What high end compact lights have the option for the beam to focus or flood ?

I'm surprised they all don't offer that, kind of like the old Maglites did, it probably wouldn't be that hard. I got a Fenix E20 last night and it has a pretty tight focus which allows them to spec it at over 200 meters, but a little more flood effect would be better for a general purpose flashlight. Now if this was a tactical light I could understand the distance and concentrated beam thing.

Are there many higher end LED brands that allow a focused or flooding option?

Coast, Portland has some nice looking Focusing Beam lights. Can't tell if they are "high-end" as I do not own any, but may be worth a look.

The Coast are not high end, but are plenty durable.

The Elzetta Alpha has a nice spread beam with gentle spot. And if you dig on 180° of flood you can purchase a flood lens for $10.

When I want good distance I use my Coast HP7 rechargeable. It spot lights 500' easily and can adjust to a decent flood.

If I want to light my garage without blinding myself the Alpha is great for that.

Now if you want to light up say 300' with a nice flood the Malkoff MD2 fits the bill. The low setting is great for 99% of your edc needs, but on high it's a whopper of a light.

The high end makers go for max durability and water tightness. Zoomers don't do well attached to shotguns, nor are they good at swimming.

Dr. Tweedbucket said:

I'm surprised they all don't offer that, kind of like the old Maglites did, it probably wouldn't be that hard. I got a Fenix E20 last night and it has a pretty tight focus which allows them to spec it at over 200 meters, but a little more flood effect would be better for a general purpose flashlight. Now if this was a tactical light I could understand the distance and concentrated beam thing.

Are there many higher end LED brands that allow a focused or flooding option?

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My Noctigon Meteor M43 is floody, but has enough punch do to a couple hundred yards. It does so through brute force. This way, you don't have to fiddle with focus and have a broad field of view.

The downside to having tight focus is limited field of view, you have to pan around a lot. It makes searching more annoying and time consuming.

Wide throw only, FTW!

Some have optional diffusers. Be they built in, flip down or screw on, that will turn a throw type into a nice floody beam. Eagletac has their kits and built in diffuser lights. Surefire has flip down ones. The Surefire will likely work on others. Pretty sure other brands have some kind of diffuser attachment for thier lights as well as colored lenses. Or if you actually mean really high end there are ones like the Spy Tri-V which have it all in one, spot, flood and general purpose dedicated led's.

Almost all of the Led Lenser lights are focusable.

The lights they produce aren't as high lumen'd as Fenix, Nitecore, Olight or some of the other Chinese branded lights, but all of the focusing versions cost way more than a traditional fixed focus light.

Other than a few lights made by LL, the LL line of lights is a big user of AA and AAA batteries. The ones that don't use AA, AAA batteries, use proprietary battery packs.

Just make sure genuine(lenser) as one of the more counterfeit brands ...........ever!

I like my t7.2, yep a meager 320lm on burst and an ever decreasing 250lm high which is not that noticeable on eneloops. Totally usable down to 70-80lm imo and that takes a few hours use........

Like the option of locking the head in your desired zoom/focus over the p7.2. Nice mat finish which does show up oils n stuff as expected.


Other than that, lights like the jax Z1 makes a good option,money no object(high end so to speak)then lenser x21r.2...........ouch!!!!

more_vampires said:

My Noctigon Meteor M43 is floody, but has enough punch do to a couple hundred yards. It does so through brute force. This way, you don't have to fiddle with focus and have a broad field of view.

The downside to having tight focus is limited field of view, you have to pan around a lot. It makes searching more annoying and time consuming.

Wide throw only, FTW!

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Yeah, I didn't realize I'm more of a floody kind of guy. If I can't have an adjustable light, I'd go for a high powered flood.


soo MD2, M43 and Lenser ... thanks, I'll check em out.

May check the Fenix FD40

LensLight?







Barry

Actually I'm testing the Nextorch P2 AAA.

Will post a review of this light later.

Tac Gunner said:

May check the Fenix FD40

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^This

BarryG said:

LensLight?







Barry

Click to expand...

+100

despite having 1000 lumens out of an XP-L HI and extravagant lens system and only throwing 22500 CD with 1000 CD for flood I guess the new Fenix FD would be the highest end variable focus compact light. I myself am pretty disappointed the Fenix FD is two hand twist to focus and despite its 1000 lumen output from an XP-L HI the light only manages 22500 CD throw and 1000 CD flood. Good thing it is only $79. Have several cheap Coast and their more expensive LED Lenser counterparts that may be old tech but still do the variable focus thing far better than the new FD does. My $50 Coast HP7 Pro at 360 lumens still has 3000 more throw CD and a much better flood beam by simply pushing or pulling the head with one hand. I look at the FD and cant help but think it is missing an extension tube. Old habits die hard I guess. I am sure Fenix will sell lots of FD's....

Cool Fall Tri-V
McGizmo Lunasol 20 and 27 (no longer made)