What does all the flashlight "jargin" mean?

[lovenhim]

Good morning everyone.  As you know I have been asking questions about an EDC flashlight for myself and my dad.  I am a person that likes to try and have my ducks in a row rather than just buying XYZ because of my limited income.  I also can not just go out to a cop supply store and see these lights in person because I can not drive, so I research instead.   
     What does all the flashlight jargin mean?  I understand lumens being brightness, the larger the number on paper, the brighter the light.  However, what is an emitter, driver, Q3 vs Q5 vs P4, optic vs reflector, etc.  What is tactical flashlight mean?  Thanks for the help. 

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

The emitter is the LED

Q3 vs Q5 vs P4 are just types of emitter (Q5 and R4 being the current in vogue I believe)

I think optic refers to manual focusing as apposed to reflectors which are built in and give you a certain beam length that can't be altered 

Tactical light's tend to have features like crenelated bezel's to be used as an impact device, and have a lockout feature to make sure the light doesn't come on by accident

[lovenhim]

OK so that makes it more basic then.  So the Q5 seems to be a big thing now and from what I am reading it is an LED that looks more like an incandecent light bulb.  Where an R4 is another "newest" LED but is having more of a blue-ish tent, am I right so far?  Optics allow you to focus the beam from a spot to a flood, where a reflector is a fixed beam you can not change?  Tactical meaning it could be used as a tool/mild weapon if need be? What about CREE and ER-E, etc, what is that all about? 

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Yep that's pretty much it mate

[John]

@lovenhim

Cree refers to the manufacturer of the XR-E,XP-E,XP-C,MC-E and XP-G emmiters


Seoul semiconductor co,LTD or SSC are the manufacturers of: P4 and P7 emmiters

Philips lumileds are the manufacturer of: Luxeon I (lambertian), Luxeon III, Luxeon K2,Luxeon v and  Luxeon Rebel***   Thin Film Flip Chip (TFFC*) emitters.


Luminus Devices- are the manufacturers of the SST-50 SST-90 MC-E emittiers MC-E means basically multi chip emitter using four or more dies,think of them as four or more emitters in one emitter. 

Osram are the manufacturers of Ostar emitters or LED as emitter is more commonly known 

[lovenhim]

OK, so based  on what I am trying to do here, help me obtain the right flashlight, I am ready to buy.  I made a thread called Flashlight for the visually impaired in which I typed this:

"Hello everyone.  I am in the market for a better flashlight than what I have.  I have a 7 year old Invoa X5.  The only complaint that i have is the light needs to be brighter.  Here is what I am trying to get in a new light and my uses for it:

close up use from 6 inches to 3 feet
"ball of light" no hot spots or dark spots in the beam
nothing larger than a 2AA minimag
$20-ish price range
prefer AA or AAA batteries as I have rechargeables, but am ok with CR123
name brand, looks, standing out, etc do not matter to me
function over form"

Now I can add to that that I would "prefer" a light that has a white to slight blue-ish tint to it compared to a yellow-ish tint like an incandecent blub.  Would that mean I would want a P4 over a Q5 emitter?  I do feel that I want modes in my light for brightness, do not care about SOS or strobe modes but rather a low-med-hi mode.  I am ready to buy so this is it, lets have at it.  LOL    Thank you all for the help. 

[Styerman]

Tactical boils down to at least 100 OTF ( out the front ) Lumens , and rugged enuff construction to withstand impact , a Surefire E1B would be an example of a downsized tactical light . Multilevel tac. lites need to have the high level come up in default/ first . EDC lights typically come up in low . "Tactical" also refers to the ability to cause some momentary disruption of normal vision in a dark adapted eye . The effect includes seeing colored spots , and often causes the f---pot to briefly shade his eyes with his reaction side hand . You have to follow up with plan "B"  very quickly , as the effect is very shortlived .

Chris

[John]

Go for a Q5 WG OR WC tint close to white as you can get it IIRC 

[jzmtl]

Take a look at this: http://www.gearcarrot.com/guides/lights/

[lovenhim]

Take a look at this: http://www.gearcarrot.com/guides/lights/

I just read this and from what I gather by reading it, a flashlight that does not have a reflector or a lens, but rather just has LED's in the body is best for me because according to that article it crates a natural flood light with no hotspots.  That is what I need.  That being said it looks like the Inova X5 has that pure and simple.  I have a 7 year old X% already, however I just with it were brighter, so the question now is this....do I keep what I have and be happy or do I chance the newer version of the light has the same flood beam and is brighter.  I can not seem to find this info and I also do not know what version my X5 is because there are no marking on it. 

[John]

if you want pure flood and can't take out the reflector then look at Zebralight