# Selfbuilt's 100-Yard Outdoor Beamshots 2011 - NEW!



## selfbuilt (Jun 6, 2011)

*Selfbuilt's 100-Yard Outdoor Beamshots 2011 - Part I (June)*

_*UPDATE:* Please see my more recent Part II - September 2011 outdoor round-up thread for updated comparisons._

Welcome to my *new and improved* 100-yard outdoor beamshot round-up thread for 2011 - Part I (June).

This is a new thread, to replace my earlier 2010 outdoor comparison review. That thread was getting a bit cumbersome with all the updates, so I have created this new thread to profile all currently shipping "throwy" lights in my collection. For comparisons to older lights, please see my original 100-yard beamshot round-up.

I have decided to re-organize this page by emitter class and not battery type, as there is a lot of overlap now. Where feasible (and relevant), I will show multiple battery configurations/outputs for individual lights (i.e.currently at 25 lights, with 29 separate beamshots). I am also including direct links to my full reviews for each light in question, in case you want to read up on them. 

*How to interpret these images:*

External beamshots are tricky to do well. The shots will never match what you see, due to limitations of the camera relative to your eye (e.g. lower dynamic range, restrictive settings, etc.). There are also numerous compensations in you brain/visual system that invalidates direct comparisons (e.g. pupil responses, dynamic white balancing, etc.). When you throw in varying natural lighting conditions (e.g. moonshine, clouds reflecting ambient light, wind, fog, etc.), plus all the 3D topographical landscape features that can confound a single light source, you get quite a lot to deal with! :sweat: 

For these reasons, I have limited myself to a simple set of outdoor beamshots, all taken at the same time, in the best conditions I could find (i.e. clear night, little wind, foliage fully extended, etc.). As before, I am using the same closed and deserted service road for these shots. Here is an aerial view taken from Google maps:







As you can see, there is a straight line from my position (pictogram) along the road, to a copse of tree located 100 yards away. There is a dead birch tree right at the red arrow-head that is a convenient marker for the photos.

I’ve also highlighted a point 30 yards from my position (blue arrow). The reason for this is shown on the side schematic for this area:






As this road goes along a ravine, and there is a significant elevation drop beginning about 30 yards in. The road makes a right turn as it winds down the ravine. Here is a control shot in daylight to show you what I mean:






This shot is taken at eye level, and I have centered the camera on the copse of trees at 100 yards (specifically, right in the middle of the dead birch tree – red arrow). The blue arrow indicates the point at 30 yards beyond which the road "falls out of view" as it dips down.

For all night-time flashlight pictures, I have angled the light directly above the camera (roughly eye level), focused on the center of that dead birch tree. Because of the positioning, this means that a good amount of the hotspot's corona should light up the road up to that ~30 yard mark. You will thus be able to see not only the center beam throw at 100 yards, but the corona and wider spillbeam in the foreground just in front of the camera. 

Although you can't see them in the daylight shot, there are a series of communication towers located in a clearing ~650 yards away. Although I didn't realize it when first scouting this location, the red aerial warning lights on these towers will show up as distant red dots in the background of the night time shots.  There's also a photo-reflective sign along the bottom portion of the road that you will notice in the shots (left-over from when the road was in use, warning of the steep curve).

Unless otherwise indicated, all lights in this round-up were run on Max, on the highest rechargeable battery option the light would take. The camera settings are optimized to show off the hotspots - 5 sec exposure, f2.7, ISO 80, automatic white balance (to minimize tint differences, which can be distracting). 

_*PLEASE NOTE: the pics typically look considerably under-exposed relative to what I subjectively saw during shooting! *_ Most of the lights could easily light up 100 yards, but it may not look that way in the pics. This is just the difficulty of finding a good exposure that shows you everything - it doesn't match what the eye sees.

You also need to realize that your monitor and graphics card setup may look very different from mine - I know from experience that this can vary widely in terms of brightness and contrast. Again, the goal is only to provide relative throw comparison, not absolute representations of what I saw.

_*HOW TO BEST COMPARE THE IMAGES:*_ All images are reduced to 50% for this page – but each image is a link to a higher resolution scan. The best way to directly compare the lights is to open them in separate tabs. If this doesn't happen automatically when you click on them, right-click on an image, and choose "Open Link in a New Tab". Then repeat this process for a second light, and so on. This way, you will then be able to switch between your browser's tabs to see the matching higher resolution images taken at exactly the same position (i.e. the images should look stationary, with only the flashlight lighting conditions changing). 

And now for the main show ... 

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*Standard Emitters: XP-G*




















Detailed reviews on all of the above:

*4Sevens Maelstrom G5 (Cree XP-G R5, 2xCR123A/1x18650)*
*ArmyTek Predator (Cree XP-G R5, 1x18650 2xR/CR123A)*
*Fenix TK15 (1x18650/2xCR123A XP-G R5)*
*Lumintop TD-15 Terminator (Cree XP-G R5)*
*Ray Tactical X60 (Cree XP-G R5)*
*Tiablo A9 Special Edition (XP-G R5)*

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*High-Output Emitters: MC-E, XM-L, SST-50, SST-90, and multiple emitters (e.g. 3x XP-G) *

























































Detailed reviews on all of the above:

*4Sevens Maelstrom X7 (Cree XM-L, 2xCR123A/1x18650)*
*Eagletac M3C4 (3xR5 XP-G - cool white)*
*Eagletac M3C4 (SST50 cool white) - New SMO and Deep Reflector*
*Eagletac M3C4 (Cree XM-L - cool white)*
*Fenix TK35 (Cree XM-L, 2x18650/4xCR123A)*
*Fenix TK45 (3x Cree XP-G R4)*
*JetBeam Backup BC40 (Cree XM-L, 2x18650/4xCR123A)*
*JetBeam M1X Review (Cree M-CE)* 
*Lumintop TD-15X Terminator (Cree XM-L)*
*Olight M31 (Luminus SST-50, 2x18650/18500, 3x-4xCR123A/RCR)*
*Olight SR90 Intimidator (Phlatlight SST-90)*
*Skilhunt Defier X1 (XM-L, 1x18650/2xCR123A/2xRCR, 2x18500/3xCR123A)*
*Skilhunt Defier X3 (XM-L, 2x18500/3xCR123A/3xRCR, 2x18650/4xCR123A)*
*SunwaymanM40A (Cree MC-E, 4xAA)*
*Sunwayman M40C (Cree MC-E, 2x18650)*
*ThruNite Catapult V2 (SST-50, 2x18650/4xCR123A)*
*Thrunite Catapult V3 (Cree XM-L, 2x18650/4xCR123A)*
*Thrunite Scorpion (Cree XM-L, 1x18650, 2xRCR/CR123A)*
*Thrunite Scorpion V2 (Cree XM-L, 1x18650, 2xRCR/CR123A)*

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Again, as with all beamshot comparisons, simple pics can be misleading. But this should give you a rough idea of relative beam pattern and throw among these lights. 

As before, I will be posting animated GIFs of the full resolution pics in some of my recent reviews, to show the most relevant comparisons. 

:wave:


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## calipsoii (Jun 6, 2011)

Great post like always! :thumbsup:

Just like the last 100 yard shootout, this one makes me want an SR-90 something fierce. Must... resist...


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## recDNA (Jun 6, 2011)

Great work! Is there an Olight M3X in your future? How about the SR51 and SR92? I love the comparisons and I know I can trust your work. I've seen some beamshots in foreign sites that look bogus to hype one model or another.


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## selfbuilt (Jun 6, 2011)

calipsoii said:


> Just like the last 100 yard shootout, this one makes me want an SR-90 something fierce. Must... resist...


Well, if it is any help, it is not exactly EDC material. :laughing: With all the gear I was lugging out there the other night, the size of the SR91 was noticeable (could have used a third shoulder ).



recDNA said:


> Great work! Is there an Olight M3X in your future? How about the SR51 and SR92? I love the comparisons and I know I can trust your work. I've seen some beamshots in foreign sites that look bogus to hype one model or another.


Don't know. :shrug: I usually leave it up to manufacturers/dealers to suggest lights for review (and I choose from within their offerings, depending on my availability). I am open to testing further Olights, given the performance of the samples to date.


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## nanotech17 (Jun 6, 2011)

i'm awaiting for that mystery scorpion 2 review :naughty:


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## anotherocduser (Jun 6, 2011)

What is that Scorpion 2?? is not even in their webpage!!!!!!?????
Tell us more tell us more !!


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## regulation (Jun 6, 2011)

Brilliant and fantastic work!


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## warmurf (Jun 7, 2011)

Another outstanding resource you've put together for all us flashaholics!! Thank you for your time and effort, I know for one I will be visiting this page time and again.


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## Vesper (Jun 7, 2011)

Nice work - appreciate your hard work. Loved looking at these. The dark and lonely road makes me appreciate the lights in your gallery with lots of side-spill.:candle:


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## candle lamp (Jun 7, 2011)

Good job!. Thanks for the great beamshots.

Turbo mode of Scorpion2 looks much brighter than Scorpion. Wow~


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## selfbuilt (Jun 7, 2011)

Glad you are all enjoying the beamshots. :wave:



nanotech17 said:


> i'm awaiting for that mystery scorpion 2 review :naughty:





anotherocduser said:


> What is that Scorpion 2?? is not even in their webpage!!!!!!?????


Working on the review now, should be up within a couple of days. For more info on the new model, check out the Thrunite scorpion thread on CPFMP. AFAIK, this new version will soon replace the previous one.



Vesper said:


> Nice work - appreciate your hard work. Loved looking at these. The dark and lonely road makes me appreciate the lights in your gallery with lots of side-spill.:candle:


Yeah, although in fact all these lights lit up the near area quite well. It is just the camera settings that make things seem somewhat under-exposed. 

I'm used to to using 50-80 lumens for walking around at night, so even the Lo-Med modes of some of these lights seem like overkill to me at times. I'm always concerned I'm going to attract attention shining these heavy bruisers around. :laughing:


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## 00birdy (Jun 7, 2011)

Ditto about the Scorpion 2! Is that really representative of how it looks?! I was really looking into the TD-15X but I might just have to wait now! (be sure to squeeze one of the TD15's into the review  )


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## offthetrail (Jun 8, 2011)

M3C4 XM-L continues to impress me not only in your reviews and beamshots but in my collection as well. With all the output modes and included diffuser, it is probably the most versatile light I own.


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## selfbuilt (Jun 8, 2011)

offthetrail said:


> M3C4 XM-L continues to impress me not only in your reviews and beamshots but in my collection as well. With all the output modes and included diffuser, it is probably the most versatile light I own.


Yes, my M3C4 sample has the highest output of any of my XM-L based lights (although they are all pretty close). Throw is comparable to the Catapult V3 (i.e. my two best throwers). And as you say, the bundled diffuser is a nice addition.


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## chipdouglas (Jun 8, 2011)

Thank you very much Selfbuilt, great work. I enjoy this updated 100-yard outdoor beamshots.


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## nightcacher (Jun 8, 2011)

I enjoyed the light show also, and my TK35 is my powerhouse light. The predator is also a favorite. Seams lately I have been using my surefire C2 and malkoff drop in.
However I have been wanting to get the SR91 but maybe it would be overkill for my use. Thanks for the review and note Selfbuilt.


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## Kingdomseeder (Jun 8, 2011)

Thanks for the great update with photos. Always nice to see the many comparisons along with floodiness and throw. Awesome


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## LED_Thrift (Jun 9, 2011)

What would we do without you!? Thanks again for the great work you share with us lucky CPF'ers.


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## selfbuilt (Jun 11, 2011)

Gald you are enjoying the comparisons. Appreciate the support. :grouphug:

I enjoy doing these comparisons, as they are rather revealing (i.e. it's a good location, despite the unforeseen aerial tower lights). Biggest challenge is just doing the updates, since you can really only directly compare lights taken at the same time.

Also, in response to a question in another thread - Yes, I was trying to aim the lights the same way (clearly I was not always successful).

The problem is in real life, the corona/spill lights up a reasonable amount in the distance. It is therefore hard to really lock the hot-spot onto the centre target (i.e. where is the centre exactly?). It is only when analyzing the shots afterwards that you can see it clearly (i.e. the camera settings are limited, and really only show the centre hotspot in the distance). There's also the "random walk" issue of my positioning over 30 or so lights. Over time, I can see I tended to move slightly to the right (i.e. started just left of the camera centre, moved over time). :shrug: Even with trying to keep it consistent, it's very hard not to have a trend in movement over ~40 mins or so.

I did hold back two lights from this round-up, as I am just now doing the detailed testing. Once those reviews are ready, this thread will be updated with the extra pics.


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## TomnAl (Jun 12, 2011)

I think you're the best reviewer ! Great comparison and great work ! Thank a lot man ! Can you please accept my friend request !


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## ScaryFatKidGT (Jun 14, 2011)

selfbuilt said:


> Gald you are enjoying the comparisons. Appreciate the support. :grouphug:
> 
> I enjoy doing these comparisons, as they are rather revealing (i.e. it's a good location, despite the unforeseen aerial tower lights). Biggest challenge is just doing the updates, since you can really only directly compare lights taken at the same time.


So just take a day off and do every light there is 

EDC SR90 FTW!


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## selfbuilt (Jun 14, 2011)

ScaryFatKidGT said:


> So just take a day off and do every light there is


I think you mean take a night off?  Given the long days this time of year, that would rather eat into my sleep cycle. :tired:

I am also limited to lights I have on hand. FYI, I also don't take loaner lights for testing (too many risks with damage during shipping, handling, testing, etc. - plus unsure history of the lights, potential mods/damage, versioning, etc.).


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## shao.fu.tzer (Jun 14, 2011)

selfbuilt,
Skilhunt told me they sent you a Defier X3 for evaluation - any way you can include a beamshot of it down the same path so we can see a comparison? ..and I'm glad I didn't pick up a Scorpion yet... Looks like the Scorpion 2 absolutely destroys the original in terms of output...

Thanks!
Shao


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## selfbuilt (Jun 14, 2011)

shao.fu.tzer said:


> Skilhunt told me they sent you a Defier X3 for evaluation - any way you can include a beamshot of it down the same path so we can see a comparison?


Yes, a Defier X1 and X3 arrived the same day I took these beamshots, so I managed to include them in my beamshot taking. I haven't uploaded the pics yet to this thread, as I want to be further along in the testing and reviewing of the lights (i.e. to put the beamshots in context). I hope to have those reviews ready by the end of the week, and will update this thread with two extra pics at the same time. :wave:


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## selfbuilt (Jun 15, 2011)

FYI, my Skilhunt Defier X1 review is now up. The X3 should be up in the next couple of days.

_*EDIT:* Defier X3 review is now up. _

I have the revised the main post to include the outdoor pics from both the X1 and X3. :wave:


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## bigchelis (Jun 15, 2011)

I love these threads. 100 yards is about perfect too.

I would like to see some Lamdalights.com XM-L and SST-90 builds, which are just Mag builds with Rebel Deep Reflectors. I bet these would be shocking to show against the SR90. 

bigC


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## syncytial (Jun 16, 2011)

bigchelis said:


> I love these threads. 100 yards is about perfect too.
> 
> I would like to see some Lamdalights.com XM-L and SST-90 builds, which are just Mag builds with Rebel Deep Reflectors. I bet these would be shocking to show against the SR90.
> 
> bigC



Have a look at the beamshots in this thread. 


- Syncytial.


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## amraspalantir (Sep 4, 2011)

hi. hope you could add the olight m3x and tk41 soon.


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## selfbuilt (Sep 4, 2011)

amraspalantir said:


> hi. hope you could add the olight m3x and tk41 soon.


Sorry, don't have either of those lights. But I will be posting an update soon, with a few other high-output lights.


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## HKJ (Sep 4, 2011)

selfbuilt said:


> Sorry, don't have either of those lights. But I will be posting an update soon, with a few other high-output lights.


 
The TK41 can be found in my beamshot collection, but I am also missing the M3X.


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## brightnorm (Sep 4, 2011)

What a great resource!

Brightnorm


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