Zebralight SC63 and SC600 MK III Tint and Beam Discussion

I wanted to start a thread about how the new tints and beams from the Zebralights with the XHP35's compare to each other (in the SC63w, SC63, SC600w, SC600, etc.) and to their XM-L predecessors.

I have an H600 MK IIIw and an SC52w from about a year back, and just got an SC63w last week.

I'm not sure if there will be a varying lottery as has been seen in the past. Maybe there will!

But as more people begin to receive these new ZL's it may be interested to compare notes...

Here's my experience between them so far: At first, I thought the 63w seemed pretty yellow compared to the 52w and H600w. But, the 52 and 600's look a bit purple by comparison overall. The spill beam with these two is a bit more purple from the spot, where the 63w maintains more consistency from spot to spill, but the spill cools off a bit towards purple from the center spot on the 63w.

To be clear, these are direct comparison against a white wall. To me this is not very noticeable in regular use.

When I use these lights individually I am perfectly happy with them. That said, if these were not backordered, I might order a cw version to compare the w to the cw to see if I prefer the cooler version.

So, SC63 and SC600 MK III owners, what's your experience with tints and beams so far, are you happy with your choice? How does it compare to your other inventory?

The XHP & Easywhite series emitters have better consistency as well as much less of the extreme tint shift that XM-L2's are notorious for. That is the reason for many of your observations between the 63w(XHP35) vs 52w & H600w(XM-L2). Its nice to see some improvements in these areas as emitter technology evolves.

Over the past 4 years I've had dozens of Zebralights. I kept some, sold some traded some, returned some. Regarding tint, I had everything from yellow to purple to green to white. It had NOTHING to do with the actual emitter, model, or when it was purchased. For example, I had several SC600w II over the span of at least 18 months. One was perfectly neutral, almost rosy like the Nichia 219. Another was yellow. Another was greenish. It's a complete lottery. Place and order and hope for the best.

My cool white SC600 MK3 has about as much tint shift as your average XML2.

markr6 said:

Over the past 4 years I've had dozens of Zebralights. I kept some, sold some traded some, returned some. Regarding tint, I had everything from yellow to purple to green to white. It had NOTHING to do with the actual emitter, model, or when it was purchased. For example, I had several SC600w II over the span of at least 18 months. One was perfectly neutral, almost rosy like the Nichia 219. Another was yellow. Another was greenish. It's a complete lottery. Place and order and hope for the best.

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It does now though because most of the old models used variations or the XM-L/XM-L2 and we now are getting various new emitters like the Easywhite, XHP35, XHP50, Luxeon T, Luxeon Rebel, exc. One of the improvements with the newer generation emitters is better tint consistency and lower tint shift compared to the XM-L2's that had terrible tint shift. Also, Zebralight has started being more chosey with their emitters(especially the "c & d" models). They are trying to keep them closer to the black body radiation line which means less pinky or greeny tints. There will always be some variation though, even in the same lights, because the emitter manufactures allow a certain tolerance when binning. Also, AR coated lens can alter the tint as well. I hope one day they can keep them all exactly the same with the same CCT, Tint, CRI, Luminous flux, exc. that would be great:rock:

Tachead said:

[...] which means less pinky or greeny tints.

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Less, but still literally thousands of distinguishable possible tint variations.

Connor said:

Less, but still literally thousands of distinguishable possible tint variations.

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Yep, I wish Cree would tighten up there binning tolerances. But, at least ZL cherry picking the emitters helps. I hope they continue to do so and that more manufactures follow their lead. I would gladly pay more for better quality/more consistent cherry picked emitters.

Tachead said:

It does now though because most of the old models used variations or the XM-L/XM-L2 and we now are getting various new emitters like the Easywhite, XHP35, XHP50, Luxeon T, Luxeon Rebel, exc. One of the improvements with the newer generation emitters is better tint consistency and lower tint shift compared to the XM-L2's that had terrible tint shift. Also, Zebralight has started being more chosey with their emitters(especially the "c & d" models). They are trying to keep them closer to the black body radiation line which means less pinky or greeny tints. There will always be some variation though, even in the same lights, because the emitter manufactures allow a certain tolerance when binning. Also, AR coated lens can alter the tint as well. I hope one day they can keep them all exactly the same with the same CCT, Tint, CRI, Luminous flux, exc. that would be great:rock:

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I hope that is true but I don't have much faith. I have a second SC63w coming, and will report on how different/similar it is to my first. But you're definitely right about the c/d models; the consistent tint was a goal on those.

How would you describe the tint on your first 63w? How do you like it?

markr6 said:

I hope that is true but I don't have much faith. I have a second SC63w coming, and will report on how different/similar it is to my first. But you're definitely right about the c/d models; the consistent tint was a goal on those.

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markr6 said:

I hope that is true but I don't have much faith. I have a second SC63w coming, and will report on how different/similar it is to my first. But you're definitely right about the c/d models; the consistent tint was a goal on those.

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I look forward to hearing your report:thumbsup:. Hopefully there will only be slight variation. I do know that there is still a fair amount of CCT variation between different examples of the "c & d" though. Not sure about the tint but, it seems to be fairly consistent from how others describe it anyway.

My experience so far has been good with the MK3 HI and SC63w. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being perfect tint I would rate the 63w a 7.5 since it has a nice pure tint with a hint of yellow in it but nothing bad. Much better than my 62w which was good but had a greenish hint to its tint, I don't like any green or purple in the beam! The MK3 HI has a warmer but pleasing tint that I would rate a 9.5, it's right up there with my Nichia in regards to how much I like it. The HI is warmer probably 4200-4400k if I had to guess and warmer than my 63w which seems to be 4600k by my estimation.

JStraus said:

How would you describe the tint on your first 63w? How do you like it?

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Similar to what snowlover said. A bit yellow, more than I'd like, but definitely not much to complain about.

Thanks for posting. My 63w is pretty darn close to my Convoy S2+ in the T6-4C (4300-4500K).

markr6 said:

Similar to what snowlover said. A bit yellow, more than I'd like, but definitely not much to complain about.

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So far I don't see any variation between the XHP35 NW @ 4500K. SC63w, SC600w III and SC600w III HI all very consistent. A tad bit warm for my tastes, but OK.

Just a quick comparison at a short distance of about 8'. But you can already see a big difference on H2b modes.

(SC600w HI @ 312lm, SC63w @ 360lm)

Got my SC600w mk3 today and found the greenish yellow tint very ugly. It's nearly identical to the MH20 NW which I also dislike. Measured mine @ 4380K and CRI 79. Will probably send it back and not do a more in depth review. At least the anodization on mine looks good and the overall build quality is excellent as usual.

:sick2::green:

Ouch!

Maukka, you should try the HI version as it seems to have excellent tint in my sample and a few others also.

I share the same sentiments about the green tint on my SC600MK3 cool white. It's unfortunate Zebralight isn't using easywhite XHP35s. The XHP35s are 4 dies in one emitter, so I'm sure Cree does that with them as an option.

twistedraven said:

I share the same sentiments about the green tint on my SC600MK3 cool white. It's unfortunate Zebralight isn't using easywhite XHP35s. The XHP35s are 4 dies in one emitter, so I'm sure Cree does that with them as an option.

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That's troubling to hear as well. I had a CW but sold it. It had a nice clean tint, no green, but just a little too cool for me overall. So much for the consistency I guess