Question about beam on Matterhorn amber LED light

I have a Peak Matterhorn with an amber LED. It is the lower power version. I wanted to carry it for reading in dark places like restaurants. The beam is very patterned however. You can see dark areas in the image of the LED and rings. Is this typical? Does the ultra power version eliminate these? I thought it might be a low battery that it shipped with but a fresh Duracell doesnt change it. Going to order a couple more Peak lights (including one for my wife) and wanted to know if my I should order the higher power version in amber. Thanks for any info.

I've had two Peak LED lights with single LEDs - a brass Ultra-Power Matterhorn and a HA High-Power Shasta.

I was not impressed with the beam quality on either. They were both ringy and full of artifacts. The only thing I can say in their defense was that both beams had that nice Snow tint. Other than that, I've seen better beam patterns on single LED lights a third the price.

On the other hand, I've had two multi-LED lights from Peak that had nice, uniform beams. Any artifacts occured minimally and well outstide what I'd call the main beam range. The lights were the HA McKinley and the Ultra-Power 3-LED Shasta. Judging by my experience, I'd have to say that the smoother beam would be directly due to the multi-LED configuration.

If you're going to go with another Peak, I'd highly recommend one of the 3-LED configurations if a smoother beam is a high priority.

Gadget...If I'm not mistaken, "patterns", irregularities and "flaws" are pretty typical of just about any colored LED. White LED's have phosphor covering the dye which helps to smooth out the output; colored LED's have no phosphor covering the dye, so whatever light comes out is at the mercy of the dome or "optic" of the LED. Once in a while you'll find a colored LED that has very smooth output, but my experience has been that that's the exception...not the rule. Lights that have multiple colored LED's have a smoother beam because the output from each individual LED overlaps with the others, smoothing things out. Single colored LED's are notorious for showing off their true beam characteristics...hope that helped!

PJD

Edit: If you get a 3-LED Matterhorn with amber LED's, you'd probably end up with much smoother output.

Wow, great info. I was thinking maybe the higher power would help but I will try a 3 LED lower power instead. Thanks again.

If you want minimal artifacts you really have to go with one of Peak's Luxeon-based lights. Major artifacts are pretty much inherent to the design of all LEDs below the Luxeon/XLamp/Jupiter power class.

enLIGHTenment said:

If you want minimal artifacts you really have to go with one of Peak's Luxeon-based lights. Major artifacts are pretty much inherent to the design of all LEDs below the Luxeon/XLamp/Jupiter power class.

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Thanks for the suggestion. I think those will be too bright, however. Im looking for something for close up, discrete reading. I tried and Arc P first and it was way too bright. I could go with a Freedom micro but the battery changing is such a pain I would rather go with something like a Peak.

GadgetTravel said:

[...] but I will try a 3 LED lower power instead. Thanks again.

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Good choice - I really like the beam of mine.