Rather dissapointed by the E01

I bought a E01 because i wanted a decent keychain light. I knew that it wouldn't really be bright, but I didn't expect it to be blue. The non-nichia GS fauxtons from dx are brighter and whiter. It's almost purple. I originally read reviews saysing they were a decent tint, but last night I was reading and found many posts otherwise. (I'm not sure where, maybe in the marketplace thread)

Does anyone else have one that it a terrible tint? It's so bad that i'm wondering if it's really a GS since the non GS fauxton performs better (brightness and tint wise). Anyway, I guess i'll have to find a better led and swap it.

I had 2. The tint on one was WAY blue, the other was really nice.
I still have the nice one. Lottery

I think the Gs Fauxtons look good because of what they are being driven at. If you take a GS fauxton led and drive it at an E01 level you might see the difference.

But what do I know!

I have 2. The tint is exactly the same on both- blue/purple rectangular hotspot, and pure white flood.

FWIW, I'm very fond of my E01 as an emergency backup/keychain light.

I only have one and it has a very purple tint. I knew it would be like this before I ordered it. Pure white would be nice but it really doesn't matter to me in real world use.
It is not a bad light for what it is and it gives the Arc a good run for the money!

mine is pretty decent. definitely not purple or as blue as others have received. lotto in full effect.

but a nice light with great runtimes and decent output for a little keychain light...

smopoim86 said:

... I knew that it wouldn't really be bright, but I didn't expect it to be blue.

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... thus, the reason for your disappointment. You didn't know what you were purchasing. If you knew of the inherent characteristics of the Nichia GS driven at these low-levels (E01, Arc, etc), the tint would not have disappointed you.

Not aimed directly at you, but buyers need to start doing their homework a bit better to understand what they're getting. Not just with lights, but with everything in general. I'm just as guilty of this sometimes, most recently with the purchase of (2) Jetbeam 1 x AA IBS lights. I hadn't researched the light enough to learn that that it had a reverse clicky. I can't stand reverse clickies, so those (2) lights sit on a shelf waiting for me to sell them. Was I disappointed with the light when I received it? Sure I was, because of that, but I shouldn't have been. If I had done my homework, I would have know of the reverse clicky, never made the purchase or would have consciously bought them WITHOUT the reverse clicky factoring into my reasons of disappointment.

this_is_nascar said:

... thus, the reason for your disappointment. You didn't know what you were purchasing. If you knew of the inherent characteristics of the Nichia GS driven at these low-levels (E01, Arc, etc), the tint would not have disappointed you.

Not aimed directly at you, but buyers need to start doing their homework a bit better to understand what they're getting. Not just with lights, but with everything in general. I'm just as guilty of this sometimes, most recently with the purchase of (2) Jetbeam 1 x AA IBS lights. I hadn't researched the light enough to learn that that it had a reverse clicky. I can't stand reverse clickies, so those (2) lights sit on a shelf waiting for me to sell them. Was I disappointed with the light when I received it? Sure I was, because of that, but I shouldn't have been. If I had done my homework, I would have know of the reverse clicky, never made the purchase or would have consciously bought them WITHOUT the reverse clicky factoring into my reasons of disappointment.

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+1 come on now what do you CPF is all about:thinking::nana:

I've got seven of them, from two different batches. Six have blue center spots (rectangular, no less) with a thin yellow circle around them, surrounded by a mostly white spill. The last one has a blue spot with the yellow circle, surrounded by a downright green spill.

I think they're a fine light for the intended purpose.

this_is_nascar said:

... Jetbeam 1 x AA IBS lights. I hadn't researched the light enough to learn that that it had a reverse clicky. I can't stand reverse clickies, so those (2) lights sit on a shelf waiting for me to sell them. ...

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Ray, would it be possible to retrofit that Jetbeam with one of Fenix' forward clickie assemblies?

I have two, both have purple tint. I was quite disappointed with it too. However, I keep it by my home movie server, and when I use it to attach new drives, or check wiring, I barely notice the purple tint. I wish the tint was warmer, but for $15, I'm not really losing out much.

I put a little plastic cap over the end of mine and I don't notice any tint.

My Arc DS has a blue tint, my ARC GS, like the E01, has a purple tint. My old Arc AAA doesn't have a purple tint, it's purple. It's the nature the Nichia LEDs.

greenLED said:

Ray, would it be possible to retrofit that Jetbeam with one of Fenix' forward clickie assemblies?

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Not sure. I don't have one to try, but it's a good thought. You'd expect the guts to me somwhat similar.

I actually like bluish light. Wish there was a way to get bluish GS LEDs without having to discard faulty perfectly white ones.

I am disappointed, too. I have two of them and they both put out a purple beam. I realize this is an inexpensive light, but I would have gladly spent a few dollars more, if that's all it cost to get a more neutral emitter. Anybody who says we should have known better because it is a Nichia emitter, doesn't know that Nichia also makes some very nice HIGH CRI emitters as well. This one is sure not one of those for the price we paid. But give me a break; while a few years ago, blue or purple was the norm for an LED, who would have expected such awful color today in new light at any price.

Having said all of this, there are a lot of people who are happy with their E01s, which only confirms that old adage that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

BabyDoc said:

Having said all of this, there are a lot of people who are happy with their E01s, which only confirms that old adage that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

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True but I never saw the EO1 as a beautiful light, more as a long life and tough EDC. Not a light that would sit around in a drawer.
I also would perhaps pay a couple of dollars more for a pure white beam (but no more) if it was as efficient as the nichia GS. The purple tint still is usefull enough in the real world.

If you like what you got with your E01, who should argue with you, or with the member starting this thread who didn't like his. Furthermore this topic regarding the E01's color his been beaten to death in other threads. The camps are heavily divided either loving or hating it.

IMO, we should end the discussion because there is no reason to argue taste, preferences, or even priorities. No amount of argument can change any body else feelings or priorities. Some people like the E01's purple beam; some don't but tolerate it because it is efficient and serves some purpose for them; others don't particularly care how efficient it is, and demand neutrality in color, because accurate color rendition is a priority for them. There is no absolute right or wrong here worth arguing about. Or am I wrong?

that's why bandwagons should be avoided and wait for a review. it's only dissapointing because you had certain expectations.

BabyDoc said:

If you like what you got with your E01, who should argue with you, or with the member starting this thread who didn't like his. Furthermore this topic regarding the E01's color his been beaten to death in other threads. The camps are heavily divided either loving or hating it.

IMO, we should end the discussion because there is no reason to argue taste, preferences, or even priorities. No amount of argument can change any body else feelings or priorities. Some people like the E01's purple beam; some don't but tolerate it because it is efficient and serves some purpose for them; others don't particularly care how efficient it is, and demand neutrality in color, because accurate color rendition is a priority for them. There is no absolute right or wrong here worth arguing about. Or am I wrong?

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Absolutely right. I don't think anyone is arguing about it. Beating a dead-horse? Yes, but not arguing. I actually don't mind the different opinions and people stating them. In addition, I prefer it when people defend why they like or dislike something. Now, what does bother me is when people try to make something that it is not. I can sit here all day and not have a single issue when people discuss, argue or comment about not liking this or that about, in this case, the E01. What totally flips me out are those, "the E01 would be great if it had a Cree, produced 1k lumens, stayed bright for 3-years straight and was powered from p*ss". Talking about opinions of what the light actually is, is fine. Trying to turn it into something it is not, is not, in my opinion.

Carry on...............

Pure white in 5mm comes at a cost, efficiency and brightness. If you want pure white, shell out $45 for the equivalent Peak or Arc with a Snow LED. If you want efficiency, shell out $15 for an E01.

But even with the Snow, CRI will be quite low still. To my knowledge, there are no high CRI 5mm's.

While I will agree the E01 has a purple tint to it, I don't really see it as being that offensive, but there could be some GS's out there more purple than mine. I went through my 5 E01's and out of those, all of my colored ones (Orange, Blue, Purple) have the "worst" tint. I took a couple quick beam shots on my white basement wall, camera's WB set to daylight, ISO 100, 1/30sec, f/2.8.

On the left is my original AAA Arc, this is one of the early ones. Not sure what LED, BS? It is was I would call purple, the GS only has what I would call purple tints in parts of the beam, unlike the Arc which is just purple everywhere:



Here is my Liteflux LF2 SSC on factory default low on the left, E01 on the right:



You can see the E01 has a purplish tint to it compared to the LF2, which has a slight tint as well.

So I'll leave it up to everyone else to decide if it's horribly purple and not useable as some have claimed.

Going back to my original Arc vs the E01, it's very clear to me that my E01's Nichia GS has come a long way since my early Arc. The beam is whiter, brighter, and the E01 will run a lot longer than my Arc. I recognized the advancement in the technology and appreciate it. I think others are trying to compare these lights to something with a SSC, Cree, Rebel, etc in it and just aren't digging the Nichia. For $15 I couldn't be happier with the E01. If I pop my home made diffuser on my E01 I can no longer notice any purple in the beam. Maybe Fenix should sell little push on diffuser caps, similar to a SF F04, that would help knock the tint out of the beam by blending it in with the rest of the whiter light.