Justin Case
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2008
- Messages
- 3,797
I received an OpticsHQ E2 Conversion Head recently. The shipping box was well padded with foam peanuts and the conversion head itself came in a nice box:
As also mentioned in bobvivantmike's review (https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/187677), my conversion head also arrived with numerous dings and finish flaws:
Some sort of tape residue left on the head
Gouge at the top of the photo, near the spring
Another view of the gouge from the bottom (at about 8:30 o'clock), and sloppy threads at 12 o'clock
Despite the section of ugly thread seen above, the head screws onto a SureFire E1L body very smoothly and easily. Note in the above photo that the bottom rim of the conversion head is not anodized. When using the head on an L4 or E1L body, for example, this doesn't matter since those bodies have a wide shoulder that mates with the bottom rim of the conversion head.
However, if you use the conversion head with an old round body E2 Executive body, there is no shoulder to cover the unanodized rim. Plus, the edge of the rim is sharp and exposed as well:
Multiple dings on the bezel scallop tips, at 8 o'clock, 12 o'clock, and 4 o'clock
Note, that there are also some dust particles inside of the head. In the above photo, the noticeable white "line" particle at about 11 o'clock just to the outside of the LED is a dust particle that his stuck to the inner surface of the window. The bright, white speck at about 6:30 approx 1/4 of the way toward the center of the reflector is a dust particle stuck to the reflector surface.
The conversion head is slightly larger than a SureFire KL4 head. For the OpticsHQ head, I measured about 43 mm long and about 29.5 mm diam at the bezel. For the KL4, I measured 36 mm long, 28 mm wide at its widest point, and 25 mm diam at the bezel.
I built two TW4s using the KL4 and OpticsHQ heads and two E1L bodies:
The KL4 head and associated tailcap came from an old L4. Note that the color match with the E1L body is not exact. The L4 parts are slightly lighter and greener than the body. The OpticsHQ head's HAIII Natural color is also clearly lighter than the E1L body. For the OpticsHQ setup, I used an old tailcap from a round body E2 Executive. The shorter E2 tailcap gave an overall length slightly longer than that for the KL4 setup (97 mm vs. 95 mm, bezel to rubber button).
When the OpticsHQ-based TW4 light is clipped into a rear trouser pocket, the larger OpticsHQ head looks like it protrudes excessively. Thus, I am currently carrying the KL4-based TW4 in my rear pocket as my primary EDC light, and the OpticsHQ-based TW4 is stored loose in a front pocket as my backup EDC light.
My light meter is in the shop so I can't report lux data right now.
I compared the OpticsHQ head subjectively to the KL4 (each driven by one AW RCR123A cell), a SureFire 3P with a DX6090 drop-in also driven by one AW RCR123A cell, and a SureFire 6Z with a Deal Extreme DX6090 drop-in and driven by two AW RCR123A cells.
Since the KL4 is known to have a floody beam, the comparison with the OpticsHQ head is apples-oranges. The OpticsHQ head has your classic hot spot, corona, and spill. The beam pattern is very smooth, even SureFire-like. I saw no rings or other flaws. The hot spot and spill are subjectively brighter than that for the 3P/DX6090 combination. The OpticsHQ hot spot and spill brightness are comparable to the 6Z/DX6090 combo. OpticsHQ beam color is also slightly whiter than that for the DX6090 (both the 3P and 6Z setups). Spill diameter for the OpticsHQ is slightly smaller than the 6Z/DX6090. Hot spot + corona sizes are comparable. At about 10 feet from a Spar Pro heavyweight dummy, the hot spot + corona covers about the width of the dummy's torso.
For kicks, I attached the OpticsHQ head to an L4 driven by two SureFire CR123A cells. I compared the two-cell OpticsHQ setup vs the 6Z/DX6090, then quickly swapped the OpticsHQ head back to the E1L body to compare the once-cell setup to the same 6Z/DX6090.The two-cell setup seemed slightly brighter than the one-cell configuration, but since the comparison wasn't side-to-side, this observation is a bit iffy.
I also wanted to see how the OpticsHQ head would work on my old round body E2 Executive, but for some unknown reason, the OpticsHQ head doesn't want to work with that round body. The E2 Executive body works fine with its stock E2 bezel and lamp, so the problem doesn't seem to be bad batteries or a bad tailcap (though I also tried my L4 tailcap to no avail).
Overall, the OpticsHQ E2 Conversion Head appears to be an excellent product. The main drawbacks IMO are the number of finish flaws as-shipped and the dust particles inside of the sealed head. Since this is an initial impression review, I also can't comment on durability.
As also mentioned in bobvivantmike's review (https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/187677), my conversion head also arrived with numerous dings and finish flaws:
Some sort of tape residue left on the head
Gouge at the top of the photo, near the spring
Another view of the gouge from the bottom (at about 8:30 o'clock), and sloppy threads at 12 o'clock
Despite the section of ugly thread seen above, the head screws onto a SureFire E1L body very smoothly and easily. Note in the above photo that the bottom rim of the conversion head is not anodized. When using the head on an L4 or E1L body, for example, this doesn't matter since those bodies have a wide shoulder that mates with the bottom rim of the conversion head.
However, if you use the conversion head with an old round body E2 Executive body, there is no shoulder to cover the unanodized rim. Plus, the edge of the rim is sharp and exposed as well:
Multiple dings on the bezel scallop tips, at 8 o'clock, 12 o'clock, and 4 o'clock
Note, that there are also some dust particles inside of the head. In the above photo, the noticeable white "line" particle at about 11 o'clock just to the outside of the LED is a dust particle that his stuck to the inner surface of the window. The bright, white speck at about 6:30 approx 1/4 of the way toward the center of the reflector is a dust particle stuck to the reflector surface.
The conversion head is slightly larger than a SureFire KL4 head. For the OpticsHQ head, I measured about 43 mm long and about 29.5 mm diam at the bezel. For the KL4, I measured 36 mm long, 28 mm wide at its widest point, and 25 mm diam at the bezel.
I built two TW4s using the KL4 and OpticsHQ heads and two E1L bodies:
The KL4 head and associated tailcap came from an old L4. Note that the color match with the E1L body is not exact. The L4 parts are slightly lighter and greener than the body. The OpticsHQ head's HAIII Natural color is also clearly lighter than the E1L body. For the OpticsHQ setup, I used an old tailcap from a round body E2 Executive. The shorter E2 tailcap gave an overall length slightly longer than that for the KL4 setup (97 mm vs. 95 mm, bezel to rubber button).
When the OpticsHQ-based TW4 light is clipped into a rear trouser pocket, the larger OpticsHQ head looks like it protrudes excessively. Thus, I am currently carrying the KL4-based TW4 in my rear pocket as my primary EDC light, and the OpticsHQ-based TW4 is stored loose in a front pocket as my backup EDC light.
My light meter is in the shop so I can't report lux data right now.
I compared the OpticsHQ head subjectively to the KL4 (each driven by one AW RCR123A cell), a SureFire 3P with a DX6090 drop-in also driven by one AW RCR123A cell, and a SureFire 6Z with a Deal Extreme DX6090 drop-in and driven by two AW RCR123A cells.
Since the KL4 is known to have a floody beam, the comparison with the OpticsHQ head is apples-oranges. The OpticsHQ head has your classic hot spot, corona, and spill. The beam pattern is very smooth, even SureFire-like. I saw no rings or other flaws. The hot spot and spill are subjectively brighter than that for the 3P/DX6090 combination. The OpticsHQ hot spot and spill brightness are comparable to the 6Z/DX6090 combo. OpticsHQ beam color is also slightly whiter than that for the DX6090 (both the 3P and 6Z setups). Spill diameter for the OpticsHQ is slightly smaller than the 6Z/DX6090. Hot spot + corona sizes are comparable. At about 10 feet from a Spar Pro heavyweight dummy, the hot spot + corona covers about the width of the dummy's torso.
For kicks, I attached the OpticsHQ head to an L4 driven by two SureFire CR123A cells. I compared the two-cell OpticsHQ setup vs the 6Z/DX6090, then quickly swapped the OpticsHQ head back to the E1L body to compare the once-cell setup to the same 6Z/DX6090.The two-cell setup seemed slightly brighter than the one-cell configuration, but since the comparison wasn't side-to-side, this observation is a bit iffy.
I also wanted to see how the OpticsHQ head would work on my old round body E2 Executive, but for some unknown reason, the OpticsHQ head doesn't want to work with that round body. The E2 Executive body works fine with its stock E2 bezel and lamp, so the problem doesn't seem to be bad batteries or a bad tailcap (though I also tried my L4 tailcap to no avail).
Overall, the OpticsHQ E2 Conversion Head appears to be an excellent product. The main drawbacks IMO are the number of finish flaws as-shipped and the dust particles inside of the sealed head. Since this is an initial impression review, I also can't comment on durability.
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