Smooth Alum. Reflector w/ LED

My latest obsession is making passable light out out a 3D mag. Got a 1 watt high dome EverLED (regulation and runtime a must for a car EDC) and am awaiting a UCL-LDF to complete my "project"

I'm pretty sure my next project is going to be a 4D mag with high dome 3 watt EverLED or Diamond, and UCL (coming with the LDF, thank-you flashlightlens.com) and an intent to get a LOP or MOP reflector from fivemega.

So my question is: Does the smooth alum reflector offer anything substantial over the stock reflector to an LED mag, 1 watt or 3 watt, beyond the admitted cool factor?

if you are running a bi-pin. an aluminum reflector is a must. I find when running a single Led m*g mod. the stock plastic reflector works premo.

The right aluminum reflector (read: premium vacuum-metalized w/ the right kind of protective oxidation) will have better reflectivity than the stock mag reflector... but the improvement is likely to be even more hair-splitting than UCL vs polycarbonate.

Textured reflectors and LDF lenses just help smooth out beam irregularities - at the expense of efficiency.

Ah, that's what I thought. I'm trying to re$i$t the urge to "trick out" the light just for the sake of doing so. Thanks guys.

Yeah, I know I'm losing a bit of efficiency with OP reflectors and LDF, but I prefer it to the bruising artifacts of the mag's beam. Wow, I had forgotten how distracting that donut hole is... Anyways, this EverLED is pretty impressive and worth making a slight concession in throw for a more useful beam.

Well, if you get the aluminum reflector, It'll have better beam quality.

-David

Just going with an aluminum reflector won't necessarily get you a better beam. Of course, it will also depend on what you consider to be a better beam.

If you want a smooth beam, then a textured aluminum reflector would do nicely. The McR reflectors are nice and I've played with a number of the Carley reflectors with medium orange peel texturing. The down side to this is the cost and the fitting work involved.

As a practical matter, the performance of a stock M@g reflector is tough to beat, unless you need something that is more heat resistant.

I second Chop's opinion on this, I did a few Mag C and D mod with nflexes and do find that the stock reflector really is doing a good job. And the improvement of using Al reflector will not be noticeable by naked eyes.(

In fact, I think the reflectivity are mostly dependent on the surface and finish of the reflector, more so than the material.

Of course, if the metal reflector does firmly touch the heatsink, then you could see it as extra heat sink for an overdriving LED. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Just got my UCL-LDF today. So now my mag is officially a pleasurable light to use, no artifacts and a nice wide hot spot with no hole. I have to say the stock reflector does certainly seem to be doing a good job. Between it and the high dome EverLED my hot spot was easily throwing down the street. I couldn't blame it for the hole and artifacts as they are pretty much built into the design of the smooth reflector, plastic or otherwise.

Incidentally, changing the lense today I noticed a quarter inch long hair/thread/dust mote actually in the reflector's coating. (Carefully confirmed with a Q-Tip)/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

So it looks like I'll have to wait for a batch of MOP reflectors if I want a good excuse to buy an aluminum one. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif