Are there medium to high brightness floody lights?

I suspect many lights with a medium to high lumen output (say, approx 600 to 3,000 lumens) are mainly used for searchlight-type of purposes, so I would imagine that lights in the brighter ranges would primarily be "throwers" with little "spill".

I'm thinking, though, that it could be useful to have bright lights with plenty of spill, to see what's going on off to your left and right (and above you), as well as a diffused hotspot.

Are such floody medium and high-brightness lights that sacrifice a lot of throw distance to provide good spill difficult to find?

I'm still a newbie here myself but... welcome.

My 2c - it depends how much spill you want. Some flashlights, like the Fenix PD32UE have a large hotspot, and a bright spill, so they light up a large area (and make great bike-lights!) If you want a totally even light, with no hotspot or spill, look at the LED-Lensers, which have an optical zoom system so you can adjust the diameter of the beam. Some lights, like the Crelants, allow you to unscrew the reflector-heads and expose the LED, so you can produce a hemisphere of even light (an electronic candle!). In some (all?) models you can remove the parabolic reflector and re-attach the head, so you have a reflector-less flashlight, but the LED is protected against knocks and the light is somewhat constrained by the housing (I think I've seen this referred to as a 'mule'). Like I said, it all depends what you're looking for.

Hi, thanks for that. I had seen Led Lensers on the web before, but I didn't know that about Crelants, even though I had been visiting their website very recently.

501 sea said:

I suspect many lights with a medium to high lumen output (say, approx 600 to 3,000 lumens) are mainly used for searchlight-type of purposes, so I would imagine that lights in the brighter ranges would primarily be "throwers" with little "spill".

I'm thinking, though, that it could be useful to have bright lights with plenty of spill, to see what's going on off to your left and right (and above you), as well as a diffused hotspot.

Are such floody medium and high-brightness lights that sacrifice a lot of throw distance to provide good spill difficult to find?

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Well, no, there are a wide variety of light distribution patterns.

I'd also like to point out that spill is the unfocused part of the beam, and by its nature, is simply the light that "missed the reflector's collimation". The part of the beam that does the "work" is the hot spot...and the corona. The corona is the less bright area that typically rings the hot spot.


So, if you want a strong flooder, there are a lot of options, depending on what range or beam angle works for you.

ZebraLight's SC600 for example is ~ 4" long and pumps out ~ 900 lumens in a flood pattern. The fatter but even shorter S6330 pumps out ~ 2,700 lumens in a floody pattern (Essentially like3 SC600's...).

Thrunite's TN30 pumps out ~ 3k lumens in a floody pattern.

(Those are just a few examples)

You can get/make mule versions of various lights, and MAKE them floody. (Mules have no optics or reflector...the LED alone provides the illumination)

Thanks TEEJ, that's exactly the type of reply I was hoping for. I have been browsing through some manufacturers websites, but there's a lot of them, and there's a lot of flashlights /torches out there, so I didn't know enough yet about this issue.

I note what you say about spill.

The Zebralights certainly look like they are "floody."

Just regarding the Thrunite TN30, though, I am a bit confused because I am getting the impression from the specifications on the Thrunite store that thi is a focused "thrower"...it says:

Smooth reflector for max light output.
Highly focused beam for maximum distance.

http://www.thrunite-store.com/thrunite-tn30-3000lumens-3x-cree-xm-l-u2-led-flashlight.html

I'm just asking in case I missed something, maybe there are reviews out there which show this is also a floody light.

(By the way, I like the way they offer Neutral White as an option in the drop-down menu...Nitecore and a couple of others seems to offer the choice...I think I'd go for Neutral White for better colour rendition rather than Cool White).

Here is a review of the TN30 with beam shots, and comparisons to a couple of other lights.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...50)-RUNTIMES-VIDEO-OUTDOOR-BEAMSHOTS-and-more!

Focused thrower sounds like the description that they should use for the TN31

"Higly focusd beam", dont describe the spill at all, just the hotspot area. Take a led and put it in a small reflector with 80 degree angle. You will have a "floody" light with a 80 degree cone of spill.
Put the same led in a huge reflector with 80 degree walls, and you have a thrower with 80 a degree cone of spill. The spill on both lights should be identical in shape and brigthness, but one light might be considered a thrower and the other a flooder based on the focus/size of the hotspot. The bigger reflector, the more throwy the hotspot gets.
A light focused for throw can still have a really wide and bright spill. My modded fandyfire from onestopthrowshop got 100k lux+ and still got a really wide and bright spill because the reflector is really wide and not so deep. It's considered to be a thrower , but beats many of my "flood lights" in both size and intensety of the spill.

Poppy said:

Here is a review of the TN30 with beam shots, and comparisons to a couple of other lights.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...50)-RUNTIMES-VIDEO-OUTDOOR-BEAMSHOTS-and-more!

Focused thrower sounds like the description that they should use for the TN31

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Yes! Looking at the beamhot, I can only agree! Wow. Thanks

jorn said:

"Higly focusd beam", dont describe the spill at all, just the hotspot area. Take a led and put it in a small reflector with 80 degree angle. You will have a "floody" light with a 80 degree cone of spill.
Put the same led in a huge reflector with 80 degree walls, and you have a thrower with 80 a degree cone of spill. The spill on both lights should be identical in shape and brigthness, but one light might be considered a thrower and the other a flooder based on the focus/size of the hotspot. The bigger reflector, the more throwy the hotspot gets.
A light focused for throw can still have a really wide and bright spill. My modded fandyfire from onestopthrowshop got 100k lux+ and still got a really wide and bright spill because the reflector is really wide and not so deep. It's considered to be a thrower , but beats many of my "flood lights" in both size and intensety of the spill.

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I don't quite follow, but it seems wide and not deep reflectors will give good flood.....thanks, I have some way to go

501 sea said:

I suspect many lights with a medium to high lumen output (say, approx 600 to 3,000 lumens) are mainly used for searchlight-type of purposes, so I would imagine that lights in the brighter ranges would primarily be "throwers" with little "spill".

I'm thinking, though, that it could be useful to have bright lights with plenty of spill, to see what's going on off to your left and right (and above you), as well as a diffused hotspot.

Are such floody medium and high-brightness lights that sacrifice a lot of throw distance to provide good spill difficult to find?

Click to expand...

They're not hard to find, just a bit pricey, sometimes. The term you are looking for is, "mule," and you can usually find some good drop-ins for sale on customs or CPFMP, or have one of the drop-in makers whip one up (Vinhnguyen is offering to make them, FI, and you get to choose the emitter and current). Overready also makes custom Peaks with mule heads. These areheads that put the LED close to the lens, with no reflector, for a pure floodlight.

For lower brightness, you can add a diffuser, either as a wand (think translucent traffic cone), material under the lens, scotch tape over the outside, etc.., or get one of many Zebralights with no reflector.

Depending on what you use it for, spill may be useful even with throw. For example, the classic focused Maglite beam has a very wide, even spill. While very dim, it gives you nearly 180 degrees of light, enough to illuminate the ground ahead of you, while pointing the spot into the distance. Much of this light comes from the shiny bezel ring, rather than the reflector. Many torches with polished aluminum (bare or silver ano) or steel bezel rings will do this.

Now, overall, there's not too much use for nearby illumination that is super bright, without a wall to plug into AC. As good as LEDs are, you sacrifice battery life quite a bit, but get little in return. It's not coincidence that so many torches have their high mode normalized to about what they can get for 1-2 hours, rather than the thermal limits of the LED and/or body..

Thanks, Cerbie, sorry for the late reply.

I never knew about "mules" before you, bietjiedof, and TEEJ mentioned them. I find that very noteworthy.

I understand your point about there not being too much need for super bright illumination close by, in many circumstances it could be supplied by an AC mains supply.

My main interest though, would be in unmodified torches to be used in such circumstances as a grab-and-go look at illuminating a large backyard to see what has knocked over a tin can, or for use in a field with possibly uneven ground.

Thanks again to everyone