SRT7 not what I thought.

Still new here so still learning.... Well the light is bigger and "tippier" (is that a word?) than I like and I thought there would be more light..that being said I do like the light but I think my neighbors CF-1 heider is just as "well lit" as this one for much less and smaller.... I do think the more flood like type light will be better at camp and I am thinking I really didn't know what I was looking for when I bought it..Is there a way to focus the light pattern?

I think I will be on the market for one more...just one....ya rite

great site you have here thanks

:welcome:

Moved to LED Flashlights - Norm

What to post in the General Flashlight Discussion Sub Fourum.

I can tell you this. I also got this light a few days ago, and I am not that impressed. The build quality is nice, and I like the look, but I too was expecting more lux. This light just doesn't throw the way I thought it would with that deep reflector. Im sure a mod here can hook you up, maybe bump up the power, but I honestly don't know with the srt7. Im sure others more knowledgeable will chime in soon.

dave

some barnds catalogue their lights by using purpose, helpful for you to decide which light would meet your needs best. Spend time here and i am sure you would know how to pick up the right light.

Let's make a comparison.

Output Intensity Distance
Nitecore SR17 960 lms 23256 cd 308m
Fenix TK35 860 lms 29000 cd 340m
Fenix TK41 860 lms 59000 cd 486m

Can you see the difference? If you want to choose a torch with far throw, you should choose one with high intensity which the light is more focus. In the meanwhile, it'll look more brighter.

And generally be a whole lot bigger and run off mulitple cells

On the contrary to the op, i was overhelmed by the SRT7 throw when i received it! It had less floodlight than i expected,but the throw and the intensity of the beam was much more powerful than i expected. When walking in the forest and shining in among the dense forest the beam realy penetrates and reveals animals hidden, compared to when shining in the forest with a flashlight with a floodier beam and with less intensity. This light has a concentrated hotspot,and maybe you are looking for a light with less concentrated hotspot that are more floodier?

I have one on order, but really if you compare around, a light (and reflector) this size putting out 23k cd is actually quite competitive within it's class- not the best, but then again it's not is main feature.

NorthernStar said:

On the contrary to the op, i was overhelmed by the SRT7 throw when i received it! It had less floodlight than i expected,but the throw and the intensity of the beam was much more powerful than i expected. When walking in the forest and shining in among the dense forest the beam realy penetrates and reveals animals hidden, compared to when shining in the forest with a flashlight with a floodier beam and with less intensity. This light has a concentrated hotspot,and maybe you are looking for a light with less concentrated hotspot that are more floodier?

Click to expand...

LOL. some expected more throw while some were overwhelmed. just shows that people have different expectations and set of benchmarks

the laws of physics have to be obeyed, however, therefore a 40mm head like SRT7 is just gonna throw as much as other 40mm XML2 heads. the OP should probably a throwier 50mm+

Does it matter what batteries I use...I mean are some better than others? It came with nitecore 2600 mah 18650.

2600 or 3400, output won't be any different, just the runtime.

Let me add this too. I need this light for the throw too, but this thing is nowhere near 308 meters. I get great light within 100 meters. Anything further than that isn't really gonna work. I can see easily that this light will light up a reflective street sign 300 meters down the road, but you won't really get light out that far with this. It seems like the emitter could be pushed a bit more, but what do I know. Im still learning too, but I can count meters, and this thing works pretty great but for about 100 meters, but if you need more reach or lux after that, I would say try a different light. Good to see the opinions of this light are all over the place though.
dave

Not sure it would be the same but I have 3 snap on - blue point pen lights...out of the three the first one is by far better that the other two...and those two are not the same as each other....would a company like nitecore have the same results?

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item...roup_ID=681571&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

d.weglarz13 said:

Let me add this too. I need this light for the throw too, but this thing is nowhere near 308 meters. I get great light within 100 meters. Anything further than that isn't really gonna work. I can see easily that this light will light up a reflective street sign 300 meters down the road, but you won't really get light out that far with this. It seems like the emitter could be pushed a bit more, but what do I know. Im still learning too, but I can count meters, and this thing works pretty great but for about 100 meters, but if you need more reach or lux after that, I would say try a different light. Good to see the opinions of this light are all over the place though.
dave

Click to expand...

One thing it takes getting used to is INTERPRETATION of specs....

The specs for a light's out put involve Lumens (The total light send out the front) and the cd, which tells you the lux on a target at a given range.

The ANSI Specs, the ones all the makers include, DO help in comparisons, as at least they are all using the same measurement protocols and units....

BUT

The ANSI spec for throw is the range, in meters, that the beam intensity has dropped to 0.25 lux.

So, the intensity drops with range according to the inverse square law, meaning its essentially 4x dimmer at double the distance.


Now, close up, if your eyes are night adapted, you can see ok with 0.25 lux on what you are looking at. The problems with seeing things far away, is that to resolve details of distant objects, you need to use a small part of your cone of vision, and that small part (~ a 2º cone) has TERRIBLE night vision, poor motion tracking, etc....its almost night blind.

This is why you can look right AT something in a very dim room, and not see it, but, if you look to the side of it, you WILL see it with your peripheral vision...which sees in darkness more easily.


So, when you get out to ranges closer to the 200 meter range and on, vs closer than 100 meters, etc....you start to need proportionally more and more lux on the same object to be able to resolve it.

At ~ 200 meters or so, 0.25 lux is about enough to see the beam itself glowing off in the distance, but not typically enough to tell what's IN the beam per se. IE: You see the beam is ON something...and that's about it.

Most of us need closer to 1 - 5 lux to resolve details at the 200 - 300 meter range, and, a low contrast target can need many times that.

When calibrating shooting ranges for night shooting, guys could barely aim at high contrast paper targets at 200 M with ~ 1 lux, but could not even FIND rusty steel targets (Low contrast) at the same distance with 15 lux.

So when looking at the cd ratings of the lights, keep in mind that they were used to tell you the "Range in Meters", or, further calculated to show the range in yards (Sounds like a larger number, must be even better...) BASED upon the throw to that dim 0.25 lux spec


So if a light is rated at 23,256 cd, that means its giving you ~ 1 lux at ~ 150 meters.

Your observation that you were fine with it at 100 M or less means you are OK with closer to 2.3 lux as a reasonable level of illumination. (This puts YOU squarely in the fat part of the bell curve for the need for 1 - 5 lux at that range, right in the mid-pack range)

If you WANT ~ 2.3 lux on something ~ 300 meters away, that requires a much more powerful light....about 210,000 cd, WAY beyond what a SRT7 sized light can do on a practical basis.

You'd be looking at an aspherical light that put a small spot of light on distant targets, and/or a larger triple or quadruple 18650 powered light with a relatively large reflector, etc. At leas t in form factor if not in specifics.

The Olight SRT95U for example would be a stock light that could do that....for quite a few hundred $.

Vihn makes quite a few things that could do that, for hundreds less. Saabluster and other can do that too, for example the DEFTX has an over ONE MILLION cd rating, and is about the furthest throwing LED flashlight you can buy right now.

But a small flashlight that is powered by one 18650 in size, etc...is not going to get you there with a beam large enough to be very useful at least.

I thought my SRT7 threw very well for a 40mm head size light. My Army trek Predator XP-G2 has more throw and lux for a similar size light.
A light with a 60mm head would be your next step if you are looking for a lot better throw than the SRT7.
Olight M3X for example.

ZR900 said:

Not sure it would be the same but I have 3 snap on - blue point pen lights...out of the three the first one is by far better that the other two...and those two are not the same as each other....would a company like nitecore have the same results?

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item...roup_ID=681571&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

Click to expand...

I am wondering if this is a joke? Are you asking how close the pen light would be to the SRT7? If so, its not even close...the penlights are not in the same ball park at all...MUCH weaker in flood and throw.


If looking for something for camping though, you don't NEED much throw, and a floody light is typically much more useful, as are headlamps for example, as they leave your hands free for tasks.

The Zebralight SC600, or the right angled HC600 and the new Armytek Wizard are excellent for this, as they can be used as a small flashlight OR as a headlamp.

The Armytek is the floodier of those options.

wow. @Teej: thank you very much for that detailed explanation Sir. This breaks it down perfect for a newb-ish guy like me to understand.
dave

edit. i think that guy was referencing quality control maybe between his lights?

"same result"s as far as three of the same lights, same manufacture, all different performance...sorry if I wasn't clear. I guess "quality control" might be the words I was looking for???

TEEJ said:

I am wondering if this is a joke? Are you asking how close the pen light would be to the SRT7? If so, its not even close...the penlights are not in the same ball park at all...MUCH weaker in flood and throw.


If looking for something for camping though, you don't NEED much throw, and a floody light is typically much more useful, as are headlamps for example, as they leave your hands free for tasks.

The Zebralight SC600, or the right angled HC600 and the new Armytek Wizard are excellent for this, as they can be used as a small flashlight OR as a headlamp.

The Armytek is the floodier of those options.

Click to expand...

"same results" as far as three of the same lights, same manufacture, all different performance...sorry if I wasn't clear. I guess "quality control" might be the words I was looking for???

NorthernStar said:

On the contrary to the op, i was overhelmed by the SRT7 throw when i received it! It had less floodlight than i expected,but the throw and the intensity of the beam was much more powerful than i expected. When walking in the forest and shining in among the dense forest the beam realy penetrates and reveals animals hidden, compared to when shining in the forest with a flashlight with a floodier beam and with less intensity. This light has a concentrated hotspot,and maybe you are looking for a light with less concentrated hotspot that are more floodier?

Click to expand...

I'm pretty much in this camp. I know what a 20K cd throw beam looks like and kind of knew what to expect but even then, I was impressed with the output and flexibility. I'd like to see Nitecore really dial this light in to get the maximum out of 18650's but other than that, I have no complaints with them.


To the OP, now that you know what a 900 lumen class, 23K cd beam looks like, you can pick another with higher ANSI ratings next time. Whatever currently exceeds the SRT's ratings however, will likely have a larger aperture and use more cells.