How many lumens is enough lumens?

ev13wt

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Jan 2, 2009
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I understand you can never have enough lumens... But how much is enough for certain tasks? Lets leave out S&R and tactical use.

Lets not focus in throw vs. spill too much in each scenario, although of course you can give a preference.
Max Lumens the light should have:

:)

Walking the dog in suburbia?

Camping site?

General in-house use?

2 day blackout?

Car breaks down? Flat tire at night?

Walking in the woods?

EDC?
 
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petr9999

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my opinion

Walking the dog in suburbia?

10k

Camping site?

1k

General in-house use?

1k

2 day blackout?

1k

Car breaks down? Flat tire at night?

1k

Walking in the woods?

5k

EDC?

never enough (never know how many you will need :))
 

StarHalo

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Most everyone is going to give you numbers that are way too high; almost everything you've listed could be covered with not more than 25 lumens (dog walking excepted), and you'll still be on the same set of batteries when they've had to change out several times..
 

brianna

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I have a Surefire E1B 110 lumen's. I have found this to be enough for all your above situations. Inside the house the 5 lumen setting was plenty.

Camping, in the house, flat tire, walking in the woods I have found a headlamp works best. I have a surefire minimus 100 lumen and rarely use the top setting.
 
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S1LVA

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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:
 

greenlight

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For most of my applications I would say that 10 would be sufficient, however I like them all focused in the same direction for what appears to be a bright beam.
 

jmpaul320

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50-100 imho is enough, except for dog walking maybe 200... but if you want to be really spechal, you need 2000 lumens.
 

reppans

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Most everyone is going to give you numbers that are way too high; almost everything you've listed could be covered with not more than 25 lumens (dog walking excepted), and you'll still be on the same set of batteries when they've had to change out several times..
+1

I use my lights for everything OP listed. I use Moonlight and 3 lm the most....guess I like letting my night vision work for me. A 100 lumen max is nice to have but I really only need to use that for spotting deer in the woods or riding a bicycle at speed at night.

I have a 450lm light running on 2x14500s, but IMHO, the work/hassle/costs of lithium primary and Li-ion rechargeables is really subject to the laws of diminishing returns. I like 1xNiMh the best.

(interesting, I walk my dog on 0.3 or 3 lumens. I especially prefer to be discrete when my dog does his business on neighbors lawns)
 
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eh4

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42 of course.

Realistically some light with a user interface that lets you easily shift brightness according to what you're doing, looking down and close, then looking far away and then back to the trail or task in front of you.

Fractions of a lumen for when you're eyes are dark adjusted, maybe 10-30 for doing lots of things effectively, maybe 100-300 or more with throw for finding something or someone lost in the distance or dealing with a momentary crisis.

I think that a range of settings from less than a lumen to something around 100 lumens is really great, with 2-30 lumens being used most of the time.
Something with a range from ember, to candle, to torch is about perfect, bonfire is fun but rarely needed.
 
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bbb74

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My opinion:

Walking the dog in suburbia?
100. 2000 for fun.

Camping site?
For headlamp, 100 would be fine. For lighting up gazebo/tarp etc - 500-1000 (total, from multiple sources)


General in-house use?
50

2 day blackout?
50

Car breaks down? Flat tire at night?
50 to fix it. 5000 if you are scared or there are growling noises, or a zombie outbreak at the same time.

Walking in the woods?
3 if i'm wanting some night vision. 100 if i don't care about night vision. 800 to throw.

EDC?
100
 

ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond

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Walking the dog in suburbia?
- I don't have a dog but I would imagine 25 would be more than sufficient for suburbia (ie: streets and sidewalks). For rural maybe 50 would be better.

Camping site?
- I would say 10-25 would be good for personal use around a campsite. 25-50 if you want to illimuinate for more than one person.

General in-house use?
- 0.001 - 5 lumens for around the house at night. 50-100 if you need to illuminate for work.

2 day blackout?
- 10 lumens should be more that ample for illuminating each room.

Car breaks down? Flat tire at night?
- 25-50 to illuminate work area, although I would want more to make sure people see me so closer to 50-100.

Walking in the woods?
- Personal taste but I find 100+ lumens is my personal minimum for forest walks. Preferable would be 300 lumens that can reach out and touch the trees in the distance. If any critters are going to be coming at me I want to be able to see eyes at a distance.

EDC?
I want something with a range from at least 1-150 lumens for EDC with a minimum of 3 levels. More levels is better. Infinite variable is best.

Note: The are my honest answers to the OP question. In general having more lumens on tap in every outdoor situation is the best for me. 1500+ lumens out in the woods is awesome, turning day into night. For most of the other situations having a top of 200-500 lumens will always come in handy.
 

Burgess

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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 !
 

riccardo.dv

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Walking the dog in suburbia?
100. 2000 for fun.
Camping site?
For headlamp, 100 would be fine. For lighting up gazebo/tarp etc - 500-1000 (total, from multiple sources)
General in-house use?
50
2 day blackout?
50
Car breaks down? Flat tire at night?
50 to fix it. 5000 if you are scared or there are growling noises, or a zombie outbreak at the same time.
Walking in the woods?
3 if i'm wanting some night vision. 100 if i don't care about night vision. 800 to throw.
EDC?
100

Totally agree but the edc. You'll never know how many lumens you'll need, so higher is better for me (with good spaced levels)
 

901-Memphis

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I think 100 is the magic number for most things. I don't find needing more than 200 for most things.
 

HotWire

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I find small lights (like the G2) with 100 lumens or less is enough if I can get the light on the spot where I need it. Bright lights are for fun! Or search & rescue. I have 3,000 lumen lights, but... just in case it gets *really* dark!
 

Obijuan Kenobe

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Having entered the flashlight world relatively late compared to most around here, I have a rather fresh opinion that seems to find resonance on CPF if you look for it.

I find that the main missing niche in the realm of custom lights is the super low. Moonlight is low enough that you CAN'T read without putting the light very near the page. Moonlight is low enough that you can put the LED next to the eye of a sleeping baby, and nothing happens. Moonlight low is pimp.

Even the McGizmo lights (Don is perhaps the undisputed KING of Ti EDC light making) lack a real moonlight low. I would go so far as to say that many folks have never had a moonlight level at their disposal, and thus have no idea how useful it is. I guess making an efficient driver with this level range is not cake, but they are out there in various forms...just not in many high end customs.

So for me, you need three levels. I can imagine ideally the current range on a Nichia 219 (for example) at 1mA, 350mA, and 1.2A. Moonlight, flashlight, and BOOM. Flashlight...around 150 lumens. And BOOM does not need to be more than 1000 lumens ever. If it's bright in daylight...what more could you want?

Just my two cents.

obi
 

whill44

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That is until now (well for me anyway) the Jetbeam RRT01 go's so low it's useless but oh so nice to look at. Just got it today and I truly believe the hunt for my edc light is over with for now.



Having entered the flashlight world relatively late compared to most around here, I have a rather fresh opinion that seems to find resonance on CPF if you look for it.

I find that the main missing niche in the realm of custom lights is the super low. Moonlight is low enough that you CAN'T read without putting the light very near the page. Moonlight is low enough that you can put the LED next to the eye of a sleeping baby, and nothing happens. Moonlight low is pimp.

Even the McGizmo lights (Don is perhaps the undisputed KING of Ti EDC light making) lack a real moonlight low. I would go so far as to say that many folks have never had a moonlight level at their disposal, and thus have no idea how useful it is. I guess making an efficient driver with this level range is not cake, but they are out there in various forms...just not in many high end customs.

So for me, you need three levels. I can imagine ideally the current range on a Nichia 219 (for example) at 1mA, 350mA, and 1.2A. Moonlight, flashlight, and BOOM. Flashlight...around 150 lumens. And BOOM does not need to be more than 1000 lumens ever. If it's bright in daylight...what more could you want?

Just my two cents.

obi
 

GunnarGG

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Apr 21, 2010
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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 !

+1

The darker it is the less lumens is needed.
The only times that I use max on my brighter lights (200-500 lumens) is when I use it in daytime or other good illumination to look into dark holes, under the hood and similar situations.

Edit: Just found this post that I think nicely descibes how much use you can have from just a little light when it is really dark around you:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...arry-a-light&p=3931119&viewfull=1#post3931119
 
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ev13wt

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42 of course.

:) Nice choice!!!



So I guess we could say a nicely spaced light with a low low 0.01 to 2 (moonlight mode), 10, 50, 100-200 light can cover about 85% of our flashlight needs?
 
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