Let me correct the throw distance I used before. I thought it was 2200m, but it looks like it’s 2000m. So going from xhp35-HI to a hard driven stock 70.2 is a 40% throw reduction. The sliced dome has a 20% throw reduction.
Anyway, a larger diameter emitter is almost always going to decrease throw because it’s hot spot is larger. The xhp35-HI emitter die is about 5.5 square millimeters. The xhp70.2 die (dome on) appears to be about 22 square millimeters due to the roughly 40% magnification effect of the dome. (I think it’s 40% to 50%). Anyway, that’s a huge increase in emitter size.
Slicing the dome off makes the die about 15.7 square millimeters. That’s still 3 times bigger than the xhp35-HI.
On the other hand, a larger emitter can usually be brighter which then gives you back a lot of the throw distance you lost.
With the sliced dome 70.2 emitter doing 6,000 lumen instead of 2,000 lumen, the net result is a small 20% loss in throw.
You could go with a smaller emitter to get more throw than stock, but it’s a pretty small hotspot and was voted down during the GT design phase.
If you want more than 2000m throw along with a bigger and brighter hotspot, the CFT90 is the hot ticket. When pushed really hard, it can give about 2450m throw and 4500 to 5000 lumen (according to Skylumen). So the hotspot is a little bigger, it’s much brighter and the throw is increased. Sounds great! What’s the catch? They cost about $675.
The bottom line is a lot of folks don’t really need to see 2000 meters (1.2 miles). You can make the GT more practical with a 70.2. It doesn’t cost much more and it can still throw a long way, plus you get a much bigger hotspot to better see what your looking at.
BTW, all xhp50, 50.2, xhp70, 70.2 emitters have domes.