Replay said:
Ok, everone seems to be comparing their 3-5 watt led lights to the streamlight propoly 1 watt luxeon. What makes this light so bright, is it over driven or is it all in the focus? I bought one, thanks everyone for all the info.
It has a *very* cleverly designed reflector and beam pattern that efficiently harnesses the somewhat limited emitter output.
If you look closely, the hotspot beam angle and resultant hotspot size is very small. The relatively large reflector diameter enables that.
It has a dimmer but significant corona around the hotspot. At close range this gives the impression of a broader beam width, when in actuality the hotspot beam width is very small.
At longer ranges the corona fades out, but the hotspot is still visible. The small hotspot beam angle gives excellent throw for the overall output.
There's also a useful spillbeam, but it's not super bright.
Thus the beam design provides an effective beam width at close range, yet the narrow hotspot retains good throw at long range. It's a very smart design.