Muyshondt Nautilus lens

camaro09

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 21, 2008
Messages
366
Location
Northern Minnesota
I have a Ti Nautilus comming to me in a few days and im excited. My question is I noticed that the Aeon is a sapphire lens, where as the Nautilus just says a ultra clear lens. I have had a Aeon in the past and was very impressed with the scratch resistance of the lens. Could anyone give any thoughts on the strength and scratch resistance of the Nautilus's lens? Does it scratch easily and does Enrique or anyone else sell a replacement sapphire lens for the Nautilus?
 
Just a heads up. You'll need to move this to the LED or Custom/Mod section or ask the mods to do it for you.

As to your question, I'm not sure. But I'd just leave it as it is as it's quality built from the start. Unless you're really hard on such a nice light as this, it shoud hold up just fine I'd guess.

Dan
 
I asked the same question before. Here's Endeavour's answer to that:

"The Nautilus has a mineral glass lens with an anti reflective coating on both sides. Sapphire is stronger (take a look at http://weblog.muyshondt.net/ - one of the earlier entries shows an abuse test done on an Aeon). That being said, there's only one instance I can recall where someone broke their lens on a Nautilus - they're both fairly sturdy lights."
 
I've moved your thread for you.

Small-size lenses are actually quite difficult to break, and they don't tend to scratch up too much either. I think you'd have to subject it to a lot of abuse before you noticed any problem.
 
A Saphire lens is harder than a Mineral Glass lens so it will not scratch as easily. However depending on the hardness of each, a Sapphire lens can be more shatter prone than a mineral glass lens. Rolex watches come with a Sapphire Crystal that is almost impossible to scratch, however, owners have dropped them on hard surfaces and shattered it.

Many Seiko watches came with Mineral Crystals and after some amount of time they will almost always start to show scratches. However a flashlight will not see the abuse a watch crystal see's on your wrist everyday. I would have to believe in normal use a flashlight mineral lens would hold up well for a lifetime.

I know this is nothing definitive, but even Sapphire is not indestructible.

Bill
 
I only owned my Nautilus for a short time but I didn't notice any scratching on the window during this time. As DM51 said, the small diameter of the window makes it difficult to scratch and it is recessed enough inside the head to avoid contact with other items in the pocket. I have found that UCLs, while more susceptible to scratching than sapphire and Pyrex windows, are still relatively hard and won't scratch up quickly like a plastic window.
 
I contated Endeavour about obtaining a replacement lens but he doesn't have any available. Anyone suggest a good source for them, and also what dimensions to order?
 
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