Any soldier or policeman here to tell me about whether tactical=throw

Suppose there is a 3*P7 light, About 2500Lumens.

What kind of ray is most suitable for tactical operations?
Throw or not?

What is the size limit you could accept?
3*18650 not bigger than Surefire M6, it this OK? or
3*18650, 65mm longer than Surefire M6?

As someone with Operations experience (Courtesy of a government contractor), I wouldn't carry/use something bigger than a M6 for most purposes. I've carried XeRay's in the field, and Maxabeams, but those are really purpose-use flashlights. Ideally, I'd want to have something that threw pretty decently, but also had sidespill for close up work. Various levels would be nice, especially 3xP7's running at 2.8 amps =2700 emitter lumens. That would blind the heck out of you if you shined it on a map at night. Just my $0.02

3 P7? XDDDDD Halogen is dead!

How about a reflector as seen in the cheaper DX 3-cree lights. One edge of the reflector will give decent throw, and then the light is free to escape to the other side, where there is no reflector, providing decent spill. That way, you can make it more compact (as you don't need 3 separate reflectors for each LED).

If you're running it on 3*18650's, you may have problems hitting the max. discharge rate of the batteries...

Seems like this should be in CPFM?

It's the same old story depends on the deployment. It you are outdoors throw may be more important. Indoors a floodier beam is better. A tight beam indoor can be a hinderence. A strong hotspot can detract from vision when clearing rooms.

BigD64 said:

A tight beam indoor can be a hinderence. A strong hotspot can detract from vision when clearing rooms.

Click to expand...

I've always wondered about this--when is a tactical light too bright, particularly indoors? I can take my WE Sniper into a dark bathroom, put it on the sink pointing at a wall, and take a shower no problem with the reflected light. Sure, the light is blinding from the front, but from any other angle, I've just lit myself up really well. I would think that lighting up my own figure is a big no-no when room clearing, or blinding myself by turning on my light one foot away from a light-colored wall. If a 30+ lumen Surefire was considered tactical (and acceptable) just a short time ago, then 2500 lumens that bounces off every interior surface like crazy would seem to be a liability in close quarters.

The problem with the hotspot is the relative lux readings- say you have 5000 lux on a point in the hotspot, but 25 lux in the spill. The extra lux in the hotspot will make your pupils smaller, so the 25 lux will be less distinguishable. If the light had a hotspot of 150 lux and 100 lux in the flood, then the difference is much smaller and so there wouldn't be the problem of blinding yourself.

I believe it depends on your environment but a good general rule is to have more flood than you need for most situations. Flood first and if it happens to have good throw characteristics, then great. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that you don't have to give up throw just because a light has good flood. Look are the 10X, M6, hotwire mags, and high power multi-leds.

I think if a light was longer than an M6 it would still be ok. For me anything smaller than a 3D is good.

Regarding the 2500 lumen example, that many lumens has a way of overcoming a bare LED's lack of throw. The WiseLED 1500 illuminates objects pretty well at 300 yards....more than enough for "tactical" use.

Considering we're talking mostly about clearing rooms, I think that having the widest angle of usable blinding light would be the most important thing when trying to find a tactical light. The "average" room size is about 10' x 10', so having a tactical light that has good throw would be useless in a room that size. Granted, there will be times when a light with good throw would be needed, but how much throw are we talking? Do you need to see only a few meters in front of you? Several hundred meters? It all depends on your needs really. But I bet most of the time a light with excellent spill and decent throw would be your best bet. So getting a light that has 2500 lumens and produces mostly spill would be a good investment. :thumbsup:

I would say a mix is best. Throw for searching large areas, flood for searching rooms.

I built this head for this exact reason. I was unable to find a light that would flood the room with light but also have a useful hotspot for some throw and helping to define objects at a further distance.

The 4 bare Seouls light up the room evenly while the reflectored Seoul helps with reach.

DaFABRICATA said:

I built this head for this exact reason. I was unable to find a light that would flood the room with light but also have a useful hotspot for some throw and helping to define objects at a further distance.

The 4 bare Seouls light up the room evenly while the reflectored Seoul helps with reach.

Click to expand...

Nice!!!:rock: How about some beamshots of that monster

DaFABRICATA said:

I built this head for this exact reason. I was unable to find a light that would flood the room with light but also have a useful hotspot for some throw and helping to define objects at a further distance.

The 4 bare Seouls light up the room evenly while the reflectored Seoul helps with reach.

Click to expand...

Dude...that thing rocks!!! :rock:How about some beamshots :naughty:

Both, but not together. for room clearing, flood only, for distance, throw only.

the flood portion of a beam is pointless because the hotspot is what your eyes adjust to. Ideally, an aspheric mag mod with a focusable beam would be best - one that goes from very wide spot with no flood to narrow spot with no flood.

if the whole beam has the same intensity, you will see everything perfectly, if the center of the beam is brighter, you will see the center well and the rest is too dark.

I don't like the tunnel vision that throwy beams produce, but i love a good aspheric for distance spotting.

also, clearing a room with an intense light source would be good only if your eyes are already adjusted to the light and the perps' were not.