Though come to think of it, I don’t look at lumens by itself. I’m mostly interested in how bright the hotspot is, so intensity matters. Even in small flooders (triples and quads with Carclo optics, etc.).
219b may only be 25% less bright…. but when I compare the intensity of the hotspot to SST-20 or XPL-HI, the reduction is vastly more than 25%. That’s the primary reason why I’m not satisfied with 219b in my pocket edc lights.
Also, while 219b may be 25% less bright at the same current… it can’t handle as much current as more modern LEDs. An Emisar D4v2 with SST-20s run on full FET with a fresh VTC6 inside is significantly brighter than a similar light with 219b and current capped below max FET.
I’ve been holding off on commenting on this thread but it seems to have settled a little now.
Current question - “is it a must have?” well no. i’m sure that’s no surprise to anyone. Jon seems to be misunderstood in this thread. I know how that feels. I’m not actually against cri I know shock horror right? I might’ve been a little more negative in the past but i got over myself (and that was before the rafish thread). Now for some reason when people see i’m not into cri they assume i like 6500k cct. Maybe that’s true for rayfish but not myself. I like 4000k and have for a long time so the step from 4000k to 4000k high cri isn’t significant enough for me to worry about. And before anyone jumps on that comment and tries to construe it to mean i’m against cri (which implies i’m against all people who like cri) let it be clear that it is just not an issue for me whether the light is or is not high cri (because i have both in my collection).
Previous question - “is it important?” still no for me but i would probably be the only one to say no in that situation. Why do i say that? Well because it was obviously important to rayfish (because he actively didn’t want it). You might ask why i stuck my nose in the rayfish thread and to be honest i was just stirring up the extremists, much like RC is doing.
With pictures like the one below i wonder if some people are going straight from 6000k low cri to 4000k high cri and are attributing their viewing pleasure to the high cri…?? Take that comment as it is - pure speculation.
As far as the difference in output between low and high CRI emitters, I don’t look at it as n % difference or a “loss” of n lumens. I just look at it as “does the light achieve what I need it to do”. If a high CRI EDC light can do 450 lumens, that is far more than I need, so yes, this light would be great for me. I don’t really care that there is another version of the same light with a low CRI emitter that can do 2000 lumens. I don’t need that, so I’d rather take the high CRI.
That’s not to say CRI is the most important thing to me though. It is important, but if the high CRI emitter had a nasty green tint but the low CRI emitter had a nice neutral/rosy tint, I’d probably gravitate toward the low CRI version.
There’s just too many variables to narrow it down to high vs low CRI.
All about convenience and usability for me. Kind of like they say about weapons, “the best one is the one you have and can use”
My EDCs are currently all Olight i5Rs (orange ano alu, cu, ti) They’re relatively tiny and get the job done without much hassle on my part.
Pretty light is great, but ENOUGH light let’s me get the job done, and EASY light let’s me get it done easier.
I want to get something “high cri” but I haven’t decided which one to try first. (I’m open to suggestions if anyone has any, I’m thinking 219b, but I’m new to all this “highly engineered torch” stuff)
No. Not necessarily. I focus more on the CCTs and beam patterns that I want. My lights have all kinds of emitters ranging from old XM-L2 to CSLNM1.TG; maybe one S2+ is somewhat high CRI because it has a 219C, and I don’t feel super compelled to carry it.
e21a’s look better than sunlight to me. Anything that makes colors pop similar to e21a’s, in a flashlight, are going to get a ‘wow’ out of people, just as throwing a pencil-beam a mile wows them.
CRI has not been a priority for me, but since I purchased an Emisar DT8 with SST-20 4000k 95CRI led’s, it has been the only light I’ve carried. I would be fine carrying my D4SV2 with Osram W2’s, but as long as the DT8 is working, I always have it on me. For my old eyes, the light it produces just makes things easier to see at night. It is even easier for me to find something small that I may have dropped. And with 8 LED’s, lumen output is not a problem.
Given the popularity of the 4000k LH351D, I finally got a hold of a light with one, and did not find it to my liking. In general, I do prefer warmer ambient lighting (so my LT1 is set somewhere in the middle), and it does look fine from the side, but for task lighting, I found the illumination of subjects too dingy looking.
Received a light with the 5000k LH351D, and it’s much closer to the droids I was looking for.
And though it’s not fair to compare two different emitters, of unknown bins, it does make things look more natural than a 5000k SST-40, so I guess that’s where the CRI part comes in.
Am curious to see how it compares to a 5000K 219C, so I’ll probably end up ordering a TS21 one they sort out its issues, but I’m going to hold off on the regular 4000k SST-20 version.
We need a third option: High CRI Indoors/Low(er) CRI outdoors.
If I plan to spend all day inside buildings and vehicles I carry a high CRI option. If I am going to be outside and want that extra “oomph” I choose a lower CRI option with more output.
I have a 4500k e21a light on me now because I work an office 9-5 job. If I go for a walk later, I’ll swap that out for an XPL-HI light or XHP50.2
