SilverFox
Flashaholic
Ever since the SureFire L4 came out, I have enjoyed the flood beam it puts out. I have an InReTech tri light (3 X 1W) in a Mag 3D. This puts out a good flood, but I found myself wanting a little more throw similar to the L4.
I found that you could "focus" the beam a little by lightly screwing down the lens bezel. The NX05 optics tend to spread out the tighter you go. If you just tighten the bezel down to where the lens lightly touches the optics, you end up with a slightly tighter beam. Please note that the effect is subtle at best, but it is noticeable.
I still found myself wishing it was a little bit brighter. After all I am a Flashaholic…
I read that you could drive the tri light with 4 C cells to make it a little brighter. I cut a length of PVC pipe to accommodate the change in diameter of the C cells vs. the D cells, reversed the tail cap spring and gave it a try. Now that's better. I got around a 62% increase in output (730 candela vs. 450 candela). Not bad, but I still wanted more.
Please note that if my numbers seem a little low, they are based upon using NiMh C and D cells.
Along comes Mr. Bulk with his Fraen optic offer. The wheels in my head started turning and I picked some up and put them in the tri light.
Now this light blows away the SureFire L4 in brightness. It has a similar sized hot spot and bigger spill. I measured a 30% increase in brightness just by changing the optics (950 candela vs. 730 candela). This gives a reach of nearly 31 meters (down to 1 lux) of nice floodlight.
Not bad, from 450 candela to 950 candela (111% increase) with a couple of quick and easy modifications.
Thank you Charlie for making the Fraen optics available.
Tom
I found that you could "focus" the beam a little by lightly screwing down the lens bezel. The NX05 optics tend to spread out the tighter you go. If you just tighten the bezel down to where the lens lightly touches the optics, you end up with a slightly tighter beam. Please note that the effect is subtle at best, but it is noticeable.
I still found myself wishing it was a little bit brighter. After all I am a Flashaholic…
I read that you could drive the tri light with 4 C cells to make it a little brighter. I cut a length of PVC pipe to accommodate the change in diameter of the C cells vs. the D cells, reversed the tail cap spring and gave it a try. Now that's better. I got around a 62% increase in output (730 candela vs. 450 candela). Not bad, but I still wanted more.
Please note that if my numbers seem a little low, they are based upon using NiMh C and D cells.
Along comes Mr. Bulk with his Fraen optic offer. The wheels in my head started turning and I picked some up and put them in the tri light.
Now this light blows away the SureFire L4 in brightness. It has a similar sized hot spot and bigger spill. I measured a 30% increase in brightness just by changing the optics (950 candela vs. 730 candela). This gives a reach of nearly 31 meters (down to 1 lux) of nice floodlight.
Not bad, from 450 candela to 950 candela (111% increase) with a couple of quick and easy modifications.
Thank you Charlie for making the Fraen optics available.
Tom
