I'm quite familiar with the UK 4AA (AS2) as I carry it on my daily walks. The 3 LED Attitude that I carry as well is my primary light and is about half as bright as the SL 4AA 7 LED...so, I have some sense of the trade off here.
For me, its
almost gotten to the point of leaving the UK at home when we go for the walk. The higher beam quality of the PT and the whiteness of it just means that it is almost always on while the UK sits in my pocket.
Although, I don't actually leave the UK at home, 'cause if I ever wanted to light up something at a distance...I gotta have some long throw light like the UK. I recently got a BadBoy (in a MagLite body) thinking that if I had an LED that was
way brighter than the Attitude that maybe then I could just leave the UK at home.
Well...the tests are in! No dice. Even the BB doesn't have anything like the throw I'd need to light up something at a distance. So...I'll still be carrying the UK 4AA AS2, even though it only gets switched on once in a while.
An interesting fall out of this experiment is my renewed satisfaction with the Attitude. Even though I have the BB (which is well over twice as brightas the PT), I continue to carry and use the Attitude. The PT is just so compact and comfortable in my hand and bright enough to use as a walk light that the BB sits at home in a drawer. The PT even works way better as a task light. The BB is simply
too bright for that purpose.
So, "who woulda thunk it?", the dimmer light actually is a better all 'round light!
Bottom line:
The SL LED won't throw like the UK and if the throw means anything to you at all, you won't likely be satisfied with the LED as your only light; no matter how smooth or bright the beam.
But hey, you could always get the SL LED any way and see it you like it or not!
