Oh it's just a little personal preference. Agree too much spill makes for a lot of backscatter, but no spill at all and you see only what's in the hotspot. When I look in the distance I found with a little spill I can better recognize what's around the hotspot, instead of waveing the light around "searching" with abrupt transition between light and dark.
But if throw is discrimination to win the race, maybe I should not consider spill at all?
It looks like I'm not a true flashaholic yet because none of these pictures makes me desperately want to hold something else than the SkyRay STL-V2 I already have...
ILIKE... How about some close range white wall shots so we could "see" (or at least imagine by ourselves) the proportions of the hotspot vs. the spill? Perhaps even shot to a painted "target" with circles with a radius of e.g. 1ft, 2ft, 3ft etc. if that's possible.
When I saw your first post after buying the 7G5 I was gutted I didn't buy the M3X, but now you have a replacement I'm happy again, 7G5 wins to my eyes :)
The up close white wall shots can be misleading. I always find myself saying this one is brighter...no wait this one is and so on when they are pretty close in brightness. But if one is quite a bit brighter, you should see it. But when you take nite shots at this yardage your eyes usually can pick the brighter one. I know which one I know is the brightest.
Yes, that's true when it comes "just" to the perceivable brightness. I was thinking more about the dimensions of the hot spot and spill - the proportions which do not change in the longer distances either do they?
Thanks for your investment in time and your investment in great lights. Very few of us has the desire or the funds to buy all of the best throw lights and your comparison helps us pick which one we want.
It really looks to me that there is hardly any difference in throw between all of these lights and few people will lack needed throw for 99% of what they will be using their light for.
If one is looking for the best buy, the 7G5 is probably the best deal.
If one is looking for solid quality, the Catapult is probably your light although all are good to excellent quality.
If one is looking for a light with forward buttons to change modes, the TK41, SR51 and T40CS are your lights.
If you want to mount the light on a weapon you will not want the SR51 or TK41.
If you are looking for a tailstanding light, the TK41 and SR51 are the way to go.
If you want AA NiMh batteries the only light is the TK41.
If you want a light with lots of usable modes, the TK41 and the T40CS have this base covered the best.
If you want a light with the lowest low mode, the TK41 with it's 10 lumen low mode is your light although the T40CS will go down to 20 lumens. All the others have a low mode of 60 on up to 250 lumens.
As I look at all these lights, the one that covers the most bases is the TK41 followed by the T40CS.
I don't have that one. But it will fall around the same category as the SR51 or Fenix TK41. That is going off of the lux readings that others have claimed for that light. It will not beat the 7G5, T40CS, or M3x.
I also may try taking a picture with the Crelant 7G5 using 4 CR123A batteries. According to selfbuilt you can gain 1500lux@ 1 meter over using two 18650 batteries. He has the Crelant 7G5 at 55,000 lux@ 1meter using two 18650's vs 56,500 lux@ 1 meter using 4 CR123A batteries. Don't know if the camera will pick that difference up, but it is worth noting.
Well as I said, you can pick the winner. I rated them in the order I see them. And I have no doubt that others will see it differently. So this will change to who is viewing it. Everyone has differnet eyes. My vision is 20/20 or better. And I can very easily pick the winner. My hunch is most will pick the 7G5 as being the best.
I even removed my glasses and my optometrist has told me that I have about 20/13 vision w/o them up close and very few peoples eyes will focus or see like that up close. And I still see the 7G5 as the winner. Like I said it's all in the eyes. He also told me that explains why I see better up close w/o my glasses. No corrective lenses will make you see that good up close as I do is pretty much what he told me.
Based on the photos, I would make my decision based more on price and form than throw. They are close enough to be interchangeable in the real world, so decide which one is easiest to carry, and balance that with the price.
Well my driving licence says I can still drive without lenses so my eyes should not be that bad afterall!!
Ok, I compared again all those pics, opening all them in different browser pages so to be able to shift from one to another.
Maybe it's just the pics, maybe with both the lights and the camera on tripodes would make for precisely comparable pics... But if you state that when you used them the difference was clear to your eyes, I have no reasons to doubt what you have seen from real.
Well, from a point of view, this makes me more happy, as I have my "King of Throw" new 7G5 arrived at home and waiting for me (i'm away a few days for works)
Now that I have the King there's no reason to still look around for new flashlights, uh?!...