What is the point of having .06 lumens and .01 lumens in the zebralight 502?

I am new to flashlights and I see that the Zebralight 502 looks like a reallly great flashlight, but I was wondering why it has options for .06 and .01 lumens? When would you even want a light that dim? And when you get down that low aren't .06 lumens and .01 lumens virtually indistinguishable from each other?

when your eyes are fully night adapted, 0.06 and 0.01 are sufficient to see things in front of you. Its not sufficient to READ with, but its good to see and navigate around a house easily. I can read with the 0.34 mode though..

You try getting out of bed at 2 am in the morning to go to the bathroom - you will find that 1 lumen OTF is blindingly bright.
Hence 0.06 and 0.01 lumens.
OTF by the way. Actual lumens...

Caving with dark adapted vision...

I could see the utility (potentially) of having either .06 or .01 but having both seems like mode overload.

The .01 lumen is barely lit. The GITD is probably brighter. I would think it's purpose would simply be as a locator / beacon. The .06 would work for very dark adapted eyes.

Has anyone here customized their low mode setting to the .06 or the .01?

I left mine on the default .3 because it seemed plenty low as is.

If you did change to the .06 or .01, there'd really be no need to ever turn the light off, would there? Given runtime measured in !months!

Regards most used modes on the H502, they'd be M1 and M2 for me. 18 and 36 lumens take care of most of my work needs. Seldom do I go to any of the high modes, and if I do, usually by accident. I did set H2 for the lower (62 lm) number, which runs for over 3 hours...if I ever have a job that short...unlikely.

josherick said:

I am new to flashlights and I see that the Zebralight 502 looks like a reallly great flashlight, but I was wondering why it has options for .06 and .01 lumens? When would you even want a light that dim? And when you get down that low aren't .06 lumens and .01 lumens virtually indistinguishable from each other?

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Their first generation lights had 3 modes. Then it was 6 modes. Now it's how many? 11 modes? They will probably stick .03 between .06 and .01 for their next generation lights along with some cute clip that glows or tail that blinks.

Our parents had lights with just a single mode and they did just fine.

it is enough lumens to poke around at night and

not really wake yourself up too much
not wake anyone else up
plenty of light to find something with dark adapted eyes



@davidt1
Our parents had lights with just a single mode and they did just fine.

Yup, and I now have sub-lumen modes and do better than parents ever did

gcbryan said:

.06 or .01 but having both seems like mode overload.

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davidt1 said:

Their first generation lights had 3 modes. Then it was 6 modes. Now it's how many? 11 modes?

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That is THE reason why I didn't want to get a new Zebralight headlamps. Too much modes. I have OCD,

Also, you might want to read this thread I started awhile back. Many people love the low low modes.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?238505-Do-you-really-use-0-2-lumen

Dim modes:

I have cut up an $8 flashlight and added a 500-kOhm potentiometer to its tailcap. This lets me make the light astonishingly dim - so much so that I can look directly into the LED showerhead when I get up in the night without being blinded. The LEDs are dimmer than my GITD things that sit inside all day. I set this on the nightstand behind my glass of water so I can wake up and get the glass easily. This dimmest setting represents a current of about 4 micro-amps. The intermediate settings of about 100 kOhms are plenty bright enough to walk around in.

I do see the need for reasonable light steps. In fact, 1.4x brightness is about the minimum 'Okay, that is brighter' change. I would be okay with tripling levels - because tripling photons always looks the same amount brighter, even at low levels. That gives 12 modes between 0.001 and 200 lumens. The trick is to be able to select 12 modes efficiently, and drive them efficiently.

It amazes me so many people need a light to get to the bathroom.

CamoNinja said:

It amazes me so many people need a light to get to the bathroom.

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People are amazed by all kinds of things, including carrying a flashlight every day (Why do you have a flashlight!?) or having change for a $20. Some of us don't have any city lights nearby. Others have cats and dogs, or small, wandering plastic bits left on the floor sometimes. When I lived in town, I could just about read in my living room without the lights on. Now if I want to see what I'm about to step on, I need my own light. And since I have the technology, to rebuild them dimmer, stronger, etc, then I will

I just got an H502, and mine has 5 low settings I assume the 2.7, and then 4 others I can choose from.

Whatever they are, the brightest one is the only one of any use, and that use would be a nightlight in a camping tent.. maybe.. i dunno, it's all I can think of


and that's a good use.. the H502 should be thought of as camping lantern you can strap to your head

I use the dim modes for checking on my sleeping child. She'll wake up if the light's a couple lumens, but sleeps right through the sublumen modes.

Brasso said:

The .01 lumen is barely lit. The GITD is probably brighter. I would think it's purpose would simply be as a locator / beacon. The .06 would work for very dark adapted eyes.

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+1

The .01 lumen lets you find the light at night, without the light being bright enough to disturb you.

The .06 mode is enough to get around with dark adapted eyes. Its not enough in general to see small objects of a similar colour on the floor but its enough to avoid tripping over shoes/toy cars etc. Its good because its not enough to disturb anybody.

I find the normal zebra/4sevens 0.1-0.3 lumen type moon modes are still bright enough to disturb sleeping people at night - I usually have to mask the lens and just let a sliver of light come out.

Note: I live in a dark area

I would like to have access to all the modes without having to go into programming mode though.

Brasso said:

I would like to have access to all the modes without having to go into programming mode though.

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Not me!! Unless it was a dial, then OK. I like an uncomplicated UI, with flashy modes well hidden.