I really enjoy High-CRI, Neutral-tinted lights and mostly use flashlights for illuminating the path in front of me while walking. As such I prefer floody lights. I currently own a SC63w and I’ve put a piece of scotch tape over my SC63w to diffuse the light. The tint is also a rather nasty greenish-yellow. I’ve talked to Zebralight, and they said they’d be willing to install a frosted lens on the SC5c for me at the factory, so that’s a plus for me. I’m trying to decide if I should return the SC63w for an SC5c pre-order.
Pros of the SC63w:
1126 lumens vs 475 lumens max brightness
8x longer runtimes on the same brightness level
Pros of the SC5c Mk II:
93-95 vs 80 CRI
14g lighter (w/ battery), 12mm shorter
No tint lottery (Tint Variation within 2-step MacAdam Ellipse)
^ I would assume max output will step down pretty fast, so if you are comparing lumens I would compare the highest modes that can run continuously.
D-C fix is a great diffuser film, but is best applied to the inside of the lens. Not sure how easily the lens are removeable on Zebralight’s as I’ve never owned one.
From what I gather, it’s pretty difficult to remove the lens on a ZL so that’s pretty out of the question for me unfortunately.
Looks like the highest that each can run continuously is roughly the same @ 312 lumens on the SC63w vs 352 lumens on the SC5c. I’ve heard the PID stepdown on the SC63w basically bottoms out at around 500 lumens though, so I’ll use that as a reference.
First decide if you are willing to be limited to NiMh, or hope ZL changes their mind about a HiCri SC 63/4f.
Not being a fan of the SC 5 shape, or as fond of CREEs I have received in my ZLs, I am grateful to Clemence for supplying Nichias for my EDCs. Triples with TIR optics give me the diffusion I like.
What do you mean by “limited” to NiMH? Doesn’t seem like I’m losing any lumens or runtime by using NiMH AA as compared to 14500.
Has ZL said anything about regarding Hi CRI 18650? An SC63 form factor Hi CRI light would definitely be ideal for me in terms of pretty much all aspects.
I currently have a Triple Nichia 219C built into a Convoy S2 with an 18350 body, but I was hoping to get something a bit more compact for EDC.
ZL has a 3 step SC 600 size flooder already. If the Convoy with 18350 is too big, my current EDC is a MecArmy PT-14 with 4000k. Nichia 219Bs
Sorry for having to repost out of sequence, I wanted to clean up things instead of so much quoting.
A really nice thing about the PT-18 and 14 is that the heads interchange. Illumination gear had the PT-18 at 30% off the other day…maybe a closeout.
*update, it is still listed, and it is the version 2, that is the UI you want, not the earlier V.1
That’s pretty cool that they’re willing to make a SC5fcII for you. I’d go for that option just so that you can say you have a one-of-a-kind ZL (unless they make that a standard model).