Zebralight question SC51 or SC50+

Zebralight currently has the SC50+ on sale on their website for $49 and the SC51 is $64. Is the $25 price difference worth the upgrade to the SC51? I'm not a collector or anything. Just looking for a good light for hunting, camping, paddling, and general use.

I'm not really a collector either , but the $15.00 price difference will get you into the sc51w as well, a beautiful neutral tint and near perfect beam. Much better color rendition outdoors. Ships from here, not China, too, so it gets in your hands faster. The tint alone is worth the price difference, IMHO, nevermind the newer UI variant, updated emitter, and increase in efficiency. Unless you want to run 14500 lithium cells in the 50+ (which the 51's can't take...) the 51's will be brighter. 51's also have a much lower low level, good for night use while camping or getting to your treestand in the dark. Go with the 51, 51w if it were me, (Yes, I have one) and don't look back. It's a great little light. If you like cr123 cells, the sc31 (w) is basically the same as the sc51 (w) but is so tiny it's almost funny. A bit brighter, too, and the same price as the 51's.

PS- Hope that's not too much to digest, and :welcome:

I think you would be plenty happy with the SC50+. The plus side (pun intended) is it will take li-ion if you want to go that route. The SC51 will not. If your not a shear output junkie, then feed it Eneloops and it will serve you well. Just keep in mind that it won't "blow you away" with output on anything besides the Li-ion 14500. But I don't feel you'll really need it. Most folks use way less light for their everyday tasks than their lights are capable of producing, truth be known. That's a great price for a great light. I'd jump on it!

I have an SC50w+ as my go-to EDC light, and an H51w as well, which has the same innards as the SC51w but with a different form factor. I like the SC50 just fine. And as mrlysle said, it won't blow you away, but it does 90% of what I use an EDC light for. When I need brighter, I have other lights. And there is such a thing as a light that's too bright. You don't want to blind yourself with your EDC! I run 14500 in my 50w+ as I like the extra boost it gives (makes it just as bright as the 51w), and the loss in run-time isn't a concern for me. If you're just starting out in flashlights, a 50+ would be a fine little light to start with.

I just bought three of them and was literally just coming on line to gush over it. I bought one off the bat and once I got my hands on it, another 2 right away.

I cannot stress enough what a GREAT and I mean GREAAATTTT! freaking little light it is, wow!!!. Frankly, I think it does plenty as is on an eneloop and as much as the SC51 probably does when you use a 14500.

It's not like I don't own other nice lights either, I have plenty of Malkoffs, HDS', McGizmos, Kerberos quads, you name it... I have not been this excited over a light in quite a while. OK, I get excited over every dang light, but this light IS extra super exciting!!!

I really like the side clicky, it seems to make so much sense now that I've used it- and getting to the levels is so intuitive, takes seconds to figure out. Click for high, longer click and hold-release for low, Click and hold a bit longer to ramp from off to Medium. Then just double click within the levels to toggle.

Can you tell I like it? I think it's as steal at 49 bucks, don't even think twice about it! I have not been able to put it down for the 2 days I've had it now and it's become my EDC without question.

B0wz3r has it right, does 90% maybe 99% of what you will need a light for, the rest is specialized and you'll know what you need for that- be it throw, or insane flood. He's right, 1400 lumens from a 5.6 amp Quad is not always the right tool. Neither is a dead simple single level Malkoff, sometimes you just need some levels.

Wow.. WOW!!! And on AA's Wooohoooo!!!!

Personally I like the SC50+ a little better. It does not have the super annoying and noticable slow PWM on the lowest mode like the SC51. The SC50+ also has a lower low mode for use when you vision is "night adjusted". I find the lowest mode of the SC51 to be a bit too high. I also find the SC50+ to have a better tint than the SC51. The SC50+ also has slightly more throw (it is still a flood light though) compared to the SC51. Really, the only thing better about the SC51 is the output and efficiency.

I have to agree with Scout24....and I have them both. In fact, I've 'had' an SC51c, SC51, SC51W and SC50+. I sold the 'c' and 'regular' variants but kept the 51W and 50+. I love both those lights - I prefer the tint of the 50+ over the 51, but the 51W over the 50+.

Do what any flashaholic would do - buy them both, and sell the one that you like the least. By buying them both, you'll get free shipping (not a big deal - about $3 from Zebra for shipping under $50) and have a chance to make your own choice. Everyone has an opinion, and the only one that REALLY matters is YOURS.

I was making the same decision when the SC51 came out. I opted to get the SC51 because you get basically the same maximum output without having to use Li-Ion cells. Just pop a L92 or eneloop in and you're good to go with somewhere around 200L on hi. With those same batteries the SC50 puts out around 120L, you'll have to use a 14500 for more output. That's what made up my mind at the time.

I always liked the SC50+ and the little extra throw that came from the XP-E but there are a few reasons the SC51 is a better light , IMO of course.

1. You get 200 lumen from using just regular AA's or Nimh, with the SC50+ you have to use 14500.

2. There is two high levels on the SC51 200/100 and the high level is memorized, there is two high levels on the SC50+ but again you have to use 14500 (regular AA's sub-level is strobe) and again the high is not memorized.

3. Medium modes on the SC51 is M1=30lmn M2= 8lmn The SC50+ is M1= 41lmn M2= 21lmn. I prefer the SC51 medium modes as it seems there is really not much perceived difference in the SC50+ medium modes.

4. The SC51 low modes are lower 2.5lmn and .2lmn compared to the SC50+ 5lmn and .7lmn

As you can see I prefer the SC51 but that is mostly because from nitpicking about sub-levels but I do think getting 200 lumen from any AA is a big step up but both light's are great and the SC50+ has a nice price tag but I think $15 is worth the upgrade to the SC51.

Thanks for the input guys. I'm going to order the SC51w. It's amazing that after researching as much as I did, I didn't realize you had to use a 14500 to get to 193lm on the SC50+. I also like the medium modes on the SC51 a little better (thanks jhc37013). If I enjoy this light as much as I'm expecting, I might order the SC50+ too just to compare and have another good light.

Thanks again for all the input.

Throc said:

Thanks for the input guys. I'm going to order the SC51w. It's amazing that after researching as much as I did, I didn't realize you had to use a 14500 to get to 193lm on the SC50+. I also like the medium modes on the SC51 a little better (thanks jhc37013). If I enjoy this light as much as I'm expecting, I might order the SC50+ too just to compare and have another good light.

Thanks again for all the input.

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We're here to help.

Between the two models, it's really just a matter of preference and what you need in a light. The 51 and 51w do give you more lumens and longer run times than the 50+ and 50w+, but lose some throw. It's sort of a 6 of one, half dozen of another issue. I'm going to get myself a 51c here in the next few days, and when I do, I'll put my 50w+ up on the marketplace. They're not easy to find anymore, so I'm pretty sure I'll get an offer for it pretty quick, once I post it. For me, it's not about lumens anymore, but beam profile and tint, and I'm itchin' bad now for a high CRI light like the 51c.

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I loved my H51F right angle headlight so much I recently decided to add the flashlight counterpart (partly because the right angle makes it a bit awkward to use as a flashlight or a ceiling-bounce tailstander, and partly because I wanted a thrower in addition to the floody F beam of my headlight). This way I can leave the headlight on the headstrap permanently. I expected I would prefer the SC51, but I noticed the SC50+ is currently on sale so I compared them in detail. I actually surprised myself by ending up choosing the SC50+ over the newer and snazzier SC51.

Reasons:

• I don't mind the lower H1 output on the 50+ on alkalines, and the duration is just about as long as the lowest H2 on the 51, which is actually lower lumen output
• The M1 on the 50+ is both stronger and longer lasting than on the 51
• The L1 on the 50+ is both twice as bright, and longer lasting than on the 51
• The L2 on the 50+ is more than twice as bright, and longer lasting than on the 51
• The beam is throwier than even the non-F SC51, but the spill is just about as expansive
• The parasitic drain is only 1/3 as much on the 50+
• If I really do need about the same super high H1 output, I can always use a LiIon 14500 in the 50+
• The 50+ does not have the somewhat objectionable and inefficient PWM that the 51 has

I would have chosen the 50+ even if it hadn't been on sale - but it's not fair, since I already have a 51.

The only way the 50+ could be even more perfect is if they had chosen a lower (by 1/2 to 1/8) L2, which would have given it a phenomenally long runtime. This was a real missed opportunity. 0.1 to 0.3 lumens would have been ideal.

fnj said:

Reasons:

• I don't mind the lower H1 output on the 50+ on alkalines, and the duration is just about as long as the lowest H2 on the 51, which is actually lower lumen output
• The M1 on the 50+ is both stronger and longer lasting than on the 51
• The L1 on the 50+ is both twice as bright, and longer lasting than on the 51
• The L2 on the 50+ is more than twice as bright, and longer lasting than on the 51
• The beam is throwier than even the non-F SC51, but the spill is just about as expansive
• The parasitic drain is only 1/3 as much on the 50+
• If I really do need about the same super high H1 output, I can always use a LiIon 14500 in the 50+
• The 50+ does not have the somewhat objectionable and inefficient PWM that the 51 has

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Is there some runtime test somewhere on the SC51 or SC50+? The reason I ask is because you can't really can't really compare them using the runtimes listed on Zebralight's website because the the SC51 is tested using a 2000mah Eneloop and the SC50+ is tested with a 2700mah Sanyo.

jhc37013 said:

Is there some runtime test somewhere on the SC51 or SC50+? The reason I ask is because you can't really can't really compare them using the runtimes listed on Zebralight's website because the the SC51 is tested using a 2000mah Eneloop and the SC50+ is tested with a 2700mah Sanyo.

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Good find! No, I didn't find any independent tests; I just used the Zebralight specs. I have no idea why they used such dissimilar batteries for testing. Aw heck, now I may have to get an SC51 as well, just to cover my bases. Then I could run my own tests. They are both undeniably great flashlights.

Has anyone stuck a 14505 in the SC51 from experience?

fnj said:

Good find! No, I didn't find any independent tests; I just used the Zebralight specs. I have no idea why they used such dissimilar batteries for testing. Aw heck, now I may have to get an SC51 as well, just to cover my bases. Then I could run my own tests. They are both undeniably great flashlights.

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I guess they decided to start using Eneloop runtimes because they figure that is what most of us will use, I do think it is honest and practical but not sure how good it is for marketing.

jhc37013 said:

Is there some runtime test somewhere on the SC51 or SC50+? The reason I ask is because you can't really can't really compare them using the runtimes listed on Zebralight's website because the the SC51 is tested using a 2000mah Eneloop and the SC50+ is tested with a 2700mah Sanyo.

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Note: I did break down and just ordered an SC51c to go with my SC50+ (which I am still waiting for from China, sigh). I anticipate being very happy with both. I may get a straight SC51 too.

I did revisit the specs on the Zebralight for both SC50+ and SC51, and noticed that even counting different capacity batteries used, the SC50+ still came out ahead on certain settings which were nearly the same intensity! I think that was even after correcting for the different capacities. Sadly, all trace of the SC50+ seems to be gone from the Zebralight site at this point.

jhc37013 said:

Is there some runtime test somewhere on the SC51 or SC50+?

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Selfbuilt reviews the SC51 and compares it to the SC50w (which is the same as the + model (the only difference is the interface). He does run time tests in every review.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...XP-E-Neutral)-1xAA-Reviews-RUNTIMES-BEAMSHOTS

fnj said:

Note: I did break down and just ordered an SC51c to go with my SC50+ (which I am still waiting for from China, sigh). I anticipate being very happy with both. I may get a straight SC51 too.

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You could just order from a dealer so you don't have to wait for the light to arrive from China. I find the dealers are usually cheaper too.

tre said:

You could just order from a dealer so you don't have to wait for the light to arrive from China. I find the dealers are usually cheaper too.

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Couldn't find a dealer with stock of the SC50+, it was on closeout briefly direct from Zebralight, a great deal. Unfortunately gone now.