X200 beam and orientation question

I just received my first X200 friday and according to all the beamshots and posts I've read the hotspot is supposed to be diamond shaped. Mine is square, ie the hotspot is rotated 45 degrees from what would otherwise be a diamond shape. Did I get a bad one? Has anyone else seen this before? Also, the hotspot (square) has a greenish yellow outline as well as a greenish yellow line going down the middle of it. Kinda looks like 3 greenish yellow vertical lines superimposed on a white square hotspot. Is this normal?

The build quality and size of this light is awesome but I expected more from the beam. My ITI M2 and M6 weaponlights blow this one away in lumen output and beam quality.

stingray,

All of the X200's I've seen have the same basic beam you have described. Certainly if the LED is mounted 45 degrees off from your sample, you will get the diamond beam. The X200 optic is providing a focused image of the die and that is why you are seeing some artifacts. Those lines are the nulls between the die segments. You should have a "grill" of four illuminated segments with three "null" lines seperating them. The LED's are still not up to competing with Incan's but from a 1" diameter bezel, the X200 provides a greater throw for an LED than anything else I have seen. Increase the diameter of the optic or reflector and the story will change.....

Thanks for the info McGizmo, I was wondering if mine was atypical. I actually have a "grill" of two illuminated segments with a greenish yellow line in the middle and on each end. I had a chance to play with it in the back yard and the throw is very good as you said, rivaling an MN03, with much less spill light however. It doesn't outthrow my new 5 watt inexpensive "Lifestyle/Nuwai" light that I picked up last week though. I'm pretty impressed with that light too...good bang for the buck. However, that light is much bigger with a bigger bezel and is 9 volts too. The X200 is very sleek and attractive looking when mounted on my HK USP 40. It's a whole new look for weapon lights. It's not that apparent until you actually mount it. It also rides in the pocket nicely as an EDC light too, and an E series beamshaper turns it into a nice white flood light. The beamshaper even adds to the weaponslight function of the light for indoor use/home protection. Still, my mind's not made up as to what the best weaponslight is for a home defense gun in my case. Time will tell as I use it more. I'm guessing it's a 3 watt, not a 5, based on output. The ITI M2 has been an excellent performer on the range so far. But there's always that nagging fear of a bulb blowing at the worst possible time in a real scenario, even though I'm still on the first bulb after many rounds.

Hi Stingray:

In the picture here, you can kind of see the grid lines and the diamond pattern. I put the X200 on a table when I took this picture (the rails were acting as "feet").

As Don mentioned, the optic doesn't hide the die and artifacts, so that part is normal.

Hmmm....mine looks like that only rotated 45 degrees to the left, so it's a square instead of a diamond. Actually it's a rectangle with a height slightly longer than the width. Mine also has a grid line down the middle as well as on each side. I guess Surefire doesn't orient the LED the same in every light.

Thanks for the link, nice pic.