High CRI - My Oh My!

I just put together my first high CRI flashlight and being a relative newbie I wanted to share my joy with someone! I'm thinking my wife's reaction might be something along the lines of, "That's nice - it's a flashlight and it lights up the dark ... just like your other flashlights". (I could hardly wait for it to get dark tonight so I could go out to the woods behind my house).

Anyway, what I put together is a Malkoff M31 219B in a VME head. Works great on my Surefire E2L AA running eneloop's, or my E1L on a primary cr123a.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I'm just blown away by the color rendition when using this! It's one thing to read about high CRI lights and see pics of beam shots and all, but that falls short of describing what you actually see when using one. Deep, vibrant colors that aren't washed out, or tinted blue or green or yellow.

I can't say I ever thought of colors as being "washed out" before, but this has definitely opened my eyes to a whole new world out there. I feel like I can see better, if that makes any sense.

Congrats. I like the m31 219b.

Yes, I completely understand. I am at a point where I am strongly considering modding all my lights to the 4500k hi cri Nichia 219b.

I own several hi cri Eiger from Peak Eiger and looooove them so much!


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Another source for high CRI (90) drop ins would be Lumens Factory. All of their current D26 LED drop ins come in either Neutral White or 90 CRI. They use the Cree XP-G, with a CC5 of 2700K-3200K. Comes in single mode or three mode versions, nice run time, very nice even beam, reasonable price. And great customer service.

Enjoy! The 219b is fantastic. I'm at 7 or 8 now. Quickly becoming my preferred emitter...

hmm .. now I want one. I did order a TNT SingLED Nichia 219A B10 from Tana for my E2D though.

LED's should only be made available in HCRI. All others are inferior. :thumbsup:

RI Chevy said:

LED's should only be made available in HCRI. All others are inferior. :thumbsup:

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I agree. I'm just SOOOO over the cold white, low CRI junk LEDs that all the manufacturers out there seem to think people want. I just don't think the few extra lumens are worth it (and it's not like low CRI variants on an LED double output). The REAL shame is that high CRI LEDs are so hard to come by in the first place. Even Cree makes a number of 85-90+ CRI variants of the XM-L2, with tints from warm to neutral white. But most of these are nowhere to be found (except for a few Armytek lights and P60 drop-ins). Zebralight actually seems to be one of the better manufacturers out there in terms of high CRI with their offerings that use the Philips Luxeon T emitters (which are quite good). But otherwise, good luck! Sometimes, a manufacturer might even have the light available with a high CRI emitter, but nobody wants to sell it. I guess that, as long as lumen count is all that's important to people, this will be the way things are.

BTW, is it just me, or do the lumens of a high CRI emitter just seem to be more 'effective' than the lumens of a low CRI emitter? In other words, does a high CRI emitter actually make better use of its available lumens? I would think that, if nothing else, a higher CRI emitter sould allow you to better see certain details that a lower CRI emitter might 'wash out' due to not being able to make out subtle color differences.

pineapple said:

I just put together my first high CRI flashlight and being a relative newbie I wanted to share my joy with someone! I'm thinking my wife's reaction might be something along the lines of, "That's nice - it's a flashlight and it lights up the dark ... just like your other flashlights". (I could hardly wait for it to get dark tonight so I could go out to the woods behind my house).

Anyway, what I put together is a Malkoff M31 219B in a VME head. Works great on my Surefire E2L AA running eneloop's, or my E1L on a primary cr123a.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I'm just blown away by the color rendition when using this! It's one thing to read about high CRI lights and see pics of beam shots and all, but that falls short of describing what you actually see when using one. Deep, vibrant colors that aren't washed out, or tinted blue or green or yellow.

I can't say I ever thought of colors as being "washed out" before, but this has definitely opened my eyes to a whole new world out there. I feel like I can see better, if that makes any sense.

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Pics or it didn't happen!

Timothybil said:

Another source for high CRI (90) drop ins would be Lumens Factory. All of their current D26 LED drop ins come in either Neutral White or 90 CRI. They use the Cree XP-G, with a CC5 of 2700K-3200K. Comes in single mode or three mode versions, nice run time, very nice even beam, reasonable price. And great customer service.

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If you want a high CRI drop-in running the Nichia 219, another drop-in that cannot be overlooked is the Eagletac Sportac Triple Nichia 219 drop-in. Perhaps the best thing about this drop-in is that, with 676 out the front lumens, output is on a par with an XM-L2 based drop-in. And at about $35, the price is right. Combine that with a sub $20 Solarforce L2 host, and you have one sweet, bright, hi-CRI light that doesn't cost much to own. The only downfalls? It's single mode. And you don't get the best regulation on one 18650. But if you buy the 1x18650 extender for the L2 (also very cheap), you can run it off two 18650s for about two hours of virtually flatly regulated 92 CRI goodness.

Nailbender also sells a high CRI XM-L2 drop-in. Some folks don't like this emitter, calling it too orange. But I feel that, more than anything else, it looks like a good, old fashioned incandescent. Output is rated at 500 lumens out the front. And unlike the Sportac, it is actually available with a variety of different mode configurations (from single mode to three mode with strobe and SOS). It costs about $40.

Use the sportac drop-in with a malkoff host with high/low ring and you get two modes.

ForrestChump said:

Pics or it didn't happen!

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It did happen! It did happen!

The VME heads are excellent! And sharp looking.

pineapple said:

It did happen!

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Dang it pineapple. Now I want one.

Can I borrow yours? I promise to send it back.........:devil:

ForrestChump said:

Dang it pineapple. Now I want one.

Can I borrow yours? I promise to send it back.........:devil:

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No problem my good man! And I, in turn, promise to send back whichever one of your two new E1DL's you choose to send to me!

The VME head would probably go better with an all black host though. The HA isn't bad, but the black would be better.

StorminMatt said:

(Snip) … BTW, is it just me, or do the lumens of a high CRI emitter just seem to be more 'effective' than the lumens of a low CRI emitter? In other words, does a high CRI emitter actually make better use of its available lumens? I would think that, if nothing else, a higher CRI emitter sould allow you to better see certain details that a lower CRI emitter might 'wash out' due to not being able to make out subtle color differences.

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I think you nailed it there exactly. At least based upon my sample size of one!

And thank you, one and all, for your comments in this thread.

While on my walks the last couple nights, in addition to the M31 219B I also brought along an MD2 high/low with an M361LMH drop-in and two older E series Surefire's with the TIR lens. (I know this wasn't​ an apples to apples comparison). The M31 219B did "allow me to better see certain details" out to maybe 40 - 50 feet. Beyond that distance, the better reach of the other lights allowed for ….. well, better detail - no surprise there. So, in an effort to combine the best of both worlds, I'll definitely be checking out the higher lumen, high CRI drop-ins recommended in this thread!

RI Chevy said:

The VME head would probably go better with an all black host though. The HA isn't bad, but the black would be better.

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I totally agree!

pineapple said:

I think you nailed it there exactly. At least based upon my sample size of one!

And thank you, one and all, for your comments in this thread.

While on my walks the last couple nights, in addition to the M31 219B I also brought along an MD2 high/low with an M361LMH drop-in and two older E series Surefire's with the TIR lens. (I know this wasn't​ an apples to apples comparison). The M31 219B did "allow me to better see certain details" out to maybe 40 - 50 feet. Beyond that distance, the better reach of the other lights allowed for ….. well, better detail - no surprise there. So, in an effort to combine the best of both worlds, I'll definitely be checking out the higher lumen, high CRI drop-ins recommended in this thread!

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You need to check out Eagletac's MX25L3C model with the hi CRI Nichia 219 LEDs in it. That light has a total of six hi CRI Nichia 219 emitters in it :thumbsup: It is available in both a base model and kit model and has over 1800 lumens OTF. It runs on 3x18650.