I just picked up a Whelen 800S beacon with an amber 2022 dome on it. I got another dome with it that's not a Whelen dome, but sort of fits the beacon (just a bit too large, I think it's a Sho-Me). One thing I noticed was the flash distribution inside each dome was significantly different than the other. Specifically, the no-name dome distributes the flash relatively evenly around the lens and fills it out. The amber Whelen dome exhibits a characteristic I've noticed on other cheap beacons that I really don't like, and the flash is distributed more or less in the center of the beacon. Basically you have a 6" round dome but you could shrink it down to 3" diameter because you don't see any flash at the edges, only the core of the light. It seems Grote beacons have this problem too.
I tried an L21 high dome on it and it did the same thing. Strangely enough a blue dome from a 2526 filled out almost completely, and a red 2022 dome did as well. Is this a problem endemic to only amber Whelen beacons or something?
I tried an L21 high dome on it and it did the same thing. Strangely enough a blue dome from a 2526 filled out almost completely, and a red 2022 dome did as well. Is this a problem endemic to only amber Whelen beacons or something?