Impact 2

Anyone else get one of these yet?
I just picked one up yesterday and it seems like a pretty nice light so far. The pocket clip looks like it would be weak and snap off easily but it holds on pretty well to my jeans pocket and doesn't feel weak. The beam is a very nice, intense (for a single led) spot that in rough eyeball testing rivals my Reactor on lithiums for distance. Surprisingly it still has a decent amount of spill light (indoors anyhow, haven't tested outdoors yet, it gets cold at night ). There is some spill light through the barrel similar to that of the Attitude but that's never been a problem for me. Some people may need both hands to turn the light on but after a few months of useing: Tec 40, Attitude, and blast, my finger muscles seem to be up the task of easy one handed on/off. I haven't tried to see how tough it is yet, I just can't seem bring myself to purposely hurt my lights.

I picked up the Impact II while I was getting an Attitude for a christmas gift, but the more I used the Impact 2 the more I wondered if it would make a better christmas gift for non-flashaholics then the Attitude, mainly because the Impact II has a beam thats visible even in reasonably bright conditions where the Attitudes output would be almost undetectable. The Impact 2 will also light up a spot on the far wall more clearly then the Attitude, which might be more impressive to some individuals. I kept trying to pick which would be a better light an Attitude or Impact 2, and I couldn't decide. They seem to compliment each other well. Maybe I'll give out some of each. All in all yet another product from Princeton Tec that I'm very happy with.

I just picked one up a couple hours ago. So far, I used it for a short walk, for which it works very well. You can point it at the ground, and shine it at things reasonably far, and it doesn't consume very much power.

I'm bringing it with me to the mountains tomorrow to give it a more thorough tryout.

Well I got to use my Impact 2 outside a bit tonight, just before midnight so it was nice and dark. I had brought my Reactor along for comparison and I was surprised that the Impact 2 actually outdistanced the Reactor. Also as I was walking to my car I had my Reactor and Impact 2 aimed maybe 10 feet or so ahead of me on the ground and they both appeared to light up about the same amount of ground. I'm guessing that the light from the several nearby streetlights was enough to gobble up the outer diffuse lighting of the Reactor leaving only the center hotspot which was roughly equal to the Impact 2.

I'm just liking this Impact 2 more and more. It got me thinking that sometimes it's a waste to light up a wide area as opposed to just lighting up what you need to see. Now I gotta start hoping that Princeton Tec makes an LS Impact type light, and in my dreams a nice 5w LS. 120 Lumens focused into a narrow beam .

For your reading pleasure:

http://thelightsite.cruxial.com/reviews/princetontec_impact2.htm

The impacts make a nice spot light. The Attitude seems to be a flood light, lighting up a wider area in a bedroom (for example). More of it has to do with what purpose the light is used for. I find an ideal night light for children (for example) would be the attitude. And although the impacts may appear brighter than a reactor on lithiums, I find it makes a big difference for distance if you are outside at night and test the two. My reactor beats both my attitude and impact for distance.

My opinion anyway.

Well I tried it out in the Adirondacks earlier. I agree with what TheFlashlight said above. An LS one would be nice, but even with a single Nichia the central beam is surprisingly bright. The side spill is ringy and not very useful, but considering how much power it uses, it puts out a surprisingly bright and uniform central beam. If you backpack, you'll want one of these, and you won't need to worry about a battery change.

Wonder why didn't anyone think of putting a LS into the Impact 2 reflector / len bezel? that would have made the LS throw super far right?

Originally posted by Nerd:
Wonder why didn't anyone think of putting a LS into the Impact 2 reflector / len bezel? that would have made the LS throw super far right?

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I don't see why you couldn't do it in principle.

I was hoping to be able to mod one to LS, but I don't think I'm going to try it. The reflector/lense assembly in there is specifically designed to capture the light from a 5mm LED. In order to stick an LS in it, you basically have to ruin the module, and I'm not gonna blow $25 to try it when I supect that it wouldn't work too well. I'm just going to have to wait until PT starts seeing the light.

Why not start a large petition on this board, have lot of signatures, and forward it to Princeton Tec as a "cool lighting idea". Can you imagine a dive light suited with a Luxeon? Wow!

I like my impact, it's tough!

Impact2...I'm afraid that It will replace my yellow impact

I've been using this thing for several days now, and I'm starting to like it more and more.

The lensed beam is actually quite white - much whiter than an unlensed 5mm LED at the center. It also outthrows the Aurora by a factor of about 2 to 3.

I didn't like the new polycarbonate body at first, but that pocket clip is really very useful. I keep it clipped to my pants pocket, with the light on the outside, and I can grab it and turn it on fairly quickly. It's like having a holster for it, but without the need for a separate holster.

Craig once commented on how the light glows a bit, but just enough so you can tell whether it's turned on or not when it's resting bezel down. I agree. It isn't an objectionable amount of light, although I do have the black one.