Let me start this thread with some words about LED Lenser. I realise the community is somewhat divided on this topic, but I recently got myself a K2, a K3 and P6.2 to try them out after I was somewhat impressed by someone else's K3 they showed me. Before that, I'd only seen them in the "try me" blister packs and been generally unimpressed with them.
The following is a bit of a digression from my main point, so I'm going to indent it so you can skip over if necessary - read on if you're interested in my impression of these 3 LED Lenser lights.
So, if you read the above you'll see I actually kinda like the K3, but what I'd really like is something better made, with a single AAA or AA battery and an aspheric lens fixed in the flood position. That's right, flood, not throw. People seem to go out of their way to get custom aspheric throwers, but I don't see anyone talking about aspheric floodlights. Why not? The completely even beam profile is extremely useful and works very well in a small light. I'd really like one without the nasty chromatic aberration of the LED Lensers, preferably made out of glass, crystal or a very tough scratch-resistant plastic, AR coated, with no zoom and proper impact & water resistance. Does such a thing exist?
If such a thing does not exist, and this might be the wrong forum but I'll ask anyway: can one buy an aspheric lens off the shelf, and what is involved in modding a light to use one? Would it even be possible to do this if like me, you want fixed flood not throw?
The following is a bit of a digression from my main point, so I'm going to indent it so you can skip over if necessary - read on if you're interested in my impression of these 3 LED Lenser lights.
The P6.2 is not bad, possibly quite useful. I decided of the "full size" Lenser range it was the most practical, being 2xAA, it's not too big and produces enough light to be useful. The optics seem terrible if you actually look at them, with what looks like glue and cracks everywhere, but it works. The result is surprisingly good, despite some nasty chromatic aberration around the edges of the beam, but I've seen much worse from cheap LED lights and it's 100 times better than a Maglite. I've yet to actually try it properly outdoors, but I'm led to believe the throw should be quite impressive in that mode.
The K3 is perhaps the most useful and will be finding its way into my grab-and-go toolkit, basically for inspecting the insides of electronics and suchlike. In flood mode, the nice even beam profile is perfect for this, and because it's so small it's ideal for close up work. The main downside of this light is the batteries: 3 coin cells with a total runtime of about 30 minutes. Ouch.
The K2 is the most worthless piece of garbage it's been my misfortune to come across. The twisty head doesn't work properly, there's a wire sticking out of the tail. There is nothing to redeem this light. The only reason I still have it is that I bought it for so little that sending it back wouldn't have been worth the postage cost.
In the case of the K3 and P6 which are not nearly as awful as the K2, the build quality is certainly nothing to write home about. It's probably somewhere between a really cheap Chinese light with burrs everywhere and a somewhat better Chinese light. I'd perhaps call it competent. The threads seem pretty clean, parts seem to sit flush, etc. It's nowhere near the excellent quality you'd get with Sunwayman, Xeno, etc. The matte coating (I think it's a coating rather than some special anodisement, but I don't really know) is novel and probably aids the grip, but that's cancelled out by the poor knurling and I don't much like the feel of it. The tail clicky is functional, but feels cheap and "bouncy".
The K3 is perhaps the most useful and will be finding its way into my grab-and-go toolkit, basically for inspecting the insides of electronics and suchlike. In flood mode, the nice even beam profile is perfect for this, and because it's so small it's ideal for close up work. The main downside of this light is the batteries: 3 coin cells with a total runtime of about 30 minutes. Ouch.
The K2 is the most worthless piece of garbage it's been my misfortune to come across. The twisty head doesn't work properly, there's a wire sticking out of the tail. There is nothing to redeem this light. The only reason I still have it is that I bought it for so little that sending it back wouldn't have been worth the postage cost.
In the case of the K3 and P6 which are not nearly as awful as the K2, the build quality is certainly nothing to write home about. It's probably somewhere between a really cheap Chinese light with burrs everywhere and a somewhat better Chinese light. I'd perhaps call it competent. The threads seem pretty clean, parts seem to sit flush, etc. It's nowhere near the excellent quality you'd get with Sunwayman, Xeno, etc. The matte coating (I think it's a coating rather than some special anodisement, but I don't really know) is novel and probably aids the grip, but that's cancelled out by the poor knurling and I don't much like the feel of it. The tail clicky is functional, but feels cheap and "bouncy".
So, if you read the above you'll see I actually kinda like the K3, but what I'd really like is something better made, with a single AAA or AA battery and an aspheric lens fixed in the flood position. That's right, flood, not throw. People seem to go out of their way to get custom aspheric throwers, but I don't see anyone talking about aspheric floodlights. Why not? The completely even beam profile is extremely useful and works very well in a small light. I'd really like one without the nasty chromatic aberration of the LED Lensers, preferably made out of glass, crystal or a very tough scratch-resistant plastic, AR coated, with no zoom and proper impact & water resistance. Does such a thing exist?
If such a thing does not exist, and this might be the wrong forum but I'll ask anyway: can one buy an aspheric lens off the shelf, and what is involved in modding a light to use one? Would it even be possible to do this if like me, you want fixed flood not throw?
