It has a Square Beam.. - Review of the Bushnell T300L HD

Bushnell T300L HD

Declaration & Thanks:
This light was purchased by me for the purpose of this review

Conclusion Summary:
Very unique and interesting light with some good usable performance to back it up.

Manufacture Specs:

Info about my reviews and testing:
I like to keep my reviews fairly informal and not overly technical. There are plenty of talented people with fancy measuring devices to offer more technical detail. What I want to do is give an honest appraisal of owning and using this torch, and what a regular punter will make of it.

What’s in the box?
You get the light and a set of Duracell AA’s.

Exterior Design & Ergonomics:
Fit, finish and feel of the light is good. Different maybe to most of the lights we are used too. But good none the less.

Beam:
See the YouTube video for more on the light.

This flashlight is all about it’s “square” beam.

I’m not certain how it attains this, but I suspect it s a combination of lenses and a filter to achieve the profile. I also don’t know what LED (s) are used or how many. Looking through the lens you can see multiple LEDs, however I don’t know if there are, or if it’s simply reflections of a single LED.

I can detect no PWM on the light and the tint is very very good.

The beam is large and super clear when in use. Affective use is 10-50 yards. Up close the beam is too small to be much use and it doesn’t have the throw for big distances, but mid range is it’s sweet spot.

The light is about the size of a 2D Maglite:

Fit & finish is good. Rubberised grips, tail stands. Head appears to be secured by bolts.



Runs on 4xAA batteries:

Has a dual switch layout, one for the Red light and the other for the main light. Both are forward clickies with momentary.

The lens and beam. You can see the square filter and at some angles it looks like multiple LEDs, but could be reflections.


Up close the beam looks odd and mirrors those multiple LEDs:

But move the light a little further away and you get a perfect square:

Beam works well outside:


Now that is an original light !
I had seen it before, but the only picture I recall were from commercial shootings. It has something sci-fi for sure !
I would love to know how such a well defined beam is achieved !

I believe this is typical of aspherical lens lights….maybe. I have a similar light and it project a very tight low spill beam when the lens position is adjusted right. I think this is why some of the ultra-throwers use these lenses in lieu of reflectors.

That is correct. What you’re seeing is the shape of the emitter being projected.

I have a very old Cabelas LED light and it also has a square beam. The lense in front of the LED is plainly visible in it. I never could get accustomed to the square light pattern it throws.

I don’t think it’s just an aspheric lens, it doesn’t look like it is.

Also this is light projection, rather than a projected image of the dye.

I think it’s doing something a bit more like an overhead projector does, as they produce a square beam also, but don’t project the filament of the bulb.

I suspect they are using a fresnel lens instead of an aspheric