1. The M21E's throw advantage comes purely from diameter.
2. Shallow reflector causes wider spill, and deep reflector causes narrow spill. The M21B has a narrower reflector, which explains the wider spill. However, the brightness of the spill in most cases has nothing to do with the reflector--it's almost exclusively dependent on the output of the emitter. Either M21B's spill only appears brighter but isn't actually, or it puts out more net lumens.
Another possibility is that the reflector is so small compared to the LED that the traditional hotspot/corona/spill trichotomy no longer holds--the corona might extend to the entire spill, making the "spill" more intense.
Here's one way for you to test it out: put the light on moonlight, and position yourself at the boundary of the spill and look into the light. Do you see just the bare LED emitting light, or do you also see parts of the reflector light up?
3. Given the same emitter, the M21E's large reflector will give the most focused and intense hotspot, no surprises there. Hotspot size is dependent on many factors, but there are simple relationships that hold when other factors are held fixed. In particular, fixing the same emitter and output, and fixing reflector proportions, larger reflector always implies smaller and more intense hotspot. If we instead fix the reflector and the output, smaller emitter implies narrower and more intense beam.
For the record, Lambertian just means that the brightness you observe is proportional to how much the emitter takes up your field of view, which is a very natural assumption for flat LEDs.
Thanks for the great explanation. I understand 1 and 3. Re. 2 the spill:
1. I assume you meant M21B is shallower? Itâs narrower yes, but more importantly itâs shallower?
2. I see what you are trying to do with the test - determine whether reflection off of reflector contributes to spill? In addition to the direct light from emitter, as in picture below which shows the larger spill angle of M21B?
Good point, I should have clarified: by shallower I mean the height-to-diameter ratio is smaller. The angles you drew capture exactly why a shallower reflector gives a wider spill. Note that even with the same ratio, spill from a smaller reflector will have a more blurry boundary and thus be seen as slightly wider.
Got it. BTW, could you pls explain where the corona comes from? Reflected is hotspot, unreflected forward is spill, what forms the corona?
Yes the boundary is M21B is larger but only very slightly, like a foot when beamshot is ~20 ft diameter.
I took a picture from edge of spill. I also re-took beamshot to make sure I wasnât seeing things; the spill of M21E oddly just so dark, consistent with what I see.
Corona comes from partial reflection from the reflector. The hotspot is where the image of the LED fills the whole reflector; the corona is where the image fills part of the reflector, and spill is reflector not contributing.
That weird reflection might explain why M21B has brighter spill. It's actually not a direct reflection from the reflector but a second-order reflection. The M21E's sharp dropoff is completely expected as it has a more intense hotspot.
I think I understand but pls correct as needed: at same diameter reflector, as depth increases, the spill size becomes smaller, intensity of spill is the same but its proportion of total energy (âlight amountâ) is less.
At the same time, proportion of energy to hotspot is more. Iâd better get this right after all this discussion!
Sorry for OT - I find topics interesting and like to group them together here. Last couple slides & Iâm done . Light loss from reflector, dome vs no dome, and the important depth/diameter ratio.
TS30S is sadly out of production. But⌠TS30S PRO is coming, âwithin 1-2 monthsâ per Wurkkos. Hope they donât screw up a great light and canât wait to get my hands on the replacement.
I asked if there is going to be an introductory sale and was met with dead silence .
I am guessing that everyone agrees that the TS30S Pro will have Anduril 2 and reverse charging capability, most likely. Other than that, what else would they really do? Maybe fix the green tint at low levels? Maybe not. Unleash an even more homicidal murder bezel? Heh. Definitely not. Whatever the case, it ostensibly will be superior to the TS30S. Since that model was sort of a âsurprise hitâ for Wurkkos â or more appreciated than even expected, at least â it seems highly unlikely that theyâd mess with success. That being said, it will be fun to see what they release in a month or so.
Btw Molicel P45B might be the best battery to squeeze more throw and output from TS30S. If battery is an option for purchase of TS30 Pro, I would opt out of the Wurkkos battery and get this one instead;
I didnât know but apparently batteries have grades like a,b, etc. based on quality. Supposedly the best âgrade Aâ should be available towards the end of this month. See discussion in thread above.
I only got my TS30S to throw 1 km by using the ultra-high current Nealsgadgets Lishen 2170HP, but its capacity is only 2800 mAh, and itâs not cheap. This P45B hopefully will be a great alternative.
The fact that Wurkkos wonât share any details about the updated Pro such a short time before it is released might make it feel like a letdown if there isnât some unexpected, cool improvement beyond reverse charging and Anduril 2. Hope they come through!
Me too. It really would take special talent to screw this up. Major determinants shouldnât change much:
LED is the same SBT90.2.
The reflector dimensions I donât expect changes since they are already âperfectâ (I hope Wurkkos agrees).
Anduril 2 shouldnât change the beam profile.
They had better not change the button since it is among the best in feel and engagement.
Hopefully the button light wonât have that crazy behavior as with TS21. Not sure but thought I read somewhere that the reverse charging has something to do with it.
Fingers crossed for green reflection AR lens. Should help reduce the green tint.
and found a discussion on corona here 
.
- thank you for listening.