Re: Acebeam W30vn - The LED Thrower R
I've been thinking about doing something like this for about a year now and even experimented with a 34mm scope ring on a Catapult V6vn. It worked but the red dot that I had laying around was an older Tasco AccuDot in silver. It was as long as the V6vn and nearly as large but the proof of concept worked. After that I went to a 1" 25mm ring with a small section of Picatinny rail attached. I removed an Aimpoint Micro from a rifle and mounted it on the rail. It stuck up a little but enough to clear the T27's head to see over it.
Three perfect things came together for the W30, an ideal beam, 1/4" tripod adaptor built into the light, and a spare optic that was no longer needed on a firearm. The best part is that this optic is way smaller than any other extra optic that I have, which prompted me to finally figure out the pieces and mount it to the W30.
I'm sure people are wondering.... Why? Well, I've always been fascinated at the idea of flashlights for long distance signalling. Often, when I hike up local mountains, it's pretty common that I have line of sight to landmarks and people. One of the areas I hike has line of sight to my place of work, which is 7 miles away. Sometimes I'll call the team and say, "hey, look up at Three Peaks!" and I'll shine at their location, the best that I'm able to in broad daylight. They shout back through the phone and exclaim, "WE SEE YOU!!" Everyone gets a big laugh out of it and they shine mirrors back at me as well, while I watch through the binoculars. My record distance with picture confirmation is 14 miles, with a TN32UT although I've been in communication at 21 miles using the the T27. It was seen with the naked eye at that distance at 10:00am. The reason for the sight is to allow me to point the beam, even if I can't actually see the beam.
CatV6vn 7 miles
TN32UT 14 miles
In any case, I'm pretty confident that the W30 could be seen at 50+ miles in daylight, I just need to set it up and do it. Next week I'll be trying out this set-up at about 25 miles, just to get an idea of how bright it is.
