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Nitecore Chameleon CR6 (Multicolour red / white / RGB)
One of the most interesting of the current crop of new lights offering multicolour LED options, the Nitecore Chameleon series represents a different approach to combining white and coloured output in a single light.
The Chameleon series is actually Nitecore's second multicoloured recent offering. Unlike the more traditional-looking SRT series, the Chameleon places the coloured output on an equal footing to the primary white LED, with a high powered colour LED mounted in its own reflector side-by-side with the main white LED. Smaller secondary LED provide lower level red, green and blue output. The result is an extremely versatile light which at first looks quite complex, but turns out to be remarkably easy to use.
The Chameleon range includes a number of variants with different coloured main LEDs (Red, Green, Blue plus UV and IR versions). Each of these models also offers RGB output from the Secondary LEDs.
The Red version (CR6) is reviewed here.
The light itself is beautifully made. Solid build with high quality machining and anodising. A very responsive forward clicky provides the main on-off mechanism. Shown here fitted with a removable grip-ring, there is also the usual selection of clip, lanyard, spare O-rings etc.
Power comes from either 2xCR123 primaries or a single 18650 cell. The head contact is spring-loaded with a plastic reverse-polarity protector, so button-top cells are needed: I'm using a Nitecore 3100 mAh cell which works fine.
Two small mode buttons on the side of the head are used for changing levels and to switch between colour and white output. One curious inconsistency is that the labelling on the main body of the light does not align with these head switches: this does not affect the operation of the light at all but it would have been nice to have these lined up.
Business end of the light. The main white and red power LEDs each sit in their own reflector. Each of these main LEDs produces a focused beam. Alongside these the smaller secondary LEDs produce a more diffused output which can be switched between red, green and blue. The white LED is an XP-G2; the red main LED is a Cree XP-E - at 625 nm this does give a slightly orange tinge to the red beam. I would have preferred 660 nm for a true deep red, but that's not available from Cree. In actual use, this is only a minor issue and all the coloured beams provide good well saturated colours.
Operation is simple: Switch on and off at the tailcap. When on, clicking the left-hand mode button selects the main white LED and the right button selects the coloured outputs. (The buttons are labelled "White" and "Color" but the labels are quite hard to see - luckily this doesn't really matter). Repeated clicks cycle through the modes: the white LED has five very well spaced levels: 1 - 25 - 160 - 280 - 440 Lumens. The main red LED cycles through three fairly high levels, followed by low-level red, green, then blue from the secondary LEDs.
Switching is fairly intuitive, and the tail clicky very responsive: there is no delay, preflash or soft-start in any of the modes, and no evidence of PWM on any of the modes. I am pleased to report that there is a separate memory for both the white and the coloured output: the selected level is remembered for both.
Secondary LEDs provide the multicoloured output.
Main coloured LED sits in its own reflector and provides a more focused beam.
The side-by-side arrangement of the reflectors means that there is a small cut-out where they meet. This results in a slightly asymmetrical beam profile with a rather lop-sided spillbeam (sorry, no beamshots of this yet). I am very pleased to report that this is absolutely not an issue in real use: the centre hotspots on both beams are well-focused giving good throw, and outdoors the asymmetrical spill is not noticeable at all. In fact, far from having compromises as a result of the multiple outputs, I have to say that the main white beam has far exceeded my expectations: a well-focused and very usable beam profile from the XP-G2 emitter. The high red also throws a long way: it definitely feels more stealthy though, with less bright side-spill than the white beam.
The low level colours are provided by the secondary LEDs. These provide a more diffuse output than the main beam, which is actually more useful for close-up work. As the shot on the left shows, there is a slight non-uniformity in the output from these smaller LEDs, although this is really only noticeable against a white wall. In actual use (such as looking at the planisphere star-chart on the right), the nonuniformity is not a problem.
Nevertheless, I couldn't help a little experimentation:
A small circle of diffusing material (DC-Fix) over each secondary LED to smooth the beams . . .
. . . and now the low-level output is beautifully smoothed.
Nitecore have got a lot of things right with the Chameleon. In spite of its many output options there are few compromises, and the light is a pleasure to use. The main white beam is just as good as you'd expect for an XP-G2 light of this size, with a good spacing of levels. The coloured options are very well thought out, with a good balance of a focused high beam and more diffuse lower level colours.
For some time there have been only a few options for a multicoloured light (Quark RGB, Kroma), so it is good to see a few new multicoloured offerings from different manufacturers at the moment. With its unique combination of features and excellent implementation the Chameleon certainly stands out as a firm favourite.
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[Mods - this is my first attempt at a light review. Please move to the Reviews section if deemed appropriate.]