I’ve been doing some digging into the archives and was wondering if this should be more popular in 70CRI for efficiency minded applications. I was looking at the Skilhunt H04 after seeing Quadrupel’s driver thread and noticed that they now have XP-L2 as an option. I couldn’t find any reviews of that emitter on H04s, only that XM-L2s were previously an option. (I think XM-L2s would be 490 lumens at T2 in this table, at least it is for the H03 for the same 210 minute runtime.) Look at how much brighter they are than LH351D and 519As for the same light. I like high CRI, and I love the LH351D’s pinkish tint (did I get a unicorn?) in my YLP Gekko, but for my application of headlamps (running and skiing mostly), I wouldn’t give up lumens for high CRI. Efficiency is important because I want as much light as possible, and I’m always starting from full battery and (near) exhausting the battery each time I use it.
I know Petr of luciferlights has long used XP-L2s and he’s a light geek (he’s long posted here, on CPF, and mtbr lights and night riding) and has offered high CRI options in his lights. Yet he loves the XP-L2, especially bragging about the efficiency of the newest W3 bin. The 70CRI versions have good tint as seen in maukka’s tests and various Lucifer reviews:
I tested some non Easywhite binned 4000K XP-L2s a while back and found the CRI90 versions to be green/yellow in tint while the CRI70 versions were quite alright.
Those tests (link in the block quote) were of 70CRI and 90CRI lights sent to maukka by Petr.
The best application would be for activities that favor efficiency and lumens over color accuracy, such as orienteering, running, skiing, cycling, etc. (like Lucifer’s market, and my type of usage). And using it behind TIRs to avoid the tint shift.
Anyway, just my thoughts as I might go for the not popular XP-L2 NW choice over the 519A if I were to get an H04. I guess I should check that they picked the 70CRI version instead of the green 90CRI version first.