HUGE Beamshot comparison, Gotham & Malkoff included (Very Picture Heavy)

[AzGB]

In the spirit of passing on information of others (which this place has been an incredible education for me), I decided to do a beamshot comparison, since trying to find relative information between certain models is getting tedious. I grabbed the lights that I had around that covered the most diverse spread, and that contained at least one or two elements that most of us are familiar with. Some of the old standby's like the L4, L2, P60, etc... and some of the newer lights that most of us haven't seen a beamshot of, like the Gotham and Malkoff. Or stuff just random enough, very few people have seen one, like the Energizer HardCase.

For relativity to other comparisons, all lights have fresh primary cells, and all photos were taken at 21 Feet with a 1st Generation (6.3MP) Canon Digital Rebel, ISO 100, Manual mode, at 1/8th Second at F/3.5, Lens is a Canon 28-135 IS, focal length was 28mm. Except for resizing, and the Energizer Red & Blue shots (which were level and curve enhanced to show about what my eyes truly saw, the orginals really weren't a fair representation), none of these pictures has ANY editing. This is what the camera saw, and it all looks pretty fair and accurate to me.

So, here we go. The lights below consist of:

Black L4D (SureFire E2D-KL4)
Milky ML1 (IMS20-Seoul)
E1L-Cree (KX1)
P1D-CE/Leef
HDS EDC Basic 60
L2
C3 (P91)
L5 (KL5)
C2 (KL3 TIR/No Rings)
U2
G2 (P60)
C2D (C2/6PD Bezel-Tailcap Malkoff P60/Q2)
Gotham (High driven @ 1Amp)
M6 (MN21)
MiniMag LED 2AA
Energizer HardCase

And here are the beamshots.

Black L4D (SureFire E2D-KL4)

Milky ML1 (IMS20-Seoul)

E1L-Cree (KX1)

P1D-CE/Leef - Low

P1D-CE/Leef - Standard

P1D-CE/Leef - High

HDS EDC Basic 60 - Standard

HDS EDC Basic 60 - High

L2 - Low

L2 - High

C3 (P91)

L5 (KL5)

C2 (KL3 TIR/No Rings)

U2 - 1 Low

U2 - 2

U2 - 3

U2 - 4

U2 - 5

U2 - 6 High

G2 (P60)

C2D (C2/6PD Bezel-Tailcap Malkoff P60/Q2)

Gotham - Low

An additional note, the Ultra-Low setting is very nice, but doesn't show up in a picture at all, hence the absense of a picture.

Gotham - Medium

Gotham (High driven @ 1Amp)

M6 (MN21)

MiniMag LED 2AA

Energizer HardCase - White

Energizer HardCase - Red

Energizer HardCase - Blue

So, what did YOU do with your Thursday night? :nana:

 

[fudo]

Great pics. thanks

 

[SaVaGe]

Great pics!...thank you

I still have to try to post some pics....my 20D is just sitting collecting dust. obvoiusly you used a tripod correct?

can you also tell me how you took the picture of ur flaslights?....good picture white background?

 

[AzGB]

Great pics!...thank you

I still have to try to post some pics....my 20D is just sitting collecting dust. obvoiusly you used a tripod correct?

can you also tell me how you took the picture of ur flaslights?....good picture white background?

Actually, I had the camera resting on the same barstool the light was pointed from.

As for the group picture, I shot that on super-white photo paper (53" wide x 15 yards per roll at my local photography supply house) using a Canon Speedlite 430EX bounced off the ceiling. Compose the shot, hit the metering flash, and you're good to go. A little photoshop levels to purify the white a bit, and you're done.

 

[Anders]

Nice collection and good photos:twothumbs thanks.

Anders

 

[scottaw]

Thanks! Killed your thursday night so we could all make some better decisions. So next time we want to see.... ha just kidding.

 

[AzGB]

Thanks! Killed your thursday night so we could all make some better decisions. So next time we want to see.... ha just kidding.

Actually, it was only about 2 hour total. Completely worth it though, I learned quite a bit as well...

 

[Kiessling]

Thanx for the hard work and great pics !!
Good to see our old LuxV lights still kick butt
I take it your U2 and L2 as well as KL5 are top of the breed specimen?
bernie

 

[AzGB]

Actually, the U2 and KL5 are decent, but nothing spectacular. The L2 on the other hand, I've had probably a half dozen over the years, it's the hottest copy I've ever seen... side by side with others, this one's definitely the winner.

Thanks for the kind words, I'm happy to contribute to the wealth of knowledge that's already here...

 

[Barbarian]

Thanks for posting the great pics. I see the infamous U2 donut hole, but as mentioned above, your L2 rocks. The pics also clearly show the difference between LED's and incan's(color rendition). The Gotham on high looks very sweet.

 

[Bullzeyebill]

Nice shots. Thanks.

Bill

 

[AzGB]

The Gotham on High is one of the best combinations of throw and flood. Very smooth transition from hot-spot to spill, the thing reaches quite far, but still produces a great amount of overall light. I don't own many lights that were purchased because the exterior design attracted me, and this wasn't a compromise. I saw the Gotham and thought "I sure do hope that one performs", I'd hate to appreciate the looks, but have the satisfaction dry up as soon as I turn it on. This one's a full-time player. If you're on the fence, empty out the penny jar and get off the fence, while you can...

The Malkoff is also quite impressive. Probably the longest throw of any LED that I've seen (haven't played around with many large reflector lights, I know that really brings the throw out). Definitely an impressive player. Gene's P60 drop in is HIGHLY recommended. I've got two of SureFire's P60L units on their way to me right now, it's going to be interesting to see how an industry-standard high end factory produced part compares with this. I'd be VERY surprised if the SureFire part doesn't fall second to the Malkoff. I honestly can't expect much more. Breathes new life into the P & C series, duty sized SureFire line. If Gene's got them available, buy them up folks.

These two lights were the primary motivation to produce this set. Both are new enough there's not tons of information out there, and what is available doesn't flatter them as much as they should. My ML1 is the fulltime EDC for me, and probably will be for quite some time, but the Gotham and Malkoff dropin have impressed me more than most lights I've seen in the past several years.

*Stepping off my soap box*

Thanks again folks... and thanks to Lee, Scott, and Gene for making great gear.

 

[Gene43]

Thanks, I appreciate the kind words!

Gene

 

[AzGB]

I'm reviving a little bit older thread to say that I'll be adding a few more lights soon. I'm adding it to this thread because I'll be using the same equipment with the exact same settings and conditions, so these upcoming shots should stay relative to this first batch. On the roster are:

SureFire P60L (From the 6PL or G2L)
Milkyspit ML2 (SureFire L2 with a Seoul P4 USWOH, SOB1000 driver)
McLux PD-S
Pentagon MOLLE Light
Night-Ops Gladius (early model, stock power)
CR2 Ion (Aluminum, early Cree, not XRE, if it shows up in the picture)
Costco HID (Hehe, if it shows up in the picture)
Lumens Factory Lamp Assemblies EO-6 (2xCR123, 200 Lumens) and EO-9 (3xCR123, 380 Lumens)

And when they arrive:
Milky Project M/ M375 (3 Seoul P4's)
And Milky's first build on a SureFire X200 WeaponLight, probably to be named the MX200 (Don't quite remember the stats, but this thing is supposed to be very impressive)

Now, does anyone have any requests?

 

[tazambo]

Great thread.
Excellent photos.

Seeing the P91 against the EO-9 would be great (you're going to do this I see).
Can you do them both on 2x17670 rechargeable cells?
This way we can also compare the P91 on primaries Vs 2x17670's

Regards
Dave

 

[AzGB]

Great thread.
Excellent photos.

Seeing the P91 against the EO-9 would be great (you're going to do this I see).
Can you do them both on 2x17670 rechargeable cells?
This way we can also compare the P91 on primaries Vs 2x17670's

Regards
Dave

Thanks for the compliments, I'm glad these pictures worked out for everyone.

Unfortunately Dave, I do not own or use any rechargeable cells for any of my lights. I use SureFire primaries in everything I own that takes a 123 battery. I'm not really not opposed to using them, I just don't really have any available at this point.

:shrug:

 

[PapikAldo]

Very nice collection and great pictures !!! :thumbsup:
It would be nice to have a HID too there...
I'm planning to buy a SF M6 CB soon, is it really so great with the MN21 HOLA ???
Do you really think the SF L2 is much better than the U2 ???
I do have a L4, but I'm just deciding to buy a new "EDC" and was not sure between the L2 or U2...
So you would take the L2 ???
Thanks.

 

[AzGB]

Very nice collection and great pictures !!! :thumbsup:
It would be nice to have a HID too there...
I'm planning to buy a SF M6 CB soon, is it really so great with the MN21 HOLA ???
Do you really think the SF L2 is much better than the U2 ???
I do have a L4, but I'm just deciding to buy a new "EDC" and was not sure between the L2 or U2...
So you would take the L2 ???
Thanks.

Thanks for the compliments!

On the M6, YES. It's really that great, you can see how much it's washed out in the picture, at the center of the hotspot you can't even see the definition of the shutters, just pure hot white. Nothing works like the M6.

As for the L2 vs. U2, it all depends what you're looking for. The U2's got a larger, deeper reflector, and as such it throws a bit tighter beam, a bit farther. It's also a bit larger, so I'd assume it dissipates heat a bit better. Unfortunately, like I said, it's a bit larger, it's too large in diameter for me to be likely to EDC it. Also, while the variable levels of brightness is pretty slick, and there's a very good variety of levels, I almost never use mine on anything other than 1 or 6. I really don't find myself looking for "just right", so the 2-stage L2 suits me just fine. So to answer your question, for EDC use, I'd definitely choose the L2. Great high and low, very slim profile makes it much more comfortable to carry.


As for my L2, I just received it back from Milkyspit's lab, boy does he know how to massage these lights. Personally, my EDC is an L1, also from Milky's lab. He's quite well known for his L1 work.

Hope this helps...