New Surefire question

Hey folks, this is my first post but I have been lurking for awhile now. This place is addictive!

Question: Yesterday I bought a Surefire E2DL and am loving it. It's my first Surefire, and wont be the last. However, the beam doesnt seem quite perfect. I dont have a picture of it yet, but if you look at the hotspot, one half of the circle is crisp and well-defined, and the other side is blurry and spills out a little bit into the larger "spill" area. The effect is VERY subtle, but it bugs me because it's such a high-end light. It is most noticable from about 5 - 15 feet away. I have several Fenix lights so I know what a "perfect" hotspot should look like. So the question is: is this normal for a Surefire, or should I attempt to return/exchange the light? Am I being paranoid and should shut up just and enjoy the light? I doubt the guy at the store would be able to really see what I am talking about, so I am hesitating to go and attempt to exchange it.

Any help is appreciated.

Mike

The E2DL's beam will be much different than your Fenix, because of Surefire's TIR optic versus the reflector'd Fenix. The not so pretty beam is IMO the only downfall of the optic. On a plus side, the optic gathers more light and offers really good throw compared with a similar sized reflector.

In short, what you are seeing is probably normal. Without seeing a picture of the beam, I can't say for sure.

Optics VS Reflectors = Apples VS Oranges.

Aim that beam 300ft down your street tonight then tell us what you think of the E2DL.:naughty:

Now that you all got me interested...

What is the difference of optics vs reflector?

I understand optics probably use a lens in addition to a reflector, whereas a reflector uses a flat piece of glass in front. ... either way, the light still goes out of the the front to light the spot and spill.

What gets me most about people is that they bring up beam shapes.

My PD30 has a terrible beam if you shine it on a wall.

The rings are deformed badly.

However, I don't use it to shine on walls and when I am in situations where it happens to be on a wall where I would notice, I am paying attention to what is lit up and not what the beam looks like.

Once you get out of the habit of shining on walls to make sure the beam is ok, you will realize that the worst beam in the world is fine because unless you are just wanting to show off a perfect light, it's irrelevant.

All of my TIR's do this...I don't expect a "dot" with my SF's. Some edges are discreetly fuzzier than other, but the over-all uniformity of the beam make up for it.

Search said:

What gets me most about people is that they bring up beam shapes.

My PD30 has a terrible beam if you shine it on a wall.

The rings are deformed badly.

However, I don't use it to shine on walls and when I am in situations where it happens to be on a wall where I would notice, I am paying attention to what is lit up and not what the beam looks like.

Once you get out of the habit of shining on walls to make sure the beam is ok, you will realize that the worst beam in the world is fine because unless you are just wanting to show off a perfect light, it's irrelevant.

Click to expand...

What gets me is when people state that the worst beam in the world is fine, when in reality the worst beam in the world is horrible, and they would not want to use it. For the record, there are no Fenix's available with the worst beam in the world and as imperfect as some of them may be, they are all still usable.

Everyone should be allowed their own guidelines for choosing their lights and how picky they want to be about beams, outputs, tints, materials, country of origin and construction quality.

The first thing I noticed when I got my first Fenix and compared it with the Maglite shining them out into the woods was how much easier it was to see between the trees with the lack of ringiness the Mag produced.

If we were to extend on the idea of the worst beam being just fine, then we might as well decide that DX is as good as any Surefire or McGizmo, because when you take them outside they light things up, making them equal.

kaichu dento said:

What gets me is when people state that the worst beam in the world is fine, when in reality the worst beam in the world is horrible, and they would not want to use it. For the record, there are no Fenix's available with the worst beam in the world and as imperfect as some of them may be, they are all still usable.

Everyone should be allowed their own guidelines for choosing their lights and how picky they want to be about beams, outputs, tints, materials, country of origin and construction quality.

The first thing I noticed when I got my first Fenix and compared it with the Maglite shining them out into the woods was how much easier it was to see between the trees with the lack of ringiness the Mag produced.

If we were to extend on the idea of the worst beam being just fine, then we might as well decide that DX is as good as any Surefire or McGizmo, because when you take them outside they light things up, making them equal.

Click to expand...

Meh.

The point is a few rings aren't going to be noticed under normal use.

I can't even tell my PD30 has rings this bad nor would I care if they were worse.

That's just me. If people want something that looks good on walls that's fine, I thought the same way at once.

Now I just don't care and would like to say that after you use something like this for a couple of weeks or months it tends to not bother you anymore.

Search said:

The point is a few rings aren't going to be noticed under normal use.

I can't even tell my PD30 has rings this bad nor would I care if they were worse.

That's just me. If people want something that looks good on walls that's fine, I thought the same way at once.

Now I just don't care and would like to say that after you use something like this for a couple of weeks or months it tends to not bother you anymore.

Click to expand...

It all depends on what your normal use is and for many it won't matter. Can't disagree with you there, but to speak for the masses and say that one persons concerns lack merit does not reflect reality.

Don't know why you went to walls when my comparison has been mainly looking out into the woods, where I can easily notice a difference in the ease of seeing between the trees with a smoother beam. Like you, I can find most of what I need to do when searching for something in the closet or under shelves to be unaffected by lack of smoothness but not in other instances.

Your closing statement is probably accurate for you, but like everything else in life large errors start with assuming what's good enough or not for others and whether their value system lacks merit. No one should tell you how to choose your light and the rest of us should be allowed the same consideration. :thumbsup:

I noticed the same thing with my e2l outdoorsman, when I shine it on a wall, right outside the hotspot one half has more spill than the other side, but like you said you have to look for it. Now I wont worry about it. I guess the TIR isnt as perfect as a plain reflector because my L4 has a perfect beam also my older single mode outdoorsman is absolutely flawless, the kind with the rounded pyrex end. interesting.