Low modes are a battery-saving measure are not all that useful

[elzilcho]

A lot of lights do that, it isn't reserved to the Malkoffs. Even those that start at a measly 50 lumens can support a diminishing tail.

But that behavior sounds like evidence that lower power levels are indeed an extremely useful way to preserve battery life. Maybe I misunderstood your thread title?

 

[flatline]

I love low modes. I want enough light to see something clearly, but not so much that my eyes have to adjust to it.

My HDS is programmed to start at 3.3L and that's where it stays most times I use it. My next level up is 33L and that's as bright as I go with that light except to check the battery by going to max (100L) and look for the light to step down.

I recently bought the Thrunite Ti3 with 0.04L/12L/120L levels and I love the output levels they chose for the 1st and 2nd modes. Someday I'll use the 120L level, but usually if I need more light, I pull my holster light rather than my tiny AAA light.

My first "quality" light was the 4Sevens Quark AA which started at 0.2L. I put a 14505 battery in it (high capacity but very low current) and it can only provide enough current for the moonlight and low modes, but the run time is great (3+ months?). Anyways, giving up the medium and high modes in order to use a super capacity cell didn't bother me in the least.

--flatline

 

[etc]

Well, there is Malkoff and then there are SOB (Some other Brands)

I just got MD2 with the M61HOT module -- oh what pocket rocket it is. Lumens per size it just outruns everything else I have. I have better lights but they are far bigger.

It did come with the copper or brass high-low "ring" that enabled a completely useless 5 lumen mode -- it got removed. Now I am cruising with just one mode - solely at the 600 lumen velocity.

I did put the high/low ring into the another Malkoff which does about 15 / 400 lumens so that works out okay.

 

[xcel730]

Really based on individual preference.

Also, many people don't carry around flashlight along with spare cells. Many people don't check to make sure that their flashlights' batteries are always topped off. In the occasion when you really do need a light, but only have half battery power left, you'll be glad to at least have the low mode to consume power.

On the flip side, based on where I live and my living habits, I generally don't need anything more than 100 or so lumens. However, I don't mind having the 500+ lumens flashlights as long as I can dial it down. This is especially true with headlamps. When I use a headlamp, it's usually for close up tasks. There are so many 1,000 lumens headlamps out there now. I myself don't know when I'll need so much light (even for outdoors). Frankly, I find it a bit scary cranking the headlamp to 1000 lumens while it's strapped on my head.

Different strokes for different folks.

 

[Pellidon]

I used Med mode the most. That's why I love lights starting from M/L/H. 20-30 lumens is perfect.

low and high are usually for fun.. at least for me.

I am in this camp. My preference would be 20-30 lumens for "low" and 100-120 for "high". Levels below 10 or so don't do it for me personally. But I am looking around in electronic cabinets where bright lights wash out everything to my eyes.

 

[InvisibleFrodo]

Doesn't this come down to a question of how low these low modes are and how high these high modes are? For example low or medium modes are a good alternative to high modes that will only offer an hour and a half or an hour or less of run time. Also for lights that may have overheating issues if left on high continuously. Or when working on something no more than 2-4 feet away. 500 lumens or more is crazy overkill and actually too bright in my experience when working up close. A lower mode isn't just for extended run time. Don't want lots of lumens when you're trying to read either, etc...

For a work light, I find 4-6 hour runtime seems to be a nice amount that you're almost guaranteed you'll never be able to completely kill your batteries in one work day. Then charge the batteries when you get home.

 

[etc]

500 lumens is not overkill if the lux is low.

e.g. in a malkoff M61. The lumens are relatively high but the lux is relatively low.

 

[TheShadowGuy]

I think it depends on the use case.

When hiking, it's often impractical to carry a large number of cells and charging might not be possible (or slow via solar). Using a lower mode to save battery becomes pretty much a necessity at that point, whether it be a few hundred lumens for walking or that moonlight mode for camp.

For EDC, while I like having access to a lower mode, I switched from a Thrunite Ti3 to an Olight i3e CU because of its simplicity and size. I don't miss the sublumen mode from the Ti3 nearly as much as I thought I would. Battery life is also generally not a concern, since I have easy access to charging and more cells. If I was carrying a light with a higher turbo and short runtime, I'd probably want a low mode so I don't run out of battery before I can get a fresh cell.

 

[InvisibleFrodo]

500 lumens is not overkill if the lux is low.

e.g. in a malkoff M61. The lumens are relatively high but the lux is relatively low.

How low is the lux going to get at 500 lumens when I'm working on something within arms reach? Even if it's a mule without any focus to the light and providing a total flood, 500 lumens is overkill. I'm lighting up something a foot and a half or 2 feet away. I say again 500 lumens is overkill.

 

[etc]

I used to work on my car running Malkoff M61/6P. I found out the 300+ lumens with its relatively low lux of around 5,000 wasn't enough to reach and highlight some of the items I wanted. Deep in the engine bay and basically within arms reach.

I switched to the Hound Dog and that did the trick with its laser-hot hotspot and tons of lumens. However it was big and expensive to throw under the car and sometimes did not fit everywhere so I switched to M61T / MD3 with its high lux of 12,000 and 400 lumens which was just the ticket and then I found out about M61HOT with 650 lumens and 18,000 lux which was even better.

 

[jorn]

One lux is one lumen covering one square meter. So if your 500 lumen mulehead light is covering one square meter at arms reach, you got 500 lux.
For me, i use both, but mostly use the lower modes. If i go up mountain for a one week fishing trip, i dont want to carry a pile of spare cells. I find it mutch better to not totally destroy my night adapted eyes in the dark. It takes around 20 minutes to get the night adapted vision back if you totally ruin it. Even when walking in the mountains i dont use more light than i need. It's so mutch better to be able to see the mountaintops a mile away in the dark. Easy to navigate when i can see further than just my bubble of light. At home or around civilization, i dont care and just blast whatever lumens i got.

 

[etc]

The Malkoff M61T with its dual modes is just perfect. 18 lumens on low and 400+ on high. And high lux on both. (relatively so).

I used to run Surefire G2x Pro, with the 15 / 320 lumen combo, which wasn't bad either. But this M61T takes it to the next level.

I suspect many here will love M61HOT, which with dual modes generates a very low 5 lumen low mode (which I found unacceptably low) while at the same time being very high lux given the low lumens and a very high lumen high mode, of course also with high-lux.

Primary CR123 batteries are light. When I travel, I take about 12 with me as spares. Over a 2 week trip, and I bring about half back. Don't even use them all. My last trip involved two lights - Malkoff M61LL in a "9p" package and a Surefire G2x Pro. The Malkoff I ran in its single mode while G2x Pro I usually ran on high.

I think I replaced cells in the G2x once or twice and M61LL never got a cell change despite extensive usage. Which makes me wonder if I should have just brought M61 with me and not worried about anything. The good olde M61 is really such a fine device. Was then - and still is.

I think next time I will take about 16 primaries with me. That's still a very compact package.

 

[reppans]

Thanks Arch and Gurdy.... yup, I'm still very much a low lumen fan. I use four modes 0.4/3/20/200+lms about 50/40/8/2% (respectively) of the time, and recharge a 16340 or 14500 cell after ~60-80 hrs of usage. I generally don't carry spare batts, just a AAA keychain backup light, and my primary EDC will run off literally any battery I can scavenge.

I really enjoy using low lows to let my eyes dark adapt and use my night vision - that allows me see quite well outside of the light's beam and I find I enjoy the outdoor experience much more. That's due to a few things: excessive lumens kills my vision outside the cone of my beam and the resulting gigantic blind spot scares me; I find the extreme contrast of bright light against pitch black background to be quite annoying; and there's even something really nice about being a part of the environment vs trying to blasting it way with technology.

I'm also an ultra-light camper (and sometimes stealth) that use lights 4hrs straight so the extreme runtime/lack of need for spare batts is appreciated. Most of my the task work while camping is with my hands were 0.4 lms is usually plenty (and perfect for reading in bed) - anything >3 lms used at an arm's length tends to produce annoying glare... for me.

But again, I like keeping my eyes relatively well dark adapted, which may not be practical for those folks that use their lights for just brief periods of time. The eye has an incredible dynamic range - 0.5lms can painfully bright when woken from sleep, yet 500lms on the beach can barely be seen. The difference is how long you allow your eyes to adapt..... and about 400 battery changes. "Luke.... use the night vision."

 

[Woods Walker]

I can't.... This is too silly.... Everyone uses gear differently as everyone has different needs. So what is useless to one person might be of value to another. Only on the internet do we try to tell others their uses are of no value as if we could possibly know better than the actual person.

 

[etc]

Thanks Arch and Gurdy.... yup, I'm still very much a low lumen fan. I use four modes 0.4/3/20/200+lms about 50/40/8/2% (respectively) of the time, and recharge a 16340 or 14500 cell after ~60-80 hrs of usage. I generally don't carry spare batts, just a AAA keychain backup light, and my primary EDC will run off literally any battery I can scavenge.

I really enjoy using low lows to let my eyes dark adapt and use my night vision - that allows me see quite well outside of the light's beam and I find I enjoy the outdoor experience much more. That's due to a few things: excessive lumens kills my vision outside the cone of my beam and the resulting gigantic blind spot scares me; I find the extreme contrast of bright light against pitch black background to be quite annoying; and there's even something really nice about being a part of the environment vs trying to blasting it way with technology.

I'm also an ultra-light camper (and sometimes stealth) that use lights 4hrs straight so the extreme runtime/lack of need for spare batts is appreciated. Most of my the task work while camping is with my hands were 0.4 lms is usually plenty (and perfect for reading in bed) - anything >3 lms used at an arm's length tends to produce annoying glare... for me.

But again, I like keeping my eyes relatively well dark adapted, which may not be practical for those folks that use their lights for just brief periods of time. The eye has an incredible dynamic range - 0.5lms can painfully bright when woken from sleep, yet 500lms on the beach can barely be seen. The difference is how long you allow your eyes to adapt..... and about 400 battery changes. "Luke.... use the night vision."

Interesting points you have.

 

[InvisibleFrodo]

I cannot envision using a hound dog under the hood of a car. To my eyes that is literally an unpleasantly painfully bright hotspot especially if run at any kind of high output, which to my eyes with a beam like a hound dog used at less than 5 feet, anything over 200 lumens sounds painful... Yikes. To each their own.

 

[bykfixer]

PK agrees low mode is useless...
His keychain light here tells the story.

 

[InvisibleFrodo]

Why is he only using the little light? Haha

 

[etc]

I cannot envision using a hound dog under the hood of a car. To my eyes that is literally an unpleasantly painfully bright hotspot especially if run at any kind of high output, which to my eyes with a beam like a hound dog used at less than 5 feet, anything over 200 lumens sounds painful... Yikes. To each their own.

I didn't say under the hood of the car, but underneath a large truck that's probably 20 feet long. Because you are dealing with car stuff, you want max lumens thrown upon something to get the most accurate understanding what has gone wrong. This is the not the time or the place to economize lumens.

Is that spot rusty or not? Is that wire broken or just seems that way? Is there a leak involved? (or just seems that way) Yeah, throwing 600 lumens upon it is just right. I use M61HOT these days, it's most compact and just right.

I tried Malkoff M61 and just wasn't pinpointing critical details with the level of accuracy I wanted. This is not the question of is there a tree 20 feet ahead of me but delicate work at times.

My problem was that the Hound Dog was too large to maneuver around. Yet its hotspot wasn't all that bad at all and the generous spill was great. I did stupidly take a Hound Dog Super to an automotive project and that thing is too high lux at any range. You have to be 50 meters away from the car to see it.

 

[InvisibleFrodo]

I didn't say under the hood of the car, but underneath a large truck that's probably 20 feet long. Because you are dealing with car stuff, you want max lumens thrown upon something to get the most accurate understanding what has gone wrong. This is the not the time or the place to economize lumens.

Is that spot rusty or not? Is that wire broken or just seems that way? Is there a leak involved? (or just seems that way) Yeah, throwing 600 lumens upon it is just right. I use M61HOT these days, it's most compact and just right.

I tried Malkoff M61 and just wasn't pinpointing critical details with the level of accuracy I wanted. This is not the question of is there a tree 20 feet ahead of me but delicate work at times.

My problem was that the Hound Dog was too large to maneuver around. Yet its hotspot wasn't all that bad at all and the generous spill was great. I did stupidly take a Hound Dog Super to an automotive project and that thing is too high lux at any range. You have to be 50 meters away from the car to see it.

This is simply a case of to each their own. I completely understand the need to see clearly. When I'm inspecting welds inside a 14 foot diameter boiler that will be installed at a power plant, I need to see in detail exactly what's happening. 600 lumens is an amount of light I would never use at those ranges, and particularly not in a light specially designed for high output throw, because that's so much light all in one spot that it hurts my eyes and makes me see spots because the hotspot spot is so bright. Then since I'm seeing spots I won't be able to see what I'm looking at well anymore, and any light sensitivity my eyes had just got blown away. The problem for me at that point becomes the incredible concentration of light at that hotspot. For me, a high output throw light is for outdoor use or use in larger open areas.

Go with whatever works for you. I just know I literally can't inspect that way. What you're describing is too much light concentrated into too small an area for me.