Zebralight plans MKIII's and SC63 release for this year

[scs]

With regard to Illumn's treatment of the whine, I'm a bit more ambivalent.
On one hand, the disclaimer scares off customers, so bad for Illumn.

I do agree with a previous post that says by having the disclaimer, Illumn essentially refuses to be the middleman between the customers and ZL.

If ZL is exchanging whiny lights from customers, it does make me wonder why Illumn's stock has not been exchanged.

If ZL honors exchanges of lights purchased from dealers, I suppose a customer can buy it at Illumn and then send it back to ZL for exchange. Not worth the trouble though.

But Illumn is being honest, which is commendable. It's hard to find establishments that will speak negatively of a product they have decided to stock.

 

[sidecross]

Most normal people(non-light enthusiasts) wouldnt pay more then $15 or $20 for a flashlight and would say anybody who spends $95US on a flashlight is nuts.

I have been called even worse than 'nuts' by some people; this as always been a part of my legend. :thumbsup:

 

[scs]

The factors that ZL has going for me are choice of tint, CRI, and above all else the best regulated runtimes in the industry, and I'm willing to pay for them.
But as soon as another competitor makes equivalent, reliable alternatives at lower prices, I'm jumping ship.
It's just business at the end of the day. The relationship and its dynamics go no further.

 

[nbp]

Not an Armytek thread guys...

 

[gunga]

I gotta agree. $95 is a lot. This is a premium light. Better QC should be mandatory. Too bad they easily get away without it. Sigh.

 

[snowlover91]

I would say ZL has significantly improved the QC of their lights. I remember threads from a few years ago where they had major tint issues, bad switches, flickering, no turbo, etc all going on with the same series of lights. While their QC isn't quite where it needs to be they have improved a great deal. The issues like battery rattle and inductor whine have not been reported on any of the MK3 HI versions or the SC63 models either. What I look for is when a company makes a mistake how quickly are they to resolve the issue and take care of the customers affected. Even big companies like Apple and Samsung have product defects at times but the key is how quickly the catch, and fix, the issue. Good companies fix it quickly. Zebralight has done a good job fixing the battery rattle issue as evidenced by the SC63 and MK3 HI not having any issues whatsoever.

 

[tops2]

I don't want to put words in anybody's mouth but I spoke with Illumn about their lights. I'm pretty sure they got 10 units in that first shipment and all had the noise. Maybe they can come along and correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, yes Illumn is an authorized Zebralight dealer. They sell quite a bit of Zebralight. I've bought several from them.

Yeah, it seems like they received about 10 of each variety. I applaud them in putting up the notice after they noticed this instead of pretending it doesn't exist.

It looked like they sold out of the cool white version a while ago and currently still have some neutral whites left. I noticed they removed the note about the whine from the cool white version.

 

[recDNA]

I'm torn between the cool white and the HiCRI supposedly to follow. I prefer the HI CRI but it will be a long wait. The neutral white is too warm for my taste as is the HI DEF. BTW, to me HI CRI is 90+ not 80+ so I hope they go with the top bins.

 

[snowlover91]

If the MK3 Plus is any sign of what they'll do with the hi CRI lights it's going to be nice. Tint at 5k and CRI 93-95 so hopefully they'll use that for their other lights too.

 

[Tachead]

If the MK3 Plus is any sign of what they'll do with the hi CRI lights it's going to be nice. Tint at 5k and CRI 93-95 so hopefully they'll use that for their other lights too.

I vote for slightly warmer then 5K myself. I find my 5K H600Fd MKIII a bit cool for outdoors and/or late at night. My 4K H600Fc MKIII is much nicer for those applications imo(trees, grass, foliage, exc. look much better and its easier on dark adapted eyes). 5K is good for working on the stuff during the day though or general daytime use in a dark environment(working on a vehicle, the furnace, electronics, exc.) Somewhere between the two would be a good best of both worlds I bet. Its funny, after getting 2 identical lights, one in 4K and one in 5K, it reminds me of the first time I compared NW to CW. I definitely know now that I prefer CCT closer to the warm side of neutral for a lot of my uses. YMMV.

 

[newbie66]

I would say ZL has significantly improved the QC of their lights. I remember threads from a few years ago where they had major tint issues, bad switches, flickering, no turbo, etc all going on with the same series of lights. While their QC isn't quite where it needs to be they have improved a great deal. The issues like battery rattle and inductor whine have not been reported on any of the MK3 HI versions or the SC63 models either. What I look for is when a company makes a mistake how quickly are they to resolve the issue and take care of the customers affected. Even big companies like Apple and Samsung have product defects at times but the key is how quickly the catch, and fix, the issue. Good companies fix it quickly. Zebralight has done a good job fixing the battery rattle issue as evidenced by the SC63 and MK3 HI not having any issues whatsoever.

Agreed. I have a feeling they are monitoring cpf.

 

[twistedraven]

I vote for slightly warmer then 5K myself. I find my 5K H600Fd MKIII a bit cool for outdoors and/or late at night. My 4K H600Fc MKIII is much nicer for those applications imo(trees, grass, foliage, exc. look much better and its easier on dark adapted eyes). 5K is good for working on the stuff during the day though or general daytime use in a dark environment(working on a vehicle, the furnace, electronics, exc.) Somewhere between the two would be a good best of both worlds I bet. Its funny, after getting 2 identical lights, one in 4K and one in 5K, it reminds me of the first time I compared NW to CW. I definitely know now that I prefer CCT closer to the warm side of neutral for a lot of my uses. YMMV.

The H600FD MKIII is around 4700k, so it is slightly warmer than 5k. I find it a little on the yellow/warmer side of a pure white, but I can also see it being a little cool and harsh at night comparing to the C version, which is around 3800k.

 

[sidecross]

Agreed. I have a feeling they are monitoring cpf.

I would hope ZebraLight does monitor CPF; most of what I post is written as if being posted to ZebraLight in Texas.

 

[Tachead]

The H600FD MKIII is around 4700k, so it is slightly warmer than 5k. I find it a little on the yellow/warmer side of a pure white, but I can also see it being a little cool and harsh at night comparing to the C version, which is around 3800k.

Yep, I agree.

Keep in mind though, you cant just take maukka's and other peoples measurements as gospel. There is variation of colour temp between emitters. ZL probably states the average in their specs(4000K and 5000K). My H600Fd MKIII measures 4960K and my H600Fc MKIII measures 4160K(approximate Android camera app reading).

 

[Tachead]

I would hope ZebraLight does monitor CPF; most of what I post is written as if being posted to ZebraLight in Texas.

I am pretty sure they do as I brought up the subject of having adjustable PID on their lights and a while later they released PID programming after me and others were talking about it. I doubt that was a coincidence.

 

[snowlover91]

If we can just get a high CRI SC63 with 90+ that comes in 4K and 5k tint producing 900+ lumens I think I'll be set. I've waited a long time for someone to produce one and I'm hoping ZL steps up to the plate and produces one this year.

 

[Tachead]

If we can just get a high CRI SC63 with 90+ that comes in 4K and 5k tint producing 900+ lumens I think I'll be set. I've waited a long time for someone to produce one and I'm hoping ZL steps up to the plate and produces one this year.

I believe ZL has said there are no plans to do a "c and d" variant of the SC63 unfortunately. I dont understand why they dont because 90+CRI versions of the XHP35 are available in 4000, 4500, and 5000K(maybe they are hard to get though?). Heck, I dont get why they only used a 80CRI version in the "w" when they could have used the 90+ version in 4500K. I personlly would be fine paying a bit more for better "cherry picked emitters". I say "cherry picked" because picking emitters as close to the black body radiation line as possible is just as important as CRI and CCT.

 

[newbie66]

I would hope ZebraLight does monitor CPF; most of what I post is written as if being posted to ZebraLight in Texas.

:thumbup:

 

[newbie66]

I am pretty sure they do as I brought up the subject of having adjustable PID on their lights and a while later they released PID programming after me and others were talking about it. I doubt that was a coincidence.

That is good. Too bad only the HI model has that feature currently.

 

[snowlover91]

I believe ZL has said there are no plans to do a "c and d" variant of the SC63 unfortunately. I dont understand why they dont because 90+CRI versions of the XHP35 are available in 4000, 4500, and 5000K(maybe they are hard to get though?). Heck, I dont get why they only used a 80CRI version in the "w" when they could have used the 90+ version in 4500K. I personlly would be fine paying a bit more for better "cherry picked emitters". I say "cherry picked" because picking emitters as close to the black body radiation line as possible is just as important as CRI and CCT.

Im not sure if they will or not, when I emailed them they said they had plans for the c and d variant but weren't sure if they would be able to put them in production since the process for those is a little different... However I believe mark or someone else emailed them a week or two later and was told they had no plans to produce them so I'm not sure which is the case. I would be willing to pay extra for a 90+ CRI version of the SC63 if they did decide to produce one.