This is my first posting, though I’ve been reading this forum occasionally for several years.
I have owned the SC600 and SC52 Zebralights for about 4 years. I carry the SC52 clipped to my pocket, and the SC600 stays in a pouch in the console of my truck. I’ve never really felt a need to replace or upgrade either, as they are pretty much ideal for their uses. I also have a Nitecore HC50 headlamp that I use when working on cars or machinery at night, or sometimes just walking around. Every time I think about getting some new light, I ask myself whether I would use it instead of the Zebralights or the Nitecore, and the answer is invariably “no”.
One of my shooting buddies (also a member of this forum) recently sent me a link to some information on the Emisar D4, and for once I saw something that was unique, useful, fun, and quite differentiated from anything else I own.
I ordered a Ti version with Nichia emitters, and also an 18350 body. It arrived this week, and these are my impressions:
GOOD
- This is the brightest flashlight I have ever held. Shining on my garage door, it is brighter than both of my truck headlights combined.
- The quality of machining and finish is amazing. Everything is perfect, even the knurling.
- The user interface is pretty good. I still like the Zebralight interface a little better, but I can see where this one may grow on me. I definitely prefer having a “volts and tenths” battery readout instead of the ZL “four or less blinks” relative scale.
- While somewhat heavy, the physical size of the D4 is smaller than my SC600.
- Electronic side switch - the only way to go!
NEUTRAL
- On “high”, the body gets warm really quickly. But that is to be expected, given the amount of DC power going to the LEDs. I’ll probably use the D4 in “tactical” mode (accessed by four short button presses), for an intermittent high-power beam that goes out as soon as the switch is released.
- The circuit is very inefficient at low output levels. As the light is dimmed, the current seems to asymptotically approach something around 3 or 4 ma. I suspect that, even if there were a firmware mod to reduce light further, the current would still be the same. Possibly this is the current required to keep the circuitry alive. So the D4 will not be seeing duty as my night light - the Zebralights are substantially more efficient at that task.
BAD
- The beam is extremely “floody”, almost as if the LEDs are not well-suited to the TIR lens. I wish it were a little more focused. The beam actually does reach out and touch stuff at a distance, due to sheer power alone, but at the same time everything in the foreground is even more saturated with light.
- The “beacon” implementation is actually just a “blinker”. A true beacon should have a very low duty factor, allowing it to be a highly-visible locator while still preserving battery charge. Something like 0.1-second “on” time every few seconds would be much better than the existing programming.
MY QUESTION
In browsing the volumes of posts on this flashlight, I ran across someone who said that one of the other emitter choices (XPL?) provided substantially more throw. The LEDs did not have a lot more output, so it would seem to imply that they somehow focused better with the provided optics.
Has anyone compared both emitter versions side-by-side to ascertain the truth? Is it really possible to achive twice the focus with the optional emitters?
If so, I will probably gift this D4 or sell it at a discount, then order the version with more throw.
thanks and regards,
Martin
