The Official Zebralight Thread .

[AstroTurf]

lol
there are only 5 modes on the A6.. and you wont need to program G6 nor G7, since they have been deleted.. plus no sublumen levels to get confused by, and no High CRI either..

sounds good to me...

cause simple is as simple does.

 

[jacobd]

Carrying my sm573 DD Bob_McBob sc64c LE today and I'm constantly amazed at how good it is. The rosy whiteness of the dedomed sm573 makes for such a good daytime carry.

 

[PoliceScannerMan]

The Bob McBob sc64c LE mod is great, I like mine so much I bought a spare. Checks off all the boxes for a long running EDC light.

 

[ilikeguns40]

519a in an 18650 Zebralight is great, however, for me personally for the price ($89 vs $150 or so for mcbob) the stock SC65c HI with 719a 4000k is perfection. The tint and beam are perfect. No need to change anything

 

[SYZYGY]

lol
there are only 5 modes on the A6.. and you wont need to program G6 nor G7, since they have been deleted.. plus no sublumen levels to get confused by, and no High CRI either..

haha. honestly, i did not carefully read the product page before buying it, so that was a surprise to me.
not programming this one is a relief, though, and in this case, it doesn't matter. it's a light that likely won't get used often, and i'm positive the user won't miss the lack of functionality or customizability. with that in mind, maybe even a less expensive light would have been better.

then again, i'm glad to get to see the newest ZL, and at least it has a nice optic and driver (i think?). so i guess $59 well spent.

 

[SYZYGY]

519a in an 18650 Zebralight is great, however, for me personally for the price ($89 vs $150 or so for mcbob) the stock SC65c HI with 719a 4000k is perfection. The tint and beam are perfect. No need to change anything

i agree. if you don't have any driver issues, and you like the color temp, i think it's one of ZL's most compelling stock offerings ever. no need to mod it.

 

[SYZYGY]

here's my review of the new A6.
spare o-ring was not included, so it gets an automatic 1/10

A6

it comes with an NCR18650GA included in the $52 price

anode contact: spring
cathode contact: "sim card"
just like newer sc64 and sc65, i think.

its anodization seems nice.

i don't get the point of the magnets. this is a headlamp. you can put the damn thing on your head! imo, it's the least compelling of their offerings to include magnets on. they are decently strong, though.

the strap's missing the top part. not sure how big of a deal that is. it probably affects some activities, or maybe it can slide down more when you're adjusting the light. then again, maybe not?

has only L, M1, M2, H1, H2. not programmable in any way. no strobe. no battery check – wtf??
L is not very low. moonlight lovers will not be impressed.

i see no tint shift through the optic. the radial distribution of intensity of the beam is honestly great. it's maybe the best beam profile of any ZL ever, or at least it's not worse than spot/spill. i find their mules and floodies useless – always been a spot/spill guy. i would say this is closer to spot/spill than floody. it's way more usable and less wasteful than floody.

left: A6, right: sc64w hi

i apologize for the poor quality of the beam shot (i held the lights while someone else took the pic), but it's enough to illustrate the profile and show my two main points: 1) compared to ZL's reflector spot/spill, the hotspot is wider and less defined. 2) the absolute, outer edge of the beam (i.e. the end of the spill) is also much harder to discern on the A6.

the emitter's nothing to write home about. low CRI and cold. again, fine for who i'm gifting it to, especially if it's more efficient in exchange.

left to right: H600w mk4, sc64c LE, A6

it's noticeably shorter than h600 and barely shorter than sc64. the milling on the head fins is less fancy. no clue if/how that affects thermal performance, but it's a lower output light.

it's barely lighter than h600 and sc64 (1–2g). not sure i can notice a difference.

conclusion:
nice light if you don't care about the customizability or moonlight. the emitter is nothing special, but you can upgrade it. love the TIR optic. the only thing they objectively f'd up is the omission of a battery check feature which is a critical feature for any conceivable user.

 

[SYZYGY]

When I saw it, I didn't care for it. Looks cheap and flimsy. I guess time will tell. I think ZL has become too obsessed with it's "the smallest 18650" light mantra. Add the extra 1/4" to stick a damn magnet in the tail cap or at least offer the modded tailcap as an accessory. Do away with the battery crushing pogo pins and whatever this new mess is and use springs on both ends. It's not like these lights a drawing so much amperage that you'd want multiple connection sources. Drop one of these ZLs many times, then do the same with any of your spring lights and note the results. I'll shut up now ...

does their 'sim card' cathode contact actually crush batteries? i have not observed that yet, and i have been EDCing one for some time now.

some of their other contact types definitely do, though.

i have two collections of cells: crushed and non-crushed.

i only use the non-molested cells on my 'sim card' lights because they don't make a high-current connection with the crushed ones unless i rotate them just right in the tube. the damage doesn't seem to bother the other lights, so i guess there's no need for the distinction unless you have a mix of lights. but if you do have a mix of lights, you def need to set aside the fresh cells for the ones with sim card contacts or else you'll eventually end up without cells you can use in them.

see also this post

Yes, small is good😂, but I wouldn't mind either some mm more for a better product, provided that this new connector are worst. Otherwise it's great! I dropped my sc600 in multiple occasions and almost every single time I damaged the cell. But with the sc64 le that didn't happen. In every occasions the lights were good to go! So I like zebralight and I will keep buying them 👍

idk. so far ime, the new contact shown in your post is actually the best.

 

[ilikeguns40]

i agree. if you don't have any driver issues, and you like the color temp, i think it's one of ZL's most compelling stock offerings ever. no need to mod it.

I still wish Zebralight would offer another SC65c HI in a cooler temp around 5000k.

 

[jon_slider]

wish Zebralight would offer

I respect that some buyers only want Zebras from the USA Ranch. However, the USA Ranch breeds Zebras from an inbred line with a very limited Gene Pool.

fwiw
There is a Special Zebra Breeding Program in Canada. ;-)

For a modest donation, that goes entirely to support the staff and feeding, you can enjoy your choice of Special Zebra Eye Colors. Bred from a much more diverse and vigorous gene pool.

The taste of quality lingers long after the price is forgotten..
For those who understand, no explanation is necessary.
For those who do not understand, no explanation will be sufficient.

 

[ilikeguns40]

Haha I know. Bob does excellent work and I honor his work and I've bought from him. It's just mostly about the price more than anything. It's like paying more money for a different color car that's exactly the same. Makes no sense.

I do the same with custom Malkoff orders. Makes no sense to me but it's the only way to get a 519a in my favorite brand of light, at least it's still covered under warranty. Zebralight, it's not

 

[jon_slider]

the price... [and] warranty.

understandable ;-)

sometimes I limit my options for similar reasons..

other times I subscribe to the idea that YOLO, and that I earned the right to spend my money however makes me happy.. lol.. (as in, Im spending my grandchildrens inheritance)

fwiw, McBob repots the Zebras he upgrades to better LEDs. Hopefully warranty will never be required, but if it is, I trust that he would repair or replace any light he modified.

 

[Fespe]

I recently got 2 zebra from Bob (sc700 4000k and h600 3000k), I have waited "A LOT"before deciding to reach to him because of course I was thinking "too much money" and I wasn't sure if it was worth it. Well for me it was, if I'd done that sooner I will certainly would have spend much less money because they're just perfect! And unless zebra come out with something special I don't think I need anything else. I really don't abuse my light for what I use them for. I can understand if you go hard on your light for work or sport, I don't know, otherwise what he does with zebralight it's great!

 

[aznsx]

I got this new sc65c hi and I just noticed there is no more pogo pins. I don't know but this new version, at least to me, give the feeling of being more delicate compared to pogo pins? Am I wrong?

Wow! I never knew these connectors were used in such application(s)! In the SIM uses I've seen, there's an additional 'element' maintaining downward contact pressure on the chip - essentially a flat spring of sorts. What maintains contact pressure in this case - a spring on the other end of the cell?

 

[SYZYGY]

idk if it's actually a sim connector, but it sure looks like one. that's why i call it that.

What maintains contact pressure in this case - a spring on the other end of the cell?

yes

 

[this_is_nascar]

Eh, I have mixed feelings about Bob. Apparently, he's not crazy about taking someone's existing light and modding it. He'd rather sell them the whole package new. For weeks I tried to work out the arrangements for me to send one of my many LEs to him for modding, but he never delivered on sending me the information like he had promised over the course of a few weeks and I finally gave up.

 

[Fespe]

Eh, I have mixed feelings about Bob. Apparently, he's not crazy about taking someone's existing light and modding it. He'd rather sell them the whole package new. For weeks I tried to work out the arrangements for me to send one of my many LEs to him for modding, but he never delivered on sending me the information like he had promised over the course of a few weeks and I finally gave up.

I think he prefers to do that for the amount of request he gets. Maybe give it a little time. This is the reason why if I have to get a zebralight I will get it directly from him.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

A responsible person does not want to spend time and money on a host that may have worn out or mistreated?

 

[Monocrom]

A responsible person does not want to spend time and money on a host that may have worn out or mistreated?

True. But how many of us abuse our lights?
Even taking a look through the "Show me your Beat up lights" thread, you see mainly normal wear and tear of daily use for years. Don't think I've seen one light in that thread that could be classified as Abused.

 

[SYZYGY]

at the end of the day, it's just easier for him. e.g. if something goes wrong with the mod, he can just grab another new light from his inventory and work it out later instead of having to have an unnecessary conversation with the customer.