SF Pyrex / Lexan Bezel question

I´m confussed - just a bit

I got a new Z44 bezel in HA which is supposed to have a Pyrex lense and the black plastic ring which secures it looks just so identical to the one on the G2 which hold a lexan lense.

When I look into the bezel and try to size the thickness of the lense it looks pretty identical to the G2 too - the only Pyrex bezel I took apart so far was the one from the KL1 and it was way thicker.

When I tip on the lense the Z44 sounds similar to the E2e and KL1 bezels which do have Pyrex lenses and quite different from the G2s lexan one.

So my question for today is - is this black plastic retainer and the similar thickness standard for Pyrex too ?

TIA

Klaus

Yes.
If I understand you correctly.

It had better be!!! SF claims it is Pyrex, and if it's not, it going right back where it came from and SF will get a nasty letter from me! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif Only time will tell. One way to check would be to take a sharp knife and carefully drag it around the edge of the lens. It shouldn't leave a mark if the lens is Pyrex like it's supposed to be! If it leaves a mark, you have a good reason to return it!

A number of people have oftentimes asked how to tell the difference between Lexan and Pyrex... This has always been very obvious to me - Pyrex is 'glass' and sounds like glass when you tap it. Lexan is 'plastic' and sounds like plastic when you tap it.

There should be no need to scatch the lens at all.

The black plastic retaining ring secures Pyrex, but also Lexan. You can't snap-fit a lens into Nitrolon.

I have the lenses from an M2 bezel and a KL1 bezel right here and they are different thicknesses. I do not have the means here to measure the difference but I guess the M2 lens is about 0.5 mm thicker.

I have an original M2 (non-Shock Isolated) Pyrex lens bezel and it appears the lens is thinner than the KL1's lens.

Al

Thx Al - owe you one (or two) !

Klaus

another way to check if the lens is pyrex or lexan is to hold it up to a lighted object so you get a faint reflection on the lens. if the lens is pyrex, the image should be perfect and free of distortions whereas if its lexan, the image will be a bit warped and distorted because the lexan is usually flexed a bit due to the tension.

if you have both a lexan and pyrex bezel, you can also observe that the reflection on the lexan lens will be slightly brighter than the pyrex lens, and this is because pyrex allows more light through than lexan.

I'm not wanting to drag this thread on, because Klaus' question was answered, but I really want to comment on Al's suggestion of tapping the lens. It's not always easy to tell just by tapping. (Well, not for me at least) I can quickly make the judgement on larger-diameter lenses, but...

I have an 8NX and the lens has a very crisp sound when tapped.
So on that light it's not easy to tell from that test.
From the sound & look of it I'd swear it's Pyrex.
But it's supposed to be Lexan.
(And it doesn't sound anything like the lens of the G2)
Also, if I look at a reflection of a light off the lens surface it looks purplish, as though the lens has a coating treatment on it. I was happily surprised to find that SF might care enough to put a coating on the 8nx lens, but it seems odd to do so on the money-saving lexan.

[edit] I must be in a parallel universe. I just checked the SF site and the 8nx is listed as having a Pyrex lens! I coulda sworn when I bought it the spec was Lexan. Oh well. I'm very happily surprised! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twak.gif So never mind all that stuff I said above, I guess. And Al you can feel free to /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twak.gif me about the comments.

I've been bugging PK to make the 8NX lens Pyrex since before it was released. I've not asked about it for a while. However, I would not be surprised if it was a tpyo cut'n'pasted from the 8AX specs...

SureFire lenses - Pyrex and Lexan are multi-layer Anti-Reflective Coated. I believe there is also a coating for scratch resistance. Shelby Chan has an M3 bezel coated on both sides.

With Pyrex, you can sometimes see a "purple" tint in the reflection - SureFire experiment with the coatings.

Al