Zebralight SC600Fd III Plus - XHP50

[KeepingItLight]

How's this for a guess?

If we are liberal in our terminology, we can say that the current UI has 6 places to "program" a level.

H1 – 1 choice
H2 – 3 choices

M1 – 1 choice
M2 – 3 choices

L1 – 1 choice
L2 – 3 choices
​

This gives you 12 levels. With 18 modes, there will be 6 new levels. Why not assign them to the groups that end in "1"?

H1 – 3 choices
H2 – 3 choices

M1 – 3 choices
M2 – 3 choices

L1 – 3 choices
L2 – 3 choices
​

Now there are 18 modes.

At present, you select Low, Medium, or High before entering program mode. It does not matter whether mode "1" or "2" is active when you do this. The level you select in program mode is always assigned to mode "2."

For example, suppose you select High, and then double-click (if necessary) to switch to H1. If you then reprogram High mode, the new level will be assigned to H2. It does not matter that H1 was active when you entered program mode.

One way to implement the 18 modes described above would be to respect mode "1" and "2" when you enter program mode. Under this scheme, if H1 were active, then H1 would be the mode that was reprogrammed.

Simple, plausible, and almost certainly wrong!

 

[scs]

• With light off, enter Low, Medium, or High group as before.
• Then dbl click 10x to enter programming mode for that group.
• Then dbl click to cycle through available slots for programming (say 3 slots for High, 2 for Medium, and 3 for Low, or whatever)
• At any slot, press and hold to ramp. Change your mind or made a mistake? Press and hold to ramp again.
• Once you've found the output you like, either click once to save changes, exit programming mode, and turn light off, OR, dbl click to next slot and program it.
• Repeat for other groups.
• Remaining operation as before.

 

[snowlover91]

BTW I also asked them about the approximate shipping date of the first Plus batch and was ignored. Hope it is not delayed.

That doesn't surprise me, CPF has flooded them with so many emails about the light they probably can't keep up lol From past experience with ZL I expect the first batch will ship to international customers on or around the 24th as advertised and US orders typically 5-7 days later after the shipment from china arrives.

 

[TCY]

Oh well I was kinda hoping that they say "We'll ship the first batch within a week yay!". Still more than 3 weeks of waiting ahead.

ZL says that the current generations of ZL lights have no firmware memory space left since PID was introduced so I don't think these have the hidden set as well. High chance the SC600Fd III Plus has it though.

 

[TCY]

That doesn't surprise me, CPF has flooded them with so many emails about the light they probably can't keep up lol From past experience with ZL I expect the first batch will ship to international customers on or around the 24th as advertised and US orders typically 5-7 days later after the shipment from china arrives.

24th now seems like a millions years away!

BTW I asked the questions in the same ticket, so they probably chose to ignore it. Maybe they get hundreds of people asking for shipping date every day:duh2:

 

[snowlover91]

24th now seems like a millions years away!

BTW I asked the questions in the same ticket, so they probably chose to ignore it. Maybe they get hundreds of people asking for shipping date every day:duh2:

Or maybe they don't want to spoil the fun and anticipation of waiting! Out of all the lights I've ever ordered this one has to be my most anticipated light. It also has my highest expectations too with knowing how good ZL is and it being 93-95 cri. Soon enough we will find out if it lives up to the hype.

 

[noboneshotdog]

Zebralight is like a fine woman, the kind you want to spend your life with. She will always have that sense of mystery that keeps you interested and wanting more. Keep up the good work ZL.

 

[noboneshotdog]

Zebralight is like a fine woman, the kind you want to spend your life with. She will always have that sense of mystery that keeps you interested and wanting more. Keep up the good work ZL.

Maybe they can change thier motto to "like a fine woman". Hahaha

 

[markr6]

I'm not a math genius but it sounds like each level will have two programmable levels.

Like H1 you could chose either 1500 or 666 as the main H1 and then you could choose 429 or 270 as the H2 and so on for the other levels. Just guessing???

That's what I want! I almost hope it doesn't happen, because I'll want to ditch all my old Zebralights for new ones!

 

[oKtosiTe]

I would also love them to add a couple more modes for each subset.

Being able to program L1, M1, and H1 would be nice as well. You could just start off in the mode you want to change, then start the 6 double click to get into programming.

Since going from H1 to H2 also takes a double click, I think the timing on this might complicate things. It would be fairly easy to accidentally reprogram H1 instead of H2 or vice verse.
I don't mind having more programmability, but I also like knowing H1 is there when I need it...

 

[tops2]

From Zebralight:

Thanks for your comments and suggestions. Very interesting discussions. First of all, we won't add anything new to what we have done in the SC600Fd III Plus, because it has went through all processes and approved for production. One important aspect of hardware upgrade in the SC600Fd is the doubling of memory space (we ran out of memory space with the introduction of the PID thermal regulation). We'll begin adding new UI features next year.

Out of several thousands of sub-levels in the SC600Fd, we picked 18 of them for a fully programmable UI in the future. While you see only 12 brightness levels in the SC600Fd, anyone with a good math or computer science background should be able to figure out the other 6. All six slots (let's still call them H1, H2, M1, M2, L1 and L2) can be programmed. Once programmed, you can switch between this new set/group and the default set/group (the one you are using now). Anyone unaware of the new set/group won't know they are there.

:shrug:Thanks ZL for laughing at both my math and computer sciences skills

But seriously though, FULLY PROGRAMMABLE UI!!:thumbsup:

Using Excel and some rounding estimates I got a list of 18 different levels Zebralight can pick from, but with 12 levels close to or matching what's stated for the Plus. But there's so much unknown and I'm assuming so much that its just a super wild guess.

I'm a patient guy..so the comment about having "fully programmable UI in the future" makes me want to put off any Zebralight purchase until these new ones comes out. In many ways, this customizing of the UI is more exciting than any other other that I can currently think of. But while it sounds awesome, it shoulds like this new grouping will sit along with the current UI. Boy I can't imagine how complicated the UI may become! Even though I'm comfortuabe with the current UI, the one part I didn't mess with (and didn't fully study) is the PID adjustment.

Boy, sometimes not having enough information actually helps more in coming to a decision. Having more info makes it harder to decide sometimes! "Ignorance is bliss!" lol!

 

[geal]

Hey all. Current owner of sc62w and new sc600 mkiii hi, both of which i love. Thinking about getting this new light because of nice flood and tint/cri. Not sure what frosted lens beams are like. Only possible comparison i can think of would be the TIR on olights which i happen to really like. Is this a reasonable comparison? Any info regarding beam profile/capabilities would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[sidecross]

Hey all. Current owner of sc62w and new sc600 mkiii hi, both of which i love. Thinking about getting this new light because of nice flood and tint/cri. Not sure what frosted lens beams are like. Only possible comparison i can think of would be the TIR on olights which i happen to really like. Is this a reasonable comparison? Any info regarding beam profile/capabilities would be appreciated. Thanks!

Try some 'scotch tape' on the front lens of SC600 Mk3-Hi to get a feel for what it might be like.

 

[tops2]

Hey all. Current owner of sc62w and new sc600 mkiii hi, both of which i love. Thinking about getting this new light because of nice flood and tint/cri. Not sure what frosted lens beams are like. Only possible comparison i can think of would be the TIR on olights which i happen to really like. Is this a reasonable comparison? Any info regarding beam profile/capabilities would be appreciated. Thanks!

Or scotch tape over the SC62w also. I tried the scotch tape over my SC5w and liked it.

There's also a big comparison thread in the headlamp subforum with comparision between normal, "F" (floody version, similar to the Plus) and "flood" version. It was really helpful to me.

 

[defbear]

I've ordered one too

 

[sam7]

The specs claim 5000K, 1500lm, and 93-95CRI. Looking at Crees data sheets for the XHP50, I don't see a product that meets those specs at the same time. What am I missing?

See, for instance: http://www.cree.com/~/media/Files/C...d-Modules/XLamp/Data-and-Binning/ds-XHP50.pdf

 

[wolfgaze]

So who among you ordering this light has a nice camera and good photography skills and will be able to post us some high quality beamshots? : )

I'm anxious to see what the beam looks like outdoors in the M1 mode... That would be what I would use most often...

 

[noboneshotdog]

I just reread the email from ZL on page 14 and this is what I came up with:

There will actually be two separate batches of levels. One batch will be the levels that are written out on the ZL website. A totally different batch will consist of H1 H2, M1 M2, and L1 L2 that will be fully programmed by the user with 18 levels to choose from.

You can either use the ZL issued levels as written on thier website OR the 18 user selected fully programable levels. Thus, it will be an either/or grouping. You choose the exact levels you desire out of the 18 to choose from, or the ZL issued grouping.

Does anybody else read it this way?

I still don't know the six new levels. This will have to be left to the mathematicians and computer whizzes.

 

[Wendee]

I just reread the email from ZL on page 14 and this is what I came up with:

There will actually be two separate batches of levels. One batch will be the levels that are written out on the ZL website. A totally different batch will consist of H1 H2, M1 M2, and L1 L2 that will be fully programmed by the user with 18 levels to choose from.

You can either use the ZL issued levels as written on thier website OR the 18 user selected fully programable levels. Thus, it will be an either/or grouping. You choose the exact levels you desire out of the 18 to choose from, or the ZL issued grouping.

Does anybody else read it this way?

I still don't know the six new levels. This will have to be left to the mathematicians and computer whizzes.

Yep! That sounds right! That would be awesome!

I read it that way from what they wrote:
"All six slots (let's still call them H1, H2, M1, M2, L1 and L2) can be programmed. Once programmed, you can switch between this new set/group and the default set/group (the one you are using now)."

I would have set #1 (default ZL H1, M1, L1, as it is now) plus my programmed sub-levels as my "outdoor" set (since H1 & H2 are high output). Set #2 (the new feature) I would program all six levels to the ones used most indoors (including two sub-lumen levels). This would be the perfect flashlight.

The SC600Fd Plus sounds so great and I would love to have one but now I'm super excited about the programmable UI light that will come out too (I think they said next year?). I don't know if I can justify buying both lights. Decisions, decisions.

 

[noboneshotdog]

The SC600FD PLUS IS THE PROGRAMMABLE LIGHT! It's the new UI that comes out in the future.

They said the 18 levels are PART OF THE FD PLUS. :twothumbs