interesting comparison, never had a LEP. Good to see a lot of innovation and change within our hobby.

Great comparison and graphics. Such graphs would be useful for other types of flashlights too!

Fantastic series of reviews.

But …. is it just me? I feel some kind of emptiness emerging in me.
It’s probably my high-maintenance inner child that wants a present.

Di_Joker wrote:

Great comparison and graphics. Such graphs would be useful for other types of flashlights too!

+1 and thank you

How much further does the M1X throw in real life compared to the unbranded? I feel like I need to upgrade already

ChibiM and Th558 out of curiosity since you both have the unbranded LEP is it just me or does having the lens screwed all the way down make the hot spot giantic with a hole in the center ? also does the hot spot seem to auto focus when you shine it at a closer surface and expand when aimed at a wall in the distance really hoping it isnt my eyes going on me….

Edit : found the issue the retaining ring holding the mirror was loose probably from shipping.

ChibiM wrote:

@DI Joker + JaredM

Yes, I am thinking about doing that with my other reviews as well, but then with Lumens and only lights that are closely related.

That’s great news. I also think for anything in the thrower category, (basically if its any HI, Dedome, Osram Flat, or SBT emitter light), Lux vs time is a great measurement to plot!! Really goes unnoticed so much around here. For example, a small thrower like an XT45 for example with an SBT90.2 might have peak values competitive with a white flat at turn-on/30s, but at any sustainable level, it wouldn’t be remotely close! Lux vs Time FTW

Thank You for putting that together, very informative

Thank you for those reviews. It really helped me to make my decision on which LEP to get.

Yes, thank you and really informative. Especially since good info about LEP lights seemed to be hard to find (untill now:) I love the beamshot comparisons!

Use a good thrower quite often in my work and during sailing races, but haven’t had the guts |(and spare money) to go for a LEP. Cautious of a too narrow beam, what makes looking for the buoys like looking for a needle in a haystack. But the more I see good beamshots and comparisons, the less cautious I get…. Just finding the right light for the right purpose:)

Has the Acebeam Gen 2 stopped being made?
I’m fro the Uk..
Is there a youtube vid out there, of comparison between W10 gen 2 and Fenix TK30?
which would you buy with your hard saved cash?
cheers guys / gals

what did you go for?

I wish I had one of them

Grays851 wrote:

Has the Acebeam Gen 2 stopped being made?
I’m fro the Uk..
Is there a youtube vid out there, of comparison between W10 gen 2 and Fenix TK30?
which would you buy with your hard saved cash?
cheers guys / gals

Ha Chibi, nice round-up, and could you add kcd to the table above?, throw distance is not my COT.

Celebration notice: I just bought my first LEP flashlight, the NealsGadgets LEP, with the code NDNA it came down to 152 dollar, and the favorable current exchange rate made that 131 euro.

Great thread.

I have some general questions about LEPs.

I see lots of places call them “white lasers”. I’m assuming this is untrue and that the light emitted is not actually a laser beam and that it is just using a laser to generate the light. Could someone confirm or deny this assumption?

I’m also interested to know more about how LEPs work. there seems to be very little info that I can find on Google. As a secondary part of this. Why are they all fixed beam focus for throw? Could they not be zoomy lights or even use other forms of optic or reflector?

I have found this somewhat confusing picture on the Acebeam site (a site calling it a white laser……) :

Out of the two examples above, I have no idea which way the W30 is constructed. The left hand image is reused further down the page on their website, so logic would suggest that is the construction. But if so, why have the right hand image at all?

On a separate but related note, why are there no LED lights using the optic structure as above?

Thanks.

@CD, you are right, the pump is a blue laser, which is aimed at a bit of phosfor, just like a led, the resulting light is incoherent in random direction, just like a led, and can be made into a beam by an optic, just like a led. But because in all LEP lights that I have seen the phosfor is illuminated from the front, with a mirror straight above the phosfor (so a bit different from the Acebeam drawing above), I think that a zoomie is difficult because that little mirror will interfere with the lens when zoomed out.

Chicken Drumstick wrote:

Great thread.

I have some general questions about LEPs.

I see lots of places call them “white lasers”. I’m assuming this is untrue and that the light emitted is not actually a laser beam and that it is just using a laser to generate the light. Could someone confirm or deny this assumption?

I’m also interested to know more about how LEPs work. there seems to be very little info that I can find on Google. As a secondary part of this. Why are they all fixed beam focus for throw? Could they not be zoomy lights or even use other forms of optic or reflector?

Well, I know a bit about how it works the laser is directed via a mirror in the light to a surface made of phosphor which causes the molecules to get “excited” and emit a blindly bright white light which then is focused with a convex lens and projected outward.

Chicken Drumstick wrote:

As a secondary part of this. Why are they all fixed beam focus for throw? Could they not be zoomy lights or even use other forms of optic or reflector?

Well in general these lights are purpose built for throw with little spill, would you be willing to shell out upwards to $400 for a zoomie with only 500~ lumens at max ? When a generic zoomie costs around $10 or less. For why it doesn’t use a reflector is it physically would require more space and then factor in focusing it via a lens would make it even larger so kind of pointless.

djozz - seems like a good decision. that NealsGadgets LEP sure does look interesting, as simple and 'classic' as it is (lack of regulation, modes, easy dis-assembly, etc.). Based on Marco's review, it appears capable of hitting 1000 kcd on a good cell, like a GOLISI 26650, 25S, or VTC5D. Wonder if further tweaking would bump it up, but not sure of the risks.

Ooops, I see vinh sells them with 1.1 Mcd performance already.

Wow this is awesome thanks for the great reviews and comparisons.

I have the Acebeam W10 gen 2 and the W30. Should I buy any of the others do you think or would it be better to wait for the next leap in the technology?

The guy who built some of my lasers offered to build me a 50 watt laser rifle that used mirrors and stuff to combine the beams from multiple diodes. I wonder if you could do something like this for LEP…

Yeah man how sweet would that be? He made me a 6 watt blue laser that lights stuff on fire and can burn through dark metal. Runs on a pair of 16340s

There’s a dude on YouTube (styropyro I think) who built an actual white laser. It combines a red, green, and blue laser to make a white beam. It’s crazy

Spelfoutje in de titel, dicuss moet zijn discuss

Photon Master wrote:

The guy who built some of my lasers offered to build me a 50 watt laser rifle that used mirrors and stuff to combine the beams from multiple diodes. I wonder if you could do something like this for LEP…

What exactly are you trying to do that isn’t available from these LEP lights? I don’t think you can beat the cost from these mass manufacturer. I have picked up the laser pointer hobby many years ago, and I can say that the pricing of these aren’t like LED at all. anything custom and fancy won’t be “budget” friendly.

vinh’s modded is too good to pass, thanks for the heads up.