Thoughts on high CRI

llmercll

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I've been playing with flashlights for a decade now, which isn't that long I suppose, but I remember my first lights which had a strong purple bluish color to them and were not very pleasing. I was infatuated with how much light a tiny cylinder was capable of putting out though especially when compared to the mag-lights and incandescents I grew up with.

Recently I bought a neutral color temperature light and noticed I really liked the way it looked. I couldn't stand using my other "traditional" lights that looked purple and blue. Then I read it gets even better and there are high CRI offerings. I bought a high Cri zebra and a few 4x nichia lights and now I think I've spoiled myself. The visual experience is unlike any light I've ever used. There is something about 5000k high CRI light that makes things look so vivid and true to my eye.

The only thing I've noticed is the nichias are not very efficient. They get hot and aren't as bright. I'm not sure about the zebra high CRI's though, as they get quite bright, but also quite hot. It's too bad the high CRI lights weren't more efficient.

I just wonder if anyone else feels the same way.
 

twistedraven

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CRI will play a much more subtle visual effect on the light output of the LED than the color temperature and tint deviation of the light.

I love some neutral CCTs with good tints myself, but super high CRI isn't required for me. What most people don't like are extremes in the CCT-- ie above 6500 (very blue) or some people even don't like very warm lights (below 4000 CCT). Most people tend to like or can accept anything in the 4500-5500 kelvin range.

Most people won't like a light who's tint shows a strong green bias. The same green bias can come off as looking yellow or orangy at lower CCTs. I'd say a safe assumption would be that most people prefer tints that are dead on neutral or slightly magenta biased. Nichias are prone to be slightly magenta, but there are some that are greenish as well.

Domed LEDs are prone to have tint deviation within the beam of a flashlight if it's a conventional reflector-- ie the hotspot can be relatively good, the corona around the hotspot can be greenish, and the spill can be purplish.
 

llmercll

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Yes I agree. Color temperature is #1.

I'm still debating if I prefer 4000k or 5000k. I think so far I prefer 4000k for outdoors but 5000k for indoors.

I've also noticed I prefer magenta tints over green. I have a hard time knowing what true neutral tint is, as when I compare lights at the same temperature one always looks green and the other always looks magenta. I figure the light I have which seems not too far in either direction is the most neutral tint light I have, and even then it seems slightly more magenta.

I think I would take a high CRI with a mild green tint over a low CRI with a perfect neutral tint though.
 

ven

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llmercll, instead of maybe prefering 4K over 5k have both to enjoy, maybe at different times or applications. I prefer given the choice 4K in the evening. During the day(work for example)5k is my preferred. A lot can be effected by the ambient light(or even what part of the world we live), so for example, at home you may have 3k bulbs. This can make 5k flashlight look too cool and even blue. So you may prefer even 3k just for around the house at night.

I have quite a few hi cri lights and I do enjoy them, I would be telling lies if I said I could see a massive difference from 80CRI to 93/95 CRI. Differences are subtle, as with twistedraven, the colour temp and tint make more of a difference to me .
One of my fav still today, after all this time, the 219b 4500k. This I can use any time of the day and evening pretty much. Not too cold or warm.....perfect for me.

Enjoy, it's great how we have choices, regarding output and heat side of things. Have a look at some triple options, carclo optics. These do vary considerably from sportac 219b or 219c p60's to the BOSS and Hanko custom lights. For example, my triple nichia 219c is pretty efficient on the 20% level. This I find enough light(140-160) for most tasks, yet little heat and decent run times on 16650/18650 fuel tanks.
Too big? Maybe check HDS out for some of their hi cri offerings, great efficiency and if size is not too important along with crazy turbo output(18650 body option for crazy run time) Possibly one of the best lights on the planet IMO.

Zebra's I really like, just not their hi cri options. I actually prefer their older xhp50 and xhp35/xhp35 HI flavours by a long way over their XPL2 . That's an example where lower CRI(80) wins out for me personally due to nicer on the eye "tint".
 

twistedraven

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A good tint from an 80 CRI led can look just as good as one from a 90+ CRI led to me. When I compared my cherry-picked SC600MK3 HI next to a 4500k N219B light, I didn't find enough difference to justify keeping the Nichia. The benefit of the added output and throw of the HI light made me keep it, and it's still my go-to light.

Flat emitters have an advantage with regards to tint shift within the beam, as they interact with reflectors differently. Tint shift within the beam itself is mitigated greatly.

Acebeam's new EC65 piques my interest though. With the extreme runtime of the 21700 cell and the efficiency of 4 leds driven at lower percentages, it makes 5-700 lumens of high Nichia CRI goodness look yummy. I'm not sure about frosted optics though, and I'm not sure what CCT it's rocking.
 

ven

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Does look a nice light, but from what I have seen, price point is way off. Although not perfect, the D4 219c is a very good light for $40. Over a $100 less than the ec65(from acebeam rrp).

Frosted optics of course kill the throw, but makes the quad have a smoother beam. Any artifacts from the optics are pretty much none existent. Certainly a worthy option if the light is to be used for more close up type uses. I have 4 different carclo optics on the way, can swap about with any 20mm triple I have. So will try out on the tana E2e and L4 triple(narrow spot,frosted etc etc).

The zebra xhp35 HI 4500k(and the xhp35 on my sc63w) are very nice on the eye. Agree flat dome are more consistent tint wise by a good way. The xpl HI 4K and 5k are also up there with my favs.

We are a little spoiled these days, great time for Flashaholics :)
 

markr6

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A good tint from an 80 CRI led can look just as good as one from a 90+ CRI led to me. When I compared my cherry-picked SC600MK3 HI next to a 4500k N219B light, I didn't find enough difference to justify keeping the Nichia. The benefit of the added output and throw of the HI light made me keep it, and it's still my go-to light.

I feel the exact same way. One of my best examples was a Zebralight SC5w OP I had. Even though it used an XM-L2 at 4400K and 75CRI, it was literally indistinguishable from my Nichia 219B 4500K lights. But it was a fat chunky AA light I just didn't feel the need for so I sold it. But it shows you can get non-high CRI lights that perform well. I wish Cree would come out with a premium selection or some way of choosing these "best of the best" LEDs. I understand it would probably be a subjective process, so maybe it wouldn't fly.
 

Timothybil

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The only thing I've noticed is the nichias are not very efficient. They get hot and aren't as bright. I'm not sure about the zebra high CRI's though, as they get quite bright, but also quite hot. It's too bad the high CRI lights weren't more efficient.

I just wonder if anyone else feels the same way.
First off, the efficiency difference is due to the fact that more phosphors are needed to raise the CRI level. For the same actual LED base die, the extra phosphors needed to reach the higher CRI means more energy used in various frequency conversions, thus the lower efficiency.

On the practical side, if one calculates the difference in lumen output as a percentage change, one will realize that there really isn't that much difference. As an example, let's take one of my favorite drop ins the Mountain Electronics CUXP/CUXP. The Nichia 219C emitter option is 700 lumens at 5000K. The other 5000K option is the CREE XM-L2 U3 3D, which puts out 1075 lumens. Using the CREE as the base output, one finds that the Nichia puts out 34% fewer lumens, which sounds like a lot. But remember, the human eye response to lumens change is a log function. Simply put, to appear twice as bright takes four times the lumens. When looked at it that way, 34% fewer lumens isn't really a lot of change in perceived brightness.

I, like you really like the higher CRI lights, and am willing to put up with the slight difference in output. My first good light was a G2, with the Lumens Factory HO-6 upgrade, which put out a whole 160 lumens. To now have a 700 lumen drop in with similar CRI still blows my mind.
 

bykfixer

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Over rated in my view. Well, over sold I should say. A term used all too often as a gimmick to pull in customers in a super competitive market now that over selling "turbo" lumen outputs is not working as well.

I have some lights in my home that are horrible at showing true color. Horrible.
A closet flourescent tube for example. There have been times I thought my trousers were the gray pair of cargo's but when outside I realized they were the olive green ones. That's pretty bad CRI.

I have table lamps with curly fries that show true colors better than incans. Incans make things have a golden or brown tinge.

Ok, so with flashlights, yeah I have some vintage LED lights that too, are horrible. My red truck looks grayish purple. But I have some so-called high CRI lights that make the world look like a photoshop'd picture with contrast maxed out.... fake looking.

I find the newer cool to barely neutral as in say 5700 to 6200 serve my eyes best. CRI numbers? Got me. Don't care. They make my olive trousers appear olive, my red truck appear red, and nothing has a golden, brownish or pink tint like those so called high CRI lights.
 

Gaffle

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I will not go back to blue/green/white LED lights anymore. I only buy warmer or neutral, no "bright white" for me. My HDS and Armytek lights have ruined me for good. Unlike others, I have found that colors are so much better with these class of lights. Not sure where my Armytek lights are, 5000k or less, I like it. Now my HDS High CRI holds the candle (har har) for color rendition out of my collection, hands down. It is my go to and I won't revert.
 

InvisibleFrodo

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It's certainly used as a part of marketing nowadays.
CRI is probably not the best possible way to score light quality. I think CQS is at least a more complete view of how a light source will look and effect the perceived colors of objects.

Having said that, lights with pretty low CRI like in the 60s and 70s are generally pretty bad to terrible lights in my opinion.
 
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Modernflame

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Lumen output is much closer to the heart of advertising than CRI. In fact, I think that comparatively low output, high CRI devices are a hard sell, except to a few specialty groups, or perhaps flashlight nerds like us.

However, I agree that color temperature and beam tint are equally important. Once I find a CCT and beam tint that I enjoy, I find that the high CRI version of it is even better. If I don't like the way it looks, hiking up the CRI probably won't help.
 

markr6

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However, I agree that color temperature and beam tint are equally important. Once I find a CCT and beam tint that I enjoy, I find that the high CRI version of it is even better. If I don't like the way it looks, hiking up the CRI probably won't help.

EXACTLY! And even if you don't find a higher CRI version, you're still probably happy with what you have.
 

RCS1300

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Color rendering the rich natural colors is becoming more and more important, for me.

I started noticing the enhancement of High CRI lights when the United States switched standard Household bulbs (lights) from incandescent to LED lights in 2014. The first LED household bulbs that came out emitted a blueish beam and looked very low quality - I think most have a CRI of 75-80. That is when I started searching for high CRI household light bulbs - which are hard to find and special order only at the big box stores. I scored a set of Phillips 60W Equivalent Soft White dimmable LED bulbs (#465195 Home Depot)with a CRI of 90 for $5.15 each. They have a Kelvin of 2,700 and are awesome. Immediately afterwards I started changing out my non-distance (less than 30 yard beam distance) flashlights to High CRI emitters.

My throw lights, over 30 yard beam distance, are still cool white because these LED's seem to throw a light beam further more effectively.
 
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glimmer

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Nothing but high CRI for me now. The only exceptions are when the top priority is small size or maximum output/throw. Otherwise, I'll not buy another low CRI light again. Color accuracy is high performance. Other than the 2 exceptions above, I see no reason to compromise.
 

Fireclaw18

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High CRI is overrated
I agree.

for me the most important factors when selecting an LED in a light tend to be:

1. Lumens and Intensity - whole purpose of the device is to create light. It's not useful if it doesn't create enough. For throwers, Intensity may matter even more than lumens.

2. Color temperature - I hate cool-white tints and much prefer neutral. The difference between good and bad color temperature is instantly evident the second the light is turned on.

3. Tint - I prefer rosy tints below the black body line and dislike the greenish tints above the line. However, this is more subtle than color temperature and the eyes will get used to bad tint pretty quickly except in cases where the tint is exceptionally bad.

4. CRI - much more subtle than any of the previous factors. Difference between high and low CRI is virtually unnoticeable unless I hold a low and high CRI light next to each other and compare beams.

Bottom line: CRI is nice to have, but the effect is so subtle it's not worth sacrificing any of the other factors to get. It's easily the least important factor when choosing an LED. I'll take a rosy-tinted 80 CRI light over a greenish tinted 93 CRI light any day.
 

Modernflame

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I won't claim that 93 CRI is a massive improvement over 80 CRI, but I also don't need to hold them side by side to distinguish them, especially when looking at darker, earthy colors. Recent experience has taught me that.

I understand why CRI ranks low on some folks' check list, but the longer I do this, my lights get smaller, less bright, with better color rendition. For me quality is more important than quantity.
 

wolfgaze

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Once I experienced high cri lights my eyes took such a liking to the more natural looking illumination and accurate color-rendering that I will not consider other types of LED's for my future purchases....

As it stands now I'm predominantly using high cri AAA lights and this works well for my needs/uses...
 

staticx57

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I agree.

for me the most important factors when selecting an LED in a light tend to be:

1. Lumens and Intensity - whole purpose of the device is to create light. It's not useful if it doesn't create enough. For throwers, Intensity may matter even more than lumens.

2. Color temperature - I hate cool-white tints and much prefer neutral. The difference between good and bad color temperature is instantly evident the second the light is turned on.

3. Tint - I prefer rosy tints below the black body line and dislike the greenish tints above the line. However, this is more subtle than color temperature and the eyes will get used to bad tint pretty quickly except in cases where the tint is exceptionally bad.

4. CRI - much more subtle than any of the previous factors. Difference between high and low CRI is virtually unnoticeable unless I hold a low and high CRI light next to each other and compare beams.

Bottom line: CRI is nice to have, but the effect is so subtle it's not worth sacrificing any of the other factors to get. It's easily the least important factor when choosing an LED. I'll take a rosy-tinted 80 CRI light over a greenish tinted 93 CRI light any day.

Is high and low CRI really that similar?
Cf3FezR.jpg

Or is 65-70 "low" CRI actually not that bad that 90 CRI icing on the cake
 
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