Received my new Zebralights UPDATED beamshots

Today I received my H501w and H501R from Zebralight. After a very good impression of H501 cool white, I am not dissapointed with the warm white version.
The red is a very nice light which will be great for my astronomy occations. Not only because red is much better to avoid destroying night vision, but also because of the moonmode of 0,1 lumen.
Zebralight = :thumbsup:

Regards, Patric

Re: Received my new Zebralights

Wow, 3 H501 lights! And I thought I like ZL lights. Enjoy your new lights.

Re: Received my new Zebralights

davidt1 said:

Wow, 3 H501 lights! And I thought I like ZL lights. Enjoy your new lights.

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Thanks David,

When I ordered the first H501 the warm white wasn't available. The cool one is now superfluous and I will likely sell it or give it as a christmas present.

Regards, Patric

Today I made a comparison between the three models of H501.

From left: cool white, warm white and red.


And below beamshots, all taken with 1s and f/4,5 and with highest mode of the lights. As well the camera and lights are located at ca 150cm from the wall

H501 cool white, 96lumens:


H501 warm white, 80lumens:


H501 red, 33 lumens:


And finally the same scene at same settings under the 3x60W home ceiling light. Here the colour rendition of the incan light makes the two Maglites to be even more distinguished than with H501w:


Both of the Maglites in the pictures are in purple colour, but with two different shades. The 2D is in purple-blue and the 3D is in purple-violet.
You can see that the cool tint light will make it nearly impossible to see the different shades and both of them looks like purple-blue.
I found it interesting that the 3D looks like silver coloured with the H501 red light. The wallpaper is light blue.

Regards, Patric

Nice pictures! The different tints sure make the wall look different. Which light is more accurate?

Actually the cool white shot seems to show more like how the wallpaper looks in reality. But when looking at the flower and pot, floor and sofa the warm white shows a more natural tint. Also the Maglites are more natural with the warm white.
I guess a possible explanation is that light blue surfaces tend to look more like white under bright illumination, and the cool bluish tint helps to keep the blue colour visible.

Regards, Patric

Wow ... very nice comparison pictures Swedpat. Sort of makes you wonder what "color" really is when such variations exist depending on the temperature of the light source.

Those pictures are extremely helpful in making a choice between cool and warm... Thank you!

CaNo said:

Those pictures are extremely helpful in making a choice between cool and warm... Thank you!

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It looks like Swedpat no longer has the cool white. Which one did you buy?

The H501w is by far my most useful light. The nice warm color and diffuse beam are perfect for campfire tasks while camping.

I also have one of the new reflectored headlamps on the way and I am excited to try it, although I don't think it will replace the H501w.

I want to try a neutral ZL light (H51), but the cool ones seems to come out first.

Swedepat, can you compare the moon modes on all the H501s? Are they true moon modes or more like Froggytaco says in that they are more likely a 1 or 2 lumen lower low, than the true .5 lumen moon mode?

Thanks for posting the comparison shots.

The red looks really good at that distance & seems to (my eyes at least) like the most effective of the bunch at defining the objects. With night adjusted vision I'm sure the difference would be even more pronounced.

I have been looking at the 501 for a while & this was almost as helpful as handling the lights.

Just realized this thread is 4 months old... still the moon-low comparison would be sweet.

This practically sold me on the 501w, now what to do with the regular...

davidt1 said:

It looks like Swedpat no longer has the cool white. Which one did you buy?

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I ended up buying the H501w. Sadly the only warm light I have is the LF2XT, and the rest of all my lights are Cool (tint). Ive never been a fan of Warm Flood, but after seeing that pic above, I see that it has it's benefits in photography and natural environments, and not to mention, the colors look amazing. So going from all Cool tint throwers, I am going to take the Warm tint flooders route, and see how I like it.

red02 said:

Just realized this thread is 4 months old... still the moon-low comparison would be sweet.

This practically sold me on the 501w, now what to do with the regular...

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Haha! :laughing:

Sorry guys, I guess I'm guilty for resurrecting this thread! But this was the only thread with great pictures differentiating the 2 degrees I was trying to make the choice between. And I wanted to let the OP know of how good of a job he did with those photos. I agree with the above posters... a moon-low comparison "would be sweet" :nana:

Beacon of Light said:

Swedepat, can you compare the moon modes on all the H501s? Are they true moon modes or more like Froggytaco says in that they are more likely a 1 or 2 lumen lower low, than the true .5 lumen moon mode?

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Wanna just buy my H501? I wanna go back to a H501w anyhow. But I am hoping for a newer emitter in warm. Or wanna borrow it so you can see for your self?

I emailed Zebralight yesterday and they responded and told me they will post new specs for the H501 on their website in the next day or two, so I will wait until that before I decide whether I want the H501 or just wait for the H51F.

From what I understand the runtime will be largely the same on the same batteries since the efficiency of the XPG will go towards more lumens, not runtime. My problem with the H51F is that it will have a more defuse beam pattern which will spread the extra 50-60 lm over a larger area. This means that there will be no significant difference, in terms of lux, between the 501 and the H51F.

I've already made my decision, I'm sticking with the 501 unless the H51F narrows its emission angle and increases lux significantly.

FroggyTaco said:

Wanna just buy my H501? I wanna go back to a H501w anyhow. But I am hoping for a newer emitter in warm. Or wanna borrow it so you can see for your self?

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I've always been a cool tint guy. Now that I have the H501w... I do not know if what I really want is the H501, or if I should be content with my H501w... is the cool tint that noticeably brighter than the warm tint? What is your reason to reverting back to your H501w FroggyTaco?