Lets just call it an $80 mistake on my part - my 5700k tint SST-90 drop in from a vendor here (who I have a number of drop in's from, and love) turned into a 'learning experience'. I was warned that the domes of the SST's were fragile, but I managed to drop it in the garage and in my stupidity used a large air compressor to blow the dust from the reflector and dome. The dome came flying off. OK, $80 down the drain, right?
Not exacty. It has turned from a flood into a spot! Originally it had the beautiful SST-90 huge flawless smooth hot spot with little transition to spill. Now, it has a hot spot 1/3 the size, but much brighter, and with far greater throw. It is as though it focuses tighter without the dome on the SST-90.
My throw measurement target is a large palm tree 210' feet away - all my flashlights, if powerfull enough, are aimed at this tree and compared to my 3D Maglite with Malkoff XPG drop in.
There is no doubt that the domeless P60 SST-90 drop in is now illuminating that palm at least twice as well as it was before.
I use a simple ceiling bounce test for total output, also measured against the Malkoff XPG, and photographed using always the same manual setting on my camera. Total output using this test looks identical to the domed SST-90.
I thought the dome was essential for properly directing light to the reflector, and up to 80% output was lost without the dome. Somehow, in this case, with the reflector used, it seems to be gathering all the light and actually focusing it more tightly than before. There are a few rings toward the outside of the beam that weren't there with dome, but not bad enough to notice outside.
So, how is this explained? I was ready to trash it, but now am quite happy with the way it performs, and will be keeping it.
John F
Not exacty. It has turned from a flood into a spot! Originally it had the beautiful SST-90 huge flawless smooth hot spot with little transition to spill. Now, it has a hot spot 1/3 the size, but much brighter, and with far greater throw. It is as though it focuses tighter without the dome on the SST-90.
My throw measurement target is a large palm tree 210' feet away - all my flashlights, if powerfull enough, are aimed at this tree and compared to my 3D Maglite with Malkoff XPG drop in.
There is no doubt that the domeless P60 SST-90 drop in is now illuminating that palm at least twice as well as it was before.
I use a simple ceiling bounce test for total output, also measured against the Malkoff XPG, and photographed using always the same manual setting on my camera. Total output using this test looks identical to the domed SST-90.
I thought the dome was essential for properly directing light to the reflector, and up to 80% output was lost without the dome. Somehow, in this case, with the reflector used, it seems to be gathering all the light and actually focusing it more tightly than before. There are a few rings toward the outside of the beam that weren't there with dome, but not bad enough to notice outside.
So, how is this explained? I was ready to trash it, but now am quite happy with the way it performs, and will be keeping it.
John F
Plus, I think it'll make the hot spot too small & be less useful.
