comments on side spill

I spent a bit of time measuring the "side spill" of my TL-2 LED and others. Interesting.

Tl-2 LED(one watt) -100 degrees, sharply defined hot spot, very uniform, bright side spill.

TL-3 LED(five watt) -120 degrees, sharply defined hot spot, very uniform, bright side spill. Of course, much brighter than the TL-2.

SL Task Light 3AA Luxeon(one watt) -35 degrees, less defined hot spot, spill fades to the periphery. Side spill not as bright as the TL-2.

SL 4AA LED- about 80 degrees, fades rapidly to periphery, no real hot spot. Spill is uneven. This one is well liked (me too) for it's nice flood of light. Not as good as I thought.

The TL-2 LED, and TL-3 LED exhibit FAR more useful side spill than any other lights I have. The spill is uniform as can be, very bright, and superbly useful. There is so MUCH light in that spill, I am amazed at the hot spot brightness.

I have never worried about things like this, until you nice people made me slightly crazy. My wife is looking at me with raised eyebrows, wondering why her beforehand perfectly normal husband is locking himself in the bath room, with strange measuring gadgets, and a pile of flashlights.

i REALLY like my TL-2. the side spill is amazing, and it has that nice centrel hotspot for throw. the luxeon is VERY white.

the light feels solid, the switches are smoothe, and it plain looks nice. output is incredible--BRIGHT with a capital "B". it is my first 123 light, and currently my favorite. i cant wait to see some runtime plots.

streamlight really hit the nail on the head with this one!

Bob

John and Bob...I couldn't agree with the two of you more. The sidespill light on my TL-2 LED is suprisingly bright, and lights up a good sized area very nicely! Couple that with it's excellent throw for a 1 watter, and you have an awesome EDC light! Bob, you're right...Streamlight DID hit the nail on the head with this one. It's my new favorite light also!

PJD

JohnK how does the throw of the TL-3 led compare with the 3-AA luxeon, the only one of the lights you listed I have for comparison,It would be so nice to have led lights with reasonable throw and good side spill. how does the TL-3 LED compare to the throw of e2e or brinkman lx or 1L-tt /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/popcorn.gif Thanks for the comparison. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I have the 3AA SL Lux, the SL 1L TT( and 2L), and of course the TL-2, and TL-3 LED; the TL-3 vastly exceeds the 3AA in side spill, though the throw of the 3AA is really good, the 5 watt does exceed the throw of the 3AA, but not by as much as you would expect. Larger beam, a bit brighter, a nice light.

The SL 1L TT will make you a believer, hard to compare the color, but the SL 3AA looks similiar in throw to the 1L.

Don't have a Brinkman Lx, but do have SF 6P, SL Scorpion; they outthrow the above, but they don't HAVE the spill.

I LOVED my 3AA SL Lux before I got my TL-2 LED; it is STILL a NICE light, superior to the CMG Reactor 3 by far. The TL-2 is simply a better all around light, more throw, better color (have never heard of a greenie), wonderful side spill.

In a previous post, I measured the angle of the side spill with the 3AA SL Lux vs the TL-2 LED; 35 degrees vs 100 degrees. The side spill of the TL-2 was fantastic, you can see the way with no problem.
The 3AA is more incandescent like in beam; think 4AA SL Xenon in beam quality. That's not bad, but just different from the TL-2 LED.

All the Twin-Tasks, and the Task Light 3AA are superior lights for the dollar; you will not be disappointed. The TL LED series speak for themselves.

JohnK I have the 3-AA TL and it is the brightest 1-watt I have. The reflector seems to direct the light in a much smaller controlled spot than the NX05 optics,so I was curious if the TL-2 & 3 led lights use this same type reflector. I have the SF L4 and it is a wonderful bright white flood light,but does not have much throw.I like the LED so much more than the incandesent and look forward to when they will throw like the incandesent and still have that great white smooth spill. Thank you for your response. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Agreed on the L4... a beautiful light...
but I go back to my E2E at about the same size and weight, and get a little more throw from it.

Both great lights, but for different situations. I like the L4 better for close illumination because of the large bright field of illumination.

David <><

Onelight- No, the 3AA SL Lux has a very deep smooth reflector that seems to focus nearly all the emitted light. The TL-2, and 3 LEDs have a much more shallow, textured reflector, (at least mine do).

The TL's still have a VERY focused hot spot, but give that perfectly uniform, bright spill light. I really expected SL to use the deeeppppp reflector on the TLs, but their use of the textured ones was a great choice.

Thanks guys /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif