missionaryman
Enlightened
I recently acquired a Fivemega 2" Deep Reflector and I already had an M2 smooth and the STD plastic Maglite reflector. I had two test lights, one, a 2C LiIon ROP high and the other a 2C 3x123A with 6 cell numstar bulb and it was a fairly dark night so I though why not?
Here's the results but let me say that it is extremely difficult to capture throw differences with a camera - what is plainly obvious in reality is barely visible in the pics, I'll try some helpful commentary but you need to look real close.
The light in use is the ROP high, the tree is 80m away.
You can definately see a more pronounced hot spot with the FM deep reflector and the M2 stays true to it's claim of more light and more throw than the std mag reflector:
This tree is 10m away - ROP high
Can't see much here other than the different size hot spots, in reality the eye can't see the spot of the M2 too well because it's quite a messy beam, it's definately putting out more light than the std mag reflector - look at the back fence:
This a white wall to try and illustrate beam quality - ROP high
What's not too obvious is that the FM deep reflector at 10m has a bright full spot about 8" in diameter, the Mag reflector has a dithered spot about 15" and without the camera you can't find a spot in the M2 beam (centre) it also has the most batwing. For spill beam if you look under the house you will notice only the FM and to a lesser extent the M2 illuminate that far.
These indoor pics are with the ROP high and the purpose is to try and capture the beam shape by using the flash and auto settings as well as manual exposure - couldn't do both pics with the Mag reflector for fear of meltdown:
Lastly the 2c 3x123A on the white wall
The 800 less lumens help to exploit all the artefacts but this particular bulb was off centre:
Overall the FM deep reflector has such a useable perfect spot and definately has more visible light at further distances, it may not tecnically have more throw (though I think it does) but because the spot is so tight it is very distinguishable at long distances. It also has the added benefit of barely any artefacts and heaps of spill. The M2 reflector has more light and more throw that the Mag reflector but in smooth it is a bad combination with the ROP - way too many artefacts. I even did the fixed focus mod and tried to fine tune the position but I could not reduce the batwing or make a spot. I have used an M2 light stipple with the ROP with excellent results before.
If you wanted a smooth reflector with your ROP I would recommend the FM deep or the exact copy mag reflectors, I havent tested the normal FM reflectors or Litho's 1940 reflectors so can't comment on them.
I should add that this particular M2 may not have been up to scratch and modamag did offer a full refund on it. I have a light stipple M2 and it has wowed everyone who's seen it in action - like I said in the post the smooth M2 might not be a good match for the ROP and niether reflector is in the same league as the FM 2" deep. It's not really comparing apples with apples but interesting reading anyway.
Thanks for looking and hope this works as a helpful resource.
Here's the results but let me say that it is extremely difficult to capture throw differences with a camera - what is plainly obvious in reality is barely visible in the pics, I'll try some helpful commentary but you need to look real close.
The light in use is the ROP high, the tree is 80m away.
You can definately see a more pronounced hot spot with the FM deep reflector and the M2 stays true to it's claim of more light and more throw than the std mag reflector:
This tree is 10m away - ROP high
Can't see much here other than the different size hot spots, in reality the eye can't see the spot of the M2 too well because it's quite a messy beam, it's definately putting out more light than the std mag reflector - look at the back fence:
This a white wall to try and illustrate beam quality - ROP high
What's not too obvious is that the FM deep reflector at 10m has a bright full spot about 8" in diameter, the Mag reflector has a dithered spot about 15" and without the camera you can't find a spot in the M2 beam (centre) it also has the most batwing. For spill beam if you look under the house you will notice only the FM and to a lesser extent the M2 illuminate that far.
These indoor pics are with the ROP high and the purpose is to try and capture the beam shape by using the flash and auto settings as well as manual exposure - couldn't do both pics with the Mag reflector for fear of meltdown:
Lastly the 2c 3x123A on the white wall
The 800 less lumens help to exploit all the artefacts but this particular bulb was off centre:
Overall the FM deep reflector has such a useable perfect spot and definately has more visible light at further distances, it may not tecnically have more throw (though I think it does) but because the spot is so tight it is very distinguishable at long distances. It also has the added benefit of barely any artefacts and heaps of spill. The M2 reflector has more light and more throw that the Mag reflector but in smooth it is a bad combination with the ROP - way too many artefacts. I even did the fixed focus mod and tried to fine tune the position but I could not reduce the batwing or make a spot. I have used an M2 light stipple with the ROP with excellent results before.
If you wanted a smooth reflector with your ROP I would recommend the FM deep or the exact copy mag reflectors, I havent tested the normal FM reflectors or Litho's 1940 reflectors so can't comment on them.
I should add that this particular M2 may not have been up to scratch and modamag did offer a full refund on it. I have a light stipple M2 and it has wowed everyone who's seen it in action - like I said in the post the smooth M2 might not be a good match for the ROP and niether reflector is in the same league as the FM 2" deep. It's not really comparing apples with apples but interesting reading anyway.
Thanks for looking and hope this works as a helpful resource.
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