Spill or Throw (again)?

When I turn on my lights at night I get a kick out of being able to put a dot of light up in a tree 100 yards away, I'm not sure why, but I do. So I can relate with the basic coolness of a long throwing light. Generally speaking though I find spill more usefull. I'm curious as to what beam characteristics folks find useful and why.

I like them both in the same light.

The Streamlight TL-2, and TL-3 LEDs are wonderful in this respect. A nice hot spot, with tremendous wide, uniform spill.

Like JohnK, I want most of my lights to have both. Decent hotspot and spill for a multitask light. Then again sometimes the spot is too bright for close up work and other times there is too much light "wasted" in the side spill. I like lights that compensate this with various (at least two)levels of intensity. I still keep a flood light handy for indoor use only (something with several 5mm led's) and also have a "thrower" to take outside when I need to spot something far away. When it comes to multi-purpose lights, something with spot and spill (like a LuxIII in a small reflektor) is hard to beat.

Chrisse

I agree^^^.
I think, as an example, one of the reasons the Nuwai QIII is being accepted so well, is its marvelous reflector.
A great compromise.

If you like to see your flashlight's beam piercing up into the night sky, spill light just spoils it in most cases. It throws an area of light onto the ground in front of you that reduces the contrast that helps your beam stand out. I always say you can use a "fingerflector" with a tightbeamed light to get all the spill you want a lot easier than you can turn a light with a lot of spill into a thrower.

Overall, I prefer all of my lights to have more spill than throw. For the things I'm doing around the house or working on my car, spill is the most useful for me.

I agree, smooth spill, with a bright hotspot. And then adjustable for when the hotspot would have been too bright on high.

You use spill for close up work, and the hotspot for the distance beyond that. Its like two lights in one. Adjustable gives you as many levels of adjustment times two.

Well, as most members would, both in the same light (while running forever on cheap batteries /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif ) is great but between the two, I generally prefer throw for outdoor use and huge spill for indoor use. On my EDC light, I like a balance but would lean towards spill in an ideal world.

Basically, LED_ASAP's ARC AAA mod seems like the ideal light for me. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif

What Chrisse said. Spill for indoors or closeup stuff but *thrrrrrow* for outdoor stuff (I wanna see those hyenas from a distance!)

Forget the spill!! Throw is all that matters!!!!!!!!!!!!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif


ps. I guess for indoors spill is ok though.

I tend more and more to believe that the corona is the deciding factor here. More precise ... the lux-ratio hotspot vs. corona.
If I can have a bright and tight corona that throws a little AND is still visible (=useful) in low mode instead of a single pale spot with a corona that faded into oblivion .... then the light is truly an alrounder and useful for both flood and throw AND lower modes of illumination. Prime examples are the Aleph2 and 3 reflectors .... I really didn't like throw at all and always preferred flood, but the ALeph3 is the throw-king in its class, and I still like it ... bercause of the bright corona.

And this is the main problem of the Aleph1 / PR / so17xa reflectors ... cool throw and wide spill ... but the spill is weak compared to the hotspot and it is uncomfortable for viewing in close range because of the huge contrast AND in low mode the spill is basically gone.

bernhard

I'm a real sucker for throw, my Thor doesn't have enough for me.. I would LOVE to have a Maxabeam /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif.
But in real use, extreme throw is not needed for me, just good balance in throw/spill and even less throw for indoors (think L4).

i don't really care for throw 99% of the time. then there's the 1% when i use a cheap rechargable 1,000,000cp Vector spotlight to scan treeline's or whatever.

i don't think i own a single light that throws. you would drown in my flood... light./ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif

Edit:
okay okay, it was a real pleasure owning a Blaster 3 and FT3C. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

What GreenLed and Kiessling said.

If I have to choose one way or the other, I'd go for throw...since I could always diffuse the beam or simply shine it on ceiling for lighting, but I can't make a flood light throw.

Flood for indoors, throw for outdoors unless it's sole purpose is a walking light then flood is ok...

You made some great points bernhard. Have you seen any comparison shots of beams at say 10 feet between the Aleph's ?
I'd also be really curious to see one with the lionheart.

I like my ProMag 3 Watt Led Flashlight, as it can be focused to a tight spot I can hit the top of a pine tree 175 ft away and yet is has good usable spill

Why not have both?

The truly excellent reflectors offer both. Surefires being the best combination of both throw and flood.

Pelican M6 LED reflectors offer both too, but seem to be a little more tuned to throw. Excellent flawless beam quality like a Surefire though.

If I can only have one, give me flood. But in most cases, one can get both (if you don't mind sacrificing--when you get both you lose having one or the other being outstanding--instead you compromise and have both be good).

The beams that are pure throw with little useful sidespill I find practically useless. At close range, a bright tiny spot is too bright and small to be useful, and at further ranges they do okay at distance, but don't light up enough area for my liking.

I lean a little more toward flood than throw. Most of my outdoor use is in the woods, and vivibility is rarely more than 50 yards. So just for a ball park criteria, I like to be able to see if a deer has antlers at 50 yards. And I expect to light up the entire deer (6ft. hot spot?) at that range. This is too far for a regular 2D flashlight or a Luxeon 1. It's met by a 3 cell mag, a surefire 6P, or most Lux3 lights. The dimmer lights like the 3 cell mag need a tight focus. I prefer a light with enough output so that a wide beam meets this criteria. Most 4 cell lanterns work fine, but the trend is to too tight a beam on those lights, rendering them useless up close.

I need both. Aleph2 and Aleph3. I do not expect one light to handle both as well as one dedicated to either. So I carry two lights. But if I have to choose. I pick flood because I would rather find something I dropped than spot a creature about to attack from yards away. Because I assume I would find myself in a situation where I dropped something more than the other. However, I normally pick a 3 watt led to a 5 watt for more throw and focus ability.

fleegs