Beamshots - Defiant 3C, Mag 2D LED, Small Sun ZY-T08, & Defiant 3AAA

LED Flashlights – General Info
1

In this thread I was trying to compare my 2D LED Maglite to the hot new Defiant 3C XM-L, but the beamshot of the Mag was old and I didn't have fresh D cells to retake beamshots. Well I picked up some fresh D's (alkalines) and took new shots. The 3C Defiant is still using the original C's (alkalines) which have been used for maybe 15 mins of occasional off & on use. The first set of beamshots were taken from a new location I've found where I can aim toward the back of a house at 785' (about 239 meters, as measured in Google Earth - see below). This is the longest beamshot I can capture from a location on my property. It's not the greatest location due to the street light to the left of the house, but that light is beyond the house and doesn't light up the backside of this house at all. Being the dedicated flashaholic that I am, I got up a few minutes earlier this morning and braved the 20 degree weather (heavy frost on everything outside) to get these shots.

Camera was a cheap Nikon point & shoot set to "Night Landscape" mode with white balance set to "daylight". I adjusted the exposure compensation to -2 because the shots were coming out brighter than they really were. These shots look pretty good for representing what I saw.

Captions are above the photos they refer to.

First up, the beamshot location:

First up the Defiant 3AAA XB-D (just because I had it on hand and plan to mod it later). This can almost function as a "control shot". (You can't even see the house I'm aiming at, nor the house before it.)

Next up the Small Sun ZY-T08:

Defiant 3C XM-L:

Maglite 2D LED:

Jacob A60 (on freshly charged cell):

Mouseovers:

Defiant 3C mouse out, Mag 2D LED mouse over:

Mag 2D LED mouse out, Jacob A60 mouse over:

Next up, back to my usual beamshot location, 150 to 200 feet 184 feet to the shed (EDIT 4/19/2013 - finally measured these distances), this time I aimed to the right side of the shed (except for the Defiant 3AAA which is aimed at the shed):

Defiant 3AAA:

Defiant 3C XM-L:

Mag 2D LED:

Mouse out Defiant 3C XM-L, Mouse Over Mag 2D LED:

Conclusion: yes of course the Mag 2D LED out throws the Defiant 3C XM-L, but that Defiant sure puts out a lot more useful of a beam!

-Garry

2

I'm not sure why, but Photobucket is reducing the image quality of at least that Google Earth image. The original has crisp clear text, but the photobucket version is really blurry. I checked account settings and don't see a reason for it. The rest of the photos look a hair blurrier than my originals, but acceptable.

-Garry

3

Yes it may be more useful (beam-wise) to you, but to a hunter or someone trying to penetrate into the distant shadows the Mag’s maybe more useful.

So IMO, the Mag’s potentially just as useful as the Defiant depending on what it’s being used for.

Just sayin’………………… 8)

4

Here's an interesting comparison:

Mouse out Small Sun ZY-T08, mouse over Jacob A60:

Jacob A60 still beats it in throw!

-Garry

5

Thanks for the pics. The A60 looks disappointing considering how much it seems loved on here.

6

I didn't think so. It is impressive for just an XR-E Q5. It's the best thrower here in this post, although that Mag is very close (although with a lot less spill in the foreground).

-Garry

7

Very illustrative shots - thanks !

8

Everybody is compressing stuff, I quit DirecTV in part because of it.

9

Looks like the 2D LED Maglite can be a pinpoint thrower. That would mean the stock reflector is still one of the best for throwers, that's out there.

Thanks for the beam shots.

10

Hey Gary, thanks for the shots, given the price of Maglites over here, I’m really feeling good about the zy-t08 at the moment. And for my general use, the Jacob is just a none contender, throwers are only much use to me when I’m up on the moors off roading, for spotting stuck mates, an xm-l thrower is far more use compared to a laser beam thrower. 8) the thought now occurs, I need to do my mag xm-l build, I have a three amp driver, 14mm u2 to keep the focus, just need to machine the heat sink and get on with it. Be interesting to see how it stacks up to the zy-t08.

11

close to it. it out throws my tf-r2, which was my best thrower, by quite a margin… in a week or two when the drivers come in im going to up it from 1.25a to 2.8a and see how they compare in throw… not sure if the led will last, people say that the xr-e can handle 2.8a

12

Only see zy-t08 has more spill, but hot spots are about the same.
Anyway, nice beam shots!

13

Ok, I'm back home and its very dark out. I opened up this thread to compare the photos to what I see with the ZY-T08 and the Jacob A60. The photos don't do the ZY-T08 justice! It looks a lot brighter!

-Garry

14

If you went a little farther the mag would fall behind . The Jacob is an awesome thrower! I also have the mag and it throws very well too but the A60 rocks!
Great pics garry.