Zebralight SC600Fd III Plus - XHP50

[PoliceScannerMan]

Anyone receive one of these lately? How's the tint? Thinking about one...

 

[Ozythemandias]

Anyone receive one of these lately? How's the tint? Thinking about one...

One of my favorite 18650 lights. Made my mkIII obsolete for me

 

[PoliceScannerMan]

One of my favorite 18650 lights. Made my mkIII obsolete for me

Good to hear, 95 CRI sounds real nice @ 5000K

 

[Fireclaw18]

Anyone tried taking the frosted lens off? What's the beam pattern look like with no lens or a clear lens? how much does the throw increase?

 

[snowlover91]

Anyone tried taking the frosted lens off? What's the beam pattern look like with no lens or a clear lens? how much does the throw increase?

It would be pretty difficult to remove the lens with the way they are constructed. Even then the increase in throw wouldn't be all that significant as this is a floody LED especially when used in small reflectors.

Regarding tint, mine from day 1 was excellent. Maybe I got lucky but it's a nice warm, white beam. Think of a Nichia 219 but with slightly less tan/rose tint to it and more white. That's how mine is.

 

[tonkem]

Anyone have beamshots that compare to the SC600 MKIII CW? Wondering what the difference in flood is to the MKIII. I have the MKIII and it throws better than my SC63 and appears brighter because of that. I am considering picking up the FD III Plus for the flood, but if the difference is not noticeable, it may not be worth getting in place of the MKIII CW I already have. Any comments comparing the 2 would be welcome, but beamshots are king

Thanks in advance.

 

[Connor]

@tonkem
The difference is quite extreme. The SC600Fd III Plus is much more floody (~170°), almost your entire field of view is lit.

 

[tonkem]

Sounds good. How does the throw compare to the SC600 MKIII CW or SC63 CW?

@tonkem
The difference is quite extreme. The SC600Fd III Plus is much more floody (~170°), almost your entire field of view is lit.

 

[Connor]

There is no throw ;-) just a slightly accentuated area in the middle where the beam is brighter.
The beam reaches less far but lights a bigger area in front of you.

 

[tonkem]

I guess what I meant to ask, is how is the reach compared to the SC600 MKIII and/or SC63?

There is no throw ;-) just a slightly accentuated area in the middle where the beam is brighter.
The beam reaches less far but lights a bigger area in front of you.

 

[Connor]

I'd say less than half the throw of the SC63.

 

[JStraus]

I'd say less than half the throw of the SC63.

I think this light will go down as one of their best lights in this era along with the already loved SC600 MKIII HI.

I love mine because you don't really have to worry about where you are pointing it. It just provides light.

And by brute force has surprising reach.

The SC63 and 600 HI are both perfectly complementary "spare battery holders" that provide more reach for unfamiliar outdoors, camping, etc.

 

[samgab]

Yeah, it lights up a large room entirely, as if you'd turned on the rooms lights, without any blown out bright spots. Very impressive, but you have to know that it doesn't throw with a little hotspot like a traditional flashlight. Truly flood only.

 

[tonkem]

Does anyone have any beamshots to compare the Sc63 to the Sc600FD III plus?

 

[noboneshotdog]

Ok I have had the PLUS for a few months now and there is lots to love but I have 3 gripes compared to the MKII.1. I wish there were still some sort of flat spots machined into it for anti-roll of unit. 2. I wish they could have come up with a better solution than pogo pins, as they keep denting my batteries. 3. I wish the new PID was not so obvious as it almost seems like the light is flickering as it ramps up and down. So, I guess I pretty much wish the PLUS had the body of the MKII with the lens and the emitter of the FD. Oh well, I guess you can't have everything. :sigh:

 

[Lumencrazy]

Ok I have had the PLUS for a few months now and there is lots to love but I have 3 gripes compared to the MKII.1. I wish there were still some sort of flat spots machined into it for anti-roll of unit. 2. I wish they could have come up with a better solution than pogo pins, as they keep denting my batteries. 3. I wish the new PID was not so obvious as it almost seems like the light is flickering as it ramps up and down. So, I guess I pretty much wish the PLUS had the body of the MKII with the lens and the emitter of the FD. Oh well, I guess you can't have everything. :sigh:

The terminals on non-protected batteries are made from very thin metal. Not really designed to take any load. Any arrangement will eventually flatten them

 

[Tachead]

The terminals on non-protected batteries are made from very thin metal. Not really designed to take any load. Any arrangement will eventually flatten them

Let's not try and make excuses. The terminals are fairly thin but, these pogo pins are far more likely to damage batteries then other designs. They often damage cells without even being dropped and damage them just from screwing the end cap on because their tolerance is so tight. None of my duel spring flashlights, including ZL's do any damage to my unprotected cells.

 

[Auringonvalo]

I'm using Sanyo NCR18650GA and Turbo (H1) mode steps down to less than 100 lumens in a sec or two when the battery voltage goes below 3.5v. I checked the voltage with Opus BT-CT3100 v2.2 when started to recharge that battery. VTC6 probably would be better for high turbo usage, but it also costs more.

For me, the only curse is the turbo mode runtime because even with 55C (highest temp) setting, it will step down in about 1 min 15s at room temperature (~20C). I was thinking some kind of ghetto solution like thermal paste on the surface and wrap the light tightly with copper wire. I asked Zebralight to make passive cooling accessory for this light, but they just answered like "thanks for the idea."

 

[snowlover91]

The turbo mode isn't really designed for sustained runtimes at the full output but more for short bursts of light. The great part about it is the PID allows the longest possible runtime before stepping down based on ambient conditions instead of the timed step down in other lights. You would need a much bigger light with a larger heat sink to get the sustained high output for a long duration.

 

[scs]

The turbo mode isn't really designed for sustained runtimes at the full output but more for short bursts of light. The great part about it is the PID allows the longest possible runtime before stepping down based on ambient conditions instead of the timed step down in other lights. You would need a much bigger light with a larger heat sink to get the sustained high output for a long duration.

Very true. Also true: many other lights don't have the driver circuitry needed to maintain constant max output in the first place, even if they had sufficient heat sinking. But the manufacturers of course don't mention that. Instead, they use heat, a valid but also convenient reason/excuse, to imply that max output is not constant for the duration of advertised runtime.