Is my Thrunite T10 cool white or neutral white?

Hello, I am the proud owner of a 2014 thrunite T10 which has worked great for me for the past two months. I ordered the cw and the color rendition seems so good I am not sure if it really is cool white or if I somehow ended up with a neutral white. On one hand it is much whiter than one other LED light I own and my phone's LED on the other hand it is much warmer than cheap LED lights. The reason I want to know for sure is because I want to get another (archer 2c) light from Thrunite and I want to make sure that it is the same tint. Any warmer or cooler I think would be worse for color rendition. Here are some comparison shots with my phone's almost yellowish LED. Is there any way to know for sure what tint it is?

If this is cool white I am not sure what people are complaining about, it seems perfect to my eyes.

I would say cool white , here is a pic of NW/CW

As for cool white and colour rendition , we all see things different or prefer to see things in different ways . In my house I like to see things warm, certainly not cool. Flashlight wise I am happy from neutral to even 6000k depending . I see great rendition with cool tints, in fact depending on how cool(or not) I get accurate rendition to my eyes.

Too warm , maybe bellow 4000k and colours look artificial outside to me . Also it's how its projected , if it's 1000lm of throw it will wash anything out closer up, flood then it of course is not as concentrated ,and I find fine on the eye.

Whats good for me may not be for someone else and there are some too cool whites with blues. Creamy cool white is fine for me and up there in my preferred tint.

Basisally if it works for you then thats all that matters .

The xpg2 in the t10 in CW is a nice perfect white to me also, being a general type light with more spill than throw(kind of mix of both) I find it works well.

Or if you don't have the NW version it maybe worth a shout , give it a go and you will see colours a little warmer, might prefer ,might not . I generally like to mix things up a bit for different lights , be them geared for throw ,flood and everything in between .

PS- typed with the worse auto correct known to man
and not checked properly

So far, you know that your cool-white ThruNite T10 works great for you. That's good, but it does not necessarily mean neutral white won't work better. It might or might not. Sooner or later, you'll be able to get both versions of the T10 in your hands and compare. That's when you'll really be able to say which one you like better.

Our visual system includes "color adaption." That's a color correction that happens in our brains (and not in our eyes). Shine a bluish, cool-white flashlight at a red apple, and we see the vibrant red that we expect. Under the same conditions, a camera will often record that as a flat, dull red. Color adaption is one reason why bluish, "cool-white" flashlights turn out to be okay in many applications. Our brains are able to erase the blue color cast so that colors look natural.

We get the reverse effect with most of the light bulbs in our homes. The majority of them have a distinct yellow/orange cast, somewhere around 2800K. But unless you are thinking about it, you won't see it. White wall look white, even though they are really quite yellow under our lights. Our brains erase the yellow color cast.

My anecdotal observation is that the overwhelming majority of CPF members who have training in photography prefer neutral white flashlights. They are trained to see light as it is.

Actually, it's not just photographers. If the flashaholics at CPF are anything like ones at BLF, then the general population probably prefers neutral white as well. In the recent group buy of the BLF A6 Special Edition, 1000 flashlights were made to satisfy initial orders. Of the 1000, 500 were neutral white, 150 were warm white, and only 350 were cool white. Almost 2/3 of those who participated in the group buy said, "No, thank you." to cool white.

KeepingItLight said:

So far, you know that your cool-white ThruNite T10 works great for you. That's good, but it does not necessarily mean neutral white won't work better. It might or might not. Sooner or later, you'll be able to get both versions of the T10 in your hands and compare. That's when you'll really be able to say which one you like better.

Our visual system includes "color adaption." That's a color correction that happens in our brains (and not in our eyes). Shine a bluish, cool-white flashlight at a red apple, and we see the vibrant red that we expect. Under the same conditions, a camera will often record that as a flat, dull red. Color adaption is one reason why bluish, "cool-white" flashlights turn out to be okay in many applications. Our brains are able to erase the blue color cast so that colors look natural.

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While the light definitely looks whiter than direct sunlight I disagree that it has a bluish tint, It is more like natural light on an overcast day. I think that I would not consider one or the other better, my understanding is that the difference is only that the wavelengths emitted are shifted up closer to red with nw either way there are gaps. I might try NW but this tint seems perfectly white to me. I do think that a warmer tint looks better and a cooler tint wrecks perception especially at lower light levels.
Edit- what doesn't make sense to me is that this should be neutral white, any warmer would be warm white and any cooler would be cool white.

The charts below compare the beams of three cool-white Cree emitters with a high-CRI Nichia. They show clearly the huge drop-offs in level for cyan (blue-green) and red. The levels for green and yellow are also much lower than the blue spikes in the charts.

Unfortunately, none of the Cree emitters Jon tested were neutral. The neutral-white versions of these Cree emitters (that show up in flashlights) offer better color rendition all across the board. They still have troughs for cyan and red, but those troughs are not as deep as they are with a cool-white emitter. They still have a spike for blue, but that spike is not as tall. CRI is improved, but is still not in the ballpark of the high-CRI Nichia.

The neutral-white Cree emitters also have slightly reduced output compared to their cool-white cousins. In the Zebralight SC62, for instance, output with a neutral-white XM-L2 emitter is 7% lower than for the similar cool-white emitter. Most experts agree that it is difficult for a human to detect a 7% difference in output. It is easy, however, to notice the difference in tint.

Here is a YouTube video by JustConquer that compares the two Zebralights. It's a short one; the part I am linking runs a bit under two minutes. As you watch, ask yourself two questions. Can I see the 7% difference in output? Can I see the difference in tint?

Here are the charts.

KeepingItLight said:

CPF member jon_slider posted these charts comparing CCT and CRI of several popular emitters. You can see the drop-off for cyan and red that I mentioned above. Note also how blue towers above everything else. The Nichia at the end shows these same characteristics, but to a much lesser degree than the Cree emitters do.

Notice how much higher and wider the hump for green, yellow, and red is in the Nichia chart. Note as well that the Nichia does better with cyan. These are the reasons why the Nichia has a higher CRI.

The entire post is worth a read. The mark at the end of the first line in the quote is a link to it.

jon_slider said:

The Olight i3s and Maratac Rev3 use XP-G2 emitters, the Thrunite Titanium has an XP-L, and the Prometheus Beta has a Nichia 219a

Pictures:

the four lights

the four beams

the three LED tint reflections

The color graphs Jason so kindly allowed me obtain (this is hugely important to me, to have actual color temperature and CRI information, not specs, not guesses, not vague descriptions, just the numerical facts):

i3s 6000K CRI 71

Ti Ti 5700K CRI 70

Maratac 5800K CRI 70

Prometheus Beta 4400 CRI 87

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Tre_Asay said:

While the light definitely looks whiter than direct sunlight I disagree that it has a bluish tint, It is more like natural light on an overcast day.

[Emphasis added.]

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Exactly. But that light is not neutral. It has a bluish cast. Think about the blue headlights you see in your rearview mirror. Many of them have a tint in the 6000K to 7000K range.

Tre_Asay said:

Edit- what doesn't make sense to me is that this should be neutral white, any warmer would be warm white and any cooler would be cool white.

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In the flashlight world, 4000-5000K has somehow been classified as "neutral." Most photographers would call that "warm." In photography, anything between, say, 5000K and 5600K is said to match midday sunlight. That's what they usually call "neutral." The brightest noon sunlight is around 5600K. If you move into the shade, where illumination comes primarily from the blue sky (and not the yellow sun), photographers say the light is "cool," typically measuring between 6000K and 7000K.

OK, OK, I recant my previous statement. After looking through some graphs and reading your and others posts I have realized that warmer tint LED's tend to give a more complete spectrum at the cost of a meager amount of lumens. I want to try a NW but the thrunite 2C only comes in CW right now. :shakehead If thrunite reads this, any ideas when / if NW will become available?

When it comes to tint, there is no right or wrong. You just have to try them all, and see which one you like best.

Sorry to hear the ThruNite Archer 2C V2 is not available in neutral white. Does ThruNite even make one in NW? I can't find it on the ThruNite site.

If you want to try a NW model from a different maker, the Convoy S2+ (gray, red, or blue) is a good budget flashlight. So are the other Convoy models. They are all available in NW.

The specification for the S2+ on the manufacturer's web site says it uses 1x18650, but does not mention 2xCR123A. Presumably, that means it won't take CR123A. For the smaller Convoy models like the S2+, I prefer 7135*3 or *4. The high-power *8 models get very hot, very fast. Mountain Electronics (in the USA) or Shenzhen Convoy Electronics Co., Ltd. (Convoy's manufacturer) are both reliable places to buy a Convoy. The latter has a storefront on AliExpress. GearBest has had some problems with fakes, but may have sorted them out by now.

The S2+ now has "shorty" tubes that can be purchased as accessories. Using one of those, you can run your flashlight on an 18350 battery. Installing a short tube means your S2+ is even smaller than normal.

At this writing, I do not own any Convoy flashlights.

Another good neutral-white, budget flashlight is the BLF A6 Special Edition (3D tint). Using the coupon code at BLF, you can purchase one for only $25 USD. Don't be fooled by the claims of 1600 lumens. You won't get that unless you mod the cool-white A6 with a spring bypass, and run on the highest-draw (unprotected) batteries available.

For most buyers, a more reasonable approach is to run the BLF A6 in stock form, fueled by a high-draw protected battery such as the Sanyo-Panasonic NCR18650GA Protected 3500mAh (available at Mountain Electronics and elsewhere). In that configuration, you should get somewhere between 1100 and 1200 lumens on turbo. One owner of a 3D BLF A6 measured CCT at 4750K and CRI at around 71.

I bought two of these. One of them had a problem with moonlight mode. The seller, Banggood, is sending me a new head (free of charge) to fix it.

"Shorty" tubes for the BLF A6 are under development. They should be available soon.

My next purchase will probably be a headlamp. The Zebralight H600Fd III is the one I am looking at. It uses a Cree XM-L2 EasyWhite emitter (typical CRI: 83-85, nominal CCT 5000K), and has a frosted lens. With CCT right at 5000K, CRI in the mid-80s, and an 870-lumen high, this is my kind of headlamp. The frosted lens defocuses the beam, making for a softer-edged, relatively dimmer hot spot and a brighter spill.

Good luck with your quest.

I have my eyes set on the thrunite archer because it has all of the features I am looking for. I like that the high is a usable brightness (lasts a good time and still is very bright) and that the strobe is hidden.

KeepingItLight;4756083 My next purchase will probably be a headlamp. The [B said:

Zebralight H600Fd III[/B] is the one I am looking at. It uses a Cree XM-L2 EasyWhite emitter (typical CRI: 83-85, nominal CCT 5000K), and has a frosted lens. With CCT right at 5000K, CRI in the mid-80s, and an 870-lumen high, this is my kind of headlamp. The frosted lens defocuses the beam, making for a softer-edged, relatively dimmer hot spot and a brighter spill.

Good luck with your quest.

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Nice! that thing looks very handy.