Malkoff tint question

Hey folks.

Today I picked up my first real serious light, a Surefire M2 Centurion incan off of eBay. :naughty: My intention is to drop in a Malkoff M361, but I'm torn on what tint to get. I don't like really cool or rally warm tints, so I'm thinking Neutral

My go-to EDC is an Olight T20 Digital. Other lights I can compare to are the Streamlight Pro-Tac 2L, Streamlight Microstream, Lumintop ED20, and Nitecore MT1C.

Does anyone know the approx K of any of these beams so I can get an idea of what I'm looking at?

Im a huge fan of the High CRI Nichia 219b, which is usually around 4000-4500k. That would be my pick.. here is one:
http://www.illumn.com/malkoff-devices-m361-219b-v2.html

I dont know your lights, but generally speaking cool white is about 6000k, while Neutral is around 4000-4500k. Not all neutral LEDs are also High CRI though, which is why Im specifically recommending the M361-219b, and Not the M361N.

If you have never had a light with a High CRI Nichia 219b, and you take my advice, be warned that you are about to ruin your other lights. Once you see the difference in Color Quality, it will be hard to go back to Low CRI and or Cool White. At least, thats what happened to me.



left to right below, 6000, 4500, 3000. White balance is set to the 6000k XP-G2


color is relative to white balance, below white balace is set to the N219. Our brain does the same thing and the N219 will look white in the evening, but slightly orange during the day. Depends on what ambient light the brain is adapted to at the time. 3000k will look very orange during the day, it will still be orange in the evening. The only time I dont notice how warm 3000k is, happens when I wake up to go to the bathroom in the dark of night.

I'm also a big fan of the illumn malkoff dropins!

+1 for the 219b, but I still like my M61wl, and wll, about 3000k, but the CRI seems much better than the 82 or so

If you really don't like cool tints, then there's no real reason to choose a cool M361. I have an M31 219B V2, and it's very nice.

The M361N, which is a pretty close match to the V2's 4000K, can't be ignored, especially if more output is desired.

jon_slider said:

Im a huge fan of the High CRI Nichia 219b, which is usually around 4000-4500k. That would be my pick.. here is one:
http://www.illumn.com/malkoff-devices-m361-219b-v2.html

I dont know your lights, but generally speaking cool white is about 6000k, while Neutral is around 4000-4500k. Not all neutral LEDs are also High CRI though, which is why Im specifically recommending the M361-219b, and Not the M361N.

If you have never had a light with a High CRI Nichia 219b, and you take my advice, be warned that you are about to ruin your other lights. Once you see the difference in Color Quality, it will be hard to go back to Low CRI and or Cool White. At least, thats what happened to me.

Click to expand...

Well then, I find myself in a bit of a conundrum.

Generally (at least with household leds), I prefer right around 5000K, so it seems my choices dance around that; but neutral being closer, it may be my best bet.

Hopefully someone will chime in that has one of my other lights and be able to provide a comparison.

On another note, I'm reconsidering the M361. After reading this thread, I'm not liking how the interface seems to be setup. Since this light will be riding shotgun as a backup to my carbine weaponlight, I'm thinking I'll go with the simplicity of the M61. Last thing I want is to need it in a force-on-force situation and have it pop on in low.

The w is warm and you won't like it. The 219b is great tint, you will like it.

There is nothing wrong with the most efficient tint, the standard m61. It is a fairly pure white, not overly blue. There is no shame in getting a "standard_ tint. It is standard for a reason. You may like it best. For me I would get the 219b for lower outputs, and the ?m61n or m61nl for higher/ normal outputs.

Xader said:

Well then, I find myself in a bit of a conundrum.

Generally (at least with household leds), I prefer right around 5000K, so it seems my choices dance around that; but neutral being closer, it may be my best bet.

Hopefully someone will chime in that has one of my other lights and be able to provide a comparison.

On another note, I'm reconsidering the M361. After reading this thread, I'm not liking how the interface seems to be setup. Since this light will be riding shotgun as a backup to my carbine weaponlight, I'm thinking I'll go with the simplicity of the M61. Last thing I want is to need it in a force-on-force situation and have it pop on in low.

Click to expand...

M61 N will be the way to go then.

bykfixer said:

M61 N will be the way to go then.

Click to expand...

Placed my order from Malkoff last night, and that's the unit I went with.

Thanks for the help everyone!

(BTW, I'll be sure to post a pic or two once I have everything assembled. )