Why don't most lights focus?

Focus, zoom, whatever your choice of words is. I'm talking about the change from spot to flood. I absolutely LOVE that my Coast 7853 DigiTac has an adjustable beam. Why don't more flashlights have this feature?

The whole flood to throw lights, tend to be more cheaply made and a lot of us value water resistance. When you have moving parts, the lights don't tend to be waterproof. Not to mention a good beam will have a good combination of throw and flood simultaneously. Another issue is the aspherics tend to waste a lot of light within the head and optics so the flood doesn't even flood as well as just having a bare emitter. The throw, well there are dedicated throwers that work just as well. So a focusable light for us flashoholics is basically just a neat toy.

I don't think most companies want to put forth the $$ investment into R/D and marketing. Its a business risk thats too great, when off the shelf optics are readily available for pennies. Hard to argue against this too... every time I go to Frys they have 100s' of flood to throw lights on the racks. Peg-board hangers are PACKED full. So, these designs don't really appear to be moving.

Coast partnered with Fraen to prototype / develop the optics in these lights 3-4 years ago. The Fraen engineers at the time were VERY reluctant to show their prototypes to me... but they did and it clearly was something they invested a lot into. It would not surprise me if they have a business agreement that locks out other manufacturers from using these optics in competing designs. (These are my speculated opinions, based on observation... moderators I will delete this last sentence if you like).

I would tend to agree with qwertyydude's post here. Most of the current crop of focusable flashlights are cheap Chinese aspherics. On the other hand I have had a Maglite 2C and a 2D running Terralux upgrades that have been in use for many years now. They may not be state of the art anymore but they have been proven workhorses in my arsenal of lights. Most of the time I have them focused for maximum throw and they have plenty of usable spill but once in awhile I find it pretty handy to be able to tune back the hot spot. Not long ago I had the 2D in my truck when a friend asked me to have a look at a problem under her kitchen sink. This was exactly the kind of situation where you can benefit from having a flashlight that will allow you to pull back the focus to maximum spill so you are not blinded by the hot spot when you need to examine some plumbing close up. On the other hand a flashlight with modes could accomplish the same thing I 'spose.

As others have said it's hard to get a smooth spot to flood without a tricky optic and a lot of loss. IMO mags aren't really a spot to flood, more spot to doughnut :nana:

(I do have a 2D LED mag but it lives under the seat of my car)

Yeah, sometimes Mags are more like hotspot doughnut to soft doughnut but with the Terralux upgrades the situation is much unproved, relatively speaking.

+1

Not that the majority of current focusable options being "cheap" necessarily prevents anyone else from manufacturing a high quality light that focuses- didn't we get teased by something SureFire had in the chute a couple of years ago? The Optimus Prime? Some around here were really looking forward to that one. Considering everyone seems obsessed with trying to get ONE light that does it all for edc- super spot throw and super flood low all in one package, & how popular the aviator series are (were), flip up beamshapers on spotty throwers, you'd think more companies would give it a shot.

I think the dealbreaker is focusable lights will always have at least some light rings or other artifacts, and we can't have that with so many of us running around shining our lights at walls in the dark, scrutinizing beams for the slightest hint of imperfection. Still, I bet The Optimus Prime would have been a winner regardless:

Very interesting. I have learned a ton today. Thank you all for your input!

LEDs are picky on optics/cups
The rule is, Larger diameter(Than the length) = well-focused + lots spill
Even for the same size like D26
Same led (R2)
different shape of cups still gives you a different output

Adjustable focus doesn't add any pros to a lights usefulness and tends only to add cons, and in most cases, alot of them.

ebow86 said:

Adjustable focus doesn't add any pros to a lights usefulness and tends only to add cons, and in most cases, alot of them.

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Too bad Zweibrüder do not have access to your insight. Now they are strapped with more than 1,000 employees and three manufacturing bases in Germany and China.

rmteo said:

Too bad Zweibrüder do not have access to your insight. Now they are strapped with more than 1,000 employees and three manufacturing bases in Germany and China.

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But one complaint everyone has with the Coast/Zweibruder lights is their cheap construction. They use a simple resistor design on many of their lights you can't even use nimh without the risk of burning out the led. Their lights are also not very waterproof either. I think of the Coast/Zweibruder lights as the Maglite of Europe. Not exactly the best, but decent construction and the best for most commoners. But like most German made products, design and engineering is a bit above the American equivalent. It's like comparing your average big three car to the average German car. They both get the job done but obviously the German cars are just a bit more engineered and the cost reflects this, same with Coast/Zweibruder and Maglite. Flashaholics obviously know better and instead will buy even better than the Chevy or Mercedes of flashlights. A good comparison is we tend to buy the Maseratis and Bentleys of flashlights, lower volume higher cost, better features.

rmteo said:

Too bad Zweibrüder do not have access to your insight. Now they are strapped with more than 1,000 employees and three manufacturing bases in Germany and China.

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I'll take it by qwertyydude's post that "zweibruder" is essentially Coast Flashlights. The adjustable focus system that the coast led lenser uses is nothing but a gimmick. I have one, and it has the following issues

1. You have to choose between either all flood with no throw, or all throw and hardly any spill, nothing really in between, a fixed focus reflector does a much better job

2. On my particular model, and most other's I have seen, when the beam is adjusted to all flood there is a nasty donut hole of sorts in the center of the beam

3. Waterproofness is compromised with the adjustable focus bezel, I've had a few drops of water get inside mine when rinsing under the sink

4. The optic inside one of these types of lights is just one more completed piece of hardware that can certainly fail.

I'm not sure what 1000 employees working for zweibruder has to do with the advantages/shortcomings of the adjustable focus system. Your comment seems a little irrelevant to the topic. There's a reason why all the best manufacturers like surefire, fenix, jetbeam, 4sevens, and other's don't make adjustable focus lights.

1. Coast is no longer the North American distributor of Zweibrüder/LED Lenser because Zweibrüder was sold to Leatherman. Zweibrüder/LED Lenser has always been a German company. They and Maglight are the only modern flashlights You can find in the most brick and mortar stores in Germany. they have a very successful marketing and therefore they sell a lot over here.
2. Concerning focusable lights, I am really curios how the variable reflector of the Fenix LD30 will perform. Pictures of the LD30 can be found in this post:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...K41-and-TK70&p=3615451&viewfull=1#post3615451

I would tend to disagree that all flood to throw lights are not waterproof, most are not but there are some that is waterproof.

i have several flood to throw lights that are not waterproof but my Romisen RC29 is.

Did some testing last night in a fishpond and it survived for 15 minutes without any water penetrating both in the battery tube and the head.

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[/FONT][FONT=Calibri, sans-serif]Portland, OR, April 5 2011 - [/FONT][FONT=Calibri, sans-serif][FONT=Calibri, sans-serif][FONT=Calibri, sans-serif]Today Leatherman Tool Group, Inc. signed a definitive contract to acquire a majority interest in Zweibrüder Optoelectronics GmbH & Co. KB (Solingen, Germany), the manufacturer of LED Lenser flashlights. Founders and brothers, Rainer and Harald Opolka will remain in partnership with Leatherman as minority shareholders in Zweibrüder Optoelectronics. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. [FONT=Calibri, sans-serif] Founded in 1994, LED Lenser revolutionized the flashlight market with cutting-edge innovation and precise German engineering. With more than 1000 employees worldwide, the company is now one of the world's leading flashlight manufacturers. LED Lenser lights use only the brightest, highest-quality LEDs and patented optical, electronic, and manufacturing systems, They are built to withstand the rigorous demands of military, law enforcement, rescue, backcountry and industrial applications.

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http://www.leatherman.com/about/release?id=36

You have a dirty fishpond
Shallow waterproof is useless,
The real challange is diving at least 3 feet depth for 30 minutes, aka IPX-7

I have both quality (Nitecore, Quark, Fenix etc) and cheap Ultrafire, MTX etc and wish there was a quality focusing torch. I have several cheap 'zoom' torches and these work very well. In fact the members of my family, when given the choice between a fixed focus torch and the zoom ones, always opt for the zoom. Even with these cheap torches, the flood is very even (projecting a very large circle with even illumination, but it does have an 'edge') and the zoom is manic with the image of the LED itself projected as a very bright square (but backing the focus off a touch this becomes a spot).

If I could get a waterproof well made reliable zoom torch I would, but they only seem to make cheap ones.

jh333233 said:

You have a dirty fishpond
Shallow waterproof is useless,
The real challenge is diving at least 3 feet depth for 30 minutes, aka IPX-7

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Yes gotta clean the pond after my broken hand heals,
Actually I still think the RC29 will survive even at 3ft depth for 30 minutes, the good thing about this is that I know the light will survive during rains, outdoor usage and even accidental dropping the light in pools or ponds.
If I would need a light purposely used under water then I probably get a dive light instead.

rmteo said:

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http://www.leatherman.com/about/release?id=36

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I though that LED Lensers were designed in Germany and manufactured in China? Who knows, what I do know is the German's have taken pride in their craftsmanship and attention to quality and detail for many many years, junk and Germany don't go together, but if LED LENSERS are indeed made in Germany with German parts, then that is kind of tragic in my opinion, because LED Lenser is not a quality product. The only thing LED Lenser did revolutionary was to overprice and over hype their products.