What do you use your thrower for?

In trying to decide on my next light, not sure why I would want a thrower. Sure is impressive to throw a beam of light way out there. But what are you really looking at?

Throwers are fun. Even if it's just to walk the dog, ours nice to be able to see what's in the distance

Throwers are most useful when you have very little ambient light and a long line of sight. I live in heavily wooded hills, I don't need anything that throws more than a few hundred feet. My SureFire Fury is a medium-range thrower and is more than adequate for my needs. But if I lived someplace with large open fields I would contemplate getting something that throws further, like a M6LT.

There are many threads on CPF that discuss this topic, but probably your best resource is the Going Prepared channel on You Tube. Marshall did several videos directly comparing almost every long range flashlight side by side. A picture (or in this case a video) is worth a thousand words.

I use throw at CPF meets and almost everywhere else. Maze at night, Torchlight Tours, cave tours etc.

Last weekend there was a dirt bike rider who thought he'd ride around on the BMX track in the park over the road. The track is about 100m from my house. He kept it up for longer than a few minutes which is the grace period I give these guys, so I grabbed the TK60, walked over nearer to the track and blasted him with turbo mode. He quickly rode away, all the while my blazing light sabre lighting his way for him.

That's why you need a thrower!

I use mine for search and rescue work. It lets you look a long way off in the distance, w/o having to GO THERE to see things. A floody light lets you see more at a time...but, a fat beam uses a TON more lumens for the same target resolution as a tight beam...so, REACHING a long way means either carrying a larger heavier light that has the cajones to throw a ton of light a country mile, or, a smaller lighter light that just throws a smaller patch of light way out there.

I use some smaller throwers to see through small spaces w/o as much glare. For example, for looking down a tight crawlspace/crevice, etc, a floody light can light up the area around it, and the walls in it enough to make it harder for your eyes to stop down enough to see the darker reaches....one of the few applications for a tight thrower being when the lighting of stuff on the way out TO the target is a problem.

I MOSTLY use floody lights, even for searches, but they tend to be BIG floody lights, so I can see more at a time.

So I have a few decent throwers...Dedomed Olight SR90, Fenix TK70, Lambdalight VPT2, OMG Lumens EDC LR+, Deerelight Aspherical, Crelant 7G5 Aspherical and some Frankenlights, etc. Each has its own beam characteristics and form factors...so, each might be pulled out and used when appropriate to the situation.


So, from a practical sense, for every day use, a floody light has always been more useful to me...and throw beyond say 50 yards or so isn't needed much. If I need to flood an area 300 yards away, I just use a light that can do it.

After all that, from a practical perspective, for YOU, it would just come down to how far you think you might want to see...and go from there.

If its just a hobby, and you just like making photons line up and march great distances for entertainment purposes (And who doesn't...), well, then its more about how far you can AFFORD to go...and what is out there to do that for you.

I use my throwers for lighting-up things that are far away.

fyrstormer said:

I use my throwers for lighting-up things that are far away.

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That's just crazy talk

TEEJ said:

If its just a hobby, and you just like making photons line up and march great distances for entertainment purposes (And who doesn't...), well, then its more about how far you can AFFORD to go...and what is out there to do that for you.

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You may have just talked me into buying a modified TN31 from the One Stop Shop. Can't decide if I should take the high road. Been looking at the other end, but think I may end up wasting a bunch of time and money buying junk.

Looking down my dark street at night to see if it's recycling or yard waste day (thank you neighbors).

TEEJ said:

That's just crazy talk

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I mainly use throwers for locating reflective objects from a sighting position during the gps contest I do...even for glowing rocks.
Also while camping and its a clear night I will also use them for pointing out where I spot a ufo/satellites to my friends, great fun till one decided to flash back at me.

Okay, let's assume that we have two different lights, both of them producing the same amount of lumens. The difference is that one is a flooder with wide beam profile, while the other is a thrower with narrow beam profile.

Scenario 1: Long distance spotting. With a flooder, you'd have to get close, while a thrower means that you don't. With a flooder, you have to walk closer to the area to get proper illumination. With a thrower, while you get less viewing angle, you can just sweep the area in multiple passes with your hand.

Scenario 2: Looking into a dark environment from a well-illuminated area. Let's say that you are standing outside in a sunny day, and need to look down into a well or into a large warehouse. Because of the exterior illumination, your eyes will not be adjusted for low-light environment. A flooder isn't going to illuminate much of anything far into the dark environment that you need to peer into, but a thrower can effectively punch through the background light pollution and allow you to see what's inside.

Scenario 3: Close-up inspection of surface covered in dark material, such as paint, grime, etc. For example, you are inspecting pipeline that's covered with years of black gunk. That black gunk is going to soak up light very efficiently, and a flooder just doesn't have the punch to light the surface up enough. With a thrower and its highly focused spot, you can be damned sure that it's going to light it up, albeit small portions at a time, but nevertheless allow you to see what's on the surface.

Scenario 4: Dazzling. Don't even kid me on this one. A thrower with its concentrated beam is much more effective at blinding people and critters than a flooder.

In simpler terms, it's like comparing a pellet to a slug. The former has a wider dispersion and is better at closer range, but a slug is going to crush through objects farther down the range.

They are fun to use. Build your own and there is much satisfaction on how far the beam will reach as well.

When a suspicious car is in front of the house late at night the thrower gets used to illuminate the inside from in the house. It is quite effective, partly to figure out what is happening in the car, partly to incent people to move on.

use my Deerelight Nightmaster to light up vehicles with tinted windows on traffic stops.......just burns through the tint as opposed to reflecting off, also used at fires as they are better in smoke, great in fog, used in Search and Rescue a ton, amazing light and my best thrower for sure.......

I must agree that throwers pointed in the direction of some suspicious activity or car usually results in that person or car deciding to move elsewhere.

cheers

enomosiki said:

Okay, let's assume that we have two different lights, both of them producing the same amount of lumens. The difference is that one is a flooder with wide beam profile, while the other is a thrower with narrow beam profile.

Scenario 1: Long distance spotting. With a flooder, you'd have to get close, while a thrower means that you don't. With a flooder, you have to walk closer to the area to get proper illumination. With a thrower, while you get less viewing angle, you can just sweep the area in multiple passes with your hand.

Scenario 2: Looking into a dark environment from a well-illuminated area. Let's say that you are standing outside in a sunny day, and need to look down into a well or into a large warehouse. Because of the exterior illumination, your eyes will not be adjusted for low-light environment. A flooder isn't going to illuminate much of anything far into the dark environment that you need to peer into, but a thrower can effectively punch through the background light pollution and allow you to see what's inside.

Scenario 3: Close-up inspection of surface covered in dark material, such as paint, grime, etc. For example, you are inspecting pipeline that's covered with years of black gunk. That black gunk is going to soak up light very efficiently, and a flooder just doesn't have the punch to light the surface up enough. With a thrower and its highly focused spot, you can be damned sure that it's going to light it up, albeit small portions at a time, but nevertheless allow you to see what's on the surface.

Scenario 4: Dazzling. Don't even kid me on this one. A thrower with its concentrated beam is much more effective at blinding people and critters than a flooder.

In simpler terms, it's like comparing a pellet to a slug. The former has a wider dispersion and is better at closer range, but a slug is going to crush through objects farther down the range.

Click to expand...

This is only true if the light use the same lumens.

In reality, they typically don't, as a floody light NEEDS more lumens to lit up a target in an equal manner. This means to throw the same as a concentrated beam, a lot more power is required.

If you NEED to see a large area at once, for example, when sweeping an area with a tight beam takes too long (Say a few seconds), it can give what you are looking FOR a chance to SEE YOUR SWEEPING BEAM.

Think back~ to every prison/POW break out out movie...when the search tower search light is sweeping around looking for the escapees...they see the beam coming, and duck/hide...then run for it as soon as the search light beam passes them....safe in the dark surrounding it.

If you need to see very far, for efficiency's sake, a thrower is designed to do that more efficiently than a flooder. Too much light in the foreground reduces your ability to stop down your eyes and see further off into the darkness.

If its a powerful flooder with say 400 yards of flood light...well, you can still see into the darkness 400 yards, even if you can also see everything on the way out to 400 yards as well.

To GET a flood light that CAN throw 400 yards, its NOT going to fit in your pocket. (Unless you might carry a few coke cans in your pockets, etc...) Its typically going to be holstered at least...and have a lot of cells to power it.

To have a thrower than can reach 400 yards, it can be pocket sized, as it needs less power to project its smaller beam in a more dowel shaped pattern.





A floody Fenix TK70 shot zoomed at a tree ~ 405 M away



A tight throwing Deerelight Aspherical at same tree


Essentially, the Deerelight is a very good small thrower and the TK70 is very good large flooder. Obviously, is SEARCHING for something way off, at that range, the TK70 will find what you are looking for BETTER than the Deerelight.

BUT, do you want to CARRY a giant heavy light all the time, or, would you rather have a smaller package?



Of course, you can also get large throwers, and a large head can help to throw a very well focused long range beam...so, again, for the same lumen out put, the thrower will still see further...just less at a time.

Search, rescue, emergency, I use mine a lot...


SFMI4UT

Mainly for showoff...