First of all, thank you for supporting our website through the Amazon purchase!
In most cases focusing/zoom-able aspherics tend to lack a better water resistance as compared to the TIR lens setup. This might be the reason why FiTorch/Litesam decided with the TIR lens setup. Side note: another manufacturer that used this first is the Fenix FD series. Whilst gaining better water resistance, the drawback is the loss of throw (in SPOT mode) when compared to a properly focused zoomie aspheric.
The in-between photos of “FLOOD” and “SPOT” modes are as what you had captured. Those beamshots were not captured as those did not provide useful beam profiles for real life usage; as compared to a zoomie aspheric whereby it beam profile is usable throughout the zooming process (focused & flood).
Half presses to switch modes from OFF must be done slightly slower than the usual 2 half presses which would activate STROBE instead. The mode switching is somewhat similar to a McGizmo 3S light engine.
Thanks mcorp for the reply, info and further explanation, now it’s clearer to me:
TIR zoomie: Spot and Flood only
Aspheric zoomie: Usable throughout the zooming process
As I said I’m quite happy with this flashlight now that I understand it’s limitations. It’s a very well built flashlight. I also understand now why there was no need to include the middle beamshots. It would have been better if the limitations of a TIR zoomie were mentioned in the review, but I can’t expect the reviewer to educate on the principles of different types of flashlight design, so no worries.
Also thanks for the info on mode changing from OFF with momentary presses, I was actually able to get that working correctly last night after playing around with it a while. :+1: There is a learning curve for that as you have to press/release the half-presses just right. It’s great that you can still use easily the momentary feature for signalling purposes without changing modes.
Bummers about the severe doughnut hole and lost emitter lumens not making it OTF. As a mod host I had high hopes. Seeing those pics brings me way back to the days of Mag incan ROP (rise of the pelican) mods and hot rodding PR lamps. Its 2018 we really shouldn’t have doughnut hole optics by todays standards. But it goes to show just how difficult it is to make a compact optic design that floods/zooms without obstructing emitter lumens somewhere along the way. The Lenser / fraen partnership optics IIRC achieve this.
I also want to add here that Litesam (FiTorch?) is not really confirming (or more likely not admitting) that the Litesam E11Z version is the same internally as the FiTorch P30Z. I asked that question, and this was their response:
“The function is similar to Fitorch P30Z”.
Litesam
But it’s a Chinese company and I assume the response came from someone in China so it may be wording lost in the translation and by “similar” they meant “same”. A simple “Yes” would have eliminated any uncertainty.
The reviewer (mcorp) has said it’s the same, plus it’s size, shape and all other specs are the same, the only thing that appears different is the knurling and the name. So I see no reason for anything to be different inside as far as the host/optics are concerned. And mcorp already confirmed the same donut hole is also present in the FiTorch.
I’m still learning the pros and cons between TIR vs Aspheric. mcorp has provided some explanation of the difference: “Better water resistance……. at the cost of loss of throw (in SPOT mode)”
I believe another charistic is a round spot beam when fully zoomed in (instead of a square one showing the die image) but I think that can be achieved in an aspheric by stopping the travel slightly short of full (Wowtac A3S for example) He also mentioned another brand that used this setup was Fenix FD series, I’m wondering is this the same as what Led Lenser employs?
In another thread, in a discussion of Led Lenser clones someone posted this description of the beam for (genuine) Led Lenser optics : “A nice round spot with no spill and almost perfectly uniform wide-angle spill that the real TIR does.”
However I’m not sure if Led Lenser is using something slightly different than these FiTorch and Fenix TIR.
For the FiTorch I have to wonder if their use of this TIR was worth it compared to using Aspheric.
.
What flashlights have the Lenser / fraen partnership optic? Is that what the Led Lenser uses? I’ve been looking at some Led Lensers, the MT10 and MT14.;
Those and the and MT18 appear to be the only models they make that run on popular size Li-ions (18650 / 26650)
An alternative design that essentially gives the same usability and the FiTorch with it’s donut hole (either flood or throw only) is the setup in the upcoming Astrolux MF03
.
They need to improve upon that design by employing it in smaller size lights, I have a budget light with a similar concept that uses a COB LED ring surrounding a reflectored LED, it’s quite handy.
