Reference Quality Light Output

[Toecutter]

I'm curious as to what flashlight produces the cleanist, purist light?

Audiophiles look for the "reference" standard in sound quality.

What light would you consider to be the "reference" standard in terms of quality?

I'm defining quality not necessarily in terms of sheer brightness, but in terms of:

1. Freedom from artifacts
2. Full spectrum color rendition (non-yellow)
3. Good balance of throw and spot.

Two lights that come to mind are the Surefire A2 incandescent mode and the surefire M6 250/500 bulbs.

What do you guys think?

 

[markdi]

are you a surefire fan ?

 

[Toecutter]

I like Surefires, sure...Who doesn't /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

But not all Surefires have Reference Quality beams. There may be another manufacturer or custom maker who has a better light? I'm a tad ignorant in other brands and would like to learn some more.

 

[paulr]

Every incandescent flashlight ever made looks yellow compared to a really neutral white LED. LED's are quite variable but a lot of the more recent Luxeon III's have been quite neutral. No incandescent comes anywhere close.

 

[markdi]

that is true about luxeon led's
I bought some twoh 3 watt emitters that are whiter than white and bright

 

[kakster]

But LEDs arent full spectrum light, they lack red. CRI is fairly low as a result.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Toecutter,

Welcome to CPF.

My personal "reference" standard is the sun. Most lights fall a bit short in color rendition (and power), but HID lights come close.

Tom

 

[eluminator]

But the sun is unreliable. It only works in the daytime, when you don't need it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif It also produces dangerous UV radiation. I'm surprised the FDA hasn't done something about this.

 

[jayflash]

Greetings, and welcome, Toecutter, your handle makes me lol. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif Being an audiophile, also, I can appreciate your point. While we constantly compare lights, I like your idea of having a reference point.

Could we create two groups of lights, LED and incan, each with the best representatives to be used as benchmarks? A subgroup might be useful because there are production, modified, and custom ("home" built) lights.

SureFire seems to have the best incan beams but I'm less sure of the best LED lights. Calling all experts!

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

I'm pretty happy with what a P60 driven by two fresh 123 puts out.

I also really like my 3D M*g with 4NimH and Acrylite.

Both look pretty darn white (as well as quite bright!).

The best LED I have is my Milkbone (Q2H 1W driven near spec). It has a pretty nice tint.

Most LEDs are distinctly BLUE! And my KL3 is ghastly purple.

So incandescents are still the "best" to my eyes.

 

[markdi]

incandesent flashlight bulbs still look yellow to me.
even my e2e is yellow just as yellow as my scorpion.
it is bright just as bright as the scorpion but yellow.
the scorp is yellow too.
e2e is a nice light but it was given to me
I would have never bought one
I like the scorp better-spare bulb and spot to flood

the e2e is great looking
I hope the bulb lasts

 

[js]

OK. Hello out there. Do a web search! There in fact IS such a thing, used by photo-spectroscopy equipment (for example), which indicates the absorbtion and emmision lines.

Guess what part of the basis for the light reference is in such a device:

yup. Halogen tungsten incandescent. and NOT an LED. I repeat, not an LED of any variety.

Now, granted, the halogen tungsten incandescent filament is only one part of the production of a reference quality light, but it is for serveral reasons, a very important ingredient.

A reference is a light source which is spatially even and spectrally even (or "pure"). Every frequency across its range has the same intensity as any other. The graph of intensity vs. wavelength would be a straight horizontal line over the frequency range of interest, or closely approximating it. Check out the DT-1000.

LED's indeed. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dedhorse.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twakfl.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif

 

[jayflash]

Agreed, js, there is no way LEDs better good incandescent lamps for a high CRI rating. If incans look yellow when next to LEDs, it's because LEDs are so blue.

Still, there are examples of each type of flashlight that have the best CRI along with the best beam quality. Would a P60 or P61 lamp qualify as one of the best incans? Is the L4 one of the best examples of an LED flashlight, for beam and CRI quality? I don't have enough exposure to all the great lights to know the answer. I think Toecutter is looking for some benchmarks.

 

[markdi]

I do not think streamlight and surefire are worried about CRI ratings

 

[js]

jayflash,

You are right! Sorry Toecutter, I hijacked the thread. Oops.

OK, so benchmark lights. Hmmm. SureFires are up there, to be sure: most of their lamps are pushed a good bit into the higher CCT range, and this is reflected in their lamp life ratings of 40 hours or so.

I assume we are limiting ourselves to production lights, right?

The SureFire M6 HOLA definitely does NOT qualify. Its CCT is a bit low for my taste, and the beam has a slight, but noticeable, yellowness to it compared to other incans I am familiar with. The M6 LOLA, on the other hand, is a different story. That would be a serious contender, I suspect.

markdi,

all incans have--by definition--a CRI of 100, unless they have special coatings or treatments applied to the reflector.

Or if you meant CCT, I have to disagree and say that all incan light makers care about CCT. Too low a CCT and the light looks unpleasantly yellowy, and the lamp is less efficient.

 

[jayflash]

Markdi, I suspect most of us prefer a good, smooth, beam rather than a high CRI with artifacts. Good LEDs and incans provide enough color accuracy for most purposes. For me, the benchmark criteria are enough light for the job and as even a beam as possible - for either spot or flood.

 

[markdi]

I guess incans do not look that yellow unless you
compare them to leds

40 hours kool that is a long time

is there a harder water pump to replace than the one in my mom's crysler mini van with the 3.0 ohc v6 whisc is only 16
days out of warranty ?

sorry off subject

back to the bright red 1998 chrysler salt mine