[The Lite Review]: FiTorch P30Z Review (Zoomie)

Also the light has PWM.

I can’t see it with my eyes (I’m not sensitive to it) but my cell phone camera picked it up…

Enlarged photos:

Also having mode changing issues, it’s wonky, does what it wants when it wants.

Pretty much moot though if the donut hole is normal.

From what I have seen with the TIR optic in the zoomies , the dark spot is almost always there in the mid focus range , although much more noticeable in some than others. Usually when fully focused or fully zoomed out (flood) you will have a crisp clear beam and edge though with the TIR.

Thanks for the info.

Also when zoomed out to flood the outer edge of the beam is not crisp, it’s not a well defined edge as it is on my other (Aspheric lens) zoomies. Not really a problem but I wanted to report this, since it’s not really as you described for TIR.

Do you know of any video reviews on a TIR optic zoomie where I can see dark spot? I think this one is way worse that what it should be.
EDIT, (see next post)

OK so I found a review on YT for this (Fitorch P30Z version) the video is made by the manufacture:

In the Fitorch video I really don’t see the dark spot much, but he is zooming from flood to throw extremely fast, and never stops anywhere in between, (probably to hide the dark spot in the video)
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I also found a Litesam P11Z review. I found this before but for some reason it was showing “User account deleted” Maybe I was looking at something else, but it’s working now.

It’s by Charles BridgTec not by the manufacture, however he said the manufacture provided their entire line of their lights to him for review:

In the Litesam video the dark spot is visible, although it could be slightly less than in my sample it’s pretty close to what I’m seeing, but in the indoor “table top” portion of the video, again the reviewer does not stop the zoom anywhere in between full flood and full throw.

In the outdoor portion of the video, after showing full throw and full flood, he says he will now show it partially zoomed and when he does that you can see the dark spot for a second or two before he quickly zooms back to full.

He appears to have been surprised by the dark spot because he doesn’t show it much and seems to quickly avoid the subject, with only a quick mention of it before he quickly zooms it back to full. So he ends up avoiding much footage of any partial zoom.

Probably because if he beamed it around half zoomed with the dark spot showing it would look like crap.
Now I’d really like to know if the dark spot is this bad in the Fitorch version.

About the mode changing issue:

This light has a forward switch with momentary, the user manual does not show mode changes from OFF by momentary half presses, and that is not shown in the Fitorch video either.

In this review mcorp wrote: “From OFF: 1/2 Press - Mode change per every press (light cycles through HIGH, MID, LOW -> HIGH, MID, LOW)”

Also in the Litesam video by Charles Bridge Tec, after going over the modes he quickly mentions being able to do mode changes from OFF with momentary half presses, but as he’s doing that it doesn’t appear to be working that way from what I could see.

With my light I’ve found now the mode changes are consistent going through the modes with double-full-clicks from ON, however I cannot get it to do mode changes from OFF with the momentary function (half-pressses) it just stays in the same mode every half press no matter what speed I try half-presses, (although with a rapid double-half-press it does enter strobe).

Now I’m wondering if it’s really suppose to change modes with half-presses from OFF?
Probably good it doesn’t, because if it did that would defeat the use of momentary for signalling purposes like sending flash-code.

The only one I had handy at the moment is a little Coast HX5 with the TIR optic in it.
It has the dark spot all through the middle of adjustment also , but does get a well defined beam at or near the full flood or full focus.

Never really realized there is not a white wall in my house as everything is paneling or wall papered with color.

I took 3 shots shining on the refrigerator door at about 2 1/2 to 3 feet with the light though to show what it looks like.

Flood

Mid-Focus

Focused

Thanks for the pics Robo, that coast doesn’t look as bad as this FiTorch does, but the coast is a small light, AA size I think.

I’d like to try one of those, been wanting the HP1 that I think the HX5 replaced, it comes up at half price every so often on Amazon but I keep missing it when it does.

I think I’m going to try the Wowtac A3S next, if it ever becomes available again (they said it will but hasn’t yet)

I don’t know how much they are on Amazon but , I picked up my little HX5 at Walmart for like $16.78 or something like that.
The HX5 will run on Alkaline , NiMH or 14500 with the stock driver. I think it makes about 310 Lumens with the 14500 in stock form. Of course as with 90% of my lights , I modded the little coast with a FET driver and a dedomed XM-L2 U4 OD emitter and it makes 770 lumens in Turbo now.

Nana from Wowtac said they will try to get the A3S back on the Amazon site after the spring festival holidays , which should be ending just any day now.

$15.39 on amazon, interesting I don’t recall seeing those at WM, I’ll have to keep an eye out for them. Sounds like a nice mod, and it doesn’t look like a very bad donuts hole on it, thanks for sharing and the mod idea!

I received an answer from the manufacture today about the dark spot:

Message from 3rd party seller:

Hello, After cheking these attached photos, I would like to let you know that it’s normal…

Litesam

Not really what I wanted to hear :frowning:

Well it kind of reminds me of the Solar Eclipse, so maybe they should market it that way :slight_smile:
But seriously it looks like crap and the fact that someone in engineering said, “OH well that’s good enough” is troubling.

Thanks for the heads up, pity because it does really look well built.
Will try one of their other models as soon as the reviews are in for them.
Thanks!

Keith

So after hearing back from Litesam/FiTorch that the dark spot is normal, I’ve given this some deep thought today.

I thought….Why/how could they design/produce/sell a flashlight with such an awful flaw?

I’ve never had a zoom light with this much of a dark center spot, I can’t say I even ever really noticed a dark spot in a zoomie, at least not to the point where I’d complain about it. Even my cheapo ones don’t have it like this, but my other zoomies are aspheric this is my first one with a TIR lens type.

I also thought…Why did none of the reviewers mention or complain about the dark spot?

This review, 5 reviews on amazon, 5 for the FiTorch on Banggood, and one on youtube, and not one complaint about the dark spot that I thought was either a defect or a flawed design. After all it was the very first thing I noticed soon as I adjusted the zoom, so why no one even mentioned it? Maybe none of them have ever used a regular (aspheric) zoomie before?

Then the obvious dawned on me. Apparently the zooming adjustment on this light (and maybe all zoomies?) is only intended to be used in two positions, either fully zoomed in, or fully zoomed out.

It’s the only thing that makes sense. And I had to ask myself: do I really use any of the in-between positions? Well yes maybe sometimes but most of the time probably not. Can I live with the 2-positions only? Well probably yes. You have flood and you have throw, so you have the two modes you will use the most, probably 95% of the time.

So I’m no longer as upset about the light as I was at first, now that I know it’s limitations and feel I can live with them, at least I’ll try it a while and see. I think I was just somewhat “shocked” when I saw that dark hole, because I’d never noticed anything like that in a zooming light before. One thing I have yet to understand though, if the aspheric type zoomies don’t have this donut hole problem then why even bother with this TIR lens set-up? What is the advantage to it? I don’t see what that is yet.

First of all, thank you for supporting our website through the Amazon purchase!

In most cases focusing/zoom-able aspherics tend to lack a better water resistance as compared to the TIR lens setup. This might be the reason why FiTorch/Litesam decided with the TIR lens setup. Side note: another manufacturer that used this first is the Fenix FD series. Whilst gaining better water resistance, the drawback is the loss of throw (in SPOT mode) when compared to a properly focused zoomie aspheric.

The in-between photos of “FLOOD” and “SPOT” modes are as what you had captured. Those beamshots were not captured as those did not provide useful beam profiles for real life usage; as compared to a zoomie aspheric whereby it beam profile is usable throughout the zooming process (focused & flood).

Half presses to switch modes from OFF must be done slightly slower than the usual 2 half presses which would activate STROBE instead. The mode switching is somewhat similar to a McGizmo 3S light engine.

Thank you all for the kind words!

If I have missed your comments or questions, please let me know here, via PM or on our TLR website.

Thanks mcorp for the reply, info and further explanation, now it’s clearer to me:

  • TIR zoomie: Spot and Flood only
  • Aspheric zoomie: Usable throughout the zooming process

As I said I’m quite happy with this flashlight now that I understand it’s limitations. It’s a very well built flashlight. I also understand now why there was no need to include the middle beamshots. It would have been better if the limitations of a TIR zoomie were mentioned in the review, but I can’t expect the reviewer to educate on the principles of different types of flashlight design, so no worries. :slight_smile:

Also thanks for the info on mode changing from OFF with momentary presses, I was actually able to get that working correctly last night after playing around with it a while. :+1: There is a learning curve for that as you have to press/release the half-presses just right. It’s great that you can still use easily the momentary feature for signalling purposes without changing modes.

Awesome thanks gents!!

Bummers about the severe doughnut hole and lost emitter lumens not making it OTF. As a mod host I had high hopes. Seeing those pics brings me way back to the days of Mag incan ROP (rise of the pelican) mods and hot rodding PR lamps. Its 2018 we really shouldn’t have doughnut hole optics by todays standards. But it goes to show just how difficult it is to make a compact optic design that floods/zooms without obstructing emitter lumens somewhere along the way. The Lenser / fraen partnership optics IIRC achieve this.

I also want to add here that Litesam (FiTorch?) is not really confirming (or more likely not admitting) that the Litesam E11Z version is the same internally as the FiTorch P30Z. I asked that question, and this was their response:

“The function is similar to Fitorch P30Z”.

Litesam

But it’s a Chinese company and I assume the response came from someone in China so it may be wording lost in the translation and by “similar” they meant “same”. A simple “Yes” would have eliminated any uncertainty.

The reviewer (mcorp) has said it’s the same, plus it’s size, shape and all other specs are the same, the only thing that appears different is the knurling and the name. So I see no reason for anything to be different inside as far as the host/optics are concerned. And mcorp already confirmed the same donut hole is also present in the FiTorch.

I’m still learning the pros and cons between TIR vs Aspheric. mcorp has provided some explanation of the difference: “Better water resistance……. at the cost of loss of throw (in SPOT mode)”

I believe another charistic is a round spot beam when fully zoomed in (instead of a square one showing the die image) but I think that can be achieved in an aspheric by stopping the travel slightly short of full (Wowtac A3S for example) He also mentioned another brand that used this setup was Fenix FD series, I’m wondering is this the same as what Led Lenser employs?

In another thread, in a discussion of Led Lenser clones someone posted this description of the beam for (genuine) Led Lenser optics :
“A nice round spot with no spill and almost perfectly uniform wide-angle spill that the real TIR does.”

However I’m not sure if Led Lenser is using something slightly different than these FiTorch and Fenix TIR.

For the FiTorch I have to wonder if their use of this TIR was worth it compared to using Aspheric.

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What flashlights have the Lenser / fraen partnership optic? Is that what the Led Lenser uses? I’ve been looking at some Led Lensers, the MT10 and MT14.;

Those and the and MT18 appear to be the only models they make that run on popular size Li-ions (18650 / 26650)

Yes I’m not sure it’s possible.

An alternative design that essentially gives the same usability and the FiTorch with it’s donut hole (either flood or throw only) is the setup in the upcoming Astrolux MF03

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They need to improve upon that design by employing it in smaller size lights, I have a budget light with a similar concept that uses a COB LED ring surrounding a reflectored LED, it’s quite handy.