Give us what we want manufacturers... Hi CRI Neutral White emitters(poll to prove it)

More and more people are realizing the benefits of neutral white emitters over their cool white counterparts. Better colour rendition, better smoke/dust/fog/rain penetration, more natural(closer to natural sunlight), easier on the eyes, exc. The only downside is a small drop in lumen output(7%ish) over a similar cool white emitter which is insignificant due to needing 4 times the lumens to equal twice as bright.

So, this is a call to manufactures to offer a NW option for all flashlight models. More and more people are staying away from cool white models and I think NW will eventually dominate the flashlight market. Cool white models will eventually not sell at all I bet as technology advances. I myself will probably never buy another CW LED flashlight.

HI CRI Neutral White Emitters are the future... Vote to prove it:thumbsup:

High cri, relatively high cct for me, I like them on the cooler side.

I will also never buy another cool white light. But I disagree with CW going away; so many people just love that blue light for some reason.

I just wish everyone would copy EagleTac and Zebralight - offering several options on many of their lights. To me that just makes sense. Try to appeal to as many as possible to increase sales.

Tachead said:

More and more people are staying away from cool white models and I think NW will eventually dominate the flashlight market. Cool white models will eventually not sell at all I bet as technology advances. I myself will probably never buy another CW LED flashlight.

HI CRI Neutral White Emitters are the future... Vote to prove it:thumbsup:

Click to expand...

When you say more and more you're looking at it from a flashaholics perspective, the majority of consumers want as bright a light for as little money as the can spend. It will be a long time before normal consumers are going to be that fussy, if ever. I see a long future ahead for CW flashlights.

Norm

If box "A" says 1000 lumens and box "B" says 999 lumens, average joe will go with "A" no matter how much you explain to them the tint and color is better on "B".

People are funny like that. That's why those goofy infomercials still work. I'm a bit of a sucker myself, but I still don't own a Ronco Rotisserie oven

markr6 said:

If box "A" says 1000 lumens and box "B" says 999 lumens, average joe will go with "A" no matter how much you explain to them the tint and color is better on "B".

Click to expand...

The tint is not better on B, it's preference.

if they only would be 1 lm apart and for same price. i think averagejoe/jane WOULD buy the neutral too. especially if they could try it out/turn it on first in dark.

i prefer neutral and high cri tints. cool whites are useful in certain uses in certain weathers and locations, but as general user i rather have something more closer to "incan" tint.

so i am one of those in minority hoping manufacturers to atleast give us options in tint as well. not just ui or other features.

markr6 said:

I will also never buy another cool white light. But I disagree with CW going away; so many people just love that blue light for some reason.

I just wish everyone would copy EagleTac and Zebralight - offering several options on many of their lights. To me that just makes sense. Try to appeal to as many as possible to increase sales.

Click to expand...

You know... there is a reason for sticking with bluish tint light that most might not think of. In the past 5 or more years I've personally come to see blueish tint led light as belonging mainly to pedestrians using led flashlights. That's a unique identifier that there is somebody walking around. If those bluish tints start to go away it might also take away that subtle cue to say motorists that there are people walking around. I don't know.... just a thought.

But yeah... I like neutral high cri tints too.

Good luck with your poll, Tachead. Of course we've been discussing tint and CRI for many years here on CPF, and what I've come to understand is that one flavor does NOT please everybody.

Many folks prefer their light a little on the coolish side, some prefer it on the warmish side, and some prefer it to be neutral, as in no tint, just pure white light........ and then quite a few really don't give a hoot, they just want the brightest light possible, so you see, it's quite not the black and white issue that it may first appear.

The other thing you'll find as you begin buying "neutral" lights, is that we're at a point where there is no hard and fast definition for "neutral". You can by two identical model lights from the same source, both labeled "neutral", and they will each have a different tint, so, we have a long way to go........ but as many folks here will tell you....... it's a fun ride.

Ryp said:

The tint is not better on B, it's preference.

Click to expand...

If were talking 65CRI cool white and 90CRI neutral, I think it's more than preference.

It's still preference, you can't tell me every single person has to like a higher CRI light.

Ryp said:

It's still preference, you can't tell me every single person has to like a higher CRI light.

Click to expand...

No, but you could also argue that not every single person would want a briefcase full of $1,000,000 vs $10. I know I'm getting rediculous, but it makes the point you COULD play devils advocate all day long.

Derek Dean said:

The other thing you'll find as you begin buying "neutral" lights, is that we're at a point where there is no hard and fast definition for "neutral".

Click to expand...

That's true it's hard to define. But I found the more lights (torches, headlamps, bulbs) I've tried, the closer I get to truly finding what I call neutral white. Not to get way off topic, but I recently got into the GE Reveal LED bulbs - PURE white compared to everything else in my home.

As all the other "tintwar" threads have shown, it will always vary from person to person.

That's why I say keep it simple - manufacturers please offer a choice of emitters!

Tachead said:

More and more people are realizing the benefits of neutral white emitters over their cool white counterparts. Better colour rendition, better smoke/dust/fog/rain penetration, more natural(closer to natural sunlight), easier on the eyes, exc. The only downside is a small drop in lumen output(7%ish) over a similar cool white emitter which is insignificant due to needing 4 times the lumens to equal twice as bright.

So, this is a call to manufactures to offer a NW option for all flashlight models. More and more people are staying away from cool white models and I think NW will eventually dominate the flashlight market. Cool white models will eventually not sell at all I bet as technology advances. I myself will probably never buy another CW LED flashlight.

HI CRI Neutral White Emitters are the future... Vote to prove it:thumbsup:

Click to expand...

Many lights can be had with NW emitters already.

Chicken Drumstick said:

Many lights can be had with NW emitters already.

Click to expand...

Not enough. Many models, even from manufactures that offer a choice, arent available in NW. Hopefully more will offer a choice(on all models)moving forward.

It really sucks when you love everything about a certain model but cant get it in anything but an ugly purply blue.

Tachead said:

It really sucks when you love everything about a certain model but cant get it in anything but an ugly purply blue.

Click to expand...

VERY, VERY, VERY true! A great example of this is the Foursevens Maelstrom MMU-X/MMU-X3. Both of these are GREAT lights in so many ways, especially when you consider the general lack of quality 26650 lights. But when you turn it on, you're greeted with that ugly blue tint. And, of course, you have absolutely no choice whatsoever. Just like that, a great light has become merely so-so. And, although I would LOVE to use this light more, it sits largely unused.

On the other hand, consider my Eagletac D25A2. When I first got this light, I was rather disappointed with it due to its relatively low brightness (it's a 2xAA). But after using it for a while, it has grown on me quite a bit. MUCH of the reason for this is the awesome tint from the neutral XM-L2 T6 emitter. Although it's not listed as a high CRI emitter, I find the tint of this light to be VERY good. It's particularly good for outdoor use. Of course, some people might like a Nichia 219 better than this emitter. And that's the really good thing about this light. You can get it with everything from a cool XM-L2 U2 to a Nichia 219, with many options in between (including the aforementioned neutral XM-L2 and some XP-G2 emitters). THIS is the way things should be when it comes to emitter availability on a light.

Neutral white for me. Cool white was my preferred tint a couple of years ago. Funny how time (and 20+ flashlights) changes your mind.

markr6 said:

If box "A" says 1000 lumens and box "B" says 999 lumens, average joe will go with "A" no matter how much you explain to them the tint and color is better on "B".

Click to expand...

Not necessarily. People have long avoided CFLs because of their nasty cool tints. Only when tints became more like incandescents did more people buy them. Granted, people may care less about flashlight tints simply because they use flashlights less. But still, I think that if people know they can get lights with better tints,ntheymwill. Especially if the lumen output is small (which it generally is).

As long as it's not blue, normal people are fine with CW. I love NW, but I picked my PD32UE because it had more lumens. Only 6 months later did I learn about tints and realise I lucked out. I think the option would be cool but I can see why they don't.

The problem with "neutral white HCRI" is that most often it is not neutral. It's brown or yellow or pink or orange because it is low on the CCT scale. So then it comes down to which color light you personally like. If you shine it on a white wall, and it ain't white, then it can't possibly be neutral, and it can't possibly have good true CRI because it can't even get white right. Its CRI rating is only valid vs other light sources that have the same CCT. In other words, it does better than most other lights of the same color distortion, but that is not an absolute scale. Lights of lower CRI rating, but closer to actual daylight CCT could(and likely will) give better CRI on an absolute scale.
The problem here is that most HCRI buyers are misinformed about what CRI really is, and make decisions based solely on CRI numbers and not CCT relative to daylight. I have tried in the past to discuss this, but the warm HCRI zealots refuse to "see daylight" on the subject, so I don't bother anymore.

So, how can mfrs respond properly when the general HCRI buying public is hopelessly confused about what they claim to want?