Zebralight SC52d L2 - Philips LUXEON T

[KDM]

Diameter of the tail caps
SC52- 20.55mm
SC62- 24.15mm

 

[Martin L]

Good news! Thank you KDM. I knew it was a difference. Not a big deal though, but I´m sure you will feel the difference in the pocket.

 

[jak]

Shipping notice received this afternoon. Listed as "in stock" on site at the time of this posting.

I should receive mine before the end of the week. I'll post some pix, but I bet they'll be the same as comparing an SC62w to an SC62d.

 

[fuzzymachinist]

It looks like they've started shipping, I just got my shipping confirmation email for my preorder on 9/1.

 

[jak]

Aw yeah, mine has arrived! Details to come after work... when I can actually play with it.

 

[Martin L]

It took some time to find this thread again. It had dropped to the fifth sheet meaning that this will not turn to be the most popular light out there.

However, I have received my 52d and want to share my thoughts. Everything is flawless - overall quality, anodizing, clip, centered LED and so on. But, what about the tint? It´s nice.... Just nice? Well... it´s not an MT-G2 with even tint through spill, corona and hot spot. It´s only a matter of issue when you are shining on white walls/roofs. All other situations it´s quite nice... Compared to my PD32UE it´s unfortunately almost spot on regarding the spill, i.e with a little bit of blue. The surrounding corona is on the other hand better, more like its neutral hot spot. The PD32UE has a slize of yellow/green in its corona. The Luxeon made me attention this corona, because the Luxeon had that part more neutral. One point to the Luxeon... The hot spot tint look almost the same which should be in the 5000K area, but again the Luxeon has a more white-ish (very neutral hot spot). Another point goes to the Luxeon. So, the luxeon wins over the neutral XM-L in every regard, but only by a marginal, mostly thanks to a more neutral corona. The blue spill is the weakness. This is a little bit of a dissapointment to me as I thought the spill should have had a more beautiful tint without the blue, but it is ok for now. I must stay away from the indoor white wall hunting... Outdoor is very beautiful. I don´t notice the high CRI that much compared to other neutral XM-L's. The color pops out good and feel balanced. I don´t know what to say. Compared to a cool white there is a huge difference, even not comparable...

I like the smaller hot spot thanks to the smaller emitter. This will give you a relative good throw, but still practical for up close work and indoor business. I am still waiting on my 14500's so I am only running it around 200 lumens with an Eneloop for now. It´s quite enough for most tasks... But if you can have more output without loosing the lows you go for it. It will be fun to compare 200-ish with 300-ish, but deep down I know that the differens is marginal, maybe only a 20-30%-ish perceived increase?

Another comparison, only made because I have found the holy grail tint from the same brand, but from another model:
Let me present the H52Fw. I bought this at the same time, simply because I was missing a good head light, and this one has already a place in my heart, you can say love at first turn on. OMG, this tint is probably the best I have seen. It´s more pinkish, brownish compared to the 52d - very nice, very easy on the eyes. It´s so beautiful. No greens, no yellows, no blue's. The spill, corona and the hot spot are all in the same color. Do not forget that this light has a factory diffusion lens which spread all the color, but lets make another comparison to my SWM D40A with a diffuser attached to compare apples to apples. The SWM looks greenish in the corona and more yellow in the hot spot. The spill is some what more neutral without any distracting colors, i.e better with the diffuser then without. So, without the diffuser the SWM has a bluish spill, a green corona and a yellow hot spot. Does it sound like a winner - nope! Don´t get me wrong, everything else is almost perfect on this ligth, but that´s another story. My conclusion is that the emitter in my H52Fw must have a great tint. I guess I was lucky with the tint lottery this time. Will I be lucky next time? However, after I laid my eyes on that H52Fw I must let somebody swap that ugly emitter in the SWM D40A. It´s not healthy to get a new light making all other lights feel a shame about them selfs. Another thing, the H52Fw has a wonderful beam - so practical. I am so happy I did not choose the even more spread out sister version. This is diffused enough and will be a treat to use when you need both hands.

I am sorry to drag in other lights in this thread, but I had to, to be able to explain... Without preferences there is nothing to compare. I guess I was lucky with that H52Fw, which make me want to test another w model from ZL, but without the diffuser ofcourse. This 4400K-ish can be the right tint to my eyes. However the MT-G2 at 5000K was also a winner, but it probably has to do with the spill color difference compared to the 52d...

The SC52 size is noticable in my front left pocket and a little bit too bulky to my taste, but you can´t have a smaller head with an electronic switch I guess... The positive is that you get a larger reflector with some throw. These lights from ZL are NOT my last. The hunt for a w modell with a nice tint in a 52 or 62 body will probably be my next buy... I am not lonely saying/thinking these last words, I guess... The hunt will give more cash to ZL :tinfoil:

I made a pre-thought comment about this SC52d some post above and I can just say that I was almost right about all of my assumptions. The blue spill became the only negative thing in real life comparison. I don´t know if I made any sense with all this - please be gentle

 

[StorminMatt]

I was actually thinking of buying this light. But instead, I made the drive on Wednesday to Illumination Supply to pick up an SC62d. Being able to run the light on NiMH would have been nice. But I think the thing that swayed me toward the SC62d was that, although it is only a little brighter on H1 than the peak brightness of the SC62d, it can maintain this for three hours instead of just a minute. Since I tend to use my lights in dark places, this is important to me.

 

[mefistofele86]

Could you take some beamshots? I'm very interested in this luxeon T led.
Thanks

 

[Martin L]

I was actually thinking of buying this light. But instead, I made the drive on Wednesday to Illumination Supply to pick up an SC62d. Being able to run the light on NiMH would have been nice. But I think the thing that swayed me toward the SC62d was that, although it is only a little brighter on H1 than the peak brightness of the SC62d, it can maintain this for three hours instead of just a minute. Since I tend to use my lights in dark places, this is important to me.

You made a good choice. The run time is awsome on the 62. This was my first ZL and the size won over the extended run time, as the 52d had the "same" burst max out put, when I made my choice ordering the light. It´s to early to say that the SC52d will be my keeper in the long run. It´s all about how you use the light. However, if I climb up to the 62 size I will get the w instead especially now when I know that the Luxeon has some tint flawes in the spill very close to a neutral XM-L. It´s just a matter of "throwing the dize" as I maybe have a 50/50 (?) chance ending up with a w model with a crappy tint... Hmmm, maybe I need to order two lights, picking the best tinted? Ahhh, give me a break

 

[Martin L]

Could you take some beamshots? I'm very interested in this luxeon T led.
Thanks

Beamshots... Yeah I can try, but I can´t guarantee the quality :duh2:

 

[radellaf]

Here's some shots. The top row is M1, bottom one of the moon modes. It looks white except perhaps a bit of yellow-green on the corona. The saturation-boosted images confirm the tint I see, but are greatly exaggerated.

One question to anyone with a regular SC52 - what's the approx current draw on turbo 500lm from a 14500? My little meter with a 10A mode is showing 1.5-1.6A at 300lm (the sc52d's turbo) that drops down to 0.8-0.9A after a minute. 300lm at the emitter for a 5000K 80CRI Luxeon T is supposed to be about 1 amp into the Luxeon T, which is pretty much at the 1050mA absolute maximum rating.

I'm wondering if I got a problem unit and it's way overdriving the poor thing at the XM-L current level. 580lm at the emitter is 1.5A. Or, they really are pushing 1.2A or so through the Luxeon to get 300OTF lumens and dam the spec sheet. The meter is not perfect so I expect it's dropping the voltage a bit, which would raise the current.

Compared to a Nichia 219 L10, this isn't quite as nice. It's on the yellow-green vs yellow-orange side of the line. But, close enough to neutral that I'm happy. The turbo mode has no apparent tint and is just unbelievable for an AA size light. I mean, that's what my early SC600w puts out on high (after it drops down from 750).

link

 

[mefistofele86]

Very good tint, if it's possible i would love to see some outdoor beamshots Thank you very much.

 

[radellaf]

Comparing SC52d with a L10 Nichia 219:

Sony RX100 WB-Daylight 1/10 f1.8 ISO3200

Another set of shots with AE on, still WB daylight. Better for tint comparisons perhaps. Been a while since I've done this:

Here's an indoor shot of ink bottles and boxes with some colors on medium (SC52d 19lm, L10 supposedly 30). The Sanyo UR14500P might be a familiar reference for SC52 fans:

And a white wall comparison Left: L10 Hi 120lm & Right: SC52d H2 126lm,

 

[mefistofele86]

Thank you radellaf, great beamshots

 

[Martin L]

Thank you Radellaf. Great shots. Very much appreciated! The last picture say's it all. The Nichia has a nicer tint witout the green. It´s not much, but it is there.. Which Nichia emitter is it? The 219A or B, (the 4500K or the 5000K)? I will start looking for filters to get my 52d towards Nichias tint direction...

 

[radellaf]

The L10 was just purchased and they're saying: Nichia NVSL219AT-H1 4500K, 92 CRI, B10 Bin
The package says the same, minus the bin and part number.

In truth, either used alone looks pretty neutral. The 52d has a hint of a green only in the corona if you look just right, and the nichia is just a touch, I guess tan would be the word, again if you look just right. The tint variation across the beam is clearest with the lights close to the wall.

and, to exaggerate the point

The flat-out most neutral white I have is a SC51c with the Rebel LED. The SC60w XP-G is a shade warm but also free of tint variation. I won't bother to compare the SC600w. It's not that green, but if the 52d is bothering you, better to avert your eyes. It's sure not that nice pure or ivory white I've come to prefer. Or pink or orange-ish, but those are either rare or expensive. I have a Qmini AA pinkish warm, and a XP-G 3000K drop in and love them both.

Anyway, beam comparison of three Zebras:

I would _love_ to order a SC62c to compare the 52d with - see if the 4500K Lux T is sans-green, but I just don't have the budget for it right now. A 52c would be tempting, but still. Frankly a 52w L2 would be as well if I could get it cherry-picked, but for all my love of efficiency, I find that the more high CRI lights I have, the more I just don't care to buy a 3rd XM-L light. #2 light is a Yezl Y6-X cool-white 18650 with a nice big reflector. Tint is very cool, not green at all, and it'll throw farther than anything else I have. Efficiency matters to me more on these AA lights, though. All the 18650s have long runtimes and are rechargeable. Sometimes I like to use an alkaline or lithium primary AA and know I'm getting the most out of it.

 

[Martin L]

Thank you once again. I know that SBFlashlights has the wrong technical information regarding the Nichia version. I contacted them some month ago and they said that all lights from them with a Nichia from the beginning-ish of 2014 was equipped with the 219B, 5000K version. You can also see what version you have by looking at the emitter and compare it to an older flashlight with an 219A somewhere on the net... I am not able to find it right now, but I know its out there somewhere.

Anyway, it is the spill that is too blu-ish from the Luxeon emitter, as with most XM-L's. It´s quite noticeble when looking at your comparison shots... The corona and hot spot looks almost the same, but the contrast to the spill make the Nichia look more comfortable, IMO.

 

[radellaf]

I certainly don't _have_ a 291A emitter to compare with. Are they so distinctive that I could tell by comparing a photo with my flashlight-in-hand?

The spill is the real difference, I agree. That's what I noticed, and what made me take that close up shot. The hotspots at any distance, even the coronas, look just fine, but at less than 10' distances, yeah, the Nichia spill is neutral to tan, and the Luxeon is blue tinted. The spill on my warm XM-L isn't, but I know that was an issue with many older Luxeon LEDs.

So, it has to be done, here's closeup beams vs. the SC600w XM-L.

I found this picture of the two emitters in this thread on the MP

What's in my L10:

Here's a beamshot of the Nichia in my L10 shot with the camera on 4500 and then 5000K WB setting. I'm guessing the emitter is 5000K, since that looks neutral and the 4500K WB shot looks cool.

 

[Martin L]

Great info and pictures! Yes, you have the 5000k, 219B for sure as the emitter lacks the yellow little square at the corner beside the emitter. That was what I tried to say, that you could see what type of A/B version you had just by looking for the white or yellow square... I must say, just looking at the photo that the Nichia looks great. Come on ZL - put this emitter in your great lights!!!

 

[markr6]

Reviving this thread because I just happened to notice an SC52d on ebay for $184. Wow what a deal

The funny thing is to see it has "22 watching". Why? You can get one from Zebralight, in stock now, for $59!