Welcome to my round-up review of all my 2011 outdoor 100-yard beamshots. 
Every year, I do a number of excursions for outdoor beamshots. In this thread, I thought I would compile all my 2011 shots into one large compedium. :sweat: To compare earlier lights, please see my 2010 outdoor beamshot roundup.
This thread is organized two ways:
Before we get started, please bear with me with some general background on how to interpret these images.
External beamshots are tricky to do well. The shots will never match what you see, due to limitations of the camera relative to your eye (e.g. lower dynamic range, limited settings, etc.). There are also numerous compensations in your brain/visual system (e.g. pupil responses, dynamic white balancing, etc.). When you throw in varying natural lighting conditions (e.g. moonshine, clouds reflecting ambient light, wind, fog, etc.), plus all the 3D topographical landscape features that can confound a single light source, you get quite a lot to deal with! :sweat:
I have picked a location that seems reasonably well suited to this task - a closed and deserted service road. Here is an aerial view taken from Google maps:
There is a straight line from my position (pictogram) along the road, to a copse of tree located 100 yards away. There is a dead birch tree right at the red arrow-head that is a convenient marker for the photos. I’ve also highlighted a point 30 yards from my position (blue arrow). The reason for this is shown on the side schematic for this area:
As this road goes along a ravine, and there is a significant elevation drop beginning about 30 yards in. The road makes a hard right turn as it winds down the ravine. Here is a control shot in daylight:
This shot is taken at eye level, and I have centered the camera on the dead birch tree at the center of the copse of trees at 100 yards (red arrow). The blue arrow indicates the point at 30 yards beyond which the road "falls out of view" as it dips down.
I have angled the flashlights directly above the camera, focused on the center of that dead birch tree. Because of the positioning, this means that a good amount of the hotspot's corona should light up the road up to that ~30 yard mark. You will thus be able to see not only the center beam throw at 100 yards, but the corona and wider spillbeam in the foreground just in front of the camera.
Note: Although you can't see them in the daylight shot, there are a series of communication towers located in a clearing ~650 yards away. The red aerial warning lights on these towers will show up as distant red dots in the background of the night time shots. There's also a photo-reflective sign along the bottom portion of the road that you will notice in the flashlight shots.
Unless otherwise indicated, all lights were run on Max, on the highest rechargeable battery option the light would take. The camera settings are optimized to show off the hotspots specifically (i.e., the pics look considerably under-exposed relative to what I subjectively saw during shooting). The pics use a 5 sec exposure, f2.7, ISO 80, automatic white balance (to minimize tint differences, which can be distracting).
Images are organized first by batch, with thumbnail images that link to the high resolutions images. At the end of the thread, there is an alphabetical list sorted by maker and model, with text links to the full review and the individual batch high resolution pics.
----------------
BATCH 1 – JUNE 2011
Armytek
4Sevens
Eagletac
Fenix
Jetbeam
Lumintop
Olight
Ray Tactical
Skilhunt
Sunwayman
Tiablo
Thrunite
----------------
BATCH 2 – AUGUST 2011
4Sevens
Eagletac
Fenix
JetBeam
Olight
Lumintop
Spark
Streamlight
Surefire
Thrunite
Zebralight
----------------
BATCH 3 – OCTOBER 2011
4Sevens
ITP
Jetbeam
Olight
Nitecore
Surefire
Sunwayman
Thrunite
Xeno
---------------
BATCH 4 – DECEMBER 2011
Crelant
Jetbeam
Lumintop
Nitecore
Niwalker
Olight
Thrunite
Xtar
---------------
MASTER LIST OF ALL 2011 OUTDOOR BEAMSHOTS
Here is a text list of all the lights, sorted alphabetically by maker and model. Click on the links to access the full review text, or the individual batch high-resolution pics. If you like, you can search for specific lights by pressing Ctrl-F on your keyboard.
Armytek
4Sevens
Crelant
Eagletac
Fenix
ITP
JetBeam
Lumintop
Nitecore
Niwalker
Olight
Ray Tactical
Skilhunt
Spark
Streamlight
Sunwayman
Surefire
Tiablo
Thrunite
Xeno
Xtar
Zebralight
A final word:
As with all beamshot comparisons, simple pics can be misleading. But this should give you a rough idea of relative beam pattern and throw among these lights.
Please check out the individual reviews for a lot more info on these lights.
:wave:
Every year, I do a number of excursions for outdoor beamshots. In this thread, I thought I would compile all my 2011 shots into one large compedium. :sweat: To compare earlier lights, please see my 2010 outdoor beamshot roundup.
This thread is organized two ways:
- In batches, organized by excursion month. Within each batch, you will see thumbnail images of each full-size 24-bit color JPEG, organized alphabetically by maker/model. Just click on the thumbail to open the full image in a new tab. You can then do your own comparisons within the same batch by simply clicking between the tabs (i.e., flip between images).
- Master list by maker and model number. Each model has a link to the full review thread for that light. After the model name, there are direct links to the full size 24-bit JPEG images from each excursion batch. Just click on the links to open the images in a new tab. You can then flip between them, as described above.
Before we get started, please bear with me with some general background on how to interpret these images.
External beamshots are tricky to do well. The shots will never match what you see, due to limitations of the camera relative to your eye (e.g. lower dynamic range, limited settings, etc.). There are also numerous compensations in your brain/visual system (e.g. pupil responses, dynamic white balancing, etc.). When you throw in varying natural lighting conditions (e.g. moonshine, clouds reflecting ambient light, wind, fog, etc.), plus all the 3D topographical landscape features that can confound a single light source, you get quite a lot to deal with! :sweat:
I have picked a location that seems reasonably well suited to this task - a closed and deserted service road. Here is an aerial view taken from Google maps:
There is a straight line from my position (pictogram) along the road, to a copse of tree located 100 yards away. There is a dead birch tree right at the red arrow-head that is a convenient marker for the photos. I’ve also highlighted a point 30 yards from my position (blue arrow). The reason for this is shown on the side schematic for this area:
As this road goes along a ravine, and there is a significant elevation drop beginning about 30 yards in. The road makes a hard right turn as it winds down the ravine. Here is a control shot in daylight:
This shot is taken at eye level, and I have centered the camera on the dead birch tree at the center of the copse of trees at 100 yards (red arrow). The blue arrow indicates the point at 30 yards beyond which the road "falls out of view" as it dips down.
I have angled the flashlights directly above the camera, focused on the center of that dead birch tree. Because of the positioning, this means that a good amount of the hotspot's corona should light up the road up to that ~30 yard mark. You will thus be able to see not only the center beam throw at 100 yards, but the corona and wider spillbeam in the foreground just in front of the camera.
Note: Although you can't see them in the daylight shot, there are a series of communication towers located in a clearing ~650 yards away. The red aerial warning lights on these towers will show up as distant red dots in the background of the night time shots.
There's also a photo-reflective sign along the bottom portion of the road that you will notice in the flashlight shots.Unless otherwise indicated, all lights were run on Max, on the highest rechargeable battery option the light would take. The camera settings are optimized to show off the hotspots specifically (i.e., the pics look considerably under-exposed relative to what I subjectively saw during shooting). The pics use a 5 sec exposure, f2.7, ISO 80, automatic white balance (to minimize tint differences, which can be distracting).
Images are organized first by batch, with thumbnail images that link to the high resolutions images. At the end of the thread, there is an alphabetical list sorted by maker and model, with text links to the full review and the individual batch high resolution pics.
----------------
BATCH 1 – JUNE 2011
Armytek
4Sevens
Eagletac
Fenix
Jetbeam
Lumintop
Olight
Ray Tactical
Skilhunt
Sunwayman
Tiablo
Thrunite
----------------
BATCH 2 – AUGUST 2011
4Sevens
Eagletac
Fenix
JetBeam
Olight
Lumintop
Spark
Streamlight
Surefire
Thrunite
Zebralight
----------------
BATCH 3 – OCTOBER 2011
4Sevens
ITP
Jetbeam
Olight
Nitecore
Surefire
Sunwayman
Thrunite
Xeno
---------------
BATCH 4 – DECEMBER 2011
Crelant
Jetbeam
Lumintop
Nitecore
Niwalker
Olight
Thrunite
Xtar
---------------
MASTER LIST OF ALL 2011 OUTDOOR BEAMSHOTS
Here is a text list of all the lights, sorted alphabetically by maker and model. Click on the links to access the full review text, or the individual batch high-resolution pics. If you like, you can search for specific lights by pressing Ctrl-F on your keyboard.
Armytek
4Sevens
- G5 (XP-G R5) - REVIEW - June 2011
- S18 (SST-90) – REVIEW - August 2011
- X7 (XM-L) - REVIEW - June 2011 - August 2011
- X10 (XM-L) – REVIEW - August 2011 – October 2011
Crelant
- 7G5 V1 (XM-L) – REVIEW -December 2011
Eagletac
- M3C4 (3x XP-G R5 cool white) - REVIEW – June 2011
- M3C4 (SST-50 - SMO Deep Reflector, cool white) - REVIEW - June 2011
- M3C4 (XM-L cool white) - REVIEW - June 2011 - August 2011
Fenix
- LD40 (XP-G R4 Neutral) – REVIEW - August 2011
- TK15 (XP-G R5) - REVIEW - June 2011
- TK35 (XM-L) - REVIEW - June 2011 - August 2011
- Fenix TK45 (3x XP-G R4) - REVIEW - June 2011
ITP
- A6 Polestar (MC-E) – REVIEW -October 2011
JetBeam
- BC40 (XM-L) - REVIEW - June 2011 - August 2011 – October 2011 – December 2011
- M1X V2 (MC-E) - REVIEW - June 2011
- PA40 – REVIEW - August 2011 – October 2011
- RRT-15 (XM-L) – REVIEW - October 2011
Lumintop
- P16X (XM-L, cool white) – REVIEW - August 2011
- PK30 (XM-L) – REVIEW - December 2011
- S40 (XM-L) – REVIEW - December 2011
- TD-15 (XP-G R5) – 1x18650 - REVIEW – June 2011
- TD-15X (XM-L cool white) – 1x18650 - REVIEW - June 2011
- TD-15X (XM-L cool white) – 2x18650 - REVIEW - June 2011
Nitecore
- TM11 (3x XM-L) – Hi – REVIEW - October 2011
- TM11 (3x XM-L) – Turbo – REVIEW - October 2011 – December 2011
Niwalker
- NWK750 (XM-L) – REVIEW - December 2011
Olight
- Olight M31 (SST-50) - REVIEW – June 2011
- S65 (XM-L) – REVIEW - October 2011 – December 2011
- SR51 - REVIEW - August 2011 – December 2011
- SR90 (SST-90) – Lo - REVIEW - June 2011 - August 2011
- SR90 (SST-90) – Hi - REVIEW - June 2011 - August 2011
- SR92 (3x XM-L U2) - REVIEW - August 2011 – December 2011
- SR92 (3x XM-L U2) - REVIEW - August 2011 – October 2011
Ray Tactical
Skilhunt
Spark
- SL6-800 (XM-L, cool white) - REVIEW - August 2011
Streamlight
- ProPoylmer Luxeon 4AA - August 2011
Sunwayman
- M40A (MC-E) - REVIEW – June 2011
- M40C (MC-E) - REVIEW - June 2011
- T40CS (XM-L) – REVIEW - October 2011
Surefire
- UB3T (XM-L) – REVIEW - August 2011 - October 2011
- UB3T (XM-L) – Diffuser - REVIEW - August 2011
Tiablo
Thrunite
- Catapult V2 (SST-50) - REVIEW - June 2011
- Catapult V3 (XM-L) - REVIEW - June 2011 - August 2011 – October 2011 – December 2011
- Scorpion V1 (XM-L) - REVIEW – June 2011
- Scorpion V2 (XM-L) - REVIEW - June 2011
- Scorpion V2 Turbohead (XM-L) - REVIEW - June 2011 - August 2011 – October 2011
- TN10 (XM-L) – REVIEW - October 2011
- TN11 (XM-L) – REVIEW - October 2011
Xeno
- G42 (XM-L) – REVIEW - October 2011
Xtar
- X1 (3x XM-L) – REVIEW - December 2011
Zebralight
- SC600 (XM-L) - REVIEW - August 2011
A final word:
As with all beamshot comparisons, simple pics can be misleading. But this should give you a rough idea of relative beam pattern and throw among these lights.
Please check out the individual reviews for a lot more info on these lights.
:wave:
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