I’m curious what BLF members like more, a traditional reflector or a TIR lens.
I prefer a traditional reflector and I think I might be in the minority, which is fine with me. 
Feel free to explain your choice if you wish. 
I prefer TIRs for flooders, but reflectors for throwers. I guess that counts as liking them equally, but differently.
Whatever works better. Seriously. Depends on the application.
I prefer a beaded tir just for the smooth transition between hotspot and spill and the lack of any discernible artefacts for indoors and walking but for a thrower then reflector for the extra ooompf.
For flooders, I only do TIRs. Much better tint uniformity and zero fried-egg beam which is unavoidable with reflectors.
For large throwers, I only do reflectors. They have better transmission and higher intensity than a TIR of comparable size. Also more mechanically robust and easier to replace.
For compact throwers I like reflectors and TIRs pretty much equally, either can be advantageous depending on the application. Reflectors give a more intense spill, while TIRs offer a larger hotspot without blinding spill.
I’ll have what he’s having.
Reflector. A good parabolic reflector can create a tight focused beam with a throwy LED, while also providing useable spill from the light coming directly from led. Smooth is good for thrower or general purpose, op is good for flood.
I think, as usual, it depends on the application. For compact lights used for short range, especially with multiple emitters, I don’t think you can beat a good TIR. For larger lights, especially single emitter throwers, give me a reflector every time. So it is not an either/or situation for me… so I took the third option in the survey.
I’m assuming this poll is asking about smaller lights… or at least small head? Large heads definitely reflector but i don’t own many lights like that.
I’m okay with both. I generally prefer floody and smooth which indicates my preference would be tir but my users are a mixture of both
I own tons of each at this point. I guess in the last few years, I am leaning slightly on the side of TIR, because even though there is a little less output with them, a really great beam profile can make a light very pleasant to use (examples of some of my favorites: Acebeam L35, Fireflylite X1L, and Convoy S21D.)
Good poll.
It was a close choice for me. I like reflectors. TIRs are almost winning me over but not quite yet.
I generally like tirs but I do admit I have a few thrower lights that use reflectors. I thought I was in the minority but I guess not!
I like more uniform beam, so I vote for TIR.
I don’t exclusive use any one of them but there are 2 things I like about TIRs - spill and weight.
They give a good spill all the way to feet level, very handy for walking. They are also lighter than metal reflectors so it’s easier to carry.
Theoretically, TIR is definitely better, but the mold cost is higher, and many of the ones bought in the secondary market are not matched enough. Especially for throw, it seems that most small angle TIR are not thrown and matched enough.
For flood, 15° matte TIR + 219b/519a dome is my current favorite.
btw, the reason for keeping the dome is that for some TIR lenses, dedomed is too throwy and almost no usable spill.
Lately TIR as my interest is more flood than throw, and multi-emitter designs tend towards Carclo/Ledil 3x/4x setups.
Reflectors pretty much have A beam.
Hotspot is determined by the size of the chip (and dome, if any).
Too easy to get artifacts in the beam if the reflector isn’t perfectly seated and centered.
If you want a discrete hotspot and some spill, then a reflector is for you.
A TiR lens can configure the beam from a 5° beam to a 120° beam or wider.
The beam itself is the hotspot, and spill is just leakage from that beam.
The beam is generally buttery smooth, without the sharp cutoff of an aspheric lens.
With the right light (eg, an unscrewable cap holding in the TIR lens) you can swap TIR lenses even on the fly, to reconfigure it from spot to flood and back again, or anything in-between.
In a light like the CatMini, you can get a tight pencil-beam with very little spill, throwing almost all the light at the target, without wasting a good chunk of light as useless spill (reflector) or general inefficiency (aspheric) or projecting The Bat Signal (aspheric)
And there’s way way less of a “fried egg beam” with a TIR lens, whereas a reflector is almost guaranteed to have a yellow hotspot with blue spill, and maybe a nasty piss-yellow corona around the hotspot for good measure.
Nah, I’ll stick with TIR lenses.
I can’t believe she didn’t get any likes nor comments in this forum!
I legit never heard of her before.
Interesting review, though. 