Do all Tec 40s come with smooth reflector?

[The Wolf]

I just picked up a couple of tec 40s on sale from aerostich.com, they have smooth reflectors. Do all the 40s come with smooth? Is there a way I can improve beam quality, perhaps a textured reflector I can use from another light?

 

[txwest]

They come both ways. I got mine with the faceted reflector. I believe Brightguy sells it by itself. TX

 

[geepondy]

When I bought one just before Christmas at the local REI, all of them on the shelf had fauceted reflectors. Nice beam. Impressed me more then my streamlight 4AA Polypro.

 

[Empath]

The Tec 40s I've seen come standard with the fauceted (wide-angled) reflector, while the Tec 20 comes with a non-faceted reflector. It may be a matter of taste, but in my opinion the faceted relector makes all the difference in the world. You can buy wide-angled, or narrow-angled reflectors from brightguy.com.

 

[nitelite]

Both my tec20 and tec40 came with faceted reflectors. I think only those that have been on the shelf for a while will have smooth reflectors.

 

[DavidW]

I must have the 'old' one then. I had to order the faceted/stippled reflector seperately. It doesn't seem to make it that much wider of a beam. But it smooths it out a lot.

 

[Gandalf]

I have a Tec 20 that I've had for 4 or 5 years. It has a smooth reflector. Likely, when the Tec 40 was introduced, some were assembled with the same reflector as the Tec 20; and at some point, since the Tec 40 is relatively new, Princton Tec switched to the vastly better textured reflector. The Tec 40 with the textured reflector gives a beam similar to a Surefire; I am running my Tec40 with NiMH batteries, and an overdriven xenon lamp, and it's almost as bright as my E2, and the beam quality, while not quite as good, is very close to the Surefire's. If you can get a textured reflector, say with another order, with some other items, from brightguy.com, so you don't double the price with the shipping charge, I'd highly recommend it.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I've purchased 2 Tec 20's and 2 Tec 40's over the last year or so, from different sources. One of each had the faceted reflector, and one of each had the smooth reflector. I agree that it seems to be an age issue - the retailers that seem to have the higher inventory turnover only have the faceted ones now.

Another difference I observed is on the battery contacts at the base of the body. The older? smooth reflector models have a mesh material covering the contact area. The newer? faceted models have just kind of a sheet metal blade in the bottom. I have trouble getting the newer ones to work with NiMH batteries (works if you screw the top on really tight if at all), where the older, mesh bottom units work just fine with any batteries I have tried. So while the faceted lense may be an improvement, the battery contacts may have gone the other direction.

Gary

 

[The Wolf]

Hmm.. lots of good info thanks. The packaging on these does look pretty old, and I would suspect they would be.. considering they were on clearance for $10 from a motorcycle touring site. As I mentioned, they have the smooth reflectors, and they have the mesh contact in the bottom, so guess they are just older models. Batts were marked for 2004...

Looks like I'll be putting an order in to brightguy for the faceted reflectors..

About this overdriven xenon bulb, can you give me some more info about that?

Thanks.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Wolf

If my link works correctly, you will find an extensive discussion of bulbs for the Tec40 here:

Tec 40 Bulbs

 

[Lux Luthor]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by DavidW:
I must have the 'old' one then. I had to order the faceted/stippled reflector seperately. It doesn't seem to make it that much wider of a beam. But it smooths it out a lot.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I didn't think the wide reflector was any wider until I put in an overdriven 3 cell bulb on NiMHs. The beam is as wide as the Surge, if not even a bit wider.

 

[Lux Luthor]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by GaryF:
I've purchased 2 Tec 20's and 2 Tec 40's over the last year or so, from different sources. One of each had the faceted reflector, and one of each had the smooth reflector. I agree that it seems to be an age issue - the retailers that seem to have the higher inventory turnover only have the faceted ones now.

Another difference I observed is on the battery contacts at the base of the body. The older? smooth reflector models have a mesh material covering the contact area. The newer? faceted models have just kind of a sheet metal blade in the bottom. I have trouble getting the newer ones to work with NiMH batteries (works if you screw the top on really tight if at all), where the older, mesh bottom units work just fine with any batteries I have tried. So while the faceted lense may be an improvement, the battery contacts may have gone the other direction.

Gary<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have a Tec 40 that I've been using for about 5 years (with old mesh contact). I've had problems with NiMHs in it, since over time the nipples (and even the bases) get pushed in. Some of my old NiMHs won't even work in that light anymore.

I have yet to have a problem with the newer flat contacts, but that could be because I've learned my lesson, and don't overtighten PT lights.

They DO need a little more springiness AFTER battery contact has been made.

 

[ET]

I've got an old one with the mesh and it's losing contact as well. Will PT offer any kind of guarantee/warranty for it?

 

[hotfoot]

Crude, I know, but I just chuck bits of aluminium foil down the barrel. Works well for me.