Short Description:

WriteRight is actually a film for placing on the surface of PDA devices (such as a Palm or Handspring) to protect the surface of the screen. When this unique film is applied to the surface of a flashlight lens, it has the unexpected effect of smoothing out the light beams from lights with heavy rings and hotspots.

The film has a texture like little squares built into its surface. This is supposed to give better tactile feedback when using as a PDA screen protector. In fact, it is this texture which gives it the unique ability to smooth out a rather rough beam while still transmitting most of the light from the torch.

PLEASE NOTE: You MUST use the WriteRight film for monochrome PDAs, not the film for color PDAs. The monochrome PDA film has the proper texture. The color PDA film has no texture and will not work.

The use of the film for this purpose was suggested in the CandlePowerForums and credit goes to K. Horn and Jahn for its use in this novel fashion.

Below, I have taken a 3-D MagLight (just for you, Jahn!) and placed the film over the inside of the lens. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here they are:

Reviewer's Impressions:

This stuff does a very nice job of smoothing out the beams of even the most tired, blotchy, ring-ridden light.

I took Lux readings before and after the application of the film. The maximum highest beam lux reading on the tightest focus without the film was a whopping 815. However, that was in a very isolated tiny spot at the very center of the beam. As soon as I moved the meter away from that spot, it dropped into the 100's - 200's. At 1/2 the central beam radius the reading was around 100 - 140; a dramatic drop!

Adding the film dropped the max lux reading to 232. At 1/2 the beam radius the reading was 130 - 170. Now this is a good thing, although it may not seem like it on the surface. What has happened is that the film has taken the light from that tiny useless pinpoint hotspot in the center of the beam and spread it out over a larger area, resulting in a more useful, smoother beam which illuminates a surface more evenly. This more even illumination makes a surface or object much easier to resolve as your eyes are not fighting with dramatic changes in contrast as a result of "hotspots" and "shadows" in the beam.

The film is a bit pricy; $24 US for 12 sheets, but I would say that the WriteRight film is worth the investment if you have decent lights (like the mag) that could use a bit of a cleanup on the beam.

You should be able to get one big lens and one small lens from each sheet. Be sure to remove and clean the lens before applying the film, and it can be applied on the inside or out. Don't worry about perfect placement, either. The film has a very low tack adhesive, allowing it to be removed and re-applied with no residue.