I think you are spot on with this, djozz. It makes more lumens in focused mode compared to normal lights because the optics allow the LED to be right up to the first & second lenses where it is converted into a parallel beam of light for the rest of the lenses to use. In a regular FTT light when zoomed out the LED is at it’s farthest from the lens and most of the light is lost inside the head of the light with only a small percentage reaching the lens focal point.
This light is 9.25 inches long and uses only two CR123A cells. It looks like it should be dual 18650 but it’s not. All that length is taken up with the long stack of optics like you show in your picture. Pretty neat idea they had with this.
My problem with lights like this is that it goes against how the human eyes work. Our vision is only truly focused on a very small point. Go out only an inch or few from that point and things get out of focus the farther out we go. This is due to our stereo vision. We rely on our peripheral vision to detect motion or a rough approximation of what we are looking for and guide our focus to what we are looking for. This is why I prefer a traditional reflectored light. It represents what we really see when we look at something. A central focused region gradually defocusing as we go farther away from the main focal point. Square beams feel wrong to me because I cannot use my peripheral vision and most of the focused light in the square is wasted on my eyes while leaving my peripheral vision feeling blind. Anything could be happening outside that square of light and you’d never know it. Too easy to miss something when scanning in the distance. Plus, the sharp contrast of bright to dark screws up my eyes even more than a regular reflectored spill in either flood or throw modes. That sharp edge of light always messes with my eyes.
The only valid argument, IMO, for FTT focused beams is when working in the city when you need to look between houses and don’t want the spill to hit the houses and disturb anyone.
See, I’m the exact opposite I actually much prefer a smooth beam of diffused light as I do find I get tunnel vision with a central hotspot… That’s why I love my zoomies - I must admit, I think this tech is pretty cool but I’d be wanting an 18650 version… I wonder if the 2x CR123 will work with a single 18650… interesting
They excel when you need strong amount of light in small flashlight configuration:
- IR (infrared mode). They are no.1 and irreplaceable in this field weather you use simple CCTV camera system or very expensive Night vision devices for classic observation or hunting and they perfectly cover your NV device field of view.
- Lets say in forensic trail or clue search. You want to concentrate only on the part of room or only on particular object with desired light intensity (zoom in out). Here you can also use UV light in combination with luminol for searching blood trail.
- At the sea. I had plenty guys that bought them for searching(not sure how you guys call that) buoy,markers, beacon, fishing traps from the sea. They preserve your night vision and have greater possibility of light regulation while beam coming from reflector destroys your night vision reflecting from water on close or far and it can not throw good enough on longer distances.
Some sea guy told me that he also uses for measuring distance to the shore(but I don’t understand what he tried to say with that or why he must do so).
- Hunting. Particularly scope hunting(covers scope field of view) although it can even serve as duck hunting light(close up).
It is not spooking game so much as reflector light since there is no reflection from environment which game perceive much sooner or instantly if you use reflector light(for example if you use reflector light and start scanning at left point - game on the right point will see spill much before you even hit it with reflector hotspot beam, while it will perceive aspheric type of beam only when directly exposed since there is no spill or environment reflection)
- Sheppard took massive aspheric light as he wanted maximum throw performance and he said that he is giving warning to wolves to not approach to his heard.
- Duty light. For discrete searching without alerting whole neighborhood or blinding traffic. scanning large distance areas with certain equipment(monocular) if you are border control officer.
There are probably other situations they could find their use…
my brother has one of these. they are OLD. ( he bought his back in 2011 i believe. It uses a projector -style lens set up, with a silly square aperture in front of an older style Luxeon Star LED. ( its like they wanted to be the precursor to the modern Aspheric flashlight with a square-die LED. its has literally no flood corona, and projects a beam like a video projector showing a snowstorm.
probably not as good a thrower as todays zoomies, but it made the light very even and smooth in the square beam. (A real Sipik SK68 with the XR-E EZ900 series LED on a 14500 out throws the Bushnell square beam.
I really need to create such a beam. I need to create about 45cm to 45cm squared focused beam as it looks like in the picture from a distance of 50 cm to 1meter or a bit higher. does any one knows how I can I make such a beam? and what equipment do I need in order to set up such a thing.?
I really appreciate any help.
Hey guys, Just a heads up about Bushnell. BE CAREFUL when buying their products. They WILL NOT honor any type of warranty. See thread about experiences with Bushnell here :
I actually much prefer a smooth beam of diffused light as I do find I get tunnel vision with a central hotspot… That’s why I love my zoomies - I must admit, I think this tech is pretty cool but I’d be wanting an 18650 version… I wonder if the 2x CR123 will work with a single 18650… interesting 
