LED tint Poll

[DimeRazorback]

I'm still thinking about this... can't choose.

At heart I still love pure white led's, as the pure white light idea is what attracted me to them originally...

So hard to choooooooooooooooooooooose!!

 

[kramer5150]

I would suspect some of the poll could be skewed. Theres the possibility that a percentage of the voters have not really owned all the tints listed, being that cool white WC tints are whats mostly available.

I have mostly WC tints, a couple 5A tints and they are OK but not my favorites. The WC tints are to pale and the 5A tints I have are just a little too brown... especially after 5 minutes and they have warmed up from use.

I have recently acquired a Zebralight H501 which is slightly warmer than cool white tint and it is my favorite.
My recently acquired ITP A3-AAA is also much warmer than my cool white lights and it is very enjoyable to see/use.

 

[xenonk]

My preference is really just a compromise. I'd prefer high CRI but I find they lose too much output. Warm tints also lose a lot of output and the difference in use between them and neutral doesn't seem as dramatic as between neutral and cool. Neutral has the right tint for me while being able to stay at a reasonably high flux bin.

I could easily change my tune if someone manages to make a high CRI emitter from the XP-G's die before I get too accustomed to their higher output at low CRI.

Oh sorry, I've never tried really warm.

sku 17592 over at DX supposedly has a ~3000K warm tint P3, though I haven't tried one.

 

[divine]

I think I prefer a warm leaning Luxeon K2, I believe it renders colors better than a 5A/5B, but the 5A/5B's are exteremely common and the K2's are not very common at all.

I voted 5A/5B...

The High CRI 083 and High CRI Seouls and neutral GDP's are nice, but you take a noticeable drop in brightness. They are very good for certain things, though.

 

[Wade]

this is one of my favorite pics..i think this comparison shot speaks for itself.
Neutral Rebel 100(Peak Eiger) vs Cree Q5 WC(LD01) in the back woods.

yes, the overall light output is lower..but you can see so much more detail with the warmer leds,
that the lower output is really not an issue.

That to me is real world - the warmer lights do let you see more detail, contrast, better depth perseption, and color. I do a lot of running around in the woods and night - warmer is where it is at. :candle:

 

[sORe-EyEz]

hmmm, i do not own lights with all the tints variations to choose, anyone (who has them all) kind enough to do control shots for comparison? :wave:

 

[Dark Laser]

Neutral white rocks :rock:
Neutral is - well, neutral, it is an "allround-tint". For some puposes, warm white is even better (it sounds strange, but when I'm tired, I prefer very much the warm beam of my good old MiniMag ). Neutral may be a compromise, but it is the tint I prefer most at the moment.

Sure, the cool white color is (or was? I'm not sure if we now live in a new era; look at the poll results) typical for LEDs. But the advantages of warmer tints are simply overwhelming. Better color rendition is the most important point. This explains why 5000 "neutral-white lux" are more than 5000 "cool-white lux"; same with the lumens, too (as long as the target isn't a white wall, though).

 

[fixitman]

My favorite overall tint so far is a 3A. Very nice indoors, and pretty good outdoors. My 5A lights are better outdoors, but are kinda ugly when white wall hunting :nana:

 

[Zeruel]

That to me is real world - the warmer lights do let you see more detail, contrast, better depth perseption, and color. I do a lot of running around in the woods and night - warmer is where it is at. :candle:

What are you doing running around in the woods at night?
It's hard to believe the rocks are yellowish green in your real world.

 

[NonSenCe]

dimerazor.. umm your flashlights have toes? damn i aint got one myself! *envy* hahahhahah

i have 3 buddies that i am turning into flashlights..

one is pure white nut, brighter is better and white is good!
one is just amazed by the functions and couldnt care less how the tint looks.
one is turning into warmer tints now that he has seen some leds are not showerhead blue tint lights anymore.

and i think the 4th that still has my warmtint Lmini2 is liking it too much. i think i must pry it off his hands.

 

[LEDninja]

I do not have lights with all the tints so it is just guesses for me.

I picked HIGH CRI because I like wide spectrum lighting but do not have one to confirm I really like it.

i am used to incandescent, warm white CFL, warm white LED household bulbs. The last CFL I got was too yellow, equivalent I guess to a 7b or 7c tint. When I paired it with an LED warm white whose tint is almost identical to my 5A Dereelight I got a very pleasing tint. I would like to try a 6b or 6c tint. I prefer more yellow to more pink which is why I left out 6a/6d.

My actual favourite tint is ye olde 3*Luxeon TWOJ in an Elektrolumens My Little Friend. I also like the rebel 80 in my L1T v2.0. Somehow I prefer the Lumiled tints over the Cree tints.

I prefer something warmer than pure white so WO over XO, WD over WC. I picked WH over WG, afraid the WG would be too puke green.

My 5A Dereelight seem to be a dirty brown (could be my off white walls) indoors. My Little Friend's TWOJ beat it on the grass out back. It is good for a walk in the woods but I live downtown, only used it for 1/2 hour during last year's CPF GTA get together.

Still my EDCs are Millermods WH and EZAAw (5B?) and a L1T v2.0 RB80 next to my pillow. Creamy white.

 

[Marlite]

I do appreciate people's responses. I know many may be tired of rehashing, but the idea is to get a real idea of what people like, not just the same 5 people posting on 10 different threads about how their preference is better than everyone else.

I like neutral, and I'm sure I've posted about it ad nauseum. I just wanted a poll to try and get a real guage of what people like, rather than what might be popular among the vocal few like me!

:devil:

Perhaps this is a good place to voice your opinion, all in one clearly defined place instead of in bits and pieces all over everyone else's threads.[/QUOTE]

Gunga, your last paragraph seems to invite only the neutral opinion to support this thread as they are the same "5 people posting in 10 different threads". instead of in bits and pieces all over everyone else's threads .[/QUOTE]

:sigh: Bolded by me, glad to see you are aware this was nearing an obsession and we can return to the lesser addiction of Flashaholism.

I did vote for a wide range from WC to Q3 5A. My tolerance ends at EO1's bleeping blue/purple . Greenies are also not acceptable.

Neutral means there is no leaning to one side or the other so how does Q3 5A qualify as neutral? Shouldn't pure white be neutral?

Illumination being superior to tint, a candle flame in total darkness is always acceptable.

 

[orbital]

......Neutral means there is no leaning to one side or the other so how does Q3 5A qualify as neutral? Shouldn't pure white be neutral?

Illumination being superior to tint, a candle flame in total darkness is always acceptable.

+1

Exactly when did a 5A become neutral??,... Neutral should be pure white.

That said, for color accuracy with acceptable throw characteristics, a warmer WH tint wins for Cree,
but some of the best beams you'll ever see come from SSC.

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

limited experience, but I do quite enjoy the tint of 5A and 5B. Wish I had a SSC high-cri, though

 

[uplite]

It seems to me that the warm-neutral LEDs give much better contrast than the cool whites.

I haven't looked up any studies, but it kinda makes sense. After all, driving or shooting glasses (with yellow-orange lenses) improve visual contrast by filtering out the blue wavelengths.

Cool LEDs might be technically a smidgen closer to natural sunlight, but they still have huge spectrum gaps compared to sunlight. Given a choice, I'll take the parts of the spectrum that seem to work better with my eyes. :thumbsup:

The warm-or-cool issue also runs deep into our brains. For many thousands of years, humans associated the red-yellow spectrum of a fire with safety, warmth, and food. Yellow glow = survival = good. :bow: It's very likely that we have evolved to be deeply, emotionally attracted to these wavelengths, regardless of their technical benefits.

-Jeff

 

[EV_007]

I like the warmer tints myself. Wish the output was as "bright" as the cooler tints.

Although I still like playing around with the cooler tints for the cool factor. When I show non-flashoholics the warm and cool lights, they always pick the cooler ones since it appears brighter.

I have yet to try the CRI Seouls. Drop in efficiency is kinda bummer though if that's the case.

 

[yowzer]

The poll needs to allow multiple votes. Personally, I've found that I like neutral white outdoors, cool white indoors...

 

[saabluster]

Perhaps this is a good place to voice your opinion, all in one clearly defined place instead of in bits and pieces all over everyone else's threads.

Uh no. No offense but there are problems with the poll. First off the question is "Please choose your prefered LED tint". For what it's worth I put High CRI SSC but... High CRI is not a tint.

Problem 2- People are avoiding the high CRI based on lumen output not tint which is the question at hand.
Problem 3- People who vote and have not tried all the choices at hand do not have an informed opinion.
Problem 4- These threads always seem to be chock full of newbie nonsense like "Shouldn't pure white be neutral?" There is no such thing as pure white!

Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.:shrug: Don't take it too seriously OK.:thumbsup:

 

[hoongern]

I think a lot of it also has to do with the kinds of lights you grew up with. For me - I grew up with fluorescent lighting, and am used to seeing colors with that tint, never a single incan, and because of that, I tend to prefer cooler tints.

 

[Darkspark]

Quote:
Originally Posted by MWClint
this is one of my favorite pics..i think this comparison shot speaks for itself.
Neutral Rebel 100(Peak Eiger) vs Cree Q5 WC(LD01) in the back woods.

MWClint - this is a genius example of why i too am impressed with the neutral white emitters on my Quarks. Just got my QAA tonight and it's superb. I will be on the lookout for more neutrals in the future. In my eyes they just bring out more natural color contrasts and detail. :thumbsup: