Hi:
While I love my U2, I still feel it's just too darn expensive. That said, I would still be willing to pay even more for a light with the following specs. And these are the design parameters that I may send off to Surefire to recommend to them as the direction they should go with a successor to the U2.
1. Lumen output => 120-160 lumens. That's right, at least 50% more, but preferrably a solid double of the advertised lumens of U2. A 50% increase is the bare minimum.
2. Adjustable focus. What is really needed is the ability to get a much longer throwing light, but also able to soften it to the more floodish beam of the current U2. I think this will have to wait for better LED technology, but that is Ok. I will be waiting. An emitter of 120-160 lumens is needed in a 3W Luxeon die size, so that the focussability can be improved dramatically.
With that, an adjustable focus mechanism would be absolutely awesome. I would even accept the idea of not a continuously adjustable focus, but perhaps just a 2 or 3 position focus adjustment, such as spot, intermediate spot/flood, and flood.
3. Improvement of the range of brightness settings. The lowest setting needs to be dramatically lower. The number of settings could be increased, but this isn't critical. Just need to get lowest setting to a level that is comfortable with dark-adapted eyes.
4. Detent the brightness setting control, and perhaps add an indicating pointer and numbers. This would be a great improvement (must at least add detents), allowing setting the level with the light off.
Still I think that in 1-3 years, such a revision of the U2 should still be priced at what the U2 is now. But I suppose I would still buy the light I am describing for up to about $350.
Whadayathink?
While I love my U2, I still feel it's just too darn expensive. That said, I would still be willing to pay even more for a light with the following specs. And these are the design parameters that I may send off to Surefire to recommend to them as the direction they should go with a successor to the U2.
1. Lumen output => 120-160 lumens. That's right, at least 50% more, but preferrably a solid double of the advertised lumens of U2. A 50% increase is the bare minimum.
2. Adjustable focus. What is really needed is the ability to get a much longer throwing light, but also able to soften it to the more floodish beam of the current U2. I think this will have to wait for better LED technology, but that is Ok. I will be waiting. An emitter of 120-160 lumens is needed in a 3W Luxeon die size, so that the focussability can be improved dramatically.
With that, an adjustable focus mechanism would be absolutely awesome. I would even accept the idea of not a continuously adjustable focus, but perhaps just a 2 or 3 position focus adjustment, such as spot, intermediate spot/flood, and flood.
3. Improvement of the range of brightness settings. The lowest setting needs to be dramatically lower. The number of settings could be increased, but this isn't critical. Just need to get lowest setting to a level that is comfortable with dark-adapted eyes.
4. Detent the brightness setting control, and perhaps add an indicating pointer and numbers. This would be a great improvement (must at least add detents), allowing setting the level with the light off.
Still I think that in 1-3 years, such a revision of the U2 should still be priced at what the U2 is now. But I suppose I would still buy the light I am describing for up to about $350.
Whadayathink?
