My M60wlf just got here
If my rechargables had gotten here too that would have been awesomer, but I suppose I'll have to make do with mere awesome :laughing:
First impressions, wow that's a wide hotspot. If you have an M60 you may have noticed that 1 soft ring in the beam, that lies between the flood outside the hotspot and the real spill light. The F optic isn't a mere diffuser, it shapes the beam into a broad, even hotspot that's larger than that first ring by a bit then a perfect transition to the spill which may be a bit brighter than the M60's at the periphiary. On close inspection it's a bunch of hexagonal microlenses, the beam is also ever so slightly hexagon shaped, most folks aren't likely to ever notice when whitewall hunting, you'll never see it in use. I'm not going to bother with white wall shots, suffice it to say it's definately a wall of light, from 12 feet the hotspot just about covers an 8x10 wall. The colors are quite lovely, it does look a little pinkish brown compared side by side with the M60, but to my eye when put next to a source of 2pm sunlight it's almost a perfect match. Reds and greens are much richer and in the case of some darker shades of red seems nearly as bright as the M60.
It should be ideal for the job I bought it for, which is as a general purpose/working on cars/computer light. I had to use my M60 to check fluids one night and about blinded myself every time the hotspot reflected off anything that wasn't flat black. Needing to squint to look at the dipstick markings is not my idea of a worklight:candle:Aside from being too bright it was hard to see the red transmission fluid on the dipstick, I doube I'll have that problem now
I may need to get an M60wl eventually to keep in the truck fulltime as this one is too utilitarian for its own good, I might forget to put it back in the truck when I'm done with it.
As far as tactical illumination, I wouldn't, not with this one. I zapped myself in the eyes with it and there was no jerk reflex at all, and only a little bit of squinting. Fascinatingly the hexagon microlenses were clearly visible in the after-spots. The M60 full power even with light adapted eyes will make me jerk away with solid blue spot in my eyes for a minute or two.
The only thing I'm worried about is outdoor throw, and not so much with this module, but with a full power M60/30. That was the big reason I grabbed the wlf instead of the wl. Beamshots are great and all but seeing the flood optic firsthand is the best way to experience it. As it is I'm worried it may be a bit too dispersed to reach out where I need it, but daylight testing is always decieving. While I could get the non flood and use a low diffusion filter of some sort, I'd rather not. There's something nice about having a light do it's job just the right way without any sort of filtering. I'll post my impressions after it gets dark, maybe some beamshots too.
