Ok, I've updated the gallery with some more pictures, mostly beamshots. All beamshots were taken with:
Canon G2
ISO 50
White balance = incandecent
1/4 sec.
F2.0
Because the WB is set to incandecent, the E2e appears white and the LEDs appear blue in the pictures. In real life the E2e appears yellow, the U85 looks more or less white and the L1 looks slightly violet.
I didn't bother to make sure the batteries in the E2e and L1 were never-used-fresh, but the E2e was rarely used before this matchup and the L1 was really only included for beam shape.
Picture quality was reduced somewhat to make them more web friendly.
The wall is not white. It is sort of a goldish tan.
One thing is sure... The HDS beam shape is very configurable.
I highly recommend getting the lens kit even if you think you are going to like the standard lens. I also highly recommend getting one of the SF F04 beamshapers. For close up work it can't be beat.
At this point, I'm kind of wishing for a diffuser that is milder than the HDS mild diffuser. Maybe some Scotch tape or Writeright (sp?). Probably Writeright -- tape is probably too much. I think the E2e has a smoother hotspot but the HDS has better side spill (notice how much more you can see outside of the hotspot on the HDS). The tape might dial in the hotspot and give you the best of both worlds.
AWs beamshaper makes the hotspot itself more useable, but seems to make the rolloff sharper which I don't prefer. However, for those who want to preserve throw, but make the hotspot a bit bigger and less intense, this might just be the ticket.
I didn't take any pictures, but outdoor the standard Ultraclear lens and the SF E2e are fairly well matched. Lighting up the top of the big trees in my backyard, they seemed very similar with the exception of the tint. ( It should be noted that the difference in tint makes these lights look very different when illuminating plants. )
Use of even the mild diffuser kills the throw at any significant distance.
Lighting up mixed building/folliage, again the E2e and U85 w/Ultraclear seemed to provide similar amounts of light and illuminated the specific target similarly (with exception of tint), but the side spills are different. The U85 provides more side spill, but the E2e seems to make the roll-off between the hotspot and the spill a bit more smoothly.
It's kind of funny actually. The beams feel quite a bit different, but when you look at them carefully, it seems the differences are actually fairly subtle.
In the end, I think I'm willing to say the U85 is a full-on match for the E2e. Considering it is a multi level light, that does pretty much make it the Ultimate EDC.
Just remember to throw a F04 in your pocket.
Edit: I went ahead and tried Scotch tape. The stuff I have in the house is the opaque looking stuff. As predicted it diffuses fairly heavily. I added it to the composite beamshot.
Note I used a different method to reduce the Scotch tape beamshot for inclusion in the composite. The result is that the spill looks smoother than the other beamshots, but this is just an artifact of the different methods of reduction.
-john
John N said: