OP VS SMO , which do you like better?

They say that the smooth reflector offers greater throw. I'm not so sure if that is 100% true. But I do know the smooth reflector is the most popular.

I don't have the PA40, but I would guess that a darkness at the middle of the beam would be more due to the shape of the reflector than it's texture (though an OP texture would help to make it less noticeable). In general, I like a very light OP texture the best, as it smooths out the beam without loosing too much throw, however, for a light that is clearly built to be a thrower (large, deep reflector and high output) I think you should go all the way and give it an SMO reflector.

I personally like an OP reflector. They smooth out the beam a bit and offer a slightly diffused hot spot.

Depends on the emitter.

I don't know really too much on reflectors but I do prefer SMO over OP and I think I am one of the very few who does nowadays. It's just personal preference. I also don't mind cree rings if they are present. My PA40/P100A2 have as nice of a beam as any OP. I really liked the OP like the one on the SC51. Very reflective/floody.

Just turned on my PA40 SMO and the core is slightly dimmer although it's barely noticeable to me.

I prefer OP.

fishx65 said:

Depends on the emitter.

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Exactly, I've seen some very nice beams with a XM-L and smooth reflector that a XP-G or XR-E could never get away with and they would more than likely have rings or a donut hole where as the XM-L doesn't.

I want as much throw as possible but I have got use to not having any beam artifacts ever since it seemed all manufacturers that was using a XP-G went with a OP and most had a really nice beam, it took some time for me to get over not having as much throw but I grew to really like a nice clean beam. Besides the massive output of the XM-L one of the biggest reasons I like it is the clean beam with either reflector surface in most light's I've seen.

Depends on how it's engineered moreso I'd say. My Armytek Predator (XP- G emitter) had a SMO reflector and had a very clean throwing beam with little/no artifacts. The two Fenix LD20's (XP-G emitters) with SMO reflectors I owned had terrible beams with very annoying rings of saturn, and one of them had a donut hole beyond 1 metre/yard from the wall.
I also had a P60 XP-G dropin with a SMO reflector but it was focussed extremely well and was a clean throwy beam.
It really just depends on which light you're talking about. The same emitter on different lights will yield different results.

Like others here, it depends on the emitter, shape of reflector and beam profile. I tend to prefer smooth for maximum throw and really like the clean beam of the Xeno G42 XM-L U2.

fishx65 said:

Depends on the emitter.

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Yes,I think that's the point,I pefer OP because of pefect beam,SMO easy to get darkness at middle of the beam.XPG and XRE much more suit for SMO even though a small reflector,but for XML,small reflector probably have darkness beam core problem.