ReVO HCRI Nichia 119 vs ReVO NW XPG

This is a quick comparison of two Preon ReVOs, both are stainless steel and such amazing lights.
One is the limited run ReVO with Neutral White XPG R4, the other is a modded ReVO with one of McGizmo's Nichia 119 high CRI.

I've had the ReVO Nichia 119 for about a week and a half and just received the ReVO NW XPG yesterday.
I went indoors looking at all sorts of household items and then took them outdoors looking at plants, leaves, etc..


Here is my quick comparison.

First thing I noticed was the tint of the NW XPG is very similar to the Nichia 119 HCRI.
The NW XPG tint is more creamy in color while the Nichia 119 is more whiter but still very similar to each other especially when looking at items that have no red color in them. (more on this later)

In pic below both ReVOs are on medium level and for contrast I added the Fenix P1D XRE Q5 Cool White (low level).


The NW XPG R4 is brighter than the Nichia 119 which should be no surprise.
The specs on the ReVO NW XPG R4 on high is 82 lumens, I would put the Nichia 119 ReVO at ~50 lumens.

Color Rendition seems about the same with the edge going to the Nichia 119 when it comes to the reds.
The Nichia 119 brings out more of the red spectrum as can be seen here:


Also to note, if you look at the pic above, the tints look the same on the wall behind and on the blue-ish white area of the Tide stick package (right side of package). It is mainly on the reds where the Nichia shows better color rendition than the NW XPG.

Otherwise when I was outside it was hard to tell the difference between these two lights when looking at green leaves and such but when it came to reds/purples in flowers the Nichia was a little bit better.


**UPDATE 11/28/11 Outdoor Beamshot Pics Added- very subtle differences between the these two LEDs.







**More beamshots added 11/29/11

Sausage & eggs


Wooden Dresser & brown leather wallet


My conclusion:
ReVO Nichia 119 HCRI: superior color rendition, better at bringing out reds, slightly whiter tint, not as bright as NW XPG R4.
ReVO NW XPG R4: great color rendition, just a tad creamier in tint, brighter than Nichia 119 HCRI.

Since these are very similar I will keep only one and sell the other back on the Marketplace.
The winner in my book are both lights but I will be keeping the Nichia 119 because color rendition is my main concern with this light, not brightness.

I hope my review helped and thank you for reading.

Cheers to theDay for using HCRI instead of the tedious High CRI. I've been using it in correspondences hoping it would catch on with no luck.
Nice shots. Differences are subtle, but we flashoholics live in the Golden Age of Flashlights where we can choose such fine details of our torches!

When I read that you are going to sell one out, I was hoping to grab the morsel of your HCRI ReVO but alas, no such luck.

@bansuri,
I used to write "high CRI" but saw it written as HCRI somewhere here and decided it to pick it up.
And yes, it is a good time for us to be able to have our finicky tint tastes satisfied.

@pjandyho,
You know, after seeing the beamshots of the Nichia 119 from the McGizmos, I knew that would be one of my favorite LEDs if not my favorite.
All I could do was take the beamshot pics from here and save them onto my computer because I thought that would be as close as I would get to one.
I was just lucky to be at the Marketplace at the right time to find this one for sale and couldn't believe it.

Well at least you have the Nichia 119 in your Haiku Ti to keep you company on your awesome night treks.

Thank you so much, these are wonderful pics and your impressions are super helpful.
+1 for the HCRI nomenclature!

bansuri said:

Cheers to theDay for using HCRI instead of the tedious High CRI. I've been using it in correspondences hoping it would catch on with no luck.
Nice shots. Differences are subtle, but we flashoholics live in the Golden Age of Flashlights where we can choose such fine details of our torches!

Click to expand...

I keep going back and forth between high CRI and hCRI, but since I find all forms equally easy to read, the only one I don't like is when people refer to them simply as CRI emitters, even though the intent is apparent.

Did you get to see my thread comparing two different hCRI emitters yet?

Nice thread here and it's interesting to see how close the two are in color rendition - I can also attest to how nicely the Nichia 119 does for color accuracy, not to mention the fact that it does it without a warm tint, which should generate a lot of interest from those who don't like warmer tints.

THE_dAY said:

You know, after seeing the beamshots of the Nichia 119 from the McGizmos, I knew that would be one of my favorite LEDs if not my favorite.
All I could do was take the beamshot pics from here and save them onto my computer because I thought that would be as close as I would get to one.
I was just lucky to be at the Marketplace at the right time to find this one for sale and couldn't believe it.

Well at least you have the Nichia 119 in your Haiku Ti to keep you company on your awesome night treks.

Click to expand...

I always wished for a HCRI emitter in my SS Preon ReVO. The neutral white XP-G in it is too yellowish for my liking. Too bad that 4Sevens has stopped producing the ReVO or I will be getting mine modded. Right now as it is, it is too precious to risk damaging it in the event of a failed attempt at modifying.

UPDATE 11/28/11 Outdoor Beamshot Pics Added

The key benefit to the Nihia is the clean separation of the browns. Ligts with a CCT of under 4000 K typically cause trouble in differentiating brown items. I want to know if it's a pinecone or poop pile before I pick it up

The key benefit to the Nichia is the clean separation of the browns. Ligts with a CCT of under 4000 K typically cause trouble in differentiating brown items. I want to know if it's a pinecone or poop pile before I pick it up

Like other posters I really appreciate your time and effort fantastic job. It would be interesting to see the comparison at same lumen level. I think the differences would be a little less dramatic.

In the beam shots my eyes see the Nichia as creamy white with a very slight red/pink tint while the XP-G is creamy white with the same amount of slightness of tint but greenish.

Great looking shots, but it's hard to look at the difference in light solely when the direction keep changing too.

These next two comparisons focus on where I found the Nichia 119 HCRI to exceed in color rendition.
Foods, wood and leather, here the Nichia 119 brings out the true rich colors.


Again, these are taken with the two ReVOs:

Sausage & eggs


Wooden Dresser & brown leather wallet