I don't doubt in Saabluster (well maybe 10-15% percent variations are possible as we don't have same light meters, or some measure highest peak lux readings while someone average)
He has flashlights for true throw fans and maybe beam looses a bit on its regular characteristic but that is not so important because it is all about throw when Saabluster takes things in his hand
Taking night picture is sci fiction for me but some members like Teej are taking good ones... But I also noticed variations in picture quality of some members so one member can take brighter beam picture and other one takes dimmer beam picture at similar distances so it is very hard to judge beam characteristic by forum picture and it will not be as good as your real life experience.
Real life is ALWAYS BEST.
I DO try hard to take representative pics...but even at the same location, on a different night, the crap in the air and ambient lighting might make it LOOK different to my eye and not JUST the camera....so I can have pics of the same light that show something different in the same scene. That IS real life. Its also why I always try to use as many lights in a set as possible. It increases the odds of you HAVING one of them to use as a yardstick, so you can say...OK, MY XYZ does look like that....and this other one IS brighter, or dimmer, or shines further than the one I have, etc.
Some people go to CPF Marketplace...and do "catch and release".
That means they try a light, just to try it, and then sell it....and use the $ to try another one, rinse/repeat.
I have to say I'm not really much of an early adopter. I WILL wait to see what TurboBB, HJK, Selfbuilt, etc, say about a light, weight the specs and what I NEED to do what I do...vs what I WANT to do what I do, vs what I can AFFORD, and so forth.
Sometimes, I see something that's just a smidgen better for a task than what I have....and it will make me CRAZY knowing I could have a better tool for the job....if i were willing to shell out another few hundred bucks. MOST of the time, I'll just BE crazy, and suck it up....and wait for a less incremental improvement. Sometimes, a used version will pop up, solving the dilemma.
If you have the patience...you could simply wait for others to do a catch and release of the light you think you might want....and catch it yourself when they release it.
You could also go to the various flashaholic gatherings...and SEE some of these lights, play with them, see them shining around with other lights, etc....and really get a feel for what you're looking for/at.
Real life also lets you see something hard to show in a pic....the durability and feel of a light.
In pics, a light might look tough, but you can't really tell unless you throw it at something.
A guy had a fairly bright light that he was comparing to my Klarus XT11 when we we at a construction site. He said he thought his light was just as tough as the XT11. We were up on scaffolding over a concrete floor at the time, and I said "Are you willing to bet on it?"
He said he would, and I lit and threw the XT11 off the scaffold, it landed, still lit....and sat there shining. I then said "Your turn".
He didn't throw his so much as try to drop it from as low a point as possible...and it shattered on impact in a rather satisfying way anyway.
I told him to keep the $ and buy a real light.
A PIC doesn't show that a light will be able to survive....just how purdy it is.
