For quite some time, I’ve been viewing the beam shots of some members here and I usually refer to these shots in choosing my next flashlight. The beams speak for the flashlight’s performance and people could normally decide what beam pattern, throw or brightness he wants by simply looking at the beam shots. Having a few lights myself, I decided to share the beam shots of my big lights.
I am living in a little housing village 372 meters above sea level and the location is quite conducive to stargazing (my other hobby) having no light ‘noise’ and no air pollution. It is also a place where a flashaholic can put his lights to a ton of use. The place being surrounded by trees, it is however relatively hard to find a long straight clearing for taking beam shots. The area I used was only 60 meters long per Google Earth.
I took the beam shots of my seven strongest (biggest) flashlights shining at their highest outputs using a Nikon Coolpix S710 set at ISO 800, F4.0, & 0.625 sec shutter speed:
Here’s the control:
Mag Light 4D modified to 6x CREE XR-E Q5:
FourSevens Maelstrom X-10:
JetBeam BC-40:
SupBeam K40:
Black Shadow Terminator:
Sky Ray King:
TrustFire X-100:
We’ll I think that’s all for now. I hope these shots will be of help to others as well. :bigsmile:
Great comparison shots. They also give a good feel for the spill and throw. You have a nice arsenal of lights there. The only one I have of those is the SRK.
Thanks, Nightbird…. great effort on your part, but I’m confused.
In your pictures, the trees in the far distance: the Jetbeam and the K40 seem quite evenly matched in throw…or maybe the K40 is a little brighter, but….
I have both the Supbeam K40 and the Jetbeam BC40 and I can tell you - there’s no way the Jetbeam can out-throw the K40.
While the BC40 puts out a good amout of light, the Supbeam absolutely kills it in the throw department.
I would expect to see something quite different.
I agree BanglaBob. The K40 is much better in throw than the BC40. Unfortunately, the distance of the tree from my position is only 60 meters so it would seem that the two are evenly matched. :bigsmile:
I’ll try to find another site where the clearing is much longer. I’m pretty sure the K40 will leave the BC40 behind.
Great beamshots. Good range of throwers and flooders too. I’ve always loved beamshots and also use them for helping on my light buying choices. So keep up the good work!
I will say it again. You gota love that Terminator. Great beamshots. They show something here. People always talk about the SRK being a better flooder than the BS. Maybe the percentage of flood compared to the total amount of output is higher, but your pictures clearly show that the Terminator has more useable flood as well as much more throw.
How come no one mentions the X-100? It looked like it lit up the entire area?
Also, Nightbird, which light is your “favorite” of those? I know it’s probably tough to choose, but if you had to pick only one, which would it be, and why?
Yes the Terminator has more usable flood as well as much throw than the the SRK. If we compare the BST and the SRK to vehicle lights, the SRK would be the fog light and the BST the head light.
With the SRK, you have a wider spill immediately near the vehicle but your observation far ahead is very limited. To some maybe, this is more important especially if they are near sighted.
With the BST, your spill starts a little farther but you can see clearly what’s way ahead. This is more important to me.
Like the ‘Question and Answer’ portion of a pageant eh?
My EDC is the Maelstrom X-10. Its not the brightest or the farthest throwing but is has decent amount of flood and throw and I can bring it anywhere I go.
When I do roving around the geothermal production field I’m working, my favorite is the Black Shadow Terminator. It has stronger flood and farther throw than the Maelstrom X-10 and it is also easy to carry around. In fact I used my BST in the rescue operations after a landslide here last 01 March.
The BST and the X-10 are my most used flashlights but when I’m aboard a vehicle and I’m not the one driving, I also bring my TrustFire X-100 with me. It lights a much wider area and it is as bright as the Terminator. The only downside is that it is heavier and longer hence not that easy to carry around.
i like your beam shot comparison of the lights. thanks for that. too bad that terminator isnt more floody, id buy one if it was .
i know…im expecting too much hehe
