What is your preffered LED in your EDC

As we know, more and more, LED's are constantly becoming the preferred choice for the light source in flashlights dew to the many advantages, including their low energy consumption, long lifetime, physical robustness, small size, and the ability for diverse and faster switching.


They are constantly evolving and these days, there are so many different LED's. With the choice of different output, size, tint and so on, many manufactures, flashlight builders and modders are offering the choice of these different LED's.


So I ask, what is your favourite LED in your EDC's and why. I understand with the different tints, output and so on, that preference of LED is a subjective matter, so the question is "What is "YOUR" preferred/favourite LED in an EDC and why.


It should be a "preferred/favourite" for you. Meaning, LED's in lights you have/own.
It must be a specific LED and not a favourite manufacturer or line. So please list your favourite based on your own experience.

Nichia 219 B10 4500K

For me, XM-L or XM-L2 mainly for the wider beam spread. I prefer floody for EDC since most of the time I needed a light is always for up close usage.

^^ ditto

+1 for XM-L series emitters.
Medium or low is good for most of my EDC needs & high has just enough throw to see further.

- JonK

I love the neutral white XML that's in my Tain Zenith. Favorite of mine amidst the mostly cool white EDC lights in my EDC rotation.

:candle:I suppose I'm beginning to get the appeal of warmer tints - comparing my cool white XP-G2 ZoomHead against its warmer XT-E sibling, I definitely prefer the latter.

I agree with Andy too - for EDC purposes, floody lights are preferred.

Nichia 219. Love the tint.

pjandyho said:

For me, XM-L or XM-L2 mainly for the wider beam spread. I prefer floody for EDC since most of the time I needed a light is always for up close usage.

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Hey PJ, Do your XML's tend to be more towards cool or neutral?

XPG2 4000K, love it for it's tint, beam quality, balance of flood and throw, and it's easier on my eyes while working at night / reduced glare from metal objects. Forgot to add efficiency.

XM-L/XM-L2. Like the other guy said, I like a floody beam that can light an area. And the high efficiency of these emitters means that you get a good amount of light even from a lightly driven emitter (as with the SC52).

Nichia 219 in my HDS Clicky. Awesome combination of tint and CRI, in a bulletproof host.

XPG2 neutral and Nichia 219 are the best for my EDC needs.

Nichia 219 4500K 92CRI. I don't really mind the "lack" of output, most of my uses are either moonlight or ~30-60 lumens.

Nichia 219 is mine so far.

Lomandor said:

Hey PJ, Do your XML's tend to be more towards cool or neutral?

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Well I have an equal mix of both. I would have preferred mine to be in neutral for the McGizmo Haiku XM-L but unfortunately Don only offers cool white for that. For small EDC lights what I have in XM-L flavors are the McGizmo Haiku, Zebralight SC52w, Thrunite Neutron 1A neutral (which has the nicest neutral tint I have even seen in an XM-L), Zebralight SC600 and SC600w, 4Sevens MiNi 123 in cool, and Surefire Fury (which I sometimes EDC for a few days each). The rest of my other XM-L lights are bigger and I would only pack them along on trekking and camping trips.

I love the tint of the Nichia 219 and would have gone for it over the XM-L if it has the same surface area as an XM-L.

Lomandor said:

So I ask, what is your favourite LED in your EDC's and why.

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I don't care much about the specific LED in a light beyond its tint and performance. And I'll ignore tint if a light has other nice attributes. But I guess I am more of a novice and generalist. People on this forum are very knowledgeable and hence more discriminating and/or persnickity, depending on how they express themselves.

Nichia 219 4500k 92 CRI, especially in a triple configuration. Gorgeous beam profile, gorgeous tint. A hands down winner for me.