Re: Whats your opinion on micra lenses and reflect
I have two Micras now. One with stock configuration, one modded with the IMS reflector plus a regular UCL.
I read of better throw with the stock optics, but I think otherwise after I did a side by side comparision with both Micras, this early morning about 5am, when it was raining heavily, and just then, about 11pm, and found that the following:
First lets divide the distance to three parts, short range, mid range and long range. Although the stock configuration has SLIGHTLY better throw, the hotspot is so small that at that "long range" you probably won't see much with that pathetic spot of light anyway. In other words, the beam throws far, but illuminates little, so it does not help a lot at long distance anyway, even thought it does throw far. Remember, its still a LED beam, so penetration through "obstacles" like foliage, fog, rain, etc is weak. At close to mid range, it lost out to the modded Micra, which has a better spill and bigger hotspot.
In contrast, the modded Micra has a more PRACTICAL beam. Yes, it loses out in the throw, but the hotspot is so much bigger at mid range so you get a bigger beam and the side spill is so much better for short range, so you get more general illumination at short range. Hence at short to mid range, it beats the stock configuration hands down. At long range, I keep my Micra and switch to an Xenon light for that purpose.
Before:
1)The stock optic gave uneven colours, there were bluish perimeter rings around and a slight greenish tone spill at the square shape of the beam. The X and square shape beam looks strange too.
2)Some Micras have the hotspot off centre.
3)In general the spill isn't good, its more of a "throw" type of beam.
After:
The IMS SO17XA reflector rectified these problems by
1) Being a reflector it gives a better distribution of colours, taking away the rings and greenish tones.
2) Giving a very nice circular spill with a concentrated hotspot in the centre instead of off center hotspots
3) Good spill for close area illumination.
With the UCL lens added, the enhancement in output is noticable, my modded micra throws as far, or perhaps better than the Micra with stock configuration.