I know most people prefer the neutral nichia219 but I also wanted to build a p60 drop in with a warmer high cri bulb.
Where is the best place to pick some up? Is my best option a warmer nichia219 or is there another LED out there that has more lumens/watt.
I just need a bulb that is warmwhite, high cri, and as much lumens/watt as possible.
Just did some researching and it seems if I want high CRI but don’t care about it being neutral there are a lot of options.
I believe there are some high CRI (90) XMLs which would be really nice. This will be my bedside light, something I may use to light up a room for longer durations of time so I want high CRI + warm. If I go XML, I’ll be able to get more lumens + better runtime than a nichia too.
Is a high CRI warm XML the best option?
For a bedside light, the warm high CRI might be nice. The incandescent-like tint would be soothing on the eyes.
i had one of these in a p60 up until a few days ago … built by nailbender… i really enjoyed the tint 
only sold to fund another project… about 450-550 lumens and a very nice incandescent looking warm white…
a very nice emitter and superior to nichia 219 in my opinion (more output and a nice warm feel)
You can get Bridgelux ES and RS series arrays in 90cri (2700k and 3000k varieties and up to 7000 lumens). Their Decora series is rated at 98cri but I’ve yet to find any place that sells them yet.
For a small bedside lamp, you probably won’t need more than 1200 lumens so a BXRA-30G1200 (90cri, 3000K, 1200lm, 15W) would work well for this. Slap it to a small CPU heatsink and you’re good. For power, you’ll need a 30V supply. You can find them on ebay pretty cheap or you can play it conservative and get something along the lines of a MeanWell LED power supply (the LPF-16D-30 would work here. it goes for about $23 online). Nice thing about this particular Mean Well unit is it supports 3 separate dimming methods so you can use either a simple potentiometer, a standard 0-10V signal or a 10V PWM.
(edited for lousy grammar)
heard of them..
but don't know anyone who carries them .. & never heard of anyone who ever had one ..You can be first :P
Forgot to mention I’ll be using this in a p60 drop in. Looks like for now the XML high cri is the best option?
Are they making XML-2s in high cri? I can’t find a source for any, not even the normal XML high cri