What do you do with your ugly beam lights?

I usually dont return a light unless its defective, even though some may consider a donut hole or artifacts as defects. I just gave my mom a Fenix E11 that had a horrible looking beam, but she seems to like it(most nonflashaholics could care less about artifacts, are more impressed with the output)

For fathers day giving my dad my Fenix pd10 which has a horrible donut hole that I can't stand to look at but I'm sure he will love it.

Last of my crappy beams that I still own is the Nitecore ezaa, which is hard to describe how bad the artifacts and shape of beam are due to offcenter emitter. This one I was gonna return but they wanted to charge me a restocking fee which is a joke, so I've kept it so far due to its variable output, but it may wind up in my nephews hands.

I have a Streamlight Sidewinder that I want to do something with. Very interesting design features; horrendous beam quality, especially on the colored leds. I don't frequently send my lights off to be modified, but I'm so unhappy with this one, I may do it. I think that I might use it more. A brighter, high CRI main led would be nice, and smoother colored leds would also help.

I usually stick a patch of d-c-fix film over the lens if I'm not satisfied with the beam. I ended up with half of my flashlights (mostly small ones) diffused this way...

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Diffuser material on the lens ..... will help ... a LOT .

If rings are really BAD ......... may need Two layers .

Look for it sold in the MarketPlace . It's cheap and worth every penny !

You really should try it ......... you WILL be pleased with the improvement .

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I use diffuser film on the inside of a lens if I can remove it. I place the film on the outside if the head of the flashlight won't come apart. I use 2 diifferent kinds of diffuer film. The 1st is Kittrich (brand) Clear (product name), which is only slightly diffused. It removes minor artifacts and you still have a hotspot. The 2nd is (can't find the brand or product name at the moment) very heavily diffused. This material looks like the lens that Terralux included with their TLE-6N LED upgrade. Throw takes a major hit, but you have a very broad bright beam with no artifacts or hotspot at all. I use both. It depends on how bad a flashlights artifacts are or the intended application

simple fix - slap a piece of diffusor film i got from phaserburn on it.

if i like the light enough, invest $5 and swap in a new emitter. this option doesnt always turn out well. LoL

or give the light away, or maybe subject it to a torture test.

I don't buy lights that I don't like the beams of...it defeats the purpose.

I use mine for work though, so something that might not be so purdy on a white wall can be fine shining on something real.

Hey TEEJ what do you think i do.I return them ROFL thats funny.

but no i give them to my boys 7 and 9yrs old.
Speaking of beams i got a Remington LED at an Electrical supply house we get most of our meterial from.
They were selling them $45. uses 2 123s and suprise RCRs. med.,high,and strobe.
This light by Remington has a fantastic beam. No rings, natural color,and i did gift it to my oldest.
He thinks its the coolest light cuz its got the strobe.

I got some 219 hi cri leds today and have fixed some of the issues with my lumapower lm21. The led was way off center, and one side of the mpcb was riding on top of one of the wires, so it was out of axis too. The centering ring was resting on top of the dome, blocking out alot of light. It's the first light i have seen with a butt ugly beampattern since the xr-e days..
Way nicer now, and with a beutiful tint Swapped led in my lumintop worm too. Both ended up with great results. Got one more led, but havent desided yet what last light to pick. Prob another aaa since it's on a 10 mm board. Maby the klarus midas. Gold light and gold tint :thinking:

So are you guys cutting the diffuser tape to the size of the lens and placing it there or just sloppilly taping it around, cause I still need it to look good , and dont want little bits of tape jutting out or collecting lint.

TEEJ said:

I don't buy lights that I don't like the beams of...it defeats the purpose.

I use mine for work though, so something that might not be so purdy on a white wall can be fine shining on something real.

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Well I'm not talking about buying a light with a tint you dont like, also theres no way to tel b4 a purchase if your sample will be perfect, I have a pd20 with same emitter as pd10 but no donut hole. I knew the E11 was a hit or miss with that new lens system, but I got it pretty cheap.

I used Scott tape and tape the lens, no more ugly beam.

If you can open the light up and take the reflector out, you can spray clear coat over it and make it into an orange peel reflector which will defocus the light a little without as much lumen loss as the tape.

I give them to non flashaholics who think they have fantastic beams..*s*

Both diffuser films I use come in rolls ~1ft wide. If I can remove the lens then I use it as a template and cut the film with an exacto-knife. If the lens is not removeable then I use a flatwasher the same size as the lens as a template. Either way they look great once installed on the flashlight lens. If you don't like the results, you just peal the film back off.

If it was a light I liked, I'd look into modding it!

I only purchase quality lights that cost well over $100 each. Since I don't own cheap china crap this has never been a issue. You get what you pay for so don't complain about poor beam profiles or gigantic donut holes.

brianna said:

I only purchase quality lights that cost well over $100 each. Since I don't own cheap china crap this has never been a issue. You get what you pay for so don't complain about poor beam profiles or gigantic donut holes.

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Neither price nor country of origin guarantee a nice beam. I have come across complaints about Surefire beams (for both tint & artifacts) and HDS beams (do-nut holes). These are probably the two most respected American manufacturers & they still have problems sometimes.

Send it back and they will make it right so you don't have to put scotch tape on the reflector. At least they care about quality.

Brianna, you need to lighten up there, no pun intended. I have several lights >< $100 and they all serve me quite well. Once in awhile I get one that isn't to my liking, but that doesn't mean it's a bad flashlight. Treek13 made a good point.