Attention flashlight nerds. Opple Lightmaster Pro $20.61

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Valnar

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I don’t know if anyone is geeky enough to appreciate this, but this thing from China is awesome and a killer deal. If you want to see how accurate your flashlights or light bulbs are. It’s a lot less expensive than a spectrometer. ‘On sale for Black Friday. (I already bought one a month ago.)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003302809897.html
(Choose Pro version)

Discussion: https://budgetlightforum.com/node/79094

And why: https://tachyonlight.com/what-is-the-difference-between-cct-and-cri/


Sunlight and incandescent bulbs have a CRI of 100. All LED’s are less than that, so color accuracy (especially R9 red) is compromised. Some are better than others, like these guys.
https://www.waveformlighting.com/full-spectrum-led-lighting
 
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Valnar said:
I don’t know if anyone is geeky enough to appreciate this, but this thing from China is awesome and a killer deal. If you want to see how accurate your flashlights or light bulbs are. It’s a lot less expensive than a spectrometer. ‘On sale for Black Friday. (I already bought one a month ago.)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003302809897.html
(Choose Pro version)

Discussion: https://budgetlightforum.com/node/79094?page=3

And why: https://tachyonlight.com/what-is-the-difference-between-cct-and-cri/


Sunlight and incandescent bulbs have a CRI of 100. All LED’s are less than that, so color accuracy (especially R9 red) is compromised. Some are better than others, like these guys.
https://www.waveformlighting.com/full-spectrum-led-lighting
Click to expand...
Geeky enough here - thanks for the heads up! Yup, flashlight nerd - pretty much ever since LED flashlights became a thing, so roughly ~20 years? Own upwards of 50 lights - decent collection of Zebralights and Emisars, even a LEP in the mix. :D This looks like a fun device to test/mess around with... nice price too. Thanks again and Merry Xmas to me!
 
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I pretty much decided on 4000K bulbs everywhere in my house (where possible) and only buy high CRI options. The options are few & far between, and expensive, but worth it. LED's are like MP3 audio. If you aren't particular, they are marginally worse than what they replaced.
 
Valnar said:
I pretty much decided on 4000K bulbs everywhere in my house (where possible) and only buy high CRI options. The options are few & far between, and expensive, but worth it. LED's are like MP3 audio. If you aren't particular, they are marginally worse than what they replaced.
Click to expand...
Same here. Yup, it's tough to find good high CRI bulbs for cheap, but they are out there if you search... most come at a good up-charge though due to the better binning/higher quality emitter costs. Feit bulbs (via Costco) have been pretty decent. I find bulbs in the 2000-2700K range a bit too warm for my taste. 3000-4000K seems the sweet spot for me personally when it comes to general indoor lighting - anything higher comes across as too cool/stark/industrial. However, for work/hobby/garage areas, I do prefer a 4500-5000K tint with as many lumens and as high a CRI as possible. The high CRI makes a huge difference in the higher tints... a low CRI with a 5000K bulb makes the light look sort of sickly or off somehow.
 
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Supercharged_Z06 said:
Same here. Yup, it's tough to find good high CRI bulbs for cheap, but they are out there if you search... most come at a good up-charge though due to the better binning/higher quality emitter costs. Feit bulbs (via Costco) have been pretty decent. I find bulbs in the 2000-2700K range a bit too warm for my taste. 3000-4000K seems the sweet spot for me personally when it comes to general indoor lighting - anything higher comes across as too cool/stark/industrial. However, for work/hobby/garage areas, I do prefer a 4500-5000K tint with as many lumens and as high a CRI as possible. The high CRI makes a huge difference in the higher tints... a low CRI with a 5000K bulb makes the light look sort of sickly or off somehow.
Click to expand...

Here is a thread with some options, but not all are USA based, and it's a bit outdated. The only good classic E26/A19 bulbs are from Waveform and Yuji. It's not a result of binning. They have to be architected to include LED's to handle the deficient R9 and R12 values inherit in most LED's.
https://budgetlightforum.com/node/69805
 
4k? I can't find anything between 1800(I think?) And 5k. Not going full baller and getting some app cloud smart bulb BS. What you been using? I have long said that 4, 000 would be the sweet spot. Not sure why it's so hard to find
 
Nifty, ordered one and I'm not even a light nerd. But maybe I will be with this now, as I've always been interested in dialing in my preferred CCT and now CRI for home lighting.
 
T4rd said:
Nifty, ordered one and I'm not even a light nerd. But maybe I will be with this now, as I've always been interested in dialing in my preferred CCT and now CRI for home lighting.
Click to expand...
You'll have fun.

It's not something we needed 30 years ago. You either had incandescent bulbs around 2700-3000K with a 100 CRI, or long fluorescent bulbs around 4100K but a low 80's CRI. Now every combination is possible.
 
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Nice, shows Jan 08 deliver date.
Has anyone used this to detect PWM on LCD backlights?
 
Valnar said:
You'll have fun.

It's not something we needed 30 years ago. You either had incandescent bulbs around 2700-3000K with a 100 CRI, or long fluorescent bulbs around 4100K but a low 80's CRI. Now every combination is possible.
Click to expand...

F40T12CW bulbs used everywhere since the 60s were bright but awful CRI wise. Like in the low 60s.
Efficacy was lower on higher CRI lamps due to change in phosphor blends.
Philips Colortone 75 was king with its 95 CRI but 2000 lumens at 40W didn't please the logistics guys where the lines needed 300FC at the assembly table. But fleshtones looked as natural if those prismatic diffusers were under skylights. 🙃
 
cpufrost said:
Nice, shows Jan 08 deliver date.
Has anyone used this to detect PWM on LCD backlights?
Click to expand...

Somewhat. Read the discussion thread on BLF linked in my first post. It's not a $1000 tool but it's surprising useful for the price.
 
ZeqOBpf6 said:
4k? I can't find anything between 1800(I think?) And 5k. Not going full baller and getting some app cloud smart bulb BS. What you been using? I have long said that 4, 000 would be the sweet spot. Not sure why it's so hard to find
Click to expand...
They are options out there if you hunt for them, but I'm primarily using a mix of 3000k and 5000K 100w Feit dimmable bulbs (90 CRI) from Costco.
 
Got my unit in a couple days ago. Just tested it with a couple lights in my house to make sure it works at least. But haven't really played with it yet. It only had 1% of battery out of the box too.
 
I don't understand. Is this supposed to be a flashlight. It looks no different then the POS they have on cellphones.
 
It's a light meter, provides rudimentary spectrum analysis, brightness, and modulation if present.
Mine arrived a few days ago. Would not pair with my iPhone 13 Pro Max (iOS 15.3) but my Fold 3 works fine. Also at 1% out of the box.
Funny how all the LED christmas lights show high risk (60Hz). And how, their flicker drives me nuts!
 
I think the Pro version is sold out, but for those who got it, here is a video review.
 
Just watched a video on a tactical flashlight where you can cook and burn stuff with it Elitetac or something.
 
Oh that stuff won't burn your eyes...
I had a tac flashlight I returned it too harsh.
 
Fenix makes decent hardware, but they are tough to mod so you're stuck with whatever (probably low CRI) LED they include. I have one for my "closet" flashlight at home because they are solid.
 
Is this device the equivalent of speakers measuring flat but for flashlights?
 
legcramp said:
Is this device the equivalent of speakers measuring flat but for flashlights?
Click to expand...
I'd say it's similar to using one of the spectrum analyzer apps on your smartphone.
And similar to that, it's no replacement for a B&K! ;-)
 
legcramp said:
Is this device the equivalent of speakers measuring flat but for flashlights?
Click to expand...

Well the good one is sold out, so I have no idea how the model "2" performs. But yes, that's a good analogy in the respect that it measures the accuracy of your light. 'Not as good as a $1000 piece of equipment, but darn good for the price. Watch the video in the post above.

I just use it for measuring the CCT and CRI of any flashlight or light bulb, but it doesn't report R9 which is the most critical. That's also the hardest for LED's to emulate. You will almost never show proper colors with any LED light vs the best incandescent light. Even in my house where I buy high quality LED bulbs for most rooms, I keep my tiny halogens in the bathroom for the mirror. They have a perfect CRI of 100.
 
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