Robinhood4x4
03-22-2007, 08:32 PM
With all this talk of flashlights recently I thought I'd post up some comparisons of a few flashlights I have. From left to right is a 3C cell maglight with normal incandecent bulb, a 1AA cell Fenix L1P with luxeon 1 watt LED, a 2AA cell Fenix L2T with luxeon 3 watt LED, and a 2 cell CR123a Inova XO3 with luxeon 3 watt LED. All had fresh non rechargable batteries and the maglight is focus as well as I could get it. Absent is my surefire E2 because the bulb burnt out just as I was about to take these pictures.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/misc/Flashlights2.JPG
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/misc/Flashlight%20beamshots.JPG
Qualitatively, the maglight was about equal to the Fenix L1P. The Inova is the brightest but also the narrowest beam. Even though the Inova and the L2T have the same LED, the Inova uses better optics and batteries. Also notice the quality of the maglight beam compared to the others. The maglight isn't very uniform and has lots of holes in the pattern.
LEDs have come a long way and I've seen pictures of a new one that blow all of these away.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/misc/Flashlights2.JPG
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/misc/Flashlight%20beamshots.JPG
Qualitatively, the maglight was about equal to the Fenix L1P. The Inova is the brightest but also the narrowest beam. Even though the Inova and the L2T have the same LED, the Inova uses better optics and batteries. Also notice the quality of the maglight beam compared to the others. The maglight isn't very uniform and has lots of holes in the pattern.
LEDs have come a long way and I've seen pictures of a new one that blow all of these away.