Bolster
03-12-2012, 10:26
Warning...like "best knives" or "best caliber," this is just my opinion on a debatable topic. But if you don't own any High CRI LED flashlights yet, please try one, you might like it.
High CRI (Color Rendering Index) means that the LED is emitting more of the color spectrum than typical LEDs do. Your typical bright-blue tint LED drops red, orange and aqua wavelengths, but modern hi CRI emitters do a better job of outputting the entire spectrum. The sun, as well as your favorite incandescent light, has a CRI of 100. You can now buy LEDs with CRIs of 85-90, which is not bad.
What's the big deal, when you can get regular LEDs that are brighter and cheaper? For prepping and survival, I think high CRI is worth the compromise, because it makes searching for things in the dark easier. Police were notorious for continuing to use their SF incans, long after brighter and tougher and more efficient LEDs were available. Why?
They could see better with their old, dimmer incans. Even though the incan may put out a third of the light, you could spot a perp hiding in the bushes better with an incan. Whereas your typical LED gives a "flat" look that people sometimes describe as looking at a color-tinted black-and-white image.
Personal story: Back in the old days when low-CRI, blue-tint LEDs were all that was available, I hired an electrician who worked on my house. He worked with one hand, the other holding a dim, handheld incan flashlight. I gave him a nice new (low-CRI) Zebralight headlamp as a gift. He was very grateful...at first...then a few weeks later he gave it back. He said, "It's very bright, but I can't see anything with it." Bingo.
High CRI is not mainstream yet...you have to hunt for it (one of my favorite sources is 4sevens.com), and they are a little more expensive, and usually a little less bright. But you may be very pleased that you get the beam quality near an incan, with all the advantages of an LED.
Two images to consider, low and high CRI lights:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/pjandyho/Beamshots/AHP-0017.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/pjandyho/Beamshots/AHP-0016.jpg
See an entire thread with comparison photos here:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?293468
...check out the photos of the owl in the tree...I think he's easier to see in the dimmer hi-CRI light.
Just my opinion, worth what you paid for it. :mememe:
High CRI (Color Rendering Index) means that the LED is emitting more of the color spectrum than typical LEDs do. Your typical bright-blue tint LED drops red, orange and aqua wavelengths, but modern hi CRI emitters do a better job of outputting the entire spectrum. The sun, as well as your favorite incandescent light, has a CRI of 100. You can now buy LEDs with CRIs of 85-90, which is not bad.
What's the big deal, when you can get regular LEDs that are brighter and cheaper? For prepping and survival, I think high CRI is worth the compromise, because it makes searching for things in the dark easier. Police were notorious for continuing to use their SF incans, long after brighter and tougher and more efficient LEDs were available. Why?
They could see better with their old, dimmer incans. Even though the incan may put out a third of the light, you could spot a perp hiding in the bushes better with an incan. Whereas your typical LED gives a "flat" look that people sometimes describe as looking at a color-tinted black-and-white image.
Personal story: Back in the old days when low-CRI, blue-tint LEDs were all that was available, I hired an electrician who worked on my house. He worked with one hand, the other holding a dim, handheld incan flashlight. I gave him a nice new (low-CRI) Zebralight headlamp as a gift. He was very grateful...at first...then a few weeks later he gave it back. He said, "It's very bright, but I can't see anything with it." Bingo.
High CRI is not mainstream yet...you have to hunt for it (one of my favorite sources is 4sevens.com), and they are a little more expensive, and usually a little less bright. But you may be very pleased that you get the beam quality near an incan, with all the advantages of an LED.
Two images to consider, low and high CRI lights:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/pjandyho/Beamshots/AHP-0017.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/pjandyho/Beamshots/AHP-0016.jpg
See an entire thread with comparison photos here:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?293468
...check out the photos of the owl in the tree...I think he's easier to see in the dimmer hi-CRI light.
Just my opinion, worth what you paid for it. :mememe: