Best LED for Outdoor Hikes? Tri-LED configuration.

Best LED for Outdoor Hikes? I have a thrower in SST20 5000K. Now going tri-LED. Proper color rendering of nature is a must. Flashlights that make sticks and dirt look the same are a no go. Recommend a temperature Temperature? SST20 vs Nichia219C?

A few options

* SST20 6500K
* SST20 5000K
* SST20 4000K
* SST20 2700K
* 219C 5700K
* 219C 4000K

LOVE my AceBeam TK18
for this very purpose ! ! !

Nichia emitters

I don't have any experience of the SSTs, but have both 4000k and 5700k 219s; they're both great. If you're hiking at night, I much prefer the 4000k for that.

I find that 4K makes for the most realistic tint outdoors. I would go up to 5k but not much more than that.

Wacki said:

Best LED for Outdoor Hikes? I have a thrower in SST20 5000K. Now going tri-LED.

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since you already have 5000k,
decide if you want same color temp, or a warmer (more yellow), or cooler (more blue) LED?

I agree w others that 4000k is nice at night, for general walkabout.

I also enjoy 2700k when relaxing at camp at low lumen levels (less than 100 lumens)

also decide what battery size you are shopping for... aaa? AA? 16340? 18350? 18650?

I'm a tint snob and absolutely love my Emisar D18 (pop can triple-18650 light). It is floody and even moreso with a diffused lens. Available in a number of high-CRI tints and available in hydrid versions from modders like Vihn. Worth considering.

edit: For headlamp, I absolutely love my Zebralight H600Fc 4k Frosted.

How far are you hiking ? Is size and weight also a consideration ? I take my Zebralighs on long mountain hikes.

Samsung LH 351 D is also good.

Honestly my 4000k XPL-HI triple is great. The color rendering is good enough and I get more throw and brightness than both sst-20 and Nichia 219c

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I recently got a Zebralight H600Fc. It uses a high CRI 4000K Cree XHP 50.2 emitter. It thought it might show some tint shift, but the frosted lens cleans that right up. Really nice beam and tint, I really like it. Yeah, a Nichia might be better, but it's not nearly as efficient.

WalkIntoTheLight said:

I recently got a Zebralight H600Fc. It uses a high CRI 4000K Cree XHP 50.2 emitter. It thought it might show some tint shift, but the frosted lens cleans that right up. Really nice beam and tint, I really like it. Yeah, a Nichia might be better, but it's not nearly as efficient.

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+1

I have an older model, H600Fc MkIII and I like it a lot. Also 4000K.
ZL's frosted lens cleans Cree tint shift and because there is no sharp spot,
no bouncing ball -effect.
My 2 cents, even it is not tri-led.

bbltint said:

I have an older model, H600Fc MkIII and I like it a lot. Also 4000K.
ZL's frosted lens cleans Cree tint shift and because there is no sharp spot,
no bouncing ball -effect.
My 2 cents, even it is not tri-led.

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to add to this. On my Light that has 3 xpl-hi 4K tint, I needed either a medium or wide frosted optic to have a similar beam pattern to the H600fc MKIII near distance. On further distances, the Tri did have more reach with the hotspot. I don't know the lumen output used on the tri when comparing to my ZL.

the Lumintop fw3a I believe is a three LED setup that can come with sst20

I'm a sucker for high cri and love my various 219 lights. I've swapped sst-20 4000k 95cri emitters into a number of other lights with great results as well. Couldn't go wrong either way IMHO.

That said, the neutral 4000k xpg2 that Malkoff is using is a real winner. Perfect tint and beam with a great balance between good cri and good output.

I have a zebralight with the xhp-something and while it's not high cri the tint is wonderful. Maybe 3500k or so. Haven't messed with the high cri xhp's yet but based on this one they ought to be good.

Thank you guys. I just bought my first 4K temp triled!

I'll jump in as the lone voice saying ultra-warm works great outdoors. The 2700K sst20 light is real nice on trails and I prefer it in the campsite.

finn said:

I'll jump in as the lone voice saying ultra-warm works great outdoors. The 2700K sst20 light is real nice on trails and I prefer it in the campsite.

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I've tried 3000K outdoors a few times, and I find it's too warm. Really nice indoors, but I prefer 4000K-5000K outdoors. I'm not sure why.

WalkIntoTheLight said:

I've tried 3000K outdoors a few times, and I find it's too warm. Really nice indoors, but I prefer 4000K-5000K outdoors. I'm not sure why.

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I agree that a little more neutral works better outdoors. For some reason the 3000k and warmer just gets sucked up to me. Looks great, but just appears less bright than it should. I like the 4000k spectrum. XPG2 at 80cri is nice, as is the 319C at 5000k (though thats getting a little too cool for my taste) specs. Lately I've really been happy with the SST-20 4000k 95cri. I need to get my hands on some LH351D with a similar spec to compare.

Wacki said:

Best LED for Outdoor Hikes? I have a thrower in SST20 5000K. Now going tri-LED. Proper color rendering of nature is a must. Flashlights that make sticks and dirt look the same are a no go. Recommend a temperature Temperature? SST20 vs Nichia219C?

A few options

* SST20 6500K
* SST20 5000K
* SST20 4000K
* SST20 2700K
* 219C 5700K
* 219C 4000K

Click to expand...

From my hiking experience, a bright hotspot @70 cri renders colors a lot better than a medium bright one @95 cri. Having said that, unless you hike in complete darkness, even 6500k looks too warm due to the ambient light being much cooler.

ma tumba said:

From my hiking experience, a bright hotspot @70 cri renders colors a lot better than a medium bright one @95 cri. Having said that, unless you hike in complete darkness, even 6500k looks too warm due to the ambient light being much cooler.

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I'm going to have to disagree. CRI is CRI, brightness has nothing to do with it- so long as its bright enough to see what you are trying to see in the first place. Second, I've had the exact opposite experience with CRI. Lights tend to look cooler in darkness than they are rated. This is probably because we are accustom to warmer artificial lighting like candles/fire, incandescent and mercury vapor street lights. My 4000k lights look neutral to cool at night, my 5000k look cool to cold. Now I am an admitted neutral and warm tint high CRI fan so maybe its all just a mind game...