KevinL
Flashlight Enthusiast
Just gotta clear up some misconceptions about optics.. some of these have been asked too many times.
Optical collimators, or optics for short, are based on the principle of Total Internal Reflection (TIR). TIR refers to all optics designed using this phenomenon.
TIROS is a proprietary brand name for optics developed by Inova and should not be confused with the acronym TIR as defined above. They are not interchangeable. Much like, the Mustang is a car made by Ford, or the Z3 is a car made by BMW. You don't go round calling all cars Mustangs or Z3s, even though they are cars, right?
Optics *CAN* have sidespill, dependent upon their design. Classic examples include the NX05 and NX01. I get wierd looks from people who say "how come your 3rd-gen KL1 has an optic and sidespill?" uhh... because it was designed that way?
Surefire and Inova tend to prefer to use the properties of optics to concentrate the beam into one single, focused spot. Elimination of secondary spill became useful in order to pack the most light possible into the central beam. This is a design choice and possibly one that makes sense if you are going for extra reach rather than area illumination, since you can diffuse a beam using add-on beamshapers, but cannot add extra throw to a light so easily with a clamp-on/slip-on accessory.
4th generation Surefire KL1s/L1s use what we believe is their own design. 3rd generation Surefire KL1s/L1s use the NX05, designed and manufactured by a third party (I think it was by LumiLEDs - datasheets for the NX05 have their name and nobody else's).
Thanks for reading and no offence if you are one of these who have asked me about sidespill.. just thought I had to write this to clear things up.
Optical collimators, or optics for short, are based on the principle of Total Internal Reflection (TIR). TIR refers to all optics designed using this phenomenon.
TIROS is a proprietary brand name for optics developed by Inova and should not be confused with the acronym TIR as defined above. They are not interchangeable. Much like, the Mustang is a car made by Ford, or the Z3 is a car made by BMW. You don't go round calling all cars Mustangs or Z3s, even though they are cars, right?
Optics *CAN* have sidespill, dependent upon their design. Classic examples include the NX05 and NX01. I get wierd looks from people who say "how come your 3rd-gen KL1 has an optic and sidespill?" uhh... because it was designed that way?
Surefire and Inova tend to prefer to use the properties of optics to concentrate the beam into one single, focused spot. Elimination of secondary spill became useful in order to pack the most light possible into the central beam. This is a design choice and possibly one that makes sense if you are going for extra reach rather than area illumination, since you can diffuse a beam using add-on beamshapers, but cannot add extra throw to a light so easily with a clamp-on/slip-on accessory.
4th generation Surefire KL1s/L1s use what we believe is their own design. 3rd generation Surefire KL1s/L1s use the NX05, designed and manufactured by a third party (I think it was by LumiLEDs - datasheets for the NX05 have their name and nobody else's).
Thanks for reading and no offence if you are one of these who have asked me about sidespill.. just thought I had to write this to clear things up.
