HDS EDC GT

What are your experiense with the HDS Ultimative 60? Should I buy one with guaranteed tint or not? I am going to use Li-Ion's so I wouldn't need the XR. I had an ARC4 rev2, but lost it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif. I liked it very much and it had a very nice tint. One thing I don't like about the HDS is the tail. It looks so bulky. I liked the Arc4 much more.

I have an ultimate non-guarantee HDS light and its one of the whitest lights I own. (lioncub,lionheart, surefire KL3 etc)

I also think my HDS U60 (no GT) is very white. I have difficulty picking out any hint of tint.

The tail, for me, gives it good balance...now that my switch lies flush, I appreciate being able to tail-stand it.

And not to hijack the thread, but I am really enjoying my U60. Last night I finally sat down to mess with the programmable features and it's nice being able to disable the force setting mode to set the light to the last-used level. I'm just scraping the surface on the versatility of this light and already I'm very impressed.

I've got the 60 GT. My one McluxIIIPD U bin is whiter than the HDS, the other U bin is "warmer"--yellowish(?). I have two Arc 4+s and again, one is whiter than the 60GT the other, "warmer". I can't tell you if the GT ($50 extra) was worth it or not since I have no standard 60 series to compare it to.

Karl

I also have the HDS Ultimate 60.

Its my favorite light AND favorite "white"! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif

I too, thought about getting the GT, but I am very happy with my U60...!

Check the "Lets see how many HDS EDC`s are out there!" thread for MANY comments on their light and color.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I've got two lights - EDC Basic 42 and EDC Ultimate 42. While there are some differences in the tint, both are very white, whiter than any of my other lights. I'm not really sure I'd get an Ultimate given the quality of the lights I've got and price difference.

I have u60...For me, it looks "snow" white.

edit. post deleted.

What many of us consider to be white really has a lot of blue in its spectrum. Good LED's seem to be equally to the blue side of white as good incans are to the yellow side of white.

IMHO LED's only seem whiter due to their strong blue output overshadowing the yellow. When out in nature I've found that incans reveal colors more accurately. When using a good incan light, sand, trees and grass don't all have the blue cast that LED's cause

Good beam quality is more important to me than tint - within reason. I don't understand the obsession with obtaining "pure white" and I used to work in a paint lab and specialized in tinting whites due to having good color perception. "Guaranteed Tint" seems like nit picking because, unless color is WAY off, our brain compensates and accepts a reasonable range as white.

My HDS U60 is the whitest LED I have and my E1L is close, but they're no whiter than my TL-3 or G2/P61 - they are just on opposite sides of the center of white's spectrum.

I have an Ultimate 42, and it's the 'best tint' of all the Luxeon lights I own, or have seen.

The price difference is substantial, to get that 'guaranteed tint'.

Most posts I've read praise the tint of their 'standard' HDS EDC. My 2¢ /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

And another 2¢ worth: the Ultimate really is worth the price difference. Being able to custom set 4 light levels, and have a switch lock alone would be worth the extra money.

But there are SO MANY MORE things you can do with an Ultimate!

That's my 4¢ worth. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

My Basic 60 GT is white. My Ultimate 60 XR is blueish-white by comparison. My L2 is quite yellowish green by comparison. My Gladius is very blue by comparison.

Yes, with use the brain tends to compensate to some degree. But when looking at colored objects in the dark, there is no doubt the GT is providing a WHITE light, meaning that objects look the 'correct' color. IMHO.

That being said, the Ultimate is in everyday use because of the features, the Basic 60 GT is spending a lot of time in my dresser drawer.

John F

My U-60 (non GT) has a beautiful tint. It is quite neutral and has excellent color rendition at close ranges. I had an Arc 4+ rev. 2 as well, and I find that the tail on the HDS feels much better in the hand. It looks bulky but provides a better grip for operating the switch than the Arc body did. The switch on the HDS is also much easier to use than the Arc. On my Arc I would dissassemble the switch weekly to tune it, but my HDS is still as smooth as the day I got it with no adjustment whatsoever.

Before the HDS the Arc 4 was my favorite light as to the form factor, but I can safely say the HDS is much better. The tapered body affords excellent grip with the flared tail, whereas the Arc 4 was hard to hold onto while operating the switch. The Ultimate 60 is also much brighter and longer running than the Arc 4.

If you haven't seen it yet the HDS Ultimate vs Arc4x Runtime Revealed thread shows very clearly how much superior the runtime of the HDS is.

I have an HDS EDC XR and from what I understand they all have a led that tends toward the blue (still very white though). When I first became infected with an LED fascination, the ghostly blueish cast of LEDs was part of the appeal. However my tastes have grown up a bit and I now much prefer warmer, more yellow LED's. I'd agree with what Jayflash said about incandescents providing better color rendition in nature and find that LEDs with more yellow are superior to white and cool LEDs in this respect as well. When I take a blueish or white led and light up an area outside and then switch to a decent incandescent it's like adding another dimension to the visibility. They also seem to provide better detail and depth both inside and outside. It is interesting to note that surefire now has a yellow-green led option in the A2 because they've found that the eye works very well with this kind of light. Amber shooter glasses also back the added benefit of the yellowish spectrum to enhance depth and detail. This being said, I think that for my money and taste, the best light would be the standard ultimate, even though I've already got an XR.

If ledheads became more interested in scrutinizing the image of what is illuminated rather than the illumination, the oft maligned yellowish or greenish leds would be appreciated at least as much as pure "white"

Yea, some flashoholics are too obsesed with enginnering, tints, etc to appreciate a flashlight as, well a flashlight

Another reason to keep both my Basic 60 GT and the Ultimate 60 XR (BTW, I keep a SF F04 Beamshaper on the U at all times, and it seems to have the effect of making it appear less bluish for some unknown reason.)

My yellowish-green SF L2 is becoming more of my favorite all the time - maybe something to do with it color as well as beam characteristic (even flood, and very high overall light output!)

John F