Fenix hp-11 or Spark st-6 500cw

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Re: Fenix hp-11 or Spark st-6 500cw

Postby Cody JW » Oct 31, 2011 12:24 pm

jeffkruse wrote:I received my Spark SD6 460NW on Friday. I appreciated how the box was packaged for shipping in a simple padded envelope.

The light looks great and the headband looks good to. I was a little disappointed with the threading as I am use to Fenix lights but with a little care they should be fine.
I tried the light on turbo and it only ran for 5 to 7 minutes before reducing the output down to only what I assume was the next lower mode 200 lm.
I tried to switch it back to the turbo mode but it did not change. The light was warm.
There is no mention that running the light on turbo is limited to such a short time. :roll:

So what I end up with is a 200lm flood light that will do short bursts to 460lm.

I also will try to limit it’s exposure to water because it doesn’t seem as rugged as a Fenix.

Overall I am happy with the light but a little disappointed with it. Hopefully I’ll get it in a cave this weekend and see how it does.
I do not own one but I suspect you will find the same thing with most of the high lumen lights in that price range. Not sure if you tried after recharging the battery or see what it does with the CR123s?? I suspect that is the difference between these lights ( Fennix , Spark, Zebra ect ) that are high lumen and in the 100 dollar price range or less vs The Sten or Rude Nora or Scurion that are 375 dollars and up. What you get for paying three times more is the ability to run at max for a longer amount of time. Most of the time I would only use that high setting for a short time to look up a dome or pit then go back to a 140 lumen range for most caving. My Duo insert will go down from its high of over 300 lumen if left there very long but that is what it is designed to do. Recharge the battery and see if that changes anything. Chad and Dean both have these lights and they likely know more than I . For me , the ability to run on high or turbo for longer periods is not worth have to pay three times or more for the high output lights like Sten. If I did all my caving at Camps Gulf or The Sarwack Chamber in Malaysia or The Salle De La Verna in France it may be worth the extra money, but like most cavers I do not.
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Re: Fenix hp-11 or Spark st-6 500cw

Postby Chads93GT » Oct 31, 2011 2:00 pm

i spent a total of 6 hours in a couple cramped crawlway caves, with quite a bit of sitting and waiting in one while 2 smaller cavers checked out an extremely small passage. I still run my spark on turbo most of the time, or high, jsut for the hell of it ;) I love it. It makes my fenix HP10 look like "Babys first headlamp". lol
i did shoot some video in a waterfall pit finally that turned out great. Ill post the links soon.
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Re: Fenix hp-11 or Spark st-6 500cw

Postby DeanWiseman » Oct 31, 2011 3:03 pm

Chads93GT wrote:i spent a total of 6 hours in a couple cramped crawlway caves, with quite a bit of sitting and waiting in one while 2 smaller cavers checked out an extremely small passage. I still run my spark on turbo most of the time, or high, jsut for the hell of it ;) I love it. It makes my fenix HP10 look like "Babys first headlamp". lol
i did shoot some video in a waterfall pit finally that turned out great. Ill post the links soon.



:kewl:
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Re: Fenix hp-11 or Spark st-6 500cw

Postby rlboyce » Oct 31, 2011 5:35 pm

For the record, the light jeffkruse has commented on is the SD6, not the ST6 like Chad and Dean have. (BTW, thanks for your review Jeff!!)

Yes, that is the price you pay for high lumens using one cell. That's why you have to bring a few backup cells along... or be content with a setting other than turbo. : ) It is worth mentioning that while these lights don't last too long on high, they last an INSANELY long time on the lower output settings. You just have to be intelligent with your light usage.
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Re: Fenix hp-11 or Spark st-6 500cw

Postby Chads93GT » Nov 10, 2011 10:46 pm

So i went to the zebra website to see the status on that 750 lumen light and it no longer said "ships out xxx" date. Has anyone got theirs yet? Im about to be tempted into ordering one. I notice it wont run on 2 cr123's though, lame!
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Re: Fenix hp-11 or Spark st-6 500cw

Postby DeanWiseman » Nov 11, 2011 7:31 am

Chads93GT wrote:So i went to the zebra website to see the status on that 750 lumen light and it no longer said "ships out xxx" date. Has anyone got theirs yet? Im about to be tempted into ordering one. I notice it wont run on 2 cr123's though, lame!


I ordered on Oct 30... nothing yet.


-Dean
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Re: Fenix hp-11 or Spark st-6 500cw

Postby Chads93GT » Nov 18, 2011 8:06 am

DeanWiseman wrote:
Chads93GT wrote:So i went to the zebra website to see the status on that 750 lumen light and it no longer said "ships out xxx" date. Has anyone got theirs yet? Im about to be tempted into ordering one. I notice it wont run on 2 cr123's though, lame!


I ordered on Oct 30... nothing yet.


-Dean


Do you have it yet dean? Huh do yA? Do ya? Lol
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Re: Fenix hp-11 or Spark st-6 500cw

Postby DeanWiseman » Nov 18, 2011 4:37 pm

Chads93GT wrote:Do you have it yet dean? Huh do yA? Do ya? Lol



:there yet:

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Re: Fenix hp-11 or Spark st-6 500cw

Postby rlboyce » Nov 19, 2011 8:19 am

Some people on CPF have gotten theirs already, so you should be much closer to getting yours now if you've ordered one.
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Re: Fenix hp-11 or Spark st-6 500cw

Postby DeanWiseman » Nov 19, 2011 7:40 pm

rlboyce wrote:Some people on CPF have gotten theirs already, so you should be much closer to getting yours now if you've ordered one.



They responded to my inquiry, looks like it will be shipped in Early December. :banana:


Never fear, my ST-6CW is really doing me right. Did the Circle Route in Buckner's Cave, here in Indiana today. It's a ~3-4 hour trip for most folks, with a fair amount of crawling and crevice slithering mixed in with some pretty decent-sized rooms and galleries. Mounted on a darned-near-ancient Petzl Ecrin (not the Ecrin Roc, mind you)... it worked flawlessly from the smallest of the small, and plenty of muscle for the big stuff. Could see clear down the length of the Monument room.


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Re: Fenix hp-11 or Spark st-6 500cw

Postby NSS8921 » Jan 16, 2012 9:48 am

What are the color temperatures for the Spark ST6 CW 500 and Fenix HP10? I like my Spark ST6 NW 460 for caving but it is too yellow for photography. The HP10 is too blue for either caving or photography.

I am hoping the Spark ST6 CW 500 is 5200-5500 K.

Thanks,
John
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Re: Fenix hp-11 or Spark st-6 500cw

Postby Caver John » Jan 16, 2012 10:49 am

I believe my spark sd6 is right arOund that color spectrum you wished for being white with a slight blue hue. White being about 5000k. My fenix e21 is defiantly a higher color temp(more blue) than the spark.
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Re: Fenix hp-11 or Spark st-6 500cw

Postby NSS8921 » Jan 18, 2012 7:42 am

Spark says ‘We use XML T6 2B tint emitter in all our cool white products. CCT is around 5700K~6300K’.

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Re: Fenix hp-11 or Spark st-6 500cw

Postby LukeM » Jan 18, 2012 8:59 am

John, does your camera feature a white balance setting? If you can get set that to match the color of the light, your photos will look neutral. It could also be fixed when editing the photo later, but that's more labor intensive. Still, you could process a whole set of photos as a batch pretty easily.

If doing the above, it will be better to start with an an overly warm "neutral" emitter rather than an overly cool one, as there will be a higher amount of color information captured from the scene.
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Re: Fenix hp-11 or Spark st-6 500cw

Postby NSS8921 » Jan 18, 2012 11:19 am

Thanks, Luke. I am just in the beginning stages of photography and so did not know that adjusting the AWB will correct to neutral. Should be easy to do on my 60D. And the Zebralight H60 and Spark ST6 NW460 are close and warm, color temperature-wise.

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