Re: Catapult V2 w/ smo (thoughts/pics) OTF numbers now. Not good
yes. so . we just pick up any lights from our production.and send out for review.So, you see that the lumens is same the production, what I choose the best LED want to see how bright the light can reach. I am not sure this is correct?
Well, it's your business, so send whichever one you want to send.
However, when I owned and operated a retail business, one of the first things I learned was that under-promising and over-delivering was a good way to win customer loyalty. When expectations are exceeded, customers tend to be very happy.
By showing specs of your light to be 1000 lumens, and then delivering a light that only puts out 600 lumens, customers' expectations of the light are not met. On the other hand, if you had advertised it to have 500 lumens, the same 600 lumen output would have exceeded customers' expectations, and they would be much happier with the 600 lumen light that has, in reality, disappointed some customers due to it not meeting its specifications.
Take, for example, the SureFire LX2. It puts out about 250 lumens, according to bigchelis' integrating sphere. So what? 250 lumens isn't terribly impressive, right? The Catapult V2 puts out more than twice that much, at a lower price (if I recall correctly). But, Surefire advertises the LX2 as only a 200 lumen light, so when owners find out their lights are putting out 25% more lumens than advertised, they're ecstatic about it. Even though it's still just a 250 lumen light selling for $195. Surefire under-promised and over-delivered. That's why we don't see a thread entitled, "SureFire LX2 (thoughts/pics) OTF numbers now. Not good."
People will find out what the real output of you lights are. Would you rather they be excited that they put out more light than you claim, or disappointed, because they miss the claimed output by 40%?
You say that you are just using the LED manufacturer's output numbers, but that's a copout. Every flashlight enthusiast knows that emitter lumens are virtually always higher than OTF torch lumens, often dramatically so.
So, which flashlight should you send out to be tested? If it were me, I would send out the least bright light, and then pick a nice multiple of 25 at least fifty lumens below the tested light, and advertise that number. People will figure out the real output soon enough. But when they do, it will boost your reputation because you under-promised and over-delivered.
