Browsing the LED selection at KD, I found some high CRI XHP50.2. and 70.2. LEDs in warmer to neutral tints. How good are they, do they suffer the same ugly coronas like regular ones? Why does it seem that almost no manufacturer is using them? Seems only Zebralight uses them in their headlamps.
I’d like to know aswell. I think there is tint shift in the beam and possible donut holes? I think slicing reduces/removes the tint shift iirc.
Maybe because ZL is known for using very ugly and green leds (with some exceptions).
The same tint shifts as the low CRI versions are there but they are more bearable because the corona is not puke green but a bit more yellowish. About general tint, high CRI Cree leds are usually greenish (above the BBL), there are some exceptions but which batch from which seller is good can not be predicted.
All XHP50.2 and XHP70.2 have the same yellow corona and tint shift no matter if 70CRI or 90CRI.
I have XPL2’s and XHP70.2’s in 90 CRI. They can be a bit green sometimes but you certainly notice the high CRI. They are better if they are below BBL.
I suppose that most flashlights using XHP70.2 are made for high output and high CRI is not important to them. Recently with the 95CRI SST20 the high CRI became more popular. They are a little better than the high CRI XHP’s and XPL’s if they are FD2 or FA3 below BBL.
A month ago I posted some beamshots of the 90CRI XHP70.2 in a MantaRay C8.2 host in the Kaidomain thread:
Thank you very much for the detail explanation and samples. I hate the annoying tint shift of these 50.2 and 70.2 so much. I was thinking about swap them to the Hi-CRI versions, but that does not seem to help.
Any recommendation for a similar performance as replacements for XHP50.2 and XHP70.2? I really like XHP35 HI, but I seem like they have discontinued them
I have around 5 x XHP50 with sanded/brushed dome in several hosts and around 3 x XHP70 with the same dome mod in bigger old school flashlights. I like their color and tint despite beeing positive duv.
From new gen only 2 x XHP50.2 are in Convoy S21A but with the shaved dome and 1 x XHP70.2 in Convoy M21C with also shaved dome.
Like guys said previoudly, yellow corona on .2 emitters is terible therefore i like first gen more.
ZL on the other hand using frosted lens eliminates that problem.
To remove the tint shift it is often recommended to dedome the led and remove the yellow phosphor around the die. Dedoming is a bit of a risky process as you easily remove too much phosphor and get a blue led.
Your best bet for leds without tint shift would be if Luminus brings out the SST40 and SST70 in 4000K 95 CRI. I’m still waiting for those leds. They should already have the right phosphor mixture from the SST20 4000K and the SST70 are essentially 4 SST20 dies. But so far not even the SST70 in 5000K has appeared. The Luminus leds don’t have the excessive phosphor around the die that causes the yellow corona.
BLF user rngwn is selling the GT-FC40, a domeless 12V 7070 led with 95 CRI. The SBT90.2 led becomes more and more popular. It is a 9090 3V led with 5700K. As of now there are no other options for high power leds similar to XHP50.2 and XHP70.2 that I know of, only the old XHP70 or XHP50 but they can cause a donut hole in the beam.