Diffuser for Zebralights?

When I went on a campimg trip a little over a week ago, I used my PD40 with the Fenix AOD-M diffuser. It worked AWESOME as a tent light. But I've been thinking that, if I wish to travel lighter, I might want to carry a Zebralight rather than the PD40. Is there a good diffuser that will work for a typical Zebralight (SC32, SC52, SC62, etc)? I know Zebralight doesn't make one. But does someone else make one that will fit? The Fenix AOD-S seemed like it might. But it's too big.

Im not sure if there are diffusers for the Fenix PD32/35 but if there is I would imagine it would fit. Last ditch would be an opaque twist on plastic bottle top off of a bottle of Deer Park water or something similar dont laugh many here have ended up doing just that with like sized lights with great effect

The Fenix AOD-S might fit the mentioned ZL's.

I use the Klarus diffuser wand cut to a smaller length. It is made out of a rubber type material. The end is an open tube. If you don't want the light to shine out the end, glue it closed.

Lou Minescence said:

I use the Klarus diffuser wand cut to a smaller length. It is made out of a rubber type material. The end is an open tube. If you don't want the light to shine out the end, glue it closed.

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Have the traffic wand version. Like it a lot, although it does cover the switch on my SC600 MKII.

I took an old 35mm film canister,clear obviously and drilled the cap out the same size as the SC52 nose.
The thing weighs nothing and can sit pretty tight on the light and is a great diffuser overall!

Of course you need to find one first.

kj2 said:

Have the traffic wand version. Like it a lot, although it does cover the switch on my SC600 MKII.

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Yea it kind of protects the head of the light from scratches. And I can still find the switch because of the indentation. Works well.

AVService said:

I took an old 35mm film canister,clear obviously and drilled the cap out the same size as the SC52 nose.
The thing weighs nothing and can sit pretty tight on the light and is a great diffuser overall!

Of course you need to find one first.

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I'm bummed. I can only find black canisters so far. Still looking for clear.

I use diffusers a lot, and the best I have found for ZL's and most any other small light are the soft silicone versions sold by Fasttech. I used to get them from Intl' Outdoor but they seemed to have stopped carrying them?

They make two sizes and the small works for most small ZL's: SC52, SC32, SC62, and SC5 *(even though a little tight on the SC5). They work very well since they stretch to fit the odd contours of the ZL head's fins and raised switch shroud. At a $1 a piece you can buy a bunch in diff sizes and keep em' everywhere since they adapt to fit most any small light.

cyclesport said:

I use diffusers a lot, and the best I have found for ZL's and most any other small light are the soft silicone versions sold by Fasttech. I used to get them from Intl' Outdoor but they seemed to have stopped carrying them?

They make two sizes and the small works for most small ZL's: SC52, SC32, SC62, and SC5 *(even though a little tight on the SC5). They work very well since they stretch to fit the odd contours of the ZL head's fins and raised switch shroud. At a $1 a piece you can buy a bunch in diff sizes and keep em' everywhere since they adapt to fit most any small light.

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Yesterday I bought a ZL SC5w OP directly from ZebraLight. I also purchased a bunch of wands and diffusers from FastTech for a 25.4 mm head: the silicone diffuser recommended by cyclesport, and also the Nitecore NTW25 (traffic wand), NDF25 (cone diffuser), and NFD25, NFR25, NFB25, and NFG25 (variously colored filters).

Has anyone had experience trying to fit plastic Nitecore diffusers on the SC5? I hadn't noticed the odd contours of the head and switch before, and still have time to revise my order with FastTech if those items wouldn't work.

I like my ZLs since they are so small and minimal. I thought about modding a diffuser from another light to fit, but even just a slight bit of protrusion annoyed me, especially having it in my thin hiking pants pocket - or I'd worry about it getting ripped off putting it in or out of tight jeans pockets, etc. I just went ahead and got a roll of that DC fix stuff, self stick window diffuser film. It works good enough, though one layer isn't probably as diffuse as most diffusers (you could always add another layer). I cut out a small circle, with a bit of a tab left on it to easily peel it off later. When I don't need it I peel it off and stick it to the battery so it's still with the light at all times. However I ended up getting a full flood light (H502) and use that for reading and close up work and haven't put a diffuser back on any of my other ZLs since. Most here seem to like the more diffuse beam, but other than for reading and a few close up things I'd just as soon have the regular beam.

Alba said:

... I bought a ZL SC5w OP directly from ZebraLight. I also purchased a bunch of wands and diffusers from FastTech for a 25.4 mm head: the silicone diffuser recommended by cyclesport, and also the Nitecore NTW25 (traffic wand), NDF25 (cone diffuser), and NFD25, NFR25, NFB25, and NFG25 (variously colored filters).

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I received the Nitecore diffusers, wands, and filters that I ordered, as well as the FastTech silicone diffuser. I found the silicone diffuser to be a very tight fit -- for me, it took a lot of stretching to get onto the ZebraLight SC5 and is definitely not something I could easily pop on in the dark. On the contrary, I personally would recommend all of the Nitecore products that fit a 1-inch (25.4-mm) head. In a rush, the traffic wand sometimes goes on slightly skewed because of the switch housing, but it can easily be adjusted to point straight. All of these fit without trouble and can be jammed securely onto the flashlight. I'd recommend these for anyone looking to modify the light coming from an SC5.

olight TW10-O (orange)

TW10-W (you guessed it, white)

The TW10-W is also glow-in-the-dark... so it could be "charged" with a burst of light and then provide some super low "map reading" light... not sure how bright it glows or for how long... but it could be an additional useful feature.

holygeez03 said:

The TW10-W is also glow-in-the-dark.

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Based on our collective experiences, it seems any accessory that fits a 1-inch (25.4-mm) head should work well with the SC5. I might pick up the Olight TW10 wands, especially because GITD is a cool feature -- it might be useful in the field, making it easier to find the wand inside a dark bag, by sweeping light around and seeing what glows.

Some reviews on Battery Junction indicate the plastic for Olight wands is fragile. Have any of you experienced this?

Do you by chance have the thrunite T10T? It comes with a wand-type diffuser, best kind I have used. It is an AA light. Very small and light. Great moonlight mode for camping. Just hang it from the top of the tent and forget about it.
The aluminum T10 is less than $30.

Alba said:

I received the Nitecore diffusers, wands, and filters that I ordered, as well as the FastTech silicone diffuser. I found the silicone diffuser to be a very tight fit -- for me, it took a lot of stretching to get onto the ZebraLight SC5 and is definitely not something I could easily pop on in the dark. On the contrary, I personally would recommend all of the Nitecore products that fit a 1-inch (25.4-mm) head. In a rush, the traffic wand sometimes goes on slightly skewed because of the switch housing, but it can easily be adjusted to point straight. All of these fit without trouble and can be jammed securely onto the flashlight. I'd recommend these for anyone looking to modify the light coming from an SC5.

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Do you happen to have any pictures of the nitecore diffuser on the zebralight?

Alba said:

Based on our collective experiences, it seems any accessory that fits a 1-inch (25.4-mm) head should work well with the SC5. I might pick up the Olight TW10 wands, especially because GITD is a cool feature -- it might be useful in the field, making it easier to find the wand inside a dark bag, by sweeping light around and seeing what glows.

Some reviews on Battery Junction indicate the plastic for Olight wands is fragile. Have any of you experienced this?

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The Olight diffuser wand you mention are weak and likely to crack and break. I have broken two of them. They do work well as a diffuser besides breaking.

I hear there's been some diffusin' going on around here.




I got the 20-25mm silicone diffusers from Fasttech. These seem to work great and stay on tight on the SC52 and 62.

The Olight TW10-W(pictured third from left) works fine as a tail stander but I would think it would fall off too easy otherwise. I bought two of them but one found the floor and I stepped on it and it is no longer usable. It is kind of brittle.

Uprightman said:

Do you happen to have any pictures of the nitecore diffuser on the zebralight?

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I did take a couple of photos for you. However, I can't upload them here -- dragging-and-dropping failed, and linking to flickr didn't work either. Very frustrating. But I can assure you that the Nitecore NTW25 and and NDF25 fit well on my Zebralighit SC5w op. I've use them regularly outdoors to cross busy streets and indoors to read at night -- highly recommended.

However, as I mentioned above, the FastTech silicone diffuser is a difficult fit and I definitely do not recommend it for the SC5w.

In addition, I just received Olight TW10-O and TW10-W diffusers today. They do not fit at all on my SC5. A couple of posts up, Overclocker shows one that fits nicely on his SC52. I guess the outer diameters of the SC5 and SC52 are different. In fact, I would say the outer diameters for these Olight diffusers is virtually the same as the outer diameter of my SC5 -- of course, in order for the diffuser to fit, the inner diameter of the diffuser would have to match the outer diameter of the flashlight.