Thank you for your reply. I live in China. I just stumbled upon this brand with a long history but it seems to be seldom discussed when browsing the information of various flashlights on the Internet, so I am interested in it. It is true that the zoom flashlight using TIR lens is much better than those using the ordinary lens, it is softer when flooding, and there is no unsightly spot when focusing.
What’s interesting is that this brand has always used flashlights from Germany as a selling point (at least in China), but all of its products are currently manufactured in Yangjiang, Guangdong, China. I consulted the relevant customer service and they responded that the factory in Yangjiang is wholly German-owned. Another thing that surprised me is that there are unpackaged ledlenser flashlights sold on Taobao at a much lower price than the listed price. Although the comments mentioned that the flashlight has minor flaws, I think they may sell substandard products that should be destroyed. This is not what a brand with a long history and a high-end brand should do.
Reliable is definitely now something I would say about mine because:
- it has some spurious electrical issues and sometimes turns off and/or refuses to turn on
- the switch gets stuck in the pressed position, it’s hard to bring it back up
Though I have experience with only 1 of their lights and I may have been unlucky.
BLF members are blessed with an abundance and variety of flashlights ……. on the internet.
And there are a few specialized brick and mortar stores where we can feel and buy.
Those are the shops where you can get (a reasonable amount of) advice.
Most lights in stores, are on sale in (no big chain related) DIY and sports equipment stores.
There you see mainly Maglite, LedLenser, Olight and a bit less Fenix.
These are lights that fall under the regime of a MAP-police. The prices being the same everywhere.
Most of the staff in these stores can help you no more than repeat the words on the box.
My guess is most of their customers are just looking for “a” light, for just one occasion.
Being more expensive, people will pay money to get them repaired, and LL will offer that (a bit).
LL buyers will own no other lights. Which is a good thing, because they are hardly ever used.
And end up, like the €5 lights they owned before that LL, leaking in a kitchen drawer.
So yes, LL lights are not discussed here much, because in general we are not LL lights buyers.
LL lights are not overpowered. Because, mainly made out of plastic, they can’t shed the extra heat.
You will face some serious challenges if you wanna mod such a light to BLF standard specs.
But treated with care, it will serve you well. If you are looking for the specific properties of a LL.
I own a recent Led Lenser, the MT10 that I picked up on a whim after seeing similar optics in a Coast flashlight. Here’s the story.
One of my buddies had picked up a Coast G450 from a Home Depot on sale for $20:
When I tried the focusing system, I was impressed by the very wide flood when zoomed out. When zoomed in, the beam was very similar to a dedicated thrower, with a bright hotspot and some usable spill. Now I had played around with aspheric lens zoomies before, and I could tell that the Coast light was much superior, especially with almost no loss of lumens at maximum throw. Even the flood was wider than any zoomie I’d tried. This youtube video shows what the beam looks like in both modes (skip ahead to 0:50): Coast G450 flashlight testing! - YouTube
Sadly, the Coast light used 6 AA batteries, and that was a dealbreaker. But I was interested in picking up a flashlight with similar optics, except with support for a lithium-ion battery. So I looked around and learned that both Coast and Led Lenser had similar optics, and it was patented. I found a Led Lenser MT10 that was decently discounted (but still overpriced IMO), and it used 18650s.
When I got the MT10, it turned out to be a disappointment. The flood was narrower than I was hoping for and slightly square with ringing at the edges. The throw hotspot was an unfocused square and circle overlayed on top of each other, and quite ugly with no usable spill. So why was the Coast beam so much better? I think it has to do with the difference in size of the optics. The MT10 optic measures 1 inch across, while the Coast was at least 1.7 inches. I think the Led Lenser/Coast focusing system only works well if you have larger optics, and since the MT10 was a smaller flashlight, Led Lenser made some compromises that gave poor results, unlike the Coast light.
I don’t have any other Led Lensers, so my opinion is only based on the MT10. I’m still hoping to find a flashlight that has a beam pattern like the Coast, but I doubt that will be possible in typical 18650/21700-sized light.
Car websites are awful these days at telling you about the engine. Esp those outside of the USA. Take a look at the Peugeot or Mercedes UK sites for examples.
Maglite also don’t say what the LEDs are on their site.
Wowawywa! Its only 300$ and it uses “3 x XtreamLED” !
In the UK Led Lenser is quite well known. I’d even say that to the layman or general public they are probably more known these days than Maglites. As Maglites are very hard to buy in the UK. Many outdoor (hiking etc) shops are likely to stock Led Lenser. So they are probably the most popular “premium” torch branch you would encounter here on the high street.
Quality wise, I think in the past they have generally been quite good. Although many of their lights were quite simple in terms of features. I have a P6.2 which while the output isn’t great, the physical quality of the light is fine.
I also have a POP lite T34, I believe this came from the same factory as Led Lenser and looks to be identical to the older P7 model (I’ve owned it for years). It runs on 4 x AAA. I have some Led Lenser spares I acquired direct from Led Lenser when trying to make an 18500 conversion for this light (I didn’t in the end). And the machining, anodising all match perfectly.
POP lite doesn’t seem to exist these days, so not sure what happened there. But I can say I’ve never had any issues (I have 3 models).
The TIR optic in my opinion is nicer than the aspheric lens of other zoomy lights. As an aspheric lens will project the LED die image at full zoom. So you see the square shape of the LED and the wires or patterns on the phosphor.
With a TIR you normally focus it down to a tight spot beam, which is much nicer to use. Also the beam tends to be fatter than an aspheric. At least in all the ones I own.
Personally I like to know too. But I’m willing to bet, the vast majority of Lenser buyers wouldn’t even know or care what LED was being used. And I think that is how they are marketing them. Just like Maglite, you never see Led Lenser on any of the forums. We just aren’t their target market (for whatever reasons).