LD01 Cree Rings Is this normal

[sbdwag]

My wife purchased a LD01 from the Fenix Store in December and have never been happy with it. Its extremly ringy I have a LD10 premium Q5 and a E0 and they are almost prefect with no rings. I emailed Fenix Store and they said this was normal and occures with all Cree LED's .

Enclosed is a picture
http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp279/sbdwag/Creerings.jpg

Is this Normal

Regards
Dennis Waggoner

 

[Marduke]

What you show is not "cree rings", but is perfectly normal for all lights.

 

[Jarl]

Yes, it's normal, caused by reflection of the dome on the extreme edge of the reflector.

Things called Cree rings are normally more like the ones shown below:

 

[Woods Walker]

Looks just like the beam from my S2 made by Fenix so going to say it is normal. Your tint does not look all that bad too. I would keep it.

 

[sbdwag]

Thanks for the comments My LD10 has a textured reflector and there is no seperate outer ring like the one shown here. Yes Im a wall person because I use my lights mostly indoors in low light situations at work and home so the ring stands out just after having such a smooth beam on the LD10 and my E0 I had to ask.

Thanks
sbdwag

 

[Jarl]

All my lights do it to some degree- your LD01 is a bit worse, but here's a short of my L2D for comparisons sake. I had to overexpose this a bit to get the necessary view.

 

[WadeF]

I thought LD01's had smooth reflectors, but I only have the LD01 SS. Do other LD01's have textured reflectors?

My LD01 SS with a smooth reflector has rings in the beam, but it doesn't bother me.

 

[Holepuncher]

Wow. Have we really all become this snobbish over flashlights. I just pointed my LD01 at a wall a couple of feet away and saw the same thing as the OP's picture. For a second I thought WTF. Then I pointed it outside and no doubt its a pint size powerhouse. Come on now. Up until a few years ago the best we had was maglites with their psychedelic beam patterns.

 

[sbdwag]

Wow. Have we really all become this snobbish over flashlights. I just pointed my LD01 at a wall a couple of feet away and saw the same thing as the OP's picture. For a second I thought WTF. Then I pointed it outside and no doubt its a pint size powerhouse. Come on now. Up until a few years ago the best we had was maglites with their psychedelic beam patterns.

Thats very true but up until a few months ago I never paid more that 6.00US for a flashlight.

The thing is My LD10 and E0 are very pleasing to look at. I sure that Flashlight mfg's shudder whenever there is a post like this being so critical. Im not being that critical but based on the two other Fenix lights I own I was surprised by the beam of this one. Is this just quality control or is it a manufacturing limitation of the components used?

Regards
Sbdwag

 

[gsegelk]

Unless you overexposed the original pic or had the light about 1ft away from the wall, you are getting a much better beam than mine. Here's what my LD01 SS looks like on the medium setting. The beamshot is actually underexposed a little vs. what my eyes are seeing so this is a slight overexageration...still close to what I see though, just dimmer in this pic. The light is about 4ft from the wall:

In normal conditions (70% indoor use 30% outdoor) I don't notice how ringy it is. I don't have any other AAA lights to compare it to so I can't comment on whether this is normal...it definitely wouldn't be normal for a larger light but IMO it's acceptable for this one. For it's size to output to cost ratio, I still think this light is a winner :thumbsup:. That's just me though...

I would say that the beam quality is due to the size limitations but that's just a guess having not seen any others to compare to.

:wave: WadeF-> You helped me out on my first attempt at beamshots (here) thanks! Hopefully they're at a point where they're becoming useful?? Still can't believe I messed up so bad with the WB :laughing:!!

 

[kts]

gsegelk..Thats exactly how my SS LD01 looks on a white wall, my newest L0D Q4 look like that too, they both got the silverbacked LED.

I also got a older L0D Q4 with the yellow back, it has a much more blurry hotspot, I dont really care which one I use, you will not notice it, unless youre a white wall hunter.

 

[applevision]

Thats very true but up until a few months ago I never paid more that 6.00US for a flashlight.

The thing is My LD10 and E0 are very pleasing to look at. I sure that Flashlight mfg's shudder whenever there is a post like this being so critical. Im not being that critical but based on the two other Fenix lights I own I was surprised by the beam of this one. Is this just quality control or is it a manufacturing limitation of the components used?

Regards
Sbdwag

I think this is legit, I really do. Now that we can have beautiful beams (both in shape and color) I think we should be able to get them whenever possible. Or at least strive for them. The brightness wars are stable/continuing but becoming less relevant--I mean, will everyone even want a 1,000 lumen pocket light? (Okay--don't answer that, but we're all ****oo!:lolsign:) but the next big thing (in part at least) is making that bright, efficient beam beautiful to look at. So light makers: start shuddering and get cracking!

 

[LightScene]

Wow! I think this beam looks great. You should see some real Cree rings. Fenix has done an excellent job with the LD01.