Swirl Finder

[rlmccarty2000]

My name is Bob too. In Spanish is comes out as "Bop".

[DetailTrail]

I have the Scangrip 3 light set and it's as good as it gets... expensive though.

I agree, very good lights. I have only the Colour/Sun Match & Penlight.
My favorite that I use the most is the handheld rechargeable Colour/Sun Match,
then the Scangrip flashlight to double check.
The fact that they are not super bright seems to help. The Flex light that I still have,
did not catch swirls on lighter colors, up to dark grey.
ScanGrip's Colour Match is worth the money, and watch some Vids on how to hold them. Good Luck.

[DBAILEY]

Don't want to argue, but this is NOT a light I'd recommend for swirls. More distance and less brightness really helps highlight swirls, in my limited experience. A grocery store parking lot at night is great for this. Not a lot of light and far away. I use an LED multi-brightness flashlight in low mode to illuminate swirls and it works pretty well. Still need to get the light away from the car.

Dude, you don't use it in the tight focus beam. I pan it all the way back into to flood light mode. And there are 3 brightness modes if you find the top setting too bright..

If I could afford Scangrip or 3m Sunguns I would have them, but I can't. Still say you paying a premium for the Flex name on it.

[RippyD]

I understand. You were commenting on the brightness, so I assumed you were saying more brightness is better for finding swirls.

Full disclosure: I'm a flashlight nerd and have many LED lights. I need to get a Xenon to see how it compares.

My limited testing shows that that medium-ish brightness works pretty well, as does a flood shaped beam rather than a spot (in agreement with what you wrote.) 300-500 lumin output works for me, but this of course will vary on the shape or the light exiting. As a guideline, this is the sweet spot for the lights I have. Dimmer is too dim, and brighter is too blinding.

I tend to get the best results by having the light about 20 degrees off the axis of my eyes (horiz and/or vertical). I've also had good luck with the light and my eyes about 30 degrees off a panel on opposite sides, so about 120 degrees horizontal difference between my noggin and the light source. Doing this I can see far more defects than is healthy for me.

I have not tried different LED colors. Doubt it would help, but maybe.

[FUNX650]

If I could afford...3m Sunguns
I would have them, but I can't.

Making good use of my easily affordable
homemade "Sun Gun":

Bob