Zebralight or Sparks?

I am looking at Zebra lights H51w and H51c or Sparks ST6-460NW and ST5-190NW. I know some of them are apples to oranges.
Is the High CRI luxeons that Zebra lights use noticeably better than the neutral white XML emitters? Do both brands use regulated current? And where is the best place to purchase them?
Oh yeah, it will be used for bicycling, camping, and general stuff around the house.

The Rebels? Well, I would say,yes, as neutral XML's still have relatively low CRI, and I know Zebralights use constant current on all levels except 2 secondary level, dunno about Sparks. I much prefer Zebralight UI, and the larger range of modes that go lower would probably be useful in a tent while camping, and around the house.

Spark uses constant current regulation on all modes you can see the flat runtime graphs at light reviews

http://www.light-reviews.com/spark_sl6-800cw/

srfreddy said:

The Rebels? Well, I would say,yes, as neutral XML's still have relatively low CRI, and I know Zebralights use constant current on all levels except 2 secondary level, dunno about Sparks. I much prefer Zebralight UI, and the larger range of modes that go lower would probably be useful in a tent while camping, and around the house.

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Are we talking about 80CRI vs 85CRI? I assume Zebralight is OTF lumens, and Sparks is emitter?

Neither of the companies declare OTF or ANSI FL1 standards on their website. From what I gather they give a conservative lumen amount based off of calculations. The beamshots shown in this thread http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...aLight-SC600&p=3667138&viewfull=1#post3667138 make them look pretty even. I think there's a larger and somewhat brighter hotspot from the SL6 compared to the SC600 but some would say otherwise.

ZL states lights are tested OTF (they also list which specific battery was used for testing) on their website.

- Jas.

I stand corrected. The XML emitters are driven at 1.5A in the Spark ST6 series headlamps, 500 lumens is a good estimation of instant on OTF lumens. Spark does have plans to test their lights in an IS.

Thanks guys, I am leaning towards the Sparks ST6-460NW, I want a nice bright headlamp for bicycling and some of the things I do around the house.

insanefred said:

Thanks guys, I am leaning towards the Sparks ST6-460NW, I want a nice bright headlamp for bicycling and some of the things I do around the house.

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Is "bicycling" when you ride two bikes at the one time?

Devon said:

Is "bicycling" when you ride two bikes at the one time?

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wha... are you kidding me?
:thinking:

insanefred said:

Thanks guys, I am leaning towards the Sparks ST6-460NW, I want a nice bright headlamp for bicycling and some of the things I do around the house.

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I plan on getting one for biking too... I've been using my Jetbeam Jet-III Pro ST on my helmet with a two-fish block, but I think the 460NW would be a better solution.

insanefred said:

wha... are you kidding me?
:thinking:

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as opposed to 'cycling',
he must be an english major!

LOL