R9 CRI, what it is and why you want it

Introduction

For most of existence, the sun was our only source of light. Supplying a broad range of color, light from the sun is what our eyes are configured to see. We’ve created multiple technologies to replace the sun after it goes down, but most fall short of what the sun provides. Here are examples, including traditional LED options:

LEDs start with a blue generating base. Providing colors with fullness closer to the sun requires adding a kind of filter (phosphor) that converts some of that blue light into other colors. This conversion process has improved over the years, along with the language used to describe the results. Below on the left are 8 original (pastel) colors used to measure parity with the sun, along with 6 expansion colors added since:

Application

Limited to these 8 original colors, high CRI (color rendering index) was a good start but didn’t tell the whole story. In particular, it didn’t include a strong red. This 9th color (R9) is important for identification, triage, skin tone, photography, cooking, even ensuring food is safe to eat:

R10-14 are important too but are already supplied by older LEDs, making R9 both the most useful to have and the most difficult to produce:

Examples

Comparing our most popular LEDs in both color and light, R9 performance ranges from superb to actually negative:

And here’s how those values look in spectrum and bar graph form:

Conclusion

Flashlights have always been, at best, approximations of what we see during the day. And even with the previous generation’s premium options, you had to choose between the most color or the most light. Now with 519A’s efficiency and R9 performance, you get both in the same LED.

Properly powered and packaged, the best possible flashlight can now be yours via our selection of US made luxury BOSS flashlights. Combing bespoke control, high power output, and near solar levels of color accuracy. In a package small enough to always have on you.