Challenge Week #3: Throwers Only! Got Throw??

[Stress_Test]

Thrower: A light with a beam profile which concentrates most of the output into a center "hot spot", to send more intensity far down range for distant illumination. The D and C cell Maglites are well-known examples of this type of light.

Good for lighting things far away; not so good for lighting things that are only a few feet in front of you, since the spill beam tends to be overpowered by the much brighter hotspot, which is very small at close range.

The Challenge: This week, use only "thrower" types of lights! It can be any number of lights, any output range, but the lights used must all have the "thrower" beam profile.

Techno-babble:

Don't base this on lux numbers alone! Many recent lights have high lux numbers just because they have a huge lumen output, but the beam profile is actually more of a flood light! The beam profile of a thrower should look more like this:

TK20


TK12


Stock SureFire 6P incan module (6V) in a SolarForce host


These old-school examples should give the idea. There are many lights out there right now being marketed as "throwers" but if you look at their Lux-to-Lumen ratio, it's actually less (often significantly less) than the lights above. For example, the TK20 has been measured at about 6000 lux on its 150 lumen output. So Lux/Lumen = 40. You can use that as a rough guide to see how effective any given "thrower" really is.

Many newer lights that I checked have ratios more like 15 lux/lumen, so a true thrower may be harder to find than you think!

---------------------------------

The challenge this week will make us get creative at using a thrower beam for all tasks, not just long range/outdoor use. Using beam modifiers (diffusers, tape, etc) is NOT allowed. --edited to change this from original post, after reconsideration; see later posts below.

Rules list can be found in the first post here (I added an item as an addendum to the original set):

Link to Thread with Rules List

That's it! Have fun!

[Katherine Alicia]

Hmm... this is going to be a tricky one for me

Almost all my throwers are for outdoor use so I haven`t changed the emitters to a more pleasant tint <4000k except for my SF11 and that`s a nice 3500k, but it`s Big! the FT03 is out the question, the C8 is like 5000k so out the question as well, a LEP would be silly! and my FF4 HID would be annoying because of the warm up delay.
I can do the Surefire p60 dropin though! and maybe use the Original Mk1 Manker E02 with the reflector, or maybe swap the carclo lens in my d4v2 out for the narrow beam one that I don`t use. I have a 2D mag halogen but again, it`s Big!
I have a 26650 Zoomie that I did a nice 4000k emitter swap with, if zoomies are allowed? (I can`t beleive I just admitted to owning a Zoomie in public! )

I really need to think hard about this one.

[Olumin]

Hm.. Since I just used my 6P in the first challenge, it would be boring to rely on it again for this one. All depends on whether or not you consider the Fury (15/500) a trower or not. I certainly would. It throws further then many 1000 lumen lights Ive seen. Since I got it not too long ago, this would be a good opportunity to give it some more use.

[Dark Attic Works]

Excellent! I guess I'll probably be using Surefire E1B and L1 a lot this week. The Aviators are pretty throwy too... I'll try to post some pics.

[Jean-Luc Descarte]

I have three lights with throwy profiles: a Convoy C8 XM-L2 with OP reflector, one M2 SST-20 with smooth, and an S2+ SST20 with smooth as well. All three have pencil beams, but I don't know their lux/lumen ratio and have no way of measuring it.

EDIT: You know what, heck, I'll do this one with those three. Even if one doesn't technically match the specs, at least it can be in the spirit of things And it will be a welcome break from the pure flood of the EDC01. I'm missing having a hotspot in my beam by now.

I'll get started at sunset, as per last week. 7-day streak, incoming!

[bykfixer]

Pencil beam week will be like freestyle week for me. Flooder week would be the one where I'd struggle with in stock items.

Time to dust off those Luxeon lights.


Good week to get my mind wrapped around this tiny tosser.
Manker T01. T is for tosser.
Long press for off freaks me out everytime. It's how it ended up in my collection. The previous owner haaaaaaaaated the interface and sent it to me. It's one of those 8355 lumen numbers for 12 seconds on a special battery that settles to a normal output after that. I stuck a Rayovac in it and giggle like a second grader after burping the national anthem when it lights up my neighbors shed 300 feet away.

[nbp]

I really enjoyed the last two, but this one I will have to sit out. I favor balanced beams, leaning toward flood. My only true thrower is too large for pocket duty. I will enjoy using some of my favorite lights again this week as I cheer you on from the sidelines.

[theinvisibleman]

this should be interesting

[theinvisibleman]

I say YES !

[novice]

I could just continue using the same light I used all this week, the SF E1L, but I'm wanting to not only work my Jetbeam and Ra Clicky back into my rotation, but I've got some new-to-me lights I want to play with, so I'm out.

[jabe1]

I have to sit this one out. There are too many times throughout the week that I need a very physically small light, can’t get a maglite or a DBS to work at all.

[Jean-Luc Descarte]

I have to sit this one out. There are too many times throughout the week that I need a very physically small light, can’t get a maglite or a DBS to work at all.

As it says in the challenge rules thread:

2. You can carry additional lights etc for emergency needs in support of rule #1.

a. For example, if your job requires some particular light use outside of what the "challenge light" can do, that's okay. However! Report any such usage by posting in the challenge thread, so your fellow flashaholics can judge you innocent or guilty

But in the end, it's your choice

[bykfixer]

One of the things I enjoy about these challenges is the chance to use lights I don't really think about that much. Shelf queens and blast from the past numbers. In this one my brain has been contemplating which lights I own with the most throw versus lumens. And the two I really like for this one but tend to forget are from around 2015.


The Streamlight and Menards
The Streamlight Multi-Ops was an a/c repairmans light with a 40 lumen LED with 2000+ candella, a red pointer and a 390nm UV for finding refrigerant leaks. It easily lights objects well at 50-100 feet. The Menards is a wooden 1 watt 2aa number that easily throws a beam 100 feet.

The idea was to have the roster by sundown today (6pm) so those two, the Manker from an earlier post for regular use, a Pelican 2390 for backup and the Elzetta aa I use for a night light for it's ability to reach the opposite end of my house with 1.5 lumens.

And so it begins.

As a side, when Mrs Fixer and I take our evening strolls this week I'll carry a Maglite ML100 for it's 23,000+ cd at 137 lumens.

Edit: if anybody reading this participated in the M61N 4L group buy and are having trouble finding a thrower the SST20 is pretty throwey.


Brinkmann MaxFire with patriotic "glove" by Mrs. Fixer.
End edit

[Dark Attic Works]

bykfixer, can you share more about this Elzetta aa?

[bykfixer]

Sure. On high it has a pretty broad, conical shaped beam where the medium has a good throw without all of the spill. On low it tosses a beam forward with enough spill that keeps me from goose stepping into furniture.


The specs.


What the burglar sees on low.


Up close spot vs spill on low at 1 foot.

[bigburly912]

Impossible for me. Good luck to everyone!

[theinvisibleman]

How about a torch that can throw at HOT spot 75-100 yards away?

[Stress_Test]

Heh heh. My new drop-in for the Maglite arrived just in time for this challenge

It is the "LiteXpress LXB430 2Mode LED" for 2-cell Mags, C and D models. Rated at 430 / 40 lumens. 18 bucks, made in Germany.

These PR replacements pretty much look the same, but the hold-down ring on this thing is aluminum (for better heat-sinking maybe?)

I have no idea what LED this might be. The dome is actually clear, but it reflects the die surface all through it. No visible bond wires in the LED die itself, like you see on an XM-L, for example.



Sooo, this is thrower week, but a Mag can be flood and throw both... hmmm. Also, the beam tends to be ugly when in full throw mode.... hmm, what to do?? If only there was an easy way to change the beam profile...

Oh look, here's the old Task Force 2C light that came with a TIR lens!



The lens is screwed into the aluminum bezel; maybe it could be removed with the right tool? Doesn't matter though for what I've got in mind. (wish I had gotten a better photo; it's tough photographing a clear piece of plastic surrounded by shiny aluminum!)

So, let's just take the reflector out of the 2C Mag, install the new drop-in, balance the TIR lens on top if it, then screw the head assembly back in place! The head can screw all the way down, and the spring-loaded action of the bulb tower holds the TIR optic in place against the Mag lens. It's a bit loose; it can be knocked off center a bit, but a whack or two against the palm will re-center it.

Shown next to my Quark Turbo-X Neutral (XM-L running a 16650 Li-ion)



From the outside you don't notice anything different unless you look in the lens.




And now, beamshot comparison! The Turbo-X is rated something like 400 lumens I think?? (left side) I don't know if anyone measured one of these for sure. The right side is the Mag, on two white-wrap Eneloops, that were about 1.35v each. Current draw started at 1.6 amps, then decreased slowly to about 1.4A and staying mostly steady. Hard to say if that was battery sag, or if the module was heating. The package states "temperature controlled" so presumably there's some protection there.



I know it's hard to tell from the photo, but the Mag hotspot was just a little less bright (verified with the pixel brightness values in a photo editor). The Mag's hotspot is bigger though. However, the Turbo-X has brighter spill. That TIR optic seems very efficient at sending most of the output into a center beam and not losing much to side spill. The Turbo-X is brighter overall but I could still believe that the LiteXpress drop-in is still putting out 300+ lumens.

Not bad!!

[bykfixer]

The worlds premier of a whak-a-palm Maglite.
Another first, only here at CPF.

Got out the Pelican 2390 and my gosh……Raining cats and dogs but it was never this fun getting soaked by 45 degree rain.


Before
Plenty of free lumens in my area.


The neighbors shed


The Manker T01 on high using a Rayovac.
Hard to imagine a 1aa light tossing a beam like that using a plain vanilla battery but there it was.

I remembered why I put the T01 on a shelf. It loses low mode at times or gets stuck in some kind of rescue mode where it flashes in strobe, sos and and beacon mode. This evening it was stuck in rescue mode for a while and following instructions I was able to get it into some kind of hidden modes. After a while I changed batteries and it operated normal. Put back battery I was using and again acting normal.
Weird.

[CanAm]

I'm joining the mag club for this one with a 2d Ml300. So far so good...

[Stress_Test]

The worlds premier of a whak-a-palm Maglite.
Another first, only here at CPF.

............

Well sort of... the whack-a-palm description normally means you have to do that to make the light work again. The TIR/Mag combo doesn't quit working or anything if the lens slides out of place a bit. It can only go so far before it bumps the LED dome and stops. It turns out the alignment of lens to LED isn't as critical as I thought.

If I wanted a more robust install, I'd try some kind of low-strength, soft adhesive like caulk, or maybe RTV, to hold the TIR lens.

It does have the disadvantage of still having to shoot through the stock Mag plastic lens, so that's causing some lumen loss. And by the way, the 40 lumen low mode has bad (slow) pulse-width-modulation; ugh. I'd only be using that in a pinch, I think.

By the way, you must have very understanding neighbors to be able to shine your lights around like that without causing trouble!

[bykfixer]

That neighbor is a flashaholic too. Well so long as the flashlight is $35 or less. He has dozens of $15-25 lights.

If you decide to go permanent with your Mag-mod flashlight lens dot com has some ultraclear acrylic numbers already cut for Maglites.

[bigburly912]

I said I was out on this one but I didn’t have a single piece of equipment to inspect at work and the only light I used all week was my mag ML300lx so technically I guess I completed this one haha

[Slumber Pass]

Cell phone flashlight challenge! [emoji23]

[Katherine Alicia]

I`m Sooo not walking around with my portable electric telephone to light things up! I`d be afraid my Real lights would attack me in the middle of the night for such heresy!

[Jean-Luc Descarte]

Cell phone flashlight challenge! [emoji23]

What?!

Aw heck naw, no sir!

[Katherine Alicia]

Of All the things that`s never going to happen, that`s never going to happen the most!

[bigburly912]

I think we should do it. The rest of these aren’t even challenges

[Stress_Test]

I think we should do it. The rest of these aren’t even challenges

Next up, the Disney Princess Flashlight challenge!

[bykfixer]

I have a GI Joe light if that counts……