Second Post Please Explain "Cool White vs. Neutral White"

Hello all,

I am on the 4Sevens website looking at lights and I am wondering what the difference is between cool-white and neutral-white lights?

Now, I own (3) 4Sevens Quark AA2 R5 Tacticals (I assume they are cool-white) and I find them on max to be very white and the tint changes to not as white on lower modes, but it is not offensive to me at all.

I did buy and then quickly returned a Quark AA2 S2 a while back because the beam was a god-awful Green/yellow and I did not care for it at all.

So I guess I am just confused on the Cool / Neutral / Warm issue. I use these on the street for defensive lights as well as for hiking and camping.

I know tastes are different, but I am just looking for things to be nicely lit up and to be able to see things naturally at night.

Marine

The following info is at least three years old and may or may not be applicable today. Hopefully some more up-to-date flashaholic can tell us if there are new developments.

Basically, cool LEDs lean toward the blue spectrum, while the warm leans toward the yellow. It has to do with the amount of phosphorus put on the LED (all white LEDs are blue with yellow phosphorus). Every eye perceives light differently, so if the Cool LEDs are not offensive to you, feel free to keep using them. Also cool LEDs tend to be just a little bit brighter because they have a little less phosphorous on the LED. Neutral mean exactly that, they look WHITE, and do not lean either way.

I was never very good with the 'high-CRI index' thing, so somebody jump in. Also any new developments for seeing greenery better?

even when Sinjz' memory might be some three years old, its fully correct.
Also in my mind, at that time, it was easier and better, because there really was a "cool white" (cool meaning on the blue side) and a "neutral white".

NOW, imho, all better quality "cool white" is acual what was "neutral white" that days and therefore there is no real difference any more. Even worse some "neutral" tints are plain awful and most everyone would be better off with a "cool/neutral" one.

f.e. I just received a nailbender XM-L insert of tint 3C, which should be around 5000 K.
three years ago (Cree XR-E time) that would have been a "neutral" with a slight "warm" touch.
Now suddenly this is considered a "cool" already.
And its just perfect!

I have a Quark AA warm white - very much on the incan spectrum side - which I also like very much
and a "neutral" Quark "X" 2*123, where I simply dislike the green beam, should have chosen a "cool white" one, because they run around 5000-6000 K.
(and thus are what I still consider "neutal")


Cheap offers though still are very much on the cool side, I have yet to receive any light from the cheapo offers, where I would like the blue output. But the ppl I got them for dont know exactly and are fully content with them. And for the price they are hard to beat.

Thank you gentlemen,

It seems if you cannot stay on top of LED technology, you are destined to be constantly confused on this issue as well as what you will actually receive when ordering any given light from any given manufacturer, with any given LED.....

A picture is worth a thousand words.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...arm-Neutral-Cool-White-BEAMSHOTS-amp-RUNTIMES!
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...ion-and-Tint-Comparison-Cree-Rebel-GDP-Nichia
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...lights-do-you-love-em-If-not-take-a-look-here!
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...w-comparison-Lumintop-TD-15X-T5-neutral-white
The major advantage of the neutrals is outdoors on vegetation. Indoors and downtown cool white tends to work better.
Many manufacturers called their neutrals warm. The only true warm ones I've seen are the 4sevens WARMS series and some custom builds.

The latest neutrals from 4sevens are less yellow than most others. Less 'dead' as a fellow member calls it. But they seem to have a slight greenish tint.
I have posted this before regarding hotspot size. Look at it again regarding tint. This year's neutral left. Last year's neutral right. (My walls are slightly beige and I have no control over my camera's auto colour balance but you can still see the difference.)


Manufacturers of smaller runs will often give a tint bin number. You can look up the approximate colour here:

Thank you Ninja, that was a big help!

Most of my lights first job is to go hand in hand with my firearm of choice that day for social work...

After that, they are important for hiking and camping.

Cool white seems like the best fit for me.

Marine

I like cool white because it seems to reflect the eyes of animals better. My beam very clearly reflected 6 eyes looking at me the other night. When I ramped the light to high I could see that it was just a family of racoons.

I find the neutral and warms don't "flash" my eyes as bad in the dark along with the better depth perception and CRI outdoors. Cool white is ok at lower levels inside to me.

On the flip side, tactical lights may benefit from the harshness by blinding the other person at shorter ranges.

vegasmarine,

this is a video I made a while ago, cold white vs. a warm "high cri" LED. Pay attention to the colours, especially reds and browns.
Neutral whites aren't quite as good in colour rendering, but still way better than cold white LEDs.

The most simple case, side spill

CW: Blue,violet spill
NW: Mostly white, you wont see any blue tint in the spill