I mainly use my lights for sailing in the night over shallow waters in the north of the Netherlands, where the deeper waterways are meandering a lot. Therefore I’m looking for a laser led thrower to find the next reflected buoys to guide us the way. Any unnecesary spill is hitting the ship/water and spoiling our nightvision.
Therefore a laser led can be exactly what I need, except that I like the beam as wide as possible to make ik more easy to find the next target.
Who knows which laser led currently (or in the near future) available has the widest beam?
What you’re probably looking for is a LED zoomie.
LEDs are more efficient than lasers. They don’t produce a beam as narrow…which is often bad but in your case actually good.
And what defines the no-spill beam of the current laser lights (which are caller LEP as in Laser Excited Phosphor) is not the emitter but the optics.
Most zoomies have aspheric lens, just like a typical LEP light and the same beam shape. You can adjust the beam width to you liking (which is the function called “zoom”).
BUT:
There are very few completely waterproof zoomies which may be significant for your use.
Agro:
You’re right, it’s LEP. Zoomies is not what I’m looking for but thanks. As far as I know they don’t throw as much as I would like. Currently using the BLF GT, and probably going for the GT90 next season, so anything less trower won’t qualify;) At the races that we participate finding a Buoy at about 1 mile or not finding it can make a BIG difference
Prodal:
Yes, I’ve looked at the Acebeam W30 and am now investigating the Jetbeam M1X WP-RX. I like them, but compared to the GT70/GT90 the beam is quite narrow. So I’m wondering if there is something other on the market or currently developing that has an even wider beam then the W30
Maybe you could talk them into not including their 3D printed head and oversized lens to get a wider beam - because stock it’s going to be quite narrow.
So, you want the largest jumbo shrimp you can find, but a lobster will not do?
If you have a large budget, look into MaxaBeam or LeMax. The LeMax claims 4KM of range, but weighs almost 4 kilos.
Reason for looking for the biggest shrimp is also because of movability and flexability on board. I can also make a hood around the GT but that would make it even more bulky. That’s why I’m investigating other options
Not sure the MaxaBeam and LeMax fitt my needs, I shall look at them more closely when I have some more time. Thanks
Budget is around 300 I suppose. But I already learned that budget is a stretchy thing if I see a light that I really like lol:D
The Maxabeam is even narrower than the current LEP flashlights.
If you want to have GT-like throw from a LEP flashlight maybe the Jetbeam M2S (impression from Pöbel here) is the right middle type: 810 kcd (only slightly lower than the GT) but not as narrow as a W30. And it is really compact which is always handy
Mind that all current LEP flashlights use the same lightsource, the lens size determines if it goes further with a narrower beam (big lens) or less far with a somewhat wider beam (small lens). No magic involved I’m afraid.
I have heard rumours that a new generation LEP light sources is coming that has more output, which allows for wider beams at the same throw.
if the beam is TOO narrow, you will need to hold the light on a tripod, plus view the lit subject with a telescope on a tripod
otherwise everything gets too shaky
no matter how bright it is
I own the W30 CW and W30 HiCRI and the beam is too narrow, tint shift within the hotspot too extreme to allow me to see any details. I also have the W10g2 and the tint is also not good. I see much better using similar throwing LED flashlight like the Skylumen Delta, Noctigon K1 W2, Speras T1.
If you want the longest throwing no spill light with wider beam than the GT, you will need to get it custom made. Texas_Ace spent a lot of time testing an aspheric lens setup for the GT and after much trial and error, he nailed down the focus. Maybe you can PM him. Buy the GT90 and have it shipped to him for modding. I have one being shipped to him for this reason. Stock the GT90 is rated at 1.8MCD but with Aspheric I’m guessing it will be at least 2MCD.
Okay, The LeMax and MaxaBeam look awesome but not even slightly outside my budget lol
Having a GT90 customized sounds like a nice idea, havent found the thread yet from Texas Ace on the aspheric lens setup but gonna look some more tomorrow.
That the beam of the W30 is to narrow to see details is not really important in my case cause we’re only looking for reflectors on buoys in the water. They tell us normally all we need to know. Only the details matter when we’re close enough and need to reed a number on it to identify but then any light will do…. And for harbour manouvering I use the Q8 which still works good enough
But the narrow spot just makes that we have to scan more to find the reflectors. Not a real big deal but the bigger the hotspot the easier to ‘catch’ something. And that’s why i was wondering which LEP light had the biggest hotspot. But I think that would be the W30 then, and maybe the Jetbeam M1X WP-RX, but haven;t found any beamshots yet. The lens is as big as the W30 so probably the beam width also? Not sure though….
Unless there’s something I don’t understand:
The main beam comes from the outside edge of the lens (not just a narrow edge but a fat donut)
Spill comes from all parts of the lens.
The widest part of spill comes from the outside edge of the lens.
I think I’ve seen someone DX-fixing the middle of the lens only to successfully reduce spill artifacts.
The only working spill block that I’ve seen so far was a long tube over the bezel.
Try the Astrolux ft03 90.2. There is currently a groupbuy for a very reasonable price. It has the same led as the acebeam k75 and the BLF gt90, except the head isn’t as wide or deep and therefore the beam is wider and less narrow, but still not floody.
