What do you do with your lumens?

[Lumen83]

Normally, I don't need anything too bright. But, I did get a new flashlight that supposedly has 900 lumens. And, I was out with the dog around midnight using one of the lower settings when I decided to see what it was capable of. And, I shined the light at the woods about 150 yards away to see a pair of eyeballs staring at me. I think it may have been a coyote, as the night before they killed something down in the woods and were howling like crazy. Now, I have a use for a brighter light! Scanning the treeline for eyeballs.

 

[mickb]

For hunting, glassing( game spotting at night) or searching the more horsepower the better. I shoot short range these days so 600-700lumens and 45,000 CD or so is all I need for spotting game to 120 yards, not saying I shoot that far. Stand shooting with a red filter on that light gets me to 40-50 yards which is enough. This light also serves me for work purposes.

 

[ScottJ]

I have only a couple of very big, very bright lights. They're used mainly when I hear a racket outside my house late at night, and I want a LOT of light to investigate. I have a big, four-emitter Blackshadow Terminator that fills that role very nicely, and also an Olight 18650 thrower for lighting up things a bit farther away.

My high-lumen pocket lights are used in my work. I am an audio engineer so I do a lot of work in dark theatres, concert venues, auditoriums, and even outdoors. When I need to see what's going on with something, I need a lot of light, right where I want it, RIGHT NOW. I also have a number of lights that have red emitters built in (Nitecore Chameleon CR6, for example) so I can throw a nice powerful beam that won't screw up my night vision.

I got interested in high quality flashlights because everything I found on the consumer side of things was flimsy, unreliable, delicate, and frankly kind of dumb-looking. So experiencing what a flashlight really could be in terms of practicality, intensity, reliability, and quality turned me into an enthusiast really quickly. I probably have about 18 lights in my collection right now that I rotate around or select for particular outings.

I've just ordered a 2000-lumen headlight (an Olight H2R) to replace my older, low-intensity headlight. It should show up in today's mail. Looking forward to that -- that's one serious high-beam.

Scott

 

[Echo63]

My EDC is a HDS 170 tactical with the golden dragon LED.
170 lumens is enough for 95% of what i do, and most of the use is at much lower levels (checking on the kids at night, and midnight runs to the fridge)

I have an older Moddoo triple dropin that punches out 1000 beautiful neutral lumens - I don't use it much to light stuff up (maybe a minute a week) but the light is always in my hand when I go for a run (at night, once the kids are in bed)

my Maxabeam is my giggle light, hitting clouds with a handheld flashlight always brings a smile to my face.

 

[peter yetman]

my Maxabeam is my giggle light, hitting clouds with a handheld flashlight always brings a smile to my face.

Did that last winter with my Hound Dog, I laughed like a loon.
P

 

[Fireclaw18]

Searching around inside the house: Emisar D4 with 4000+ lumens on turbo. Makes it easy to find stuff. It's like having a plug-in room light in your pocket.

 

[Modernflame]

Searching around inside the house: Emisar D4 with 4000+ lumens on turbo. Makes it easy to find stuff. It's like having a plug-in room light in your pocket.

Love this. It's the same reason why I always reach for the biggest kitchen knife, even if I'm only slicing grape tomatoes.

 

[iamlucky13]

I'm not one for lighting up the front lawn like a Trace Adkins song, and even less for throwers capable of defending the Rheinland from Allied bomber formations.

But I do occasionally find uses for having more output available than 140 lumens my most used light maxes out at. After all, I've got a 4000/9000 lumen (depending on whether it's got a 250W or 500W bulb in it) halogen light in my shop I use for projects, and a couple other smaller worklights.

Extension cords aren't always convenient, and often 4000 lumens aren't necessary if I can get the light closer to what I'm doing.

What I decided I really wanted recently was a high-CRI light that could sustain 500 lumens for an extended period of time for after dark projects. The options were pretty limited, and I was toying with either the Manker E14 or the anticipated Zebralight SC600c/H600c Mk IV (still waiting). Then somebody pointed out the Emisar D4 is available now and is only $40.

We'll see what I use the higher modes for, if anything, but those aren't what I'm buying the light for.