Firstly, my apologies to brightnorm for this late posting. Had a personal crisis which put me in no mood to conduct any tests.
Secondly, this is a very rudimentary review. I do not have the tools to do any empirical measurements, but i hope that the pix will help out somewhat.
I purchased the Stinger HP 2 weeks ago. Two days after that, I purchased the SureFire C3 together with the SRTH turbohead (this is also advertised as SRD3 at the LPS site). Talk about being fanatical.
They are my first StreamLight and SureFire respectively.
The SF C3 is similar to the D3, Z3 and 9P in terms of light output. It is significantly smaller than the StingerHP (S-HP), both in length and width. When the SRTH is attached, it is still shorter than the S-HP by about 3/4".
When I got the S-HP, I was impressed by the throw of its hotspot. But outside the hotspot, the whole area of illumination has artifacts - shadows, etc. When I saw the C3's light for the first time - it was during the day in a darkened living room - i was REALLY impressed by the whiteness and consistency of the light. What a beam of almost perfect illumination. Hardly any artifacts.
With the SRTH turbohead attached, the C3 (now called a SRC3) puts out a very nice focussed hotspot with good throw. The hotspot is a bit elliptical which can be useful, but others may not like it. It's only a bit elliptical and I actually like it.
Here are my subjective observation. The C3 can provide useful illumination to about 150 feet. The S-HP can do about 250 feet; the SRC3 can do 250 feet too. I find the illumination for the SRC3 at 250 feet to be superior to that of S-HP because the light is very consistent throughout its hotspot and
its hotspot is larger than that of the S-HP.
Hotspot size: C3 is the biggest with smooth graduation of its intensity as one goes outwards from the hotspot. The S-HP has the smallest hot-spot, which is more intense than the C3. The SRC3 has a hotspot bigger than the S-HP, but not a lot. Both the hotspots of the C3 and SRC3 appear to be whiter than that of the S-HP.
As a non-LEO, I find the C3 to be more useful for daily purpose. Its hotspot is significantly bigger than that of the S-HP
and SRC3. I love both the C3 and SRC3. What a light they throw.
One good thing about the S-HP is that it's rechargeable and it has a focusing bezel.
However, the beam it throws is never as nice as that of the SureFire. Too much shadow. I suppose for a lot of people, this may not matter. But we are fanatics, right? The price for the S-HP is about $80; C3 is about $100 and the SRTH turbohead is about another $100.
I need to mention that my digi-camera didn't have manual control, so the exposure were not fixed at a particular value. I did turn off the flash.
Here are the pix. 4 pix altogther.
One of the C3, one of the SRC3 (slightly
elliptical hotspot), one of the S-HP set with the tightest hotspot and one of the S-HP set with a broad beam.
Secondly, this is a very rudimentary review. I do not have the tools to do any empirical measurements, but i hope that the pix will help out somewhat.
I purchased the Stinger HP 2 weeks ago. Two days after that, I purchased the SureFire C3 together with the SRTH turbohead (this is also advertised as SRD3 at the LPS site). Talk about being fanatical.
The SF C3 is similar to the D3, Z3 and 9P in terms of light output. It is significantly smaller than the StingerHP (S-HP), both in length and width. When the SRTH is attached, it is still shorter than the S-HP by about 3/4".
When I got the S-HP, I was impressed by the throw of its hotspot. But outside the hotspot, the whole area of illumination has artifacts - shadows, etc. When I saw the C3's light for the first time - it was during the day in a darkened living room - i was REALLY impressed by the whiteness and consistency of the light. What a beam of almost perfect illumination. Hardly any artifacts.
With the SRTH turbohead attached, the C3 (now called a SRC3) puts out a very nice focussed hotspot with good throw. The hotspot is a bit elliptical which can be useful, but others may not like it. It's only a bit elliptical and I actually like it.
Here are my subjective observation. The C3 can provide useful illumination to about 150 feet. The S-HP can do about 250 feet; the SRC3 can do 250 feet too. I find the illumination for the SRC3 at 250 feet to be superior to that of S-HP because the light is very consistent throughout its hotspot and
its hotspot is larger than that of the S-HP.
Hotspot size: C3 is the biggest with smooth graduation of its intensity as one goes outwards from the hotspot. The S-HP has the smallest hot-spot, which is more intense than the C3. The SRC3 has a hotspot bigger than the S-HP, but not a lot. Both the hotspots of the C3 and SRC3 appear to be whiter than that of the S-HP.
As a non-LEO, I find the C3 to be more useful for daily purpose. Its hotspot is significantly bigger than that of the S-HP
and SRC3. I love both the C3 and SRC3. What a light they throw.
One good thing about the S-HP is that it's rechargeable and it has a focusing bezel.
However, the beam it throws is never as nice as that of the SureFire. Too much shadow. I suppose for a lot of people, this may not matter. But we are fanatics, right? The price for the S-HP is about $80; C3 is about $100 and the SRTH turbohead is about another $100.
I need to mention that my digi-camera didn't have manual control, so the exposure were not fixed at a particular value. I did turn off the flash.
Here are the pix. 4 pix altogther.
One of the C3, one of the SRC3 (slightly
elliptical hotspot), one of the S-HP set with the tightest hotspot and one of the S-HP set with a broad beam.
