How many lumens is enough lumens?

[Lou Minescence]

I have found moonlight to 800 lumens would be an ideal amount of light for EDC. Yea mostly the lower modes are used for general tasks, but I have found a need for brightness when dealing with cars. Standing on the side of the road broke down or next to a dog you want to be seen. If you do not have a light shining out 400 or more lumens, traffic does not pay much attention to you. All traffic notices 800 lumens and will slow down. That's my experience.
If I was not going to be encountering cars, probably moonlight to 300 lumens is plenty.

 

[rambo180]

my opinion

Walking the dog in suburbia?

10k

Camping site?

1k

what is "k"?

 

[rambo180]

I find that 150,000 lumens is a sufficient amount for general tasks :devil:

Seriously though... A light with 3 well spaced modes can be an ideal EDC. My Alpha XM-L from Darksucks is MY ideal EDC. Low is great for most tasks; medium is excellent for when I need more punch; and high is insanely bright for lighting up a huge outdoor area or just showing off

Just my 2 cents.
S1LVA
:wave:

whats the max lumens on your torch? it would be nice to know how many lumens you consider insanley bright. i'm after an insane torch

 

[ev13wt]

what is "k"?

K is "Kilo" = x1000


1K is 1000.

 

[FPSRelic]

Walking the dog in suburbia? 65 lumens. Enough to light up any dark alley quite well. Also morethan enough to light up the path ahead and surrounds.

Camping site?: Depends on the site. One that's pitch black would need no more than a few lumens to navigate around. 10 - 15 lumens for a better lit camp

General in-house use?: 10 - 15 lumens is more than enough for me

2 day blackout?: Only a few lumens. With everything pitch black, youur eyes adjust, and you need less light to see. Runtime is more important

Car breaks down? Flat tire at night? 10 - 15 lumens

Walking in the woods? 65 lumens will light up a dark wood for me

EDC? Something that has the greatest range of outputs/runtimes. You never know what you'll come across or need.

 

[TEEJ]

Lumens is not meaningful without beam shape info.

For example, 100 L focused tightly is plenty of light close up on a small target of interest, but woefully inadequate on a large distant target.

Example, I have a 131 Lumen Maglite 3 D LED that can throw ~ 3-400 yards. The beam will illuminate a small circle at that range, but, will leave my feet in the dark, and be worthless to use to walk with. If I aim the little circle of light down at my feet, its too tightly focused to give a useful flood, and there's little useful light to see a path/avoid roots, etc.

If I use a Zebralight SC600 it has a broad pool of light, and is excellent for lighting a path for a walk, etc....but its worthless to see any detail over ~ 60 yards away, etc.


IE: A lot of lumens, spread out over a large area, results in a small lux result...so you see a wider area, but dimly, compared to a the same lumens concentrated into a tight beam...so you see only a little patch of light, but with a higher Lux value.

For most tasks, I'd rather light up a wider area and see more context for my environment. If we agree that we see best in daylight...I think its silly to pretend that less light than that is good. Ideally, it would look like we were in day light if we had to see something.

Anything less than that is a compromise in vision.

As making everything around us lit up as if it were daylight is not typically practical, we compromise and talk about what we can get away with, not about what is truly ideal.


To that end, if you think about the OP...the better question is how many LUX is enough for each task....not lumens. That will account for the beam distribution...as its applicable to the scenario...if you need to see a small or large area, it doesn't matter...as WHY you need to see it, for what purpose, will typically dictate how well lit you need it to be, and the value that describes that is Lux, better than lumens.

To simplfy things further, as guidelines, there are published standards for the Lux recommended for many tasks, including emergency egress lighting, crawlspaces, and a great number of occupational and residential tasks.

 

[Cataract]

Most of these tasks could be accomplished with even 1 lumen -if the ambiant light level is low enough- but I personally want something that can give me up to 180-200 lumens.

Walking the dog in suburbia = 5 to 100

Camping site = 0.02 to 5

General in-house use = 0.005 to 50

2 day blackout = 0.005 to 50

Car breaks down? Flat tire at night = 100-200 just to be seen

Walking in the woods = 0.02 to 200 (skunk prevention)

EDC = 0.02 to 180-200.

 

[skyfire]

about 100-150 lumens max is all i would want, but for all of the tasks mentioned above, 50 lumens is very sufficient.

 

[JerryM]

For many years for general home use, camping, hunting, and fishing I have been satisfied with the old incandescent mag lights. I doubt any were as much as 100 lumens. Most of the time the mini mag was completely sufficient.
I think that 50 lumens or less would take care of everything I am likely to need. For long term power outages I want something that will not use the batteries very fast so maybe 1.5 lumens or less for that.

More is not better in many situations, and in fact sometimes more is less. I am persuaded that if I had a mini mag it would take care of all my personal needs since I am not in the rescue or LE business. I like to see bright lights, but when I need one I do not look for the brightest, but something in the 25 - 50 lumen range.

Jerry

 

[Vish]

Understand that everyone is entitled to their opinions. here's mine. 10 Lumens. Why? I have a fenix E 01. Its "Never say die". I use it for lot of uses... well built. serves all purpose that i use it for. In close quarters. I do not intend to use it for far distance lighting nor i have a use. Its easy to EDC. I vote for it.

 

[Closet_Flashaholic]

Purty' Near anything I do (at night)

is quite adequately managed with 1 to 25 Lumens.


If a light is bright enough to make yer' eyes "stop down", then it's just WASTED !

Actually, getting my eyes to "stop down" is important to me and not wasted because I am farsighted and with a brighter light I can focus on objects closer without the need for reading glasses (that I may or may-not have nearby).:huh:

 

[reppans]

Actually, getting my eyes to "stop down" is important to me and not wasted because I am farsighted and with a brighter light I can focus on objects closer without the need for reading glasses (that I may or may-not have nearby).:huh:

That's an interesting point - smaller "apertures" should have a greater depth of field. I gotta try that out tonight.

However, for me, charging and changing batteries is still more of PITA.

 

[Burgess]

Good Point.

I know ALL ABOUT having to wear Reading Glasses !

Since my cataract surgery, i am Farsighted.

Am now 20-20, or Better (at distance).

But anything closer than ~40 centimeters (16 inches)
requires my +2.00 reading glasses.

Otherwise, I simply canNOT FOCUS !

Having better light lets me "cheat" a bit, in the marginal area.

 

[think2x]

Walking the dog in suburbia?...........200

Camping site?................................20-30

General in-house use?....................10-20

2 day blackout?.............................10-20

Car breaks down? Flat tire at night?..20

Walking in the woods?....................100

EDC?

 

[Malamute]

I've found 25 to be way plenty for most of my use. I have an E2E that I use more than anything, and use the 25 lumen lamps. I find the 50's are more than I need for much of anything. I use the 50's a bit, when camping in the mountains and woods in grizzly country, but just for a "bump in the night" light, but in reality, the 25 does just about as well. Too much light just seems to wipe out my night vison worse, and wash out the area in glare and doesn't really give more practical usable light for me. I keep a 50umen lamp in my spares carrier for a spare, but havent really found much that I need a 50 for in the E2E, other than wanting to have a light bright enough to momentarily blind someone in a defensive mode. I dont have much need for that where I live, just when visiting in more "civilized" areas of the country. I have a 120 lumen lamp for a 6P, but reserve it exclusively for any time I may want to blind someone in a questionable situation.

I mentioned the 120 lumen lamp to a friend that was a Sheriffs deputy at the time. He said "Why, the 50's are plenty to completely blind someone long enough to do what you need to do". I agree with that, but already have the 120, so just keep it for emergencies. I may not replace it if it went out.

It doesn't take much illumination to see animal eyes, they glow with very little light, and pretty far out from you.

I use a cheap Coleman headlamp on low setting for work a lot, and it seems to be capable of most of my camp chores, and getting firewood in at night in the winter at home. I use the medium setting once in a while, but not often. I dont know what lumen level those are. Don't think I've ever used the high setting yet, other than looking around the yard to see what it would do.

 

[chmsam]

It's surprising how many people only look at one side of things, even when we're well versed in the topic.

While I fully agree that most general tasks can be handled with lights from perhaps running as few as 5 lumens to say a high of 100 lumens or so, no one has mentioned that there are times when you need 200 lumens and often much more to be seen.

20, 50, or even 100 lumens will not get the attention of drivers at night if you are working on your car at roadside. I have seen situations where road flares and most flashlights of less than 200 lumens were useless and could make you seem virtually invisible.

These are situations where you must grab the attention of others quite close to the point of having to blind them. Remember that the vast majority of drivers are behaving as clueless idiots. They're in their own little zone and are seeing nothing farther than the end of the hood of their car.

There are other situations -- when you are lost, when you are injured, when you are walking on a rainy night and a driver comes at you, etc.


So, reading a book in your tent at night? A few lumens are plenty.
Checking on the barbecue at night? 50 lumens will do nicely.
Walking the dog on an unlit road in the country at night with no traffic? 50 to 100 lumens should handle it even if the dog gets off lead for a bit.

However, broken down at the side of a dark, busy highway on a dark and rainy night? 200 to 500 lumens is only a start. Been there, done that. Trust me when I say that even 100 lumens will be a joke. It's no fun having cars and semis not seeing you or ignoring you as they pass within 10 feet of you at highway speeds. Gimme 200 as a start and I'd like more lumens than that standing at the ready.


Remember that lights not only let you see but that they also let you be seen.

 

[Sintro]

Please note, I am pretty bad at seeing in the dark, don't know why, I have blue eyes though. I used to be play hide and seek, and I'd pick a spot that no one could see me in, I would look at my own hand and stuff. Yet others could see me as if there was weak moonlight shining at me....

Walking the dog in suburbia?...........I believe that you need at least 200, though an xml flashlight with a medium deep reflector would be alot better, driven fairly good, getting about 700 otf lumens. This is great because it gives you ample spill, with a hotspot for long distance stuff.

Camping site?................................I would think that 50 lumens would be the mininum. I would want a lamp actually, such is that 300 lumen rayovac one.

General in-house use?....................Something around 50 lumens is fine for something like working under the sink. Though tint has a lot to do with that kind of situation. Working in the attic needs someting like 150.
2 day blackout?.............................You'd be suprised at this. My brother, mom and I were stuck in a 2 day black out. And our light source was just 3 candles, well, specifically those like 48 hour liquid emergency candles. Though they were almost less bright than a regular birthday candle. We'd kept 2 in the living room, and one in the bathroom. We were able to do things like play monopoly and read with this. If I was by myself, I would've wanted like 3 of those 300 lumen rayovac lanterns because I am freaked out by darkness....

Car breaks down? Flat tire at night?.....75-200 lumens would be good for this, it depends on the color of the wheel, if it's black or silver. Theres the scary factor again for this situation, you are on the side of a road in the middle of the countryside, and you have to face a wheel with the forest behind you, just ripe for the murdering wanderer...

Walking in the woods?....................Some people might be content with 100 lumens, I myself prefer something with a medium 400 lumen mode, then a high/turbo mode of 800 to see long distance stuff if you get to a field. I have coyotes i my area, and they'll get within about 20 feet of me and my dog, but as soon as I shine my light directly in their eyes, they run a way, especially strobe! My area has a ton of buckthorn too, so that makes it harder to see, so I HAVE to have a TON of light. If I was in a pine forest, I would just need like 200 lumens.

EDC? .........I'd want something that has a variable brightness, like total variable, 0-1000 lumens. Though, my budget would never allow for something that good. It should have something under 30 lumens, then 150/200 lumens/ then 500.

I myself tend to like as much lumens as I can get for the task, because I just feel safer having a bright light. Also, I'm usually with another person, so I want to impress them . It all depends on what type of wood you are in too.
​

 

[Daekar]

"Enough" is really subjective, as the hugely varying numbers indicate. If "enough" means sufficient to get the job done and you're not checking on cattle or searching for something in a wide area, 150 lumens is enough to do practically anything if you live in the country where we have real dark. For most tasks, 25 lumens is enough or even too much. The moral of the story is that different amounts are necessary for differenr stuff in different places.

 

[TEEJ]

sigh.

This should be about lux not lumens.

 

[ev13wt]

sigh.

This should be about lux not lumens.

Yes, we have established that on the previous page. But since I wasn't thinking when I made the thread its now too late.

But you can give your recommendations in lux if you may.

Doo eett