HDS External Anti-reflective Coating?

[Spyder333]

Does anyone else have trouble not getting scratches on the external anti-reflective coating on their HDS? Is there a special way to clean the glass if some gunk or a fingerprint gets on it?

For me it seems easy to scratch. If I just wanted to get some dust or a fingerprint off the glass, I can't seem to avoid scratches, and I just used a microfiber cloth that you'd use to clean sunglasses.

My second question is why is such a delicate coating put on the outside? Is there really much lumen output benefit to having both sides of the glass coated? If scratches were to build up in the external coating, would that be worse than having no coating at all?

I have come to appreciate the design choice on my McGizmo lights which only have the anti-reflective coating on the inside.

I love HDS lights, so I'm not trying to criticize. I'm just genuinely curious about the design choice.

 

[WarriorOfLight]

If you use the same equipment, that can be used for i.e. Cleaning lenses than nothing will scratch.

If I need to clean a HDS lens I use my photo brush, and the microfiber cloth that I use for my DSLR lenses.

 

[Spyder333]

Ok, good to know. If I don't want to be all delicate with it and have to see the scratches, is there a good way to strip the AR coating from the sapphire glass so I do not have to worry about it?

 

[Mr. LED]

Mine are still scratch free, I either clean with my finger or microfiber cloths or my shirt.

 

[LRJ88]

This should help.

 

[hsa]

This is hilarious. Ecstasy of Gold is playing in the background so you know sh*t is going south.

 

[Lithium466]

I never really put too much care into cleaning my lenses (usually it's T-shirt cleaning ) but don't use paper (per the FAQ).
Mine are still scratch free, as far as I can tell.

 

[Spyder333]

I never really put too much care into cleaning my lenses (usually it's T-shirt cleaning ) but don't use paper (per the FAQ).
Mine are still scratch free, as far as I can tell.

Mine are very fine scratches. If you put your light into the lowest mode and look at the glass you can see them.

 

[WarriorOfLight]

In general of you are using a clean towel it should be also no problem to clean the flashlight lens.
If your flashlight is covered with all kind of dust and sand it is a good idea to remove the dust with a brush or something similar, before the lens will be cleaned with a towel or something similar.

But even if the lens has small scratches, the beam shape should not ne affected.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Possible choice is to use canned air to blow stuff off, and be careful not to get fingerprints or water on the lens. I use moist breath to coat the lens before removing prints or water with a lens cloth. Then I do not worry about it. Flashlights are meant to be used, right?

 

[desert.snake]

To make dirt easier to wash off the glass, you can smear it with silicone grease, water does not stick at all, dust sticks, but does not turn into a crust, and you can clean it easily and then apply fresh grease. As it turned out, users of gun lanterns do the same so that carbon deposits do not eat into after shooting

 

[Beard Man]

Mine had small scratches, I wrote to the HDS and they sent me a new replacemnt.

Just checked my "new" glass, there are some minor scratches, I think for the money the HDS Rotary should have better glass/coating.