Streamlight PP Lux 4AA LED and lens quality

I received my SL PP Lux 4AA the other day and noitced that the plastic lens seems a bit "particulated" in terms of overall clarity. The irregularity seems to stand out more than I'd expected. I can even see the LED corona pattern as well. Is this all normal?

I also noticed that the beam color is a bit on the purple side. Did I crap out on the Lux lottery?

I have the black version.

It almost looks as if there is a plastic film on the lens. You might want to check it and see if there is and remove it if there is.

The lens is polycarbonate, what you see is just the characteristics of the material...

The lens with the center cool spot looks the same as my two SL4AALuxs.

Side note: I like the easy access to the inside of the lens and reflector so any flotsam can be blown away with a can of air.

I blew out the inside with a can of air and it did seem to remove half of the particles. Thanks for the advice and heads up. The polycarb material seems to be the culprit in the slight filming. Glad to know I didn't get a defective product.

I wonder if there's a replacement UCL or Borofloat "window" for this particular model? Now that would be something!

Well, mine is on the warm white side and I've compared that with my TW0Js and whatever LED is in my SureFire L2 Digital LumaMax. They come out white and no hint of "blue" or "purple" or "other."

Enjoy!

Mine attracts a lot of dust as well. I think the lens becomes charged with static. I also notice the lens also looks slightly opaque when light shines through. The actual light loss is probably negligible so I see no reason to change the lens.

Nonetheless this is a superb light and excellent value for money.

You may want to check out my post/review with lots of pics on the light: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/110782

And here are a few snapshots of my own SL PP 4AA Lux. Mine also has the purplish tint like cheap LEDs .... But my lens is not as bad as yours though there is some dust inside (torchlight is new though).



A better shot:

Who cares if it doesn't affect the optical transparency? It's a flashlight, not a museum exhibit.

As for the purple tint, mine has it too. I think it has to do with the Luxeon being over-driven because a Luxeon headlamp I have doesn't have much tint, but when it is over-driven to 4AA PP Luxeon level (500-600mA), it too casts a purplish tint.

Mine has a slight green tint to it when wallhunting, but it makes no difference at all in a practical sense. I don't notice it at all when I use it, so I didn't worry about it at all.

Still an amazingly great light, especially for the price.

The dead central spot is common to pretty much all flashlights using a reflector. Some spotlights actually put a dot in the middle of the lens to block the nasty artifacts that can be cast by the tip of the glass bulb.


Also, these lights are meant to be used in hazardous areas where an unbreakable lens is required. They sacrifice beam quality and scratch resistance for durability. The last thing you want is to drop your light, breaking the lens and allowing combustible fumes to get into the electronics, potentially igniting.