This is a description of an unintentional mod.
I busted the frosted glass on a floody Zebralight. Accidentally.
In my experience, Zebralights are hardy headlamps. A car ran over over one and it continued to work perfectly for years till I negligently ruined it by getting water inside it. So, I was kind of shocked that I managed to crack the lens on one.
According to Tachead, commenting
here and
here, Zebralight lenses are high quality. So, I'm attributing the break to just the culmination of a series of drops and other rough behavior on my part over the course of two years or so of daily use. Tachead also mentions that Zebralight will fix the glass. And there's the possibility the light that broke was from a batch from several years ago he refers to that had a glass that was more perceptible to cracking.
However, instead of sending the light back, I took the opportunity to stick some parafilm into the cavity formed by the reflector. After a little experimentation, I ended up with a great beam profile. At least great for me. A very smooth transition from the hotspot to the spill, and the perception of more spill than I had with the frosted lens. Hard to tell for sure since I can't do a side by side comparison at the moment.
In the past, when I added parafilm over the glass, some of the light got "caught" on the edges of the film and then found its way towards my face. This was distracting. But with the film inside the light, this artifact is eliminated.
The down side, of course, is that the light is susceptible now to water getting in. Plus dirt getting into the reflector and emitter. Moreover, when the light is on high, the heat shrinks the parafilm. Parafilm is sold in rolls, and replacing the parafilm diffuser is the work of a few moments. Well worth it for the results.
I'm planning on getting another floody Zebralight to handle the elements. But the modded "air lens" model will continue to be put to regular use for the time being.