Greetings, the great and mighty BLF community! :bigsmile:
Question: is it common to observe varying beam profile between different units of same flashlight?
Background: having recently acquired 2 units of Sunwayman D40A from 2 different sources respectively, I have noticed some rather distinctive difference in the beam profile of these units.
Product Specifics: based on the serial number of each unit (CBD113E2XXX, CBD113F1XXX), they might have originated from different production batches(?)
Observation: the unit with E2 in its serial number appears to have more focused, concentrated, and intense hotspot, whilst the unit with F1 in its serial number seems to have wider and relatively dispersed hotspot.
Beamshots comparison: photos taken with increment shuttles, basic settings are marked on each image. Special thanks to Dad for helping out with the beamshots. These are actually done the “ceiling hunting” style, rather than the typical “wall hunting” style.
First group of beam comparison: differences might be more subtle on the screen, but can definitely be told apart when wall hunting with bare eyes.
Second group of beam comparison: differences are noticeable on the screen.
Third group of beam comparison: differences are quite distinctive.
Looking forward to all your invaluable inputs and guidance!
Thank you so much leaftye! Most likely I won’t be able to differentiate the LED sitting, as they might be gifted away (hence I would prefer to not dissemble the unit). But really glad to learn new stuff again. On the other hand, if it was indeed due to the LED sitting, would it have any other effects to the operation or longevity of the flashlight, apart from having different beam profile?
Hi, my d40a hotspot is quite unusual when compared to other lights i own. infact i would go as far to say, i have no other light with a hot-spot quite like it. i have a hotspot inside the hotspot ! which is only really visable on high/turbo. i noticed this whilst white ceiling- bouncing the light. now what this seems to do in real life usage, is that when using the light on its higher settings at a distance, the transition of light from spot to spill is so SMOOTH… very nice :).
Hi Bumble, thanks for chiming in and sharing your experience. Interesting observation with the pattern (useful it seems). Any chance you could reveal the serial number of unit you own if possible? Probably mask out the last few digits, e.g. CBD113E2XXX. Thank you!
EDIT . the hotspot on my light does seem on the large side ( i have not another d40a to compare too)… but yes theres a intense hot-spot inside the large hot-spot going on.
Cool - thank you very much. Not sure if this would possibly be deterministic, but perhaps it might even form some sort of pattern (of observed beam profile) if gathering enough inputs from members here
Mine is an ‘E’ serial number and is more similar to the first one, with a smaller central hotspot within the wider corona.
Interestingly I have just worked out that in addition to accessing the ‘special’ modes with double clicks, if you double click the ON button from off then it will take you straight to maximum output whatever the last memorised level was. I’m not sure if that had been noted before but I can’t see it mentioned on their website…
By the way, does the texturing on the reflectors look identical on each? If one had a slightly lighter texturing then that could account for a tighter hotspot, otherwise I can only think of the height of the reflector. If that was the case though you would expect to see some evidence in the tightness/level of the bezel too.
Thank you RedForest UK, for the detailed inputs and tips to access turbo mode directly! Will try and see if there is possibility of spotting any texturing difference between them
