Tighter beam--Stinger or Taclite??

brightnorm

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 13, 2001
Messages
7,160
Originally posted by sotto:
Could some of you beam gurus give me the scooby on this issue, please?

Thanks.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Sotto,

I haven't compared my Stinger (I assume you mean the regular Stinger, not the HP) with my Taclites. Actually, my Taclite's have been sitting in their Otterboxes since I started carrying the TACMIII which is just about as bright and tight but is only 4 4/8" long and weighs 3.8oz. The Taclite is a finer light than the TACM; better made, more rugged and truly beautiful, but you can't beat the TACM's size and weight.

I just activated one of my Taclites with fairly new batteries alongside my freshly charged PolyStinger. Both lights are set for tightest focus. In one of those widely derided but sometimes useful "white wall" tests at 25', the hot spots are similar in size and the Taclite's beam is whiter. The Stinger can be focused down to an even smaller hotspot, but that doesn't necessarily increase its brightness because the increasingly larger surround begins to steal intensity from the hotspot. The trick is to find the balance bewteen the two.

It would be interesting to do a proper comparison of the two lights, and at some point I may do that. Of course the Stinger will stay bright much longer than the Taclite.

Brightnorm
 

Josh

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 13, 2002
Messages
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Location
Rottenchester NY
From what dano posted about the Pelican M6 it has a very nice tight focusable beam, something to thinks about
wink.gif
 

brightnorm

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Oct 13, 2001
Messages
7,160
Originally posted by sotto:
Brightnorm:

Thanks for the always enlightening info. BTW, where is the TACMIII available?

Thanks.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Sotto,

Diamond products produces the TACMIII, but (EDIT)I've found very few dealers who carry it.

TACMIII

The light and accessories are overpriced IMO. There are three types of switches; a pressure sensitive switch used when the TACM is gun mounted,a push/turn switch similar to (but much cruder than) Surefire tailcap switches, and a "clickie" that elongates the light. I prefer the push/turn, but that may now only be available
on the "divelight" version of the TACM, which is simply the TACM with an extra o-ring plus the push/turn switch. It's a rather dumb switch design because it has a raised ridge-like portion perforated for a lanyard. When you push the switch with your thumb it rather painfully hits that ridge. Dumb! There used to be a non-dive version avilable without that lanyard holding ridge but I believe they discontinued it. What I've done is to hacksaw the ridge then smooth it with file/sandpaper.

Some months ago I obtained two extra "regular" push/turn switches, one of which is on one of my TACM's and the other is a spare which, unfortunately, I just don't feel comfortable parting with. You can call TACM . Their phone number is posted on their site.

There may be one or two other places to get the TACMIII.

Brightnorm
 

ReconTech

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Joined
Aug 27, 2002
Messages
192
Location
Atlanta, GA
I can't seam to find a main manufacturer page for the Taclite? Isn't it made by ASP? What is their URL? Google doesn't seam to like ASP too much
smile.gif


And speaking of asp, anyone tried their baton light that fixes onto the end of a baton?
 

brightnorm

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 13, 2001
Messages
7,160
Originally posted by ReconTech:
I can't seam to find a main manufacturer page for the Taclite? Isn't it made by ASP? What is their URL? Google doesn't seam to like ASP too much
smile.gif


And speaking of asp, anyone tried their baton light that fixes onto the end of a baton?
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">ReconTech,
Neither ASP or TACM make it easy for potential customers to acquire their products. ASP doesn't even have a website, expect for a rather obscure Australia based one that isn't really a manufacturers site.

I used to get mine from Tanner's (included below) but I've heard talk that they are not as reliable as in the past. I can't confirm this from personal excperience. Botach may also have them. I'm sure you're aware of their reputation in CPF, but they may have gotten better lately. Personally, I've never had a problem with them, and their prices are usually good.

There is some talk that ASP has discontinued production of their regular backswitch model. I can't confirm that, but if true it would be a real shame.

ASP TACLITE (TRIAD)

ASP - BOTACH

Brightnorm
 
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