What companies besides Streamlight are virtually incapable of centering a reflector?

I have owned 6 SL SuvivorLED's, 2 SL Stinger HP's and one Stinger C4. The majority of these lights (including the $100+ Stinger HP I just bought) have slightly off center leds.

Now, I am not a 'white wall hunter' and I bought the second HP for outdoor use...But, I do walk past white walls with all my lights...and it ALWAYS irritates me when an $80 product has a beam that is... well, off.

This especially makes me mad when it is an 'American' flashlight company, since I believe I should be able to expect a little more 'pride in one's work' over here.

So I thought I would ask what other companies put out lights that are 95% great...but because of a little lack of quality control...are not 100% great.

I at least know Streamlight is one of these.

I'm sure your venting more than you are asking the question, so I can contribute to that.......

My Streamlight PolyTac HP has an off centered LED as well. I'm not as upset about it as I would be in a $100 light, but I know that some of the beam potential engineered into this light was left on the production line.

My Surefire E2DL has a slightly off center led as well. When people think SF they think quality..

My streamlight supertac looks off when whitewall hunting, but still out throws all my other LED lights.

No donut though

I guess part of what frustrates me about this is that I feel like I am 'whining' when I bring it up. But I do feel when you spend over a certian amount (say $3) on a light...the beam should be the same on the right as on the left. (I also bought a Brinkman Armormax AA from Brightguy in the same shipment for $13....its reflector is centered!)

Some might say...well as long as the light works...it should not be a big deal...but I feel it is like my buddies Chevy that the trim did not line up at the front part of the car to the back.... it does not make the car drive any worse...but I know it was a constant irritation.

Oh well, off my soap box..... what other flashlight companies out there get it wrong as often as they get it right?

Other companies? That would be my favorite manufacturer Surefire. A lot of lights I have seen are slightly off-centered and I have a few in my own collection. But they are only slightly off-centered and not drastically off so I am fine with it. My AZ2 combatlight and Stratum are both slightly off too but not really noticeable unless I deliberately look for it.

I would think that the most important part of a flashlight is the light that it emits. We know this and the manufacturers do also. Maybe it really is that hard to center a led.. :shrug:

Funny thing is, 4sevens developed a technique using a black plastic centering spacer in their lights, even so I have a quark with a led which is slightly off center.

I've also come across the led pcb being perfectly centered but the led die itself uncentered. Luck of the draw I guess.

Long time ago, one of his most important customer complained to Karl Zeiss that one of his most expensive optics had an air bubble in one of the lens.
His answer was "You have to look thru it, not AT it"
I guess we need to use the flashlights, not look at their optics.
BTW, my most relevant off center LED is the MC-E in my Eagletac M2SC4 MKII.

Anthony

I think this is a legitimate complaint and I've talked about this before too.

Although I guess I've resigned myself to the fact that most of the Streamlights I buy are going to have off centered LEDs. The thing that bothers me is if this causes a semi circle ring to form around my spill beam like on my Argo HP. :thumbsdow

Otherwise this usually ends up being a minor complaint for me. My PT2L, Sidewinder, and Super Tac all have off centered LEDs but the beam looks fine which is what I'm mainly concerned with anyways.

Ray_of_Light said:

Long time ago, one of his most important customer complained to Karl Zeiss that one of his most expensive optics had an air bubble in one of the lens.

Click to expand...

It's actually Carl Zeiss. I'm sorry for correcting you but I work for uncle Carl.


Oh and sorry for the OT.

It01Firefox said:

It's actually Carl Zeiss. I'm sorry for correcting you but I work for uncle Carl.


Oh and sorry for the OT.

Click to expand...

LOL.

Bill