I wanted candela but wow….1.36mcd is a big number seems like a possible miscaculation 
Go here and read down. [PART 2] Official BLF GT Group Buy thread. Closed, but Public sales open! - #2208 by Hardusvd70
He got the same candela at 10m and 25m.
I do the 25m calculations in post 2217.
Incredible! Honestly thought it would only do maybe 1.1mcd max.
So even more throw than a stock GT……. :money_mouth_face:
Mine doesn't go passed 0.9 million.. I really need to measure again.. and probably buy another meter.
Maybe your LED is a bit off center?
Yours is CW, right?
NW seems to give lower readings.
A note for anyone that has an off center emitter:
Unscrew the bezel enough so you can lightly tap the light and nudge the reflector (in whichever direction you need) just enough to center the emitter with the centering ring. Worked for me.
Not meaning to flood with posts but my MF04 had smoke coming from the emitter?..…now no more smoke after ran it on turbo a few times. Uhhh is that normal? I’m thinking maybe some sort of residue was getting burnt up.
It might have been leftover liquid flux. There were a couple of GT’s that had that.
Never thought of that. Now it makes sense, flux smoke.
Thats how you know it’s a serious light 
Got 980K max Lux measured @14m on a UNI-T Luxmeter. Emitter is not properly centered though.
After recalibration 1.05M Lux. Emitter is still not 100% center, I might try again later.
P.S.: neutral white
Tested the light outside for the first time. This is absolutely insane. I wasn’t this impressed with a light in a long time… the reach is ridiculous. :sunglasses:
Anyone tried both MF02s and the MF04? Is the difference huge? I have a MF02S on order and I’m going to use it to watch for deer on my property. Furthest distance would be approx 600meters before the woods make it impossible to see anything so it needs to throw good at that range.
Thank you that was perfect. Looks like the MF02S might be to little to reach good out to 600meters… So is the MF04 the thrower king atm considering HID lamps and such also?
Leds can’t match the HID in distance, but are much more practical in use such as immediate turn on and better efficiency.
The MF04 and BLF GT are good throwers, but if distance is all you care about, there are lights with smaller, weaker leds and big reflectors that create a real pencil beam and go farther.
You also have lights like the new Acebeam W10 that is pocket sized, 250 lumen and can go 1000 meters. It’s a really tight beam.
So you have to decide what you want as far as distance and how big a hot spot.
Ok. It’s not all but I have a MF02S that’s arriving in a few days that should do some throw/flood and I ordered a Emisar D4 + Convoy S2. It would just be nice to have something with good throw to be able to scout for deer around on the property. 6-700meters should be plenty but it should be more than moonlight at that distance. I have no experience at all with flashlight but I’m just guessing that a beam that is very narrow will be hard to use for that purpose. There are way to many nice flashlights 
In order to have good brightness at a particular distance you want to take the factory rated throw distance and reduce it by either 1/2 or 2/3. So if you need to see clearly to 700 meters you probably need a light that can do around 2000 meters. Something like the MF04 or BLF GT. They are rated at 2200-2400 meters (where their output is 1/4 lux and quite dim). They will be bright at 700 meters.
The MF02S is not going to be as bright as the bigger lights, but might be enough. You can’t really go by pictures. Your eyes might see better than the cameras settings.
Thank you for explaining. I guess I’ll wait until Tuesday when it’s set to arrive and see how the MF02S are doing. Easier to compare the pictures when I know how the MF02S performs as a reference.
Here’s my 55w bulb with 12-24V 100W ballasted HID, driven at probably around 80-90W only as the battery is only a very small 12V 4AH SLA if i remember correctly.
55w bulb coz it has a shorter arc gap than 100w bulbs, the 55W bulb has an approx 3mm arc gap. 4300K, as bulbs at this colour are brighter than 3000K/6500K etc.
So you can imagine, 3mm to 4mm max gap, approx 8000 lumens on the ceiling bounce with lux meter, 30cm head. I am not sure what is the surface brightness intensity, but i don’t think it’d lose to current LED capable technologies.
I measured the hotspot to be nearly 3 million lux on my lux meter, at a measuring distance of 50 metres which is about the best that i can do at a relatively dark place.
Unfortunately like JasonWW said, it’s very impractical to be using a host with a 12” head, though it’s not really heavy at 2kg.
I can hit nearly 2km targets in a city urban setting which is very bright (it’s one of the most light polluted cities in the world), which is a difficult environment to play in regarding throw.
Even the forested parks are relatively bright, especially since you’d need 3km targets to hit it with if you wanna do that “NEMA FL-1 0.25 lux on target thingy”.
And since we are in BLF, budget is always impt.
I can get the Mateminco MT35Plus with XHP-35 HI (Astrolux MF04) at rmb 888 (usd 129), the head-only option costs rmb 788.
Shipping is usd 7 via “4-day sensitive air”.
The 12” HID 55W host + extra 100W car HID ballast purchase (you will get 2 ballast though) shipped would come in at just under usd 70, shipping via “4-day sensitive air” at usd 14. Maybe a bit lower if i search harder.
At least that makes up a little bit for the extra large proportions for the hobbyist’s very occasional fun use.
