Mineral vs. UCL glass vs. polycarbonate?

milkyspit

Flashlight Enthusiast
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Sep 21, 2002
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New Jersey
I was going to replace the polycarbonate lenses in my Brinkmann 2AA lights with those UCL lenses from Flashlightlens.com, but before doing so... I'm confused. (It's not hard to confuse me.) What are the differences between the UCL lenses and those mineral (or was it sapphire?) lenses that dat2zip sells on his site? Is a mineral lens as light transmissive as UCL? Is it tougher, less prone to shatter? More scratch resistant? And how do both of these compare to polycarbonate beyond the expected "they're much better"... I'd like to understand the properties of these three types of lenses.

Oh, and THANKS! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

Mark_Larson

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Apr 21, 2003
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MN
I don't know if you're going to notice the difference - 8% difference is a very tiny amount, and unless you're solely interested in "benchmarking", you won't be anywhere near the cost-benefit curve with one. Maybe the glass ones at the Shoppe, for $ 1.50, but not the UCL ones.

Plus glass lenses are more likely to shatter/break, which seals the deal for me.

Anyway, the difference between the two at the Shoppe is that the Sapphire one is more scratch-resistant.
 

cheesehead

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Oct 29, 2003
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the dairy state
I would break your current lens with a hammer (ok, I guess you could just remove it too) and see if you can notice a difference.

I would stick with polycarbonate unless it gets scratched up, then I would go with glass. But if the glass breaks, then you need to go with the polycarbonate, unless the polycarbonate gets scratched up, then go back to glass,...

hardness, like ML said, ordinary glass, mineral glass and finally sapphire glass is the hardest. I think they all shatter as easily. Light transmittance is likely to differ by a few percent and imperceptible.

personally, I like glass, since you can clean it and it doesn't get scratched up as easily. If it breaks, C'est la vie.
 

markus_i

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Apr 24, 2003
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Ulm, Germany
[ QUOTE ]
cheesehead said:
...
I would stick with polycarbonate unless it gets scratched up, then I would go with glass. But if the glass breaks, then you need to go with the polycarbonate, unless the polycarbonate gets scratched up, then go back to glass,...


[/ QUOTE ]

Well, there's an easy solution to that. Get a CVD (Diamond) coated polycarbonate lens /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif

Bye
Markus


P.S. No, I don't know where to get that either, unless you work in a relevant university/optics/materials lab (which I don't...)
 

Gene

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Dec 19, 2000
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Dunsmuir, Ca.
I can attest to the durability of the B270 lenses Milky. I've had them in an old mag and my G2's and they have stood up to rough use. I also like wiping them when they're dirty and not having to worry about scratches. Sapphire is great but way too expensive.
 
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