Fair point though. I’m sure I have an especially pink sample here.
That’s also a great point too, the 219b became popular when there weren’t very many other choices for a high CRI light. And being that I wasn’t really into flashlights as much back then, I missed the boat on them. These days with the all the other options, I guess I don’t see any reason to miss the older stuff.
(Edit: sorry about deleting my first post, I just meant to edit it. Still getting the hang of this)
I’ll finally chime in - I totally disagree! 
I just installed a 219B sw30 in a flashlight this weekend and it looks awesome. Slightly rosy and an excellent beam. It’s in a small 14500 flashlight so lumens was not my goal.
It’s been said before, and I’ll say it again, there’s just something special about these 219B LEDs!
The sw45k (as I suspect the OP has) is somewhat unique since it’s especially rosy. It’s great in my opinion, but certainly much rosier than the sw27 thru sw40 219Bs.
And as others have said above, the bin of the 219B makes a big difference with the amount of rosiness. I got the sw45 (not the sw45k) from KD with the 240 bin and it was very neutral, perhaps slightly green. I replaced it soon afterwards since I didn’t like it.
And with my 219B triples, I’ve swapped out the purple AR lenses with green AR lenses to make them a little more rosy. I kept the purple lens with the sw45k though since it’s already very rosy.
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It’s kinda funny how tastes change once The New Shiny comes along. 
First, the 219B was The Dog’s Balls because it was, well, a Nichia. Used to be that it was Cree Or Nothing… except for Nichia.
Then along came the 351s, and became The New Favorite.
Then the SFTs and CSIs and NCISes, etc., and now the 519As are tops, and everything prior is trash.
Man, I remember when everyone loved Luxeon Rebels…
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Aha. I grew up with incandescent flashlights (very low powered rechargeable ones, even warmer than normal even for an inca), so when I got my first LED light I was fascinated by the futuristic bluish-green tint.
Then I came full circle when I realized how awful the color rendering was. I sincerely believe that tint snobs on BLF and CPF have contributed massively to the fundamental change in the LED market in terms of availability and variety in tint and high CRI.
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You mean the exaggerated reds per the 219B SPD graphs. It was the strangest thing on enthusiast forums with people calling this thing neutral when it cast a pink glow over everything. Thankfully the world has moved on to better things.
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For neutral R9080 the Nichia E21A the d220 bin is a very nice underappreciated emitter and in quad configuration quit powerful.
Thank you for sharing your preference.
219B second, LH351D fourth. Negative Duv from an LH351D at low power is surprising though.
As to the original point, OP likely has an sw45k, which is intentionally unnaturally rosy. I heard a rumor it was designed for meat counters and love hotels, but quite a few of us enjoy rosy flashlights at least some of the time. It’s not for everyone and that’s fine, but I agree with TK’s take on hot takes.
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Something kinda irrelevant that only just occurred to me. When something is considered “rosy” i usually assimilate it with more of a red colour, not the barbie pink of the 219b.
No and no. Keep in mind that this is 4000k, so no sw45k. I should mention that the other two are 519a and 219c and these are selected favorite LEDs for comparison. The 219c is one of my best from a light that got a transplant. The 519a and LH351d are both 5000k shaved to 1mm to get ~4000k. I could have included a SST-20 that also looks almost identical except it is a different host with different TIR and the beam is a lot narrower. Anyway, the point is there are good and bad bins for all the LEDs.
FB
219B is considered the gold standard for tint and CRI.
That said, none of my lights currently use 219B. The maximum output is too low for me. Even the best tint and CRI are useless if the flashlight isn’t bright enough to get the job done.
I much prefer dedomed 519a.
On chat, someone asked if anyone still uses lights with 219B. So I did a quick count, and it seems I have 14 lights which have that emitter and get used regularly.
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You can personally consider it that, and you’re entitled to your opinion of course, but stating this as fact that everyone must accept (especially the tint part) is just silly. It’s visibly pink to the naked eye. You don’t even have to measure the duv to tell.
I don’t like my emitters to be noticeably pink or green, personally. I’m happiest in the -0.0025 to +0.0025 duv range, outside of which the tint starts to be really noticeable to me.
I EDC a kr4 with 219ct 5000k quad, love the tint.
I have a few lights with 219B and they’re extremely variable. Some have a nice tint, some a weird one to the point my nicest tint SST20 light is a decent margin better. Really, they aren’t lights I use much other than just playing with them or “I think I’ll use this one today” so it’s not terrible, but they aren’t ever going to be the only light I’d take somewhere, I guess. 519A are an improvement over 219B in every single way.
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Eep! 14 lights regularly?
Other than my Zanflare lantern (T1, F1, whatever it was) and a neck-light for “reading” microprint so-called “manuals” when my electron microscope is in the shop, I only use like 2-3 lights on the regular.
I have a headlight right here but rarely can get arsed to use it unless I absolutely have to go handsfree for quite a while.
Other than that, it’s my TS10 for around the house/car, the Tacklife with layers of diffusion film in the kitchen, basement, etc., when I don’t care about probably 7000K light from a hideous G2 (hence the diffusion film), and, umm, I think that’s it.
What I have available right here in front of me but don’t actively use unless I have a Special Need for it (eg, GTmicro for minor throwing, FC13 for a bit more oomf, Q8ish DC7 for looooong runtime, etc.), I’m not sure I’d call regular use. Same as my bag-lights, that I have and carry around, but rarely use.
I wonder just how many lights people (those here, not, like, normal people) in general actually use regularly.
Yes, counting just the 219B ones. Actually 15… I just remembered one I forgot earlier. But the light I’ve been using the most lately is a D4K 519A 5700K dedomed.
Others I use include Osram W1, Cree XP-L HI, XP-L HD, XM-L2, XP-G2, XP-E2, SFT-40, LH351D, whatever those CSP LEDs are in the TS10, and even one SST-20 light. SST-20 isn’t so bad if you take the optics off and use it as a mule… it makes nearly all the extra green go sideways where it gets absorbed by the body of the light.
You mean, it’s not normal to have 3 digits worth lights and know, off the top of your head, the make and model of the LEDs inside each? 
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After a while, I’m just like, “warm… cold… ugh, green… hmm, noice…” etc.
Hell, half the time I have to look at the light itself to see what model it is, unless it’s something distinctive like a Cat Mini or GTmicro or whatnot.
What emitter’s under the hood? Pfft, no idea. Back to, “warm… cold… ugh, green… hmm, noice…”.
Except the MT-G2. I can usually pick out its creamy goodness out of a lineup.
Mmmm, most normies have a CVS special that takes a trio of AAAs and think that’s cutting-edge tek invented by NASA.
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In the 4000 - 5000k range, 219B is still a king. Unfortunately 519A domed or dedomed is not nearly close to that tint, dd, sliced or domed.
So yeah it might be considered garbage for many new followers of this rabbit hole but it’s still in massive use and won’t be completely replaced any time soon…
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