Re: lights with Tiros... why do they have less out
Cheapo - you're confusing 'extra output' with 'optics' right now - the problem is that you have to be very careful in how you design the optics, if you want to get the maximum benefit from them. The Surefire TIR and the Inova TIROS systems are examples of where they've taken the characteristics of the LED's emitter into account when they created the optic, and used the material and the shape of the optic itself to allow most of the light being generated by the emitter to actually go out of the front of the light. This means that the throw is improved somewhat, since the photons are all heading in a specific direction, meaning there's more usable light at the end of that spot.
HOWEVER, that does not increase the output by itself - the raw output of the LED counts for more than anything when it comes to throw, as even a perfectly designed optic can only focus as much light as the light source can provide. If there's less light in the first place, then your throw will be significantly reduced, or at least less useful at the distance you're throwing... to the point where the ambient lighting is washing out the spot.
Total Internal Reflection or any optics in general have problems with losing light in the material composing the optic as well - you lose some of it due to the photons being reflected or redirected to somewhere inside the optic or out of the spot you're throwing, due to diffraction based on the material's refractive index as well as the shape of the optics. The TIR and TIROS optics make use of CAD/CAM to design them so that they don't lose half their light to the shape of the optic, and the materials that they use in them have been picked and had their indexes factored into the design of the optic.
In comparison, a reflector is a LOT easier to design as there you mostly worry about the shape of the reflector and the material of the lens, and whether you're stippling the reflector to intentionally diffuse the light or not. If you don't stipple the reflector, the throw is increased slightly, and using a coated UCL lens means that less light is being lost inside the head due to reflection from the lens material, and refraction is reduced by the UCL material. With a proper reflector that takes into account the way the emitter works, you'll get more throw out of the reflector-based head... as long as it's big enough and angled properly to send the photons out the front.
As to why they don't use LuxV's for more output? The reason is simple - they're got FOUR emitter surfaces and to try to focus them all would be a nightmare, and the extra heat and emitting surfaces involved (which would increase the difficulty of using a reflector, much less an optic which has to take into account four light sources) isn't worth the expenditure of resources, especially as better technology is just around the corner (like the K2).
Also, one more thing to consider with throw is the distance of the target you're lighting up - a tight hotspot may show up more intensely on a wall or on the part of the target you're highlighting... but at 50 yards that tight hotspot is SMALLER to your eyes than the big, even flood of a proper reflector. So yes, there'll be more light focused on that one spot, but you'll have a harder time making out what the target is, based on that small part of the elbow you've lit up, rather than a slightly dimmer (but bigger) spot which shows the chest and arm of a guy holding a gun on you.
