Interesting read: Why Headlamp Claims are Deceptive

While the intent of the article sounds genuine I disagree with the general context of what they are saying. From what I have seen, although they do place the max distance right next to the max runtime, the max runtime setting seems to be pointing to the runtime when the light is on low and not the high setting.

Thanks for the link. Manufacturers should be clear how the high setting changes over time. And the claimed runtime should be clearly linked to that flashlight's lowest mode.

I think any claims by any manufacturer about any product should be taken with a grain of salt. Example.........mpg ratings for new cars.

Thanks for sharing the link.... as a camper, I started my flashaholism with those camping company headlamps and grew to despise the BS marketing claims. Even the "good" headlamp manufacturers exaggerate more than I care for, but I suppose it makes sense given who they're competing with. Follow Selfbuilt's reviews for a while, or test your own lights, and you get a good sense of which manufacturers are conservative and which exaggerate.

THIS is probably "best" ANSI-FL1 output runtime graph I've ever seen

Thanks for the link! Very ellucidatory! This is true for as well flashlights and headlamps. The ANSI-FL1 standard is just too bad and gives the manufacturers justification to deceive!

I've always doubted some of the claims made on lights simply because they're too impressive. For example the Snow Peak SnowMiner has very good runtimes at 8 lumens on 3AAA's that supposedly lasts 140h, for comparison my Spark SX5 at 8 lumens with 3AAA's is rated to last 40 hours. The same thing on 80 lumens for 55 hours vs my Sparks 55 lumens for 6.5 hours.

Never pulled the trigger on it because the difference is just too great to be believable and there are barely any reviews for the Snow Peak SnowMiner.

All too true, and fine IF you understand all of this, but most people buying these light do not understand.

I personally feel that all lights should have runtime traces printed on them to show how the output varies over time. That would be far more enlightening!

subwoofer said:

I personally feel that all lights should have runtime traces printed on them to show how the output varies over time. That would be far more enlightening!

Click to expand...

I agree. At a minimum, the relative output at 75%, 50% and 25% against their associated run time. Not sure it would make sense to the general public though.

The author is very knowledgeable. Outdoors enthusiasts tend to be more educated as consumers and demand quality equipment and gear than your average consumer that falls for false advertisements that are part of our daily consumer lifestyle. Let's see if the gear junkie community will finally display some power and influence a cultural change in companies that cater to them with their products, but for some reason I doubt marketing changes will occur anytime soon. It took ANSI standard for flashlights forever to become a reality and it will take forever to refine it to benefit the actual consumer and not the marketing strategists.