When a flashlight geek goes caving....

SemiMan

Banned
Joined
Jan 13, 2005
Messages
3,899
I have a variety of flashlights modified with wide variety of LEDs. I spent almost 2 days underground the last week and have some thoughts on LED lights (and Incandescent).

- 5K ish --- likely 75CRI --- Harsh, and because there is almost no blue in a cave, it did not even seem very bright
- 3K, 90 CRI (XPG) -- Good. No harshness. Good definition of colors in a cave, but lacked "depth" and visual acuity
- 4K, 90 CRI typical - Nichia219 -- Easily the best of the bunch. Good color definition, "bright" for the amount of lumens, good depth, good visual acuity. It was easily my favorite and worked well I found across a range of brightnesses

- Some of the other cavers had good incandescent lights and while they were "good", the 4K high CRI really caught peoples attention. I had a slide on diffuser on it so I could go from a tolerable spot to a bit floody with a very smooth beam. It was nice to have. I will have to make it more permanent for future use. It was great for lighting up larger features with a nice smooth beam.

Semiman
 

LightCrazy

Enlightened
Joined
Dec 31, 2011
Messages
400
Location
USA, Western PA
That is good info. I don't cave, but would like to try it sometime. My question though is can you relate the info to common folk? The 3k you mention (XPG), is that like equivelant to the Fenix or other's (R5) emitter? Besides Nichia219, what info do we need to find a light with an equivelant emitter. Maybe the new (s2) Fenix emitters? Thanks for the great info. Amazing how the different beams affected your vision inside that cave. I know in college some of us went into an abandoned coal mine. Could not go in very far, the coal dust floating around was thick! Al we had at that time were Maglights. Once you got into the mine a 4D cell looked like a Solitare in the normal environment :)
 

tsask

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 6, 2005
Messages
1,759
thanks for that info that 4k 90 CRI sounds like a winner
 
Last edited:

samuraishot

Enlightened
Joined
Jul 23, 2009
Messages
844
Location
NY
Thanks, I've been meaning to go caving. Now I have a reason to buy another flashlight :)
 

kaichu dento

Flashaholic
Joined
Apr 5, 2008
Messages
6,554
Location
現在の世界
Next time it would be cool if you were able to find a few other CCT's covering the in between ranges, like 3500k, 3800k and 4300k.
 

Latest posts

Top