Where did the throw go?
After lights switched from incandescent bulbs to LEDs we had a brief period where the design of lights didn’t really adapt to the new technology. Instead it was basically just a parts swap. Then flashlight makers started to really harness the LED and things changed. Beautiful beams unleashed by precision designed reflectors were replaced by TIR optics. In some lights, there were no optics at all, just naked emitters in triple or quadruple arrays that used sheer power to overcome some of the throw issues associated with mule designs (mules are the flashlight term for lights without optics). As emitters got brighter and the demand for small lights increased, everyone forgot about throw. Most lights were used indoors and so having long throw lights seemed useless. That, of course, didn’t stop companies from making lights with misleading specifications around their highs or companies from talking about lumens in a way that misconstrues how they are perceived by the brain. But, one of these is bad for marketing and one is good.
Nonetheless true throw lights that were compact and pocketable all but went away in a sea of oLights and Fenixes. My favorite EDC light, the 47s Mini Turbo Mk III is a throw-y light, kind of. It has a real reflector and as a result produces something of a throwy beam. But with changes in technology and different designs, throw is starting to make a comeback in EDC lights. I have two such lights up for review—the Surefire EDC1 DFT and the Maratac Mini Cosmos. Both have great throw, but they get there in different ways.
The Mini Cosmos uses a LEP instead of an LED. A LEP or laser excited phosphor light is a light that uses a laser diode to excite a phosphors to produce a very intense, narrow beam of light. The Mini Cosmos hits 265 lumens, which is not a ton, comparatively speaking, but it will illuminate an object a quarter mile away with relative ease. The LEP beam is literally all throw. If you illuminate a wall a close range you will see nothing but a perfect circle of light. There is an edge and then beyond that, nothing. If you have not used a LEP before, they are significantly different than any other kind of flashlight. Their beam is so tight and so bright that even with nothing in the air (like smoke or fog) they create a visible column of light. It is really impressive to see and incredibly fun to play with on a dark night.
The Surefire EDC1 DFT doesn’t use a LEP, but instead it uses a traditional LED with a very finely crafted and tuned reflector. The beam is intense, but not as intense as the LEP’s beam. However, it is vastly more useful. Unlike with the Mini Cosmos, the EDC1 has spill. The hotspot can hit stuff very far away, though not as far as the Mini Cosmos, but the light’s spill makes it a more practical choice. You get useful light both up close AND far away.
It seems that the flashlight market is changing again, and, in my opinion for the better. TIRs and Triples are certainly nice at keeping a light compact, but they have so little reach that the all those lumens seem a bit wasteful. The era of squashy beams is changing, becoming the era of throw. I am interested to see how both the Mini Cosmos and the EDC1 DFT fair against more traditional EDC designs. BOSS 35 v. EDC1 DFT anyone?
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