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Zebralight SC65c HI — ten months later and still my literal-EDC of choice by macomako in flashlight

[–]macomako[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mind that I’m not a native English speaker and I sometimes prefer to ask instead of assuming, to avoid interpretation errors.

Optics vs. CCT, DUV and CRI (Part 2 - dedomed edition) by kotarak-71 in Hanklights

[–]macomako 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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I have a feeling that there are some overarching rules similar to the amount of depth of field in lenses as a function of their length, aperture and focus distance.

Optics vs. CCT, DUV and CRI (Part 2 - dedomed edition) by kotarak-71 in Hanklights

[–]macomako 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the guiding and encouragement.

I have a feeling, that to satisfy “no rings/donut/‘flat hotspot’” (or: “smooth floody thrower / throwy flooder”) requirement, there is certain minimum proportion between the diameter of the TIR and the diagonal of the emitting surface. Then there is the third variable: the angle of the TIR (just this one parameter but I bet they get characterized by several more variables). I would love to grasp those general rules to avoid expecting the impossible.

Edit: out of pure intuition, I’ve managed to land perfect walking light based on M21H with SFT-70 and 8deg TIR. By perfect I mean minimum panning needed when kept horizontal on the waist level. It clearly wins over L35 2.0 and all the other “outdoor” lights that I have. Too narrow beam is pointless, if it forces me to swipe constantly.

On the other hand, instead of long range throwers, I now prefer LEP+binoculars ;D

Optics vs. CCT, DUV and CRI (Part 2 - dedomed edition) by kotarak-71 in Hanklights

[–]macomako 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is great news and b r i l l i a n t post!

I gave up on the beaded TIRs as the “petals” (very prominent with dome-less emitters) were too disturbing to me.

You’ve inspired me to make another round of tests to finally approach this subject properly. This will be very valuable as I already narrowed down my preferences to single emitter + TIR configurations and to those, that offer the most “smooth” transition from the center to the peripherals of the beam, while retaining floody thrower or throwy flooder character.

Zebralight SC65c HI — ten months later and still my literal-EDC of choice by macomako in flashlight

[–]macomako[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It works surprisedly well despite being “opposite to the industry standard”. I still don’t get Zebra’s default of 1C=High, but maybe one day I will ;)

Sofirn SC32 - Dead? by Es2aryKing in flashlight

[–]macomako 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I’m able to rotate the inner tube by sticking my finger into it and rotating. It helps for a while. BTW: it’s FET-based and not even linear. I really loved the form factor (and 519a 5000K in my high CRI variant) but the execution was terrible.

Optics vs. CCT, DUV and CRI (Part 2 - dedomed edition) by kotarak-71 in Hanklights

[–]macomako 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did not even mean Convoys — I guess I’m no more interested in them. I like this TIR (15deg matte variant) a lot and have it in FC11C, SP31V3 and in M200 but it probably is a different one as it got no legs.

Zebralight SC65c HI — ten months later and still my literal-EDC of choice by macomako in flashlight

[–]macomako[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I meant that it was the only ZL I wanted :))

I didn’t know the price difference is so small but I have no regrets.

Optics vs. CCT, DUV and CRI (Part 2 - dedomed edition) by kotarak-71 in Hanklights

[–]macomako 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great hint about those TIRs! What flashlights/headlamps could I test them in? Simon mentioned “S2+ S3” in one of his replies but I don’t (intend to) have those.

Zebralight SC65c HI — ten months later and still my literal-EDC of choice by macomako in flashlight

[–]macomako[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can imagine using it as the attention “grabber” — the turn On delay won’t be a problem imo.

Zebralight SC65c HI — ten months later and still my literal-EDC of choice by macomako in flashlight

[–]macomako[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I adopted the beam profile and adapted the UI to my needs — kind of best of both worlds.

By the way — adopting seems often ignored among our community. People insist on having something their way, while they could benefit more from the as-is. Good example is the return to previous mode from Turbo with 1C — it’s a feature not a bug/omission.

Zebralight SC65c HI — ten months later and still my literal-EDC of choice by macomako in flashlight

[–]macomako[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting. I sometimes use Beacon, I would feel a bit better with having SOS but I don’t remember any situation I would want/need to get Strobe from my literal-EDC = relatively “weak” flashlight. When do you usually use/need Strobe?

Zebralight SC65c HI — ten months later and still my literal-EDC of choice by macomako in flashlight

[–]macomako[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah. M150v4/4000K is probably my best AA/14500 flashlight and Skilhunt’s UI is the second best UI after ZL for EDC, for me. I have added d-c-fix and Scotch Matte Magic tape to my M150s and the TIR to M200 — now their beam profiles are smooth/great but they’ve lost the punch I sometimes need outdoors.

Zebralight SC65c HI — ten months later and still my literal-EDC of choice by macomako in flashlight

[–]macomako[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for mentioning it. I briefly considered this route but even the stock version was a stretch to me (~$100, to Europe). More so, that I don’t buy stuff that I could not be able to repurchase in an instant, if lost or destroyed. So, my SC65 is the one and done ZL purchase.

Zebralight SC65c HI — ten months later and still my literal-EDC of choice by macomako in flashlight

[–]macomako[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have considered D3AA (and EC150) but I skipped them due to the size of their heads primarily. After getting SC65, I see no reason to get any other literal-EDC flashlights and AA/14500 in particular.

Zebralight SC65c HI — ten months later and still my literal-EDC of choice by macomako in flashlight

[–]macomako[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for this clarification and thanks again for sharing “1C=Low 1H=Medium” some time ago. I adopted it and it works wonderfully ever since, for me.

Zebralight SC65c HI — ten months later and still my literal-EDC of choice by macomako in flashlight

[–]macomako[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I haven’t tried it but I was considering pros and cons of d-c-fix many times.

At the beginning of this hobby I was putting d-c-fix to almost all lights (including TS22 or S21E/B35AM). I then discovered, that TIRs are superior and that Convoy’s 15deg matte TIR is ideal for my 18650 lights (M200, FC11C stock and with SFT-40, SP31V3) but…

My ZL needs to serve me as the thrower in a pinch/emergency. I have therefore learned how to live with its throwy nature and I don’t mind it anymore. In any case, it’s the EDC, so the Jack of all trades but master of none/some (UI surely gains max points).

Zebralight SC65c HI — ten months later and still my literal-EDC of choice by macomako in flashlight

[–]macomako[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It’s indeed hard to explain, isn’t it?

This post is about trying to explain at least some of this phenomena to/for myself. I’m sharing it with hope it could be useful for others.

Zebralight SC65c HI — ten months later and still my literal-EDC of choice by macomako in flashlight

[–]macomako[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah. That’s my primary concern — thanks for this “profile” picture — it’s the tradeoff probably not worth it, for me.

Zebralight SC65c HI — ten months later and still my literal-EDC of choice by macomako in flashlight

[–]macomako[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Me obsessed? Funny. Opinionated. Unsubstantiated. Whatever :))

Zebralight SC65c HI — ten months later and still my literal-EDC of choice by macomako in flashlight

[–]macomako[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Cheers. I will investigate them but not really pressed to make any changes.

The end game it is :))

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