Although the beam looks a bit better with the newer style (shine through?), mirror ones seem to perform better.
Both Jetbeam and Maxtoch have switched from mirror to shine through, resulting in lower specs. M1X WP-RX —> RRT M1X and L2K —> L3K. Only 2 examples there but it’s a start of a pattern.
I wonder why they’re doing this. Maybe it’s easier/cheaper to manufacture? Jetbeam did drop their prices a bit but Maxtoch didn’t. I also noticed that the L3K is out of stock. Wonder if they’ve stopped selling it or if they’ll release an improved version…or maybe…it’s just out of stock.
I’m guessing its to obscure the laser class restrictions in some countries since its completely enclosed it wouldn’t be rejected/returned upon entry into the country.
In order to properly image the tiny light source, the lens must be high quality, much better than your average classic aspheric lens. Tbis quality condition increases even more when going bigger to make a smaller projection. This is getting really expensive, and this is on top of the question how useful a smaller and smaller hotspot of that same limited 500 lumen output remains.