No spill with the Fenix ?

Well, I read till my eyes hurt, and didn't believe the hype about the 1AA Fenix.

Well, I do now.

Several posters have commented about the lack of spill with the Fenix compared to the Q3.

I have two Q3's, hand selected by one of our suppliers. Both give about 45 degrees of spill.

My just arrived Fenix L1P 2.5 gives about 70 degrees of equally bright spill.

Kiddies, I'm an optometrist, and I am used to measuring angles, aka astigmatism, etc.

The Q3s have a relatively smooth transition of the central hot spot to spill. The Fenix is more pronounced in hot spot, MUCH brighter there than the Q3. LOTS of throw.

If the run time reports on the Fenix hold up, it seems someone has pulled a rabbit out of the hat, in brightness, and efficency with this light.

Did I mention that the Fenix is whiter than newly bleached white shirts.

I'm getting a bit jaded in this fun game, but this is a real winner !

This is encouraging. I have a Fenix L1P on its way. Waiting is the hardest part. My current EDC is a Q3.

Now get a 10 ohm 1/8th watt resistor from radio shack and turn it into a 2-stage.

wwglen

I carried a Q3 or a streamlight Lux jr., but now have pretty much resigned to using my new Fenix L1P. Hard to believe such a small light works so well. I was skeptical, but no more.

Yeah, I posted my comparison of the Q3 vs the Fenix over in the review section of someone else's post comparing the Q3 to the Fenix. Now granted, the only Q3 I currently own was modded by another member with a TW0J and a 2-stage tailcap, but my highly calibrated eyes tell me the beam is the same shape or at least very, very similar to the stock.

To my eyes, the Fenix has a wider total beam from edge to edge and a tighter hotspot. But the hotspot of the Q3 is both larger and looks hotter than the Fenix and spillbeam looks a bit brighter to my eyes, but a bit narrower. And of course, with a R123, it's even brighter brighter than the Fenix. Since I bought this Q3 already modified, someone pointed out that perhaps the LED sits further up in the reflector - you know how some Lux IIIs have a taller 'star' than others. Who knows...

Still, they are both excellent choices for a value-oriented EDC... The Fenix just makes more sense to me since it is smaller in diameter and runs on the available ANYWHERE for a reasonable cost AAs though I have only used NiMHs.

MY Q3 is quite a bit brighter than my Fenix. Still, I love them both. The Fenix is definitely more convenient.

onthebeam wrote: "MY Q3 is quite a bit brighter than my Fenix."

Same here for my samples of one each -

Fenix L1 v2.5 (Non-Premium) vs. Nuwai Q3




On a rechargeable RCR123 the Q3 would be even brighter - very much in the ballpark of a Scorpion Xenon 2x CR123.

Both are nice lights.

I don't recall anyone saying the Fenix L1 lacked sidespill.......

[note: I think PhotoBucket where I host my pics may be having some difficulties at the moment (10:16AM EST, Thur Nov/17) - so the pics may be slow or not show at all - hopefully the service will be back to normal and the beamshots will show soon - if not, I'll host them on ImageShack and edit/update this post]

My L1P 2.5 has slightly larger and brighter sidespill than my Q3's.

I don't recall anyone saying the Fenix L1 lacked sidespill.......

Click to expand...

I've read several times where folks claim that the Q3 has a much wider and brighter spillbeam than the Fenix.

My findings are pretty much exactly the same as UnknownVT's first pic, except that my Q3 is much whiter than my L1P 2.5.

cratz2 wrote: "My findings are pretty much exactly the same as UnknownVT's first pic, except that my Q3 is much whiter than my L1P 2.5."

Side-by-side comparison beamshots tend to really emphasize the difference in color tint, that's why I do them that way.

Despite the fact I do use a FIXED daylight white balance on my digicam - I suspect there is still some adjustment done (automatically) in camera, so sometimes I feel there is almost an exaggerated difference in tint, but still relatively faithful.

The side-by-side beamshots also show the difference in side-spill - a very important aspect of any flashlight to me.

One of the problems with beamshots is the limited dynamic range of the photos (both digital and film) and our monitors. An optimized comparison beamshot takes the "best" exposure for the two beams in question and show up differences between them. But because of the limited dynamic range only shows to a limited extent the differences in brightness - that the reason why many others (including me) take a second shot using a -2 stops Underexposure (from "optimum") to try to show the difference in brightness. The -2 Stops Underexposed beamshot also gives an idea of what the beams look like at further distances.

The -2 stops Underexposed beamshot shows that the Nuwai Q3 is brighter than the Fenix L1, and the Q3's side-spill is more "concentrated" and brighter

I've struggled with beamshots and there is no single beamshot that can show all aspects of flashlights to do them justice.

However the side-by-side comparison beamshots shining on to white paper from a relatively short distance away - which may at first sight seem not really realistic - is the best way I have found to show the differences between beams - that's why I do comparisons with more than one light and try to use lights that are similar - and/or well known to show how well the light in review performs.

In this thread "Practical" Beamshots? I happened to do beamshots with my Fenix L1 and Q3 BUT with a Rechargeable RCR123 which makes the Q3 noticably brighter (please see Nuwai Q3 with RCR123 + Nano Charger )

Fenix L1 v2.5 (Non-Premium) (alkaline) ............... Nuwai Q3 with RCR123