milkyspit
Flashlight Enthusiast
ColoradoGPS, the text you copied from one of my old sales threads is only partially accurate for the light you sold Dinan. That sales thread was for higher-output Creemators... Acorn 1.3 rather than the Acorn 1.0 in Dinan's light. Dinan is correct in that his light is rated at 255 lumens.
Dinan, I'm in an awkward position here... I built the light you purchased, but it was a third-party (coloradogps) sale... the light's been out of my hands for a while. Hope I'm not intruding but I did want to offer some thoughts. For one, I could be mistaken but the emitter in your particular light is best-suited to run on 2x123 primaries... it's likely you'll get your best output from that setup, although the light will still be bright on a single rechargeable. If the emitter in your light is an average performer, it should generate 255 lumens... allowing for 85% transmission factor through the optic and lens, that would translate to 217 lumens out the front. Even if SureFire has underestimated the output of their light AND their specs were for an older Q4 Cree, whereas the E2DL you got has an R2 bin, the best I could envision you getting would be 170 lumens out the front... and that scenario has a lot of best-case assumptions that are unlikely all to be true. However, the difference in tint between the two beams could make the light look brighter than it really is and/or make your Creemator look less bright than it really is.
Also, if one beam is more focused than the other it would tend to look "brighter." For that reason, the best comparison of overall output between two lights is to perform an A-B ceiling bounce test... go into a dark room, hold both lights over your head, both pointed at the same spot on your ceiling... do NOT look directly at the beams, but rather focus your eyes on a piece of furniture, one of the walls, something on the floor... anything that will prevent you from seeing the beams directly. Now alternate turning on flashlight A, then flashlight B, then A, then B, ...back and forth as many times as needed to get a good sense of the relative brightness of each. Remember that LED tint can affect the way the human eye perceives brightness, so try to take that out of the equation as much as you can via conscious thought. With a little practice the ceiling bounce test does surprisingly well at giving a good brightness comparison between lights.
Ambient lighting that's a particular tint could make one light look more or less bright than it really is, too, as similar-tinted ambient lighting would tend to "gobble up" some of the light's output, basically disguise it, whereas a greater contrast between ambient and flashlight tint would tend to make that one stand out, appearing brighter.
It's also possible (though I'm not sure how likely) that a person's eyes could make a particular tint look even dimmer than normal due to some sort of color blindness or other tint-specific deficiency in the eyes themselves. It's not the first thing I'd assume, but I suppose it could be a factor for some of us. :shrug:
Anyway, just wanted to offer some ideas.
Dinan, I'm in an awkward position here... I built the light you purchased, but it was a third-party (coloradogps) sale... the light's been out of my hands for a while. Hope I'm not intruding but I did want to offer some thoughts. For one, I could be mistaken but the emitter in your particular light is best-suited to run on 2x123 primaries... it's likely you'll get your best output from that setup, although the light will still be bright on a single rechargeable. If the emitter in your light is an average performer, it should generate 255 lumens... allowing for 85% transmission factor through the optic and lens, that would translate to 217 lumens out the front. Even if SureFire has underestimated the output of their light AND their specs were for an older Q4 Cree, whereas the E2DL you got has an R2 bin, the best I could envision you getting would be 170 lumens out the front... and that scenario has a lot of best-case assumptions that are unlikely all to be true. However, the difference in tint between the two beams could make the light look brighter than it really is and/or make your Creemator look less bright than it really is.
Also, if one beam is more focused than the other it would tend to look "brighter." For that reason, the best comparison of overall output between two lights is to perform an A-B ceiling bounce test... go into a dark room, hold both lights over your head, both pointed at the same spot on your ceiling... do NOT look directly at the beams, but rather focus your eyes on a piece of furniture, one of the walls, something on the floor... anything that will prevent you from seeing the beams directly. Now alternate turning on flashlight A, then flashlight B, then A, then B, ...back and forth as many times as needed to get a good sense of the relative brightness of each. Remember that LED tint can affect the way the human eye perceives brightness, so try to take that out of the equation as much as you can via conscious thought. With a little practice the ceiling bounce test does surprisingly well at giving a good brightness comparison between lights.
Ambient lighting that's a particular tint could make one light look more or less bright than it really is, too, as similar-tinted ambient lighting would tend to "gobble up" some of the light's output, basically disguise it, whereas a greater contrast between ambient and flashlight tint would tend to make that one stand out, appearing brighter.
It's also possible (though I'm not sure how likely) that a person's eyes could make a particular tint look even dimmer than normal due to some sort of color blindness or other tint-specific deficiency in the eyes themselves. It's not the first thing I'd assume, but I suppose it could be a factor for some of us. :shrug:
Anyway, just wanted to offer some ideas.
