Why are warm LEDs preferred by most on this forum?

[Ragiska]

You're correct, but which curve used to normalize absolute numbers ? In case of normal color vision, where peak sensitivity shifted to green-yellow part or low light, where no color perception and sensitivity concentrated in cyan-green part of spectrum ?
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_flux - not defined exactly which one. Russian version is more detailed but did not answer too.

Photopic

 

[vvs]

Photopic

I'm lost in conclusions - too many information lovecpf

 

[the.Mtn.Man]

Warm tint reduces eye fatigue as it is easier on the eyes.

Has that been documented somewhere, or is it just speculation?

 

[was.lost.but.now.found]

From http://eartheasy.com/live_energyeff_lighting.htm

LED Colors

Blue - many people like the blue because it is very easy on the eyes. Blue appears to be a good reading light for elderly eyes. Elderly folks report that they can read under the blue light for hours without eyestrain, compared to severe eyestrain in less than 30 minutes with incandescent lighting.

 

[the.Mtn.Man]

Finally, turn on the cold white LED-light. Big chance, you are upset in such a way, you immediately turn it off again... ALL dark colors look BLACK. Dark green and dark brown are just black, while lighter colors (like fresh grass) reflect the light in an aggressive way, that it blinds you.

That's a gross exaggeration, don't you think? I have a cool white Quark MiNi AA, and I have no trouble distinguishing one color from another when I use it.

 

[red02]

Has that been documented somewhere, or is it just speculation?

I've never seen any documentation, its just one of the popular talking points IMO.

 

[TorchBoy]

From http://eartheasy.com/live_energyeff_lighting.htm

LED Colors

Blue - many people like the blue because it is very easy on the eyes. Blue appears to be a good reading light for elderly eyes. Elderly folks report that they can read under the blue light for hours without eyestrain, compared to severe eyestrain in less than 30 minutes with incandescent lighting.

Again, has that actually been documented or is it just a claim by a web site with a barrow-load of LED lights to sell?

 

[was.lost.but.now.found]

Again, has that actually been documented or is it just a claim by a web site with a barrow-load of LED lights to sell?

Right now I'm researching different studies. It's proving difficult to find exactly what I'm looking for.

Not directly on topic but related, this one basically says that cool light suppresses "nocturnal fall of the core temperature and the nocturnal increase of melatonin secretion", while red/warm light did not.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8979406?dopt=Abstract


One might take some liberties in these conclusions to follow the assumption that there is a large matter of personal preference involved in choosing cool vs. warm. For example, we've commonly heard mention in this thread and others that warm light is very pleasing and comfortable. Is it really that comfortable to your optic nerve from a physiological standpoint, or might there be some subtle and unconscious reaction to a continual and natural rise in melotonin and changes in core body temperature that triggers an overall feeling of comfort? After all, when does most flashlight usage occur? Well nightime of course, and if your body is already beginning its preparation for sleep, then this study supports the idea that red/warm light is comforting and in support of that physiological response. In regards to cool light and the observations of the study, it might also be interpreted that the cool light drives the subject toward feelings of vibrance and energy thus delaying the onset of the nocturnal signals, not unlike a burst of adrenaline. But also like that adrenaline producing situation, the mood of the subject can have a lot to do with their response to the stimuli. How many of us would want to go ride a roller coaster right before preparing for bed? I think I'm like most and would probably take a rain check. But if you were planning on pulling an all-nighter it sounds like the perfect thing to do.


I don't know that scientists could even disect this one. There are too many subjective variables, but honestly the more I think about it the more I feel this study is in fact applicable to our discussion than I first thought.

So here is my challenge to you the reader, the next time you happen to find yourself in a dark environment using your lights and can compare both a warm and cool light, riddle me this - consider your mood and how tired you are, and how you feel those effects play or your opinion at that very moment of the warm vs. cool light and report back here with your findings.




This one I found just happens to be a cool read if you are intersted in led technology:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20389517

 

[jblackwood]

There is not such a poll however there is no poll regarding trits either but I think it would be fair to say that most people don't care about trits but those who do are very vocal.

Do you think a majority sit in their houses at night with the lights off so they can "tailstand" their flashlights? I think the answer is no but a passionate minority do.

Funny. I actually need both trits and tailstanding since my area is prone to both hurricanes and power outages, not necessarily in that order! While we're talking "majority" populations, how many people do you think even look up flashlights on the internet at all, much less own 30+ flashlights? What's with some of this language trying to make a "minority" hobbyist (all of us flashaholics, that is) turn against one another? I try to read these threads in their entirety and I'll admit I only read two pages before deciding to post, but why is it that people tend to band together and take shots at the lesser in our population?

I agree, most of US don't tailstand with OUR lights at night. Those of US who do NEED those features probably outnumber those who WANT those features and, as we've seen with both B@rt and his vials as well as Moddoo and his shrouds, there is a market for these items. Have we not seen what happens when a good product is embraced by a vocal minority? Every so often, you get a revolution. Once upon a time, there used to be more than 10 different makers of MP3 players. Now, it's basically an iPod or nothing (yes, I KNOW there are still many other brands out there, but the big guys like Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, and Creative all threw in their hats ages ago). Heck, Steve Jobs is angling to do the same to cell phones!

So for those of you who prefer cool tints, way to speak up.

For those of you who prefer a light that doesn't tail stand because you have big thumbs, way to speak up.

For those of you who prefer your lights not glow in the dark gently without having to be charged for the next 10 years before losing approximately 50% luminescence, way to speak up.

You won't catch me pointing a finger at you guys at all since I really do feel you need to speak your mind (that is, after all what I'm doing as well). But don't you start in on me for voicing my preferences either!

Leave me alone with my tail-standing, tritium bearing, warm-tint blazing, high color rendering (yes, I know high CRI and warm aren't the same, I have both!) lights and let's all help reduce flash-on-flash violence! :nana: 😉

 

[TorchBoy]

..., way to speak up.

Is that an American expression? What does it mean?

 

[Quension]

..., way to speak up.

Is that an American expression? What does it mean?

It's a form of praise, like "good job". It's typically seen as "way to go", and was probably based on a sentence along the lines of "That's the way to [do something]!", but the original usage seems to be lost in the mists of time...

It can also be used in a sarcastic manner, typically when mocking someone familiar for doing something stupid.

 

[jblackwood]

It's a form of praise, like "good job". It's typically seen as "way to go", and was probably based on a sentence along the lines of "That's the way to [do something]!", but the original usage seems to be lost in the mists of time...

It can also be used in a sarcastic manner, typically when mocking someone familiar for doing something stupid.

Yes, it definitely can be used to mock but if you read my context, my "way to go's" were all genuine.

 

[Quension]

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply it was being used sarcastically here. I actually went back and forth on the editing, and finally decided to leave that part in for completeness

 

[red02]

Both reach just as far and the TK20 seems orange/yellow on the cool white snow. The snow wont look like that in daylight. The colors in beams shift significantly, auto white balance I guess... probably not the right camera or settings to demonstrate the difference between the two.

 

[Locoboy5150]

All I know is that when it was raining here one night, I directly compared my Fenix LD20 to my TK20 in my back yard. With the TK20 I could see my orange trees at the far end of my yard much clearer compared to when I used my LD20. I could see oranges with the TK20 while with the LD20 I saw more raindrops. I suppose that everyone can draw their own conclusions and that's exactly what I did as well. When out in inclement weather, I prefer to use my TK20 with its neutral white LED.

 

[someuser]

I will throw in my 2 cents too in this discussion. To me cool white just sucks donkey's ***, it's just plain and simple. Sorry for the language but I can't express how bad cool white is. Even with Cree "WC" tint it's still can't let you see things the way they are. Cool white will illuminate objects and give you the shapes but not so much on the colours. Warm white will actually give you colours when you shine the light in to plants and other colourful things. A lot of time when I am out on a patrol with my brother, I bring my "WC" Fenix TK 40 with me. The TK40 just makes everything around me bright. When I want to check out if there are people behind some bushes I can't even notice them. The people behind the bushes just blends in with the trees and bushes. The colour of the bushes, trees and people are just plain yellow, so how can I see them apart? There are reasons why cool white have a CRI around 70, while 3000k have 80+. :scowl:

Sorry for my rant, but I just have to get it out.

The main point is that our eyes are not so sensitive to blue and actually can't use too much of it. While warm white produces more red, yellow, teal, and green which our eyes detects much more better.

So stick with the coolest warm white you can find, and you can actually see the shape and colour of the object that you want to see.

 

[Niconical]

I will throw in my 2 cents too in this discussion. To me cool white just sucks donkey's ***, it's just plain and simple. Sorry for the language but I can't express how bad cool white is. Even with Cree "WC" tint it's still can't let you see things the way they are. Cool white will illuminate objects and give you the shapes but not so much on the colours. Warm white will actually give you colours when you shine the light in to plants and other colourful things. A lot of time when I am out on a patrol with my brother, I bring my "WC" Fenix TK 40 with me. The TK40 just makes everything around me bright. When I want to check out if there are people behind some bushes I can't even notice them. The people behind the bushes just blends in with the trees and bushes. The colour of the bushes, trees and people are just plain yellow, so how can I see them apart? There are reasons why cool white have a CRI around 70, while 3000k have 80+. :scowl:

Sorry for my rant, but I just have to get it out.

The main point is that our eyes are not so sensitive to blue and actually can't use too much of it. While warm white produces more red, yellow, teal, and green which our eyes detects much more better.

So stick with the coolest warm white you can find, and you can actually see the shape and colour of the object that you want to see.

With 6 posts in 3.5 years, you clearly only write when you have a point to make.

For this case, this point, I couldn't agree more.

 

[Locoboy5150]

It baffles me how anyone can come to -any- conclusion using that video.

...then don't use it as a judgement criteria. Instead, do like I did and use a cool white LED light and a neutral or warm white LED light side by side in inclement weather and let your own eyes be the judge. That's exactly what I did and I formed my own conclusion that my neutral white LED is much better in those situations than any of my cool white LEDs. Unfortunately, I only have one non-cool white LED light at the moment so I can't vouch for other non-cool white LEDs besides the Cree XR-E in my Fenix TK20.

Note that it doesn't snow where I live so I have only done this test in the rain. I cannot come to any conclusions about which kind of LED works better in the snow from actual experimentation, like what's shown in that video.

When I do side by side comparisons between my neutral white and cool white LEDs outdoors in the wild, there really is no comparison because the neutral white LED just blows away the cool white LED in just about every category except light output (lumen ratings.) Keep in mind though that everyone's eyes are different. Some CPF members have stated that they cannot see the difference between these LEDs. Honestly, I am grateful that my eyes can see the difference very clearly though so I can enjoy all the good and bad traits of all these different types of LEDs. I also have real respect for incandescent lights as well because they have their benefits too that I can see.

 

[Mdemon]

cool LED tend to make outdoor environment look very eerie and haunted. simple answer

This hits the nail on the head for me. I dive, and I dive in dark, scary environments. I get to play with lots of lights, halogen, HID and LED in varying powers. The halogen is by far the "friendliest" - a bright, yellow, warm light. When playing with the sterile, immaculately (blue) white of HID and LED, the "feeling" is a lot less friendly.

Of course, for the stat freaks the lumen count will be less. However, on a functional basis the warmer white is a better white for my application. YMMV.

 

[CaNo]

*Easy on the eyes

*Color renditioning (aside from white and blue colors)

*Everybody pretty much grew up with Incandescent flashlights, so it is more
of a safety blanket so to say for the older generation

*It does not make objects look dull and dead

*it is less attention grabbing when trying to sneak in at night or to the bathroom lol

*It also is more rare nowadays to find an LED that is not cool tinted. (Try going to Walmart/Target/Albertsons and finding an LED with warm/neutral tint.) So more of a unique feeling carrying a light that the majority does not have.

(I will be continuing this list in future postings once I can think of more hehe)