jtice, I would like to mention ffirst off that I am pretty new to flashlights as far as trying to learn about them and have never done any type of real review on them. I will however try to give my impressions as accurately as possible. Hopefully the regular flashlight reviewers will kind of help me along here.
Anyways, beam focus is larger on the 3C, but only a small amount....maybe 10% larger or so. You can see that a bit in the beam shots side-by-side, but as a practical matter (actual use) it is doubtful you would notice a difference at all.
The 3C output for distance is about 50 feet. The 50' figure is a distance at which I can clearly identify an object I am lighting up. I can light up objects approximately 80' away, however unless it is a very distinctive object then things are not readily identifiable, just slightly illuminated "stuff".
For most things I might use a light for...power outages, going outside at night to check on things (live out in the country with no artificial light other than our light pole) the I definately prefer the 3C for its ability to light up a nice area instead of just a small point. In other words I dont have to re-aim the light much at all to get a good idea of my surroundings.
If I simply need distance with little concern for area, then the mag-lite would be the way to go. Although since I have no intention of lugging both of them outside with me, I will choose the 3C everytime /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
ANyways, some photos of beamshots. Click on my album link and go to flashlights. The 3 pics called -SL vs SL, and -zebra 3C, and -zebra 4aa demonstrate the beams of the two streamlights.
The side-by-side was at a distance of 3 feet. The shots lighting up the painting were done at 5 feet.
I do hope this helps out a little bit.