i really hope that this is the last time i need to post on this thread because i think this discussion stopped being constructive a while ago. before i go, though, i wanted to at least address your questions.
my definition of a regulated light, which i believe to be the correct definition, is a light that can maintain a relatively consistent level of brightness as battery voltage drops. that's the definition that i stated in post #24 of this thread.
The introductory post of the
CPF Welcome Mat describes regulation by saying, "In a regulated light, the circuitry will try to minimize the effects of the battery. " (see Electronic/Electrical FAQs)
while the wording isn't the same, i think the same principle applies. a regulated light has circuitry which maintains a relatively consistent level of brightness as battery voltage drops. maybe the light won't have a completely flat output curve for its entire runtime, but its circuits do something to minimize the effects of the declining battery voltage. whether that's for 20%, 10%, or 5% of its effective runtime, i don't know. but it does something at some point.
in the Fenix 2AA alkaline runtime graphs that you and I have found, we have clear evidence that the circuits in Fenix 2AA lights do something to combat declining battery voltage. it may not be for as long as you think it should be, but it does happen at some point.
in the Mag 2AA alkaline runtime graphs that you and I have found, we have clear evidence that the circuits in Mag 2AA light do nothing to combat declining battery voltage. it never happens.
that is why, based on the evidence, i can only conclude that the Fenix 2AA lights in question are regulated and the Mag 2AA lights in question are not.
now, i suppose that you could argue that a light that only regulates for 20% of its runtime does such a poor job of regulation that it shouldn't be called that at all. and if you want to go with that, that's fine. that's how you feel and you're certainly free to feel that way. but at that point, i think you're ignoring the technical definition of the term and giving the word "regulation" some kind of moral value, like it denotes something that is good, and that it shouldn't be used unless the light can perform up to the absolute good that you ascribe to it. i don't think that there's anything wrong with that necessarily, but it may be confusing to people like me who regard the word "regulation" mainly by its technical meaning. and since the goal of any forum is to exchange information in a way that we can all understand, creating confusion with terminology can become problematic. that's why its best to stick to the most technical definitions of terms when we can.
as for why i didn't include the L1T in my analysis, that's because comparing a Mag 2AA to a Fenix 1AA is not an apples to apples comparison. since the purpse of regulation is to, "minimize the effects of the battery," it only makes sense to use the same battery setup for a fair comparison. otherwise, you have two variables instead of one, and it becomes really difficult to do a fair analysis.
i hope this addresses your questions to some level of satisfaction. if not, what can i say, i did the best i could.
Edit: i just thought of a different example. car engines! let's say that the Fenix 2AA is a car with a V8 engine and the Mag 2AA is a car with a V6 engine. although generally V8 engines are more powerful than V6 engines, some are less powerful. let's say that the V8 in the Fenix is a crappy V8 and is less powerful than the V6 in the Mag. this makes the Fenix V8 really crappy, but it's still a V8. and the V6 in the Mag may be great, but it's still a V6. similarly, the Fenix circuits are circuits which are designed to compensate for declining battery voltage and Mag circuits are circuits which are not. Fenix circuits may not do their job very well, but they are still circuits designed to compensate for declining battery voltage, while Mag circuits, no matter how well they perform at their intended task, are still not designed to compensate for declining battery voltage. so, regardless of performance, they are what they are. a V8 is a V8, a V6 is a V6, a regulated light is a regulated light, and an unregulated light is an unregulated light.
now, i suppose that you could claim that the V8 in the Fenix is so abhorrently crappy that it doesn't deserve to be called a V8, and start calling it a V6 instead. or claim that the V6 in the Mag is so amazingly excellent that it deserves to be called a V8. but if you do that, you will have strayed from the technical meanings of terms V6 and V8, given them alternate moral meanings, and more likely than not, people will get confused. similarly, if you say that a regulated light is unregulated because it sucks and that an unregulated light is regulated because it's great, people will get confused.
