Aspherical Mag Sign-Up

[PJD]

OMG!!! I've been outside playing with my newly arrived Aspherical Mag, and I've gotta say that this thing is nothing short of AMAZING! I took along a 2C Mag with a MagLED drop-in and a UCL just for comparison. To make a long story short, there IS no comparison! Even on it's widest focus, the Aspherical Mag blows the MagLED away on it's TIGHTEST focus! The Aspherical Mag, when it's on it's tightest focus, EASILY lights up objects that are 400 feet away from my back door...and that's not an exhaggeration. I can say that the A-Mag would probably have no problem lighting up objects CLEARLY at 600 to 800 feet; and on it's widest focus it was nicely lighting up objects that were 300 feet from my back door. This thing DEFINITELY has the throw capability of an HID. I've only owned one HID light in the past...the 10W one that Emilion sells on his site. The A-Mag EASILY throws as far as that particular HID light did! The A-Mag is nothing short of the proverbial "Throw Monster", and if you're into lights with TTTHHHRRROOOOOWWWWWW, you,ve GOT to get one of these! FANTASTIC job, Mac! I've been a CPFer for over five years now, and a LOT of lights have passed through my hands in that time. All I can say is that I haven't been THIS impressed by ANY other light in quite some time! Even at $100, the A-Mag gives a LOT of bang-for-the-buck...again, VERY well done, Mac!

PJD

P.S. If you get an A-Mag, I HIGHLY recommend finding a way to rig a wrist lanyard to it. Because of the weight of the Aspherical lens, if you drop it, it WILL land "face first"...FYI!

 

[SkinlessMonkey]

I love throw. You guys are making my wait seem like months instead of days!

 

[greenstuffs]

mine is still in the mail damn can't wait

 

[LuxLuthor]

It is a nice light to have, especially for that price. The dialed down hotspot comes out exactly as a square like the LED shape, you can even have it show the faint lines in the LED.

It has pretty good throw, but not like a HID in my experience of using the Elephants with 10W WA bulb & 3" reflector, nor the X990, nor the XeRay. It just doesn't have the lumens to start with, so IMHO, it's not like a HID, or a well made Maglite...especially if you add a 2" deep reflector or 3" reflector....unless you live in the land of typical LED flood beams, and their relatively weak lumen output.

Having said that, this light is still way cool, and the blue/white characteristic LED color is more striking on white and reflective surfaces/signs than most HIDs and Incands. Its sharp, square hotspot when focused down is brighter than the hotspot of about 1/2 of my Maglite mods, however...which is saying a lot given that I don't have any Mags with less than 600L.

I wonder if this lens would be able to focus a bright incan bulb.

 

[PhantomPhoton]

DOH!
The couple weeks waiting on this hasn't been bad, but now that people are getting them and exclaiming how great they are, beamshots, etc... now I'm bouncing off the walls in anticipation for my order to be processed.
I'm going to have to avoid this thread for a bit till I get my PM from Mac.

Nice beamshots BTW DocShock!

 

[Geologist]

I wonder if this lens would be able to focus a bright incan bulb.

I was wondering the same thing - Is the lens plastic or glass? Even if it could focus a 300 lumen output bulb - that would also be great!

 

[Geologist]

Oh - does the Seoul emitter not focus as well? I was wondering what the difference would be, especially considering the higher output of the Seoul emitter...

 

[PhantomPhoton]

From what I understand the emission pattern of the Cree is better for an aspherical set up. I can't remember the angles for the two of them off of the top of my head, but the SCC sends more light sideways.

 

[DonShock]

....I wonder if this lens would be able to focus a bright incan bulb.

Sorta. This picture is blurrier than in real life but not by a whole lot. The lens seems to have so tight a focal length that it can't put the entire 3D coil of the incandescent bulb in focus at the same time. As you adjust the head, you can see different parts of the coil coming in and out of focus. It never gets a nice beam like the LED does. I suspect it does better with the LED since it's light emitter is a flat 2D surface, so the lens can have it all in focus at once.

Also, to show the coils, I had to step down the exposure.
In real life there is also a lot more spill with the incandescent than with the LED.

 

[Geologist]

Thanks for all the detailed information - Good information to know!

AND with a beamshot!

Is the lens plastic or glass?

Thanks again!

Geologist

 

[DonShock]

...Is the lens plastic or glass?....

Glass. While I was trying to get a representative shot, it was on long enough for the head to start to heat up noticably (it was on FM's 1500 lumen 1164 light), but the lens was still nice and cool.

 

[Geologist]

Thanks - this light is going to be a keeper!

 

[greenstuffs]

Hey mac i know its too late but will you machine any bezel to protect the lense from drops =) i will be in for 1.

 

[DonShock]

There's a thread with very good comparison beamshots over on FF.

 

[habibi]

Hi there!
I have build my own A-Mag with a shortened Mag (1 D), the aspherical lens and the TerraLuxMinistar 5 ssc (batteryjunction). Filled one the 3aa-to-d-holder (elektrolumens) with 2 x14500 and 1 aa dummy. Prepared the bezel with sandpaper so that the lens will fit. I protect the lens with a original mag lite lensholder and a o-ring (3 mm thick). The o-ring sits in the gap between bezel and head so the lensholder cannot slip down.8 mm room between the highest point of the lens and the edge of the lensholder. For more protection you can place a original plastic mag lens inside the lensholder or even a ucl lens. Not perfect but it does sit job....
Amazing beam with minimal sidespill when focussed...

 

[rcnuk]

Wow this is such a cool light!

I'll take one (side swich) if the offer is still avaliable. Colors? I'd perfer pewter or copper but not required. PM sent.

BTW: My first post, Hi everyone!

 

[LuxLuthor]

Sorta. This picture is blurrier than in real life but not by a whole lot. The lens seems to have so tight a focal length that it can't put the entire 3D coil of the incandescent bulb in focus at the same time. As you adjust the head, you can see different parts of the coil coming in and out of focus. It never gets a nice beam like the LED does. I suspect it does better with the LED since it's light emitter is a flat 2D surface, so the lens can have it all in focus at once.

Also, to show the coils, I had to step down the exposure.
In real life there is also a lot more spill with the incandescent than with the LED.

Thanks for that feedback. I had a feeling it wouldn't be that good with the tight focal length on incand bulbs. It is amazing what it does with that small, flat LED though. Definitely a unique and cool Mac creation.

 

[Geologist]

Wow this is such a cool light!

I'll take one (side swich) if the offer is still avaliable. Colors? I'd perfer pewter or copper but not required. PM sent.

BTW: My first post, Hi everyone!

Welcome to the community rcnuk! Hide your wallet now!

 

[Geologist]

Oh for those who are interested, community member Lips has provided some awesome beamshots and animated comparisons of the Mac's Aspherical Mag comparing the light to a number of other lights. The link to the thread is here:

http://flashlight-forums.com/index.php/topic,4520.0.html

Enjoy!

 

[SkinlessMonkey]

Cool beamshots. Can't wait to buy my first mac light.