"Bathroom-trip in the night" flashlight recommendation?

[AstroTurf]

Another vote for Zebralight here...

I just clip mine to my collar, then fumble on to the bathroom.

Jim

 

[Sambob]

My thru-nite TH20 does .3lm just press and hold the button for firefly mode 1AA, It's a head lap but easily slips out of the head band for pocket carry.

 

[drexter]

The Zebralight sc53 is a good choice. It is small yet offers excellent brightness.

 

[RedLED]

It's funny, I just did a post on my old Surefire Kroma, and after reading your Spec's., a Kroma may fit just perfect for your night time tasks.

I keep mine on the nightstand at our main house, and I really think this is the get up in the middle of the night light.

Maybe I will put this in the travel rotation box, and take it everywhere!

Best,

RedLED

 

[jon_slider]

My thru-nite TH20 does .3lm

that is a useful level for some of my low light needs

in the case of my personal needs for a bathroom light, I am using a light set to 0.02 lumens, because of ambient light from a streetlight outside my house.

The light I am using is programmable from 0.002 up to 0.6 lumens
Im really enjoying the opportunity to choose a firefly level that works for me in my environment.

My choice of minimum useful lumen level is definitely affected by how much ambient light is present.

 

[Mr. LED]

Jon, which light is it, that can be programmed to 0.002 lumen?

 

[jon_slider]

Jon, which light is it, that can be programmed to 0.002 lumen?

it is an aaa Manker E02
the only other light I have that can go that low is the Jetbeam RRT-01 Rotary, but in this case it is very convenient to have a fixed mode, instead of fine tuning a dial.

 

[DayofReckoning]

I recently picked up an Acebeam TK16 for it's 0.50 lumen moonlight mode to use for those middle of the night bathroom trips. I'm actually a bit disapointed as to how bright 0.50 lumens really is when your vision is night adapted.

 

[davemp]

I have a Olight S1 mini baton that I found to be perfect for that late night trip to the bathroom. It's also very useful inside and outside the house as the brightness level go between 0.5 and 600 lumens. It runs on a RCR123 battery and runs for a very long time on the lower settings. It's also very small at 2.13" long X 0.83" in dia. ...davemp

 

[jon_slider]

as to how bright 0.50 lumens really is when your vision is night adapted.

congrats on developing your own frame of reference
I like the 0.5 lumen lows of my Olights, they work great for me in many low light situations

I consider 0.1 up to 0.9 to be great "moonlight" levels. In situations where there is some ambient light.

for full darkness I like the option to use
0.01 to 0.09, which I like to refer to as Firefly levels

atm I am most enamoured by the Jetbeam RRT-01 because it easily moves between firefly, moonlight and other levels, smoothly, without hops. It is the One UI to rule them all, imnsho

all my other lights, I have to consider whether to click the button again, or if the next mode will be too bright, or too dim.. With my Jetbeam RRT-01 those thoughts are irrelevant, as I can smoothly and easily just turn the dial up or down.. no hops, no skips, and a very wide range or outputs, from 0.01 up to 400+ lumens..

I have a Olight S1 mini baton that I found to be perfect for that late night trip to the bathroom. It's also very useful inside and outside the house as the brightness level go between 0.5 and 600 lumens. It runs on a RCR123 battery and runs for a very long time on the lower settings. It's also very small at 2.13" long X 0.83" in dia. ...davemp

I really liked my Olight S1 Mini baton too
I gifted it to one of my adult children

I agree the modes, and UI of the Olight are very practical, for a clicky
I also like how small and light they are

I was happy with the 0.5 lumen minimum on my olights... its a great moonlight level, for general use
in pitch black situations 0.5 can even be brighter than necessary

 

[DayofReckoning]

congrats on developing your own frame of reference
I like the 0.5 lumen lows of my Olights, they work great for me in many low light situations

I consider 0.1 up to 0.9 to be great "moonlight" levels. In situations where there is some ambient light.

for full darkness I like the option to use
0.01 to 0.09, which I like to refer to as Firefly levels

atm I am most enamoured by the Jetbeam RRT-01 because it easily moves between firefly, moonlight and other levels, smoothly, without hops. It is the One UI to rule them all, imnsho

all my other lights, I have to consider whether to click the button again, or if the next mode will be too bright, or too dim.. With my Jetbeam RRT-01 those thoughts are irrelevant, as I can smoothly and easily just turn the dial up or down.. no hops, no skips, and a very wide range or outputs, from 0.01 up to 400+ lumens..



I really liked my Olight S1 Mini baton too
I gifted it to one of my adult children

I agree the modes, and UI of the Olight are very practical, for a clicky
I also like how small and light they are

I was happy with the 0.5 lumen minimum on my olights... its a great moonlight level, for general use
in pitch black situations 0.5 can even be brighter than necessary

Pupil dilation decreases as we get older. I'm in my early 30's, and can make full use of the 7mm exit pupil of a 7X50 binocular, indicating my pupils dilatate quite a bit. My father, in his 60's, can not. The difference between one's pupil dilation can certainly effect how bright sub-lumen brightness levels appear to be.

 

[Climb14er]

I put in the bathrooms variable lens colored LED, darkness activated night lights. Just enough light to move around and find the way with no issues. If by chance I need a flashlight for this or while traveling, the ZL SC 52 fits the need perfectly.

 

[ZMZ67]

I just use Pak-lite 4Ks. Simple low /high and if it is too bright you can just use a depleted 9V. Might eventually try the orange LED model as I understand certain colors may offer an advantage. My wife just uses a standard cool white Pak-lite but they are loaded with blue so I stick to the 4K.

 

[bykfixer]

Pupil dilation decreases as we get older. I'm in my early 30's, and can make full use of the 7mm exit pupil of a 7X50 binocular, indicating my pupils dilatate quite a bit. My father, in his 60's, can not. The difference between one's pupil dilation can certainly effect how bright sub-lumen brightness levels appear to be.

Thank you for that.

As a lad I could navigate by star light. Not anymore.
In my 30's I lived in a place that was really really dark at night. Sometimes friends who lived in the country near my home town would visit me there and say how dark it was. LED's were invented at that point but they were in their infancy. I had one with 3 LED's that said "super bright 12 lumens" on the package when I bought it.
A BiC lighter was my 2am illumination back then.

Sure 0.4 would have lit a couple of feet in front of me, but in that place rustling in the bushes 10 feet away could be a bobcat or a bear. Hence why to this day I don't use sublumen lighting. I want to see at least ten feet in front of me at 2am for added reaction time. Trip over a dog at 2am, stumble forward and crash into a piece of furniture.

By having 5 or so lumens I can wobble about while all drowsy and see far enough away to avoid the perils of things the dogs were playing with and left on the floor between me and the water closet. No surprises and nobody is bothered by it.

I haven't "bounced" out of bed in years without crashing into something.

 

[wacbzz]

I just use Pak-lite 4Ks. Simple low /high...

This.

Just dim enough and then just bright enough. If a version of this light can be singularly used on the PCT, it is definitely more than enough for a simple bathroom trip.

 

[5S8Zh5]

...If a version of this light can be singularly used on the PCT, it is definitely more than enough for a simple bathroom trip.

Is that the Pacific Coast Trail?

I just use Pak-lite 4Ks. Simple low /high...

Do you happen to know the lumen of the low and high?

 

[jon_slider]

Do you happen to know the lumen of the low and high?

I could not find any official answer to your question, hopefully someone will a light meter will provide more than this guess:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/v...white-option&p=5185541&viewfull=1#post5185541

I think that 15 lumens on high is a reasonable guess,
...

And a fair estimate for the low would be about 1-2 lumens.

 

[ZMZ67]

edit - PCT is the Pacific Crest Trail, I thought coast was right but I have corrected the post thanks to Duster1671. The story regarding the PCT is on Pak-lites website if you are curious.

Unfortunately I don't know the lumen ratings and Pak-Lite doesn't really offer much information about output on their site. Everyone always talks about the run time and that is the information is available,not sure if anyone ever bothered testing one with an integrating sphere to get exact numbers. I am somewhat hesitant to provide any numbers since it is pretty much impossible to tell by eye what output you are getting. Maybe a low twenty something lumens on high? Low must be a single digit number. It is just two 5MM leds so nothing substantial but more than enough in a dark home.

Having literally several hundred lights in my collection I really haven't found anything I like better for bathroom trips or roaming about in a dark house.

edit- Looks like jon_slider beat me to the post with better output estimates than my "by eye" lol. 15 is probably reasonable it is just too hard to gage by sight.

 

[tigman_tim]

one more vote for the Pak-lite 4Ks. I use it with a 9V lithium battery....the whole package is super light weight!!!

 

[Duster1671]

*Pacific Crest Trail