hiking in forest/hills (I prefer good flood to great throw).
I firstly bought a few good flashlights, then one or two lumen monsters (mostly for the collection ;).
Then I thought : hey, theses lamps are brightly white, that’s really cool when playing with the turbo. But when I really uses it a long time, the 6500k tires my eyes. I tried a 5000k lamp which was better. then a dude on YouTube convinced me to buy an Acebeam X50 2.0 High CRi. Too bad, it seems fully out of stock (I think the production is even stopped). So I’m thinking about trying a High CRI Flashlight but I don’t know where to start, that’s where I need your advices
For you is High Cri usefull, necessary, mandatory or useless compared to a Neutral white color ?
Is High Cri lights usefull everywhere ? (I mean to light a room, to use in a moonlight mode, to light the motor of your car when working on it, for big flashlight etc…)
Do you have other flashlight recommendation than the Acebeam X50 2.0 High CRi. (Or do you know how to find this one) ?
Or do you have a preferred LED model ? (I recently only saw GT-FC40 led and Nichia 519A ? Is there other better LeD ?
Bonus) Do you recommend any (non dimmable) high CRI lightbulb ?
Im new on flashlights too, and so far i have the Fenix WT25R and Fenix E12 V2.0 , and im pretty pleased with them and i think it’s a nice combo for everyday use around the house… !
Whether you need high CRI or not depends on your use cases. If you want to see colours fairly accurately, or just simply a more pleasant illumination of what is around you, then >90CRI is the way to go. My preference is lights with 519A LEDs. However, if you require flashlights for maximum brightness or efficiency per flashlight size, then you might be better off with 70CRI flashlights.
I’m not an expert on this and I’m not sure if this is exactly what you’re looking for, but you should have at least one light with the E21A R9050 2000K. I have 50+ flashlights but I keep coming back to the soft golden sunrise tint of this emitter.
IMO. High CRI light is closer to natural light and you see more natural colors with it. It is Not really related to CCT and likely does not affect how “tired” your eyes get in most cases.
It is always good to have and it has no downsides, but it is very rarely required. Main disadvantage in flashlights specifically - it is harder to produce such light and emitters end up being less efficient. Which translates into more heat, less light and less runtime in the same flashlight.
I personally do not buy flashlights with low CRI emitters nowadays unless i have some very specific reason to. Most modern lights are way more powerful than needed anyway and losing some brightness to get more natural light is not an issue for me.
Do you really need x50? It is a lot of light, it is large, unwieldy and is basically a specialized searchlight.
There are plenty of lights available with high CRI emitters nowadays.
Based on described usecase i am going to recommend something like skilhunt H04 or M150v3/M200v3 if you do not want L-shaped (but honestly L-shaped light is the most versatile thing ever and is great).
For you is High Cri usefull, necessary, mandatory or useless compared to a Neutral white color ? [/quote]
I find it useful, as I do salt with food. But not necessary. Still, as I wouldn’t pay for a meal without seasoning, I wouldn’t buy a light that wasn’t minimum 90 CRI, unless it would ever be used as a “searchlight”, where color rendering is not important and reach and high lumens is.
Is High Cri lights usefull everywhere ? (I mean to light a room, to use in a moonlight mode, to light the motor of your car when working on it, for big flashlight etc…) [/quote]
Mostly useful when looking for something in a dark garage among the clutter. Color helps separate things. Mostly pleasurable when walking the dog at night and seeing plants, flowers, cars, etc. with accurate color rather than “grayed out”.
If I’m lighting a room, CRI isn’t as important as CCT. A room at night needs the kind of light that would come from a fireplace… mixture of yellow and orange. CCT 3000 or 2700 works great for that, and is much more important than CRI.
Thanks photonmaster and l37 for your recommendations, I’m going to study it.
By the way, when you talk about an emitter is that corresponds to a flashlight model or a LED model ?
Thanks for all your advices .
I think I’m still confusing some notions,
For example CCT and CRI (your explanation helps me)
I have read a test yesterday, I’m starting to understand some elements (CRI Ra / R9/ R12/ ; CCT). But I don’t understand how to understand some tests :
Example :
Hi Kerberus and welcome to BLF,
I am a huge fan of high-CRI lights, almost all of mine are that way unless they’re throwers, or dedicated “maximum output” lights at the cost of a pretty beam (like an Emisar DT8 with osram W2s), most of them being neutral white between 4000-5000k. The better color rendition is usually useful, especially when working on things as it helps distinguish between parts, or between similarly colored things, like a stick and dog poop when walking outside.
I suggest trying out a high-cri flashlight (maybe with dedomed 519a 5700k, or domed 4000k) and seeing if you like it, and if you do, consider an Emisar D18 with the SST20 4000k, it is 95cri and over 10k lumens. You can also request it via email with 519a, but it is an upcharge of around $50 for a very small improvement.
As far as high-cri LEDs go, the popular ones in the standard 3535 size are:
Nichia 219b (famously rosy tint in 4500k, not very bright)
Nichia 519a (bright and very large range of color temperature from 2700 to 5700k, excellent red representation)
Luminus SST20 2700/4000k (cheap, available, and throwy)
Samsung LH351D (very floody and bright, not as good red representation, sometimes green tinted)
There are a few high-CRI options from Cree but they usually have ugly tint (green/yellow), so they’re not especially popular.
The FC-40 is a large die LED (same footprint as cree XHP70) known for good tint and high-CRI, but they are kind of inefficient and the 12v construction means they need more expensive drivers, so it isn’t as popular in non-enthusiast flashlights.
. That’s fun to discover that every YouTube Channel I follow belongs to a BLF’s member !