Do you really use all that light?

[Hiker]

When I hike at night there are times I need to have good throw and a lot of light to see where I am, what the terrain is like, which way to go, etc. Living in the woods sometimes I will want a bright light to see an animal outside.
Aside from that, most of the time I do not need much light to see what I am doing, etc.

The trend is to produce more and more powerful lights.

My question is do you really have uses where you need all those lumens and what are they?

 

[VidPro]

just like you said, its the distance thing. 97% of the time 1W or less of led light is sufficent, then i want 900W for just a few seconds, like 30max usually, so i can see or find something.

walking the dog, mabey 120ma of juice can spot everything i need to see, the dog gets away, and mabey 20amps of led might see what i want to see and a harsh spot doesnt always cover it, cause you gotta keep panning back an forth.

out of the city a few 5mm leds will light up everything on needs, heck turn off the light and the moon itself , after getting acclimated to the light is often better than any light, but when you need to see, ya still want to see, and the only way to do that is with some major power , or night vision, and that is like looking through binoculars, the area of vision is limited. night vision is often clunkey and spencive too.

 

[Patriot]

No not really. 90% of the time I only need or use about 30-60 lumens for my tasks and to be honest that's usually more than I need. At times thought I do have a use for some mega lumens and when those times come, I'm glad to have them. Tonight I was walking with a HID light. It wasn't necessary to see were I was going, but it sure made for an enjoyable walk as I got to see many critters. I even saw Javelina tonight. I can't spot them with 200 lumen LED lights. It's just not enough at a 100 plus yards.

 

[mechBgon]

I have uses for the lumens. I just O-ringed an L2D Premium Q5 to my helmet for riding my mountain bike off-road on fast singletrack. On Turbo mode, it supplements a 600-lumen DiNotte handlebar light... barely. It's certainly amazing to get this kind of output for ~90 minutes from 2xAA NiMH; it compares well to a NiteRider Minewt X2 rechargeable system at far less cost and weight (although with lower runtime). But I look forward to any further improvements in the output-per-watt realm. Next ride, I may try dropping the DiNotte to medium power so the differential between the two lights isn't so great.

Or... hmm, maybe a second L2D for the helmet.

:thinking: Are flashlights habit-forming, by the way?

My dream light is presently the Lupine Betty, claimed ~1400 lumens for ~3 hours. I don't think I'd be able to outrun that one, unless I were dropped from an airplane

 

[wishywashy7]

just like you said, its the distance thing. 97% of the time 1W or less of led light is sufficent, then i want 900W for just a few seconds, like 30max usually, so i can see or find something.

+1
that's why adjustable brightness comes in very handy, from illuminating everything from just beneath your feet to up to several hundreds of yards away

 

[daveman]

When I hike at night there are times I need to have good throw and a lot of light to see where I am, what the terrain is like, which way to go, etc. Living in the woods sometimes I will want a bright light to see an animal outside.
Aside from that, most of the time I do not need much light to see what I am doing, etc.

The trend is to produce more and more powerful lights.

My question is do you really have uses where you need all those lumens and what are they?

I had pondered the same when I was first introduced into this hobby. After you've been around longer, you'll realize, just as I have, that FOR NIGHT TIME USE IN THE OUTDOORS, whatever was deemed sufficient at a previous point in time wasn't accepted as adequate because it was indeed bright enough, for it would take tens of thousands of lumens, possibly more, to illuminate many night time scenarios to a degree comparable to daylight conditions.
Whatever light that was deemed acceptably bright (100, 200, 800 lumens) was done so because that hardware was the best available at that time; even though it only provided a "mere" _____ (fill in the blank) lumens, it was the best anybody could do.

Lumens are particularly important for any "bump in the night" encounters in the yard where 150 lumens and 1000 lumens in the face of a trespasser WILL make a noticeable difference in his response.

 

[techwg]

On my fenix P3D CE i use mainly medium/high and rarely turbo, although i leave it set to turbo incase i need to grab it for something in a hurry

 

[Burgess]

Variable power, (or several different flashlights )

is the only way to obtain just the amount of light we require in a given situation.


Indoors, naturally, is different from outdoors.


Familiar territory is different from unfamiliar.


"Safe" situations are different from "threat" situations.



Walking around outdoors, at night is something i really enjoy.

Often, like most CPFers, i try to see just how LITTLE light i really need outdoors.


That is, until you experience one of those heart-stopping

What The Hell Was THAT ! ? ? ? moments. :candle:


Then some extra Lumens can be a great comfort. :tinfoil:



Nearly a quarter-Century ago, i bought myself a 3-D cell Maglite.

It was GREAT for my night hikes.


So, naturally, i thought:

"if the 3-cell is Great, than the 5-cell will be even BETTER !"


I very quickly discovered that NOT to be true.

_

 

[daveman]

Often, like most CPFers, i try to see just how LITTLE light i really need outdoors.


That is, until you experience one of those heart-stopping

What The Hell Was THAT ! ? ? ? moments. :candle:


Then some extra Lumens can be a great comfort. :tinfoil:

Precisely on the point, many (maybe the rest carry nightvision goggles) who keep on saying just how little light they "really need" outdoors haven't been to Cleveland National Forest or the Mojave Desert at night.

 

[PhantomPhoton]

I agree that most of the time I don't need high output. But... as stated already it is a great comfort.

Whether it is using bright light as a deterrent in a poorly lit city street, walking along a river at 11pm, or zOMG WTH was that while out in the wilderness (or in the home) its good to turn it up.

One of my favorite things is walking in the dark with just enough light to be able to see and not fall on my face. There's something tranquil and down right peaceful about it for me. Too many lumens can definitely ruin it. But Too few could ruin it too with a careless slip.

 

[recercare]

Yes, I really use all that light, both indoors and outdoors. It's possible to walk the dog with a 20 lumen flashlight, but it's not comfortable. In 99% of the time I grab a flashlight with 120 lumen or more. I have never had any problems with losing night vision....just point the beam's hotspot a few meters away from you (when outdoors). When indoors, use a diffusion filter.

Kind regards
.lars

 

[daveman]

My priorities for night time light usage (in order of importance):

Target identification, target disorientation (if applicable), night vision perservation.

In my humble opinion, night vision perservation has been exaggerated to death in too many cases in which people were simply trying come up with some sorry excuse to defend the usefulness of their low output lights in the face of brighter, more efficient lights (emitters).

 

[Tempest UK]

I very rarely need "a lot" of light. This is why I'm more concerned with a light's runtime than output. Around 3-15 lumens is enough for me in most cases. If I want more light, then I rarely "need" anything more than around 60-80 lumens. Of course, this hasn't stopped me buying much brighter lights (*cough* M6 *cough*). My EDC of Arc AAA-p, SureFire A2 and SureFire 6PL covers my needs perfectly.

Regards,
Tempest

 

[carrot]

Nope, not always. 10 lumens is enough for me a lot of times, and sometimes I even want (*gasp*) less! But having the extra brightness available certainly comes in handy.

 

[xiaowenzu]

Aside from that, most of the time I do not need much light to see what I am doing, etc.

I agree I'd also like add that, for general lighting purposes such as looking in and around the house, most Surefire, Novatac lights provide more than plenty of illumination. I actually find myself switching to the lower modes, because the HIGH is too bright. However if you're going to do some serious trekking in the woods, you'd really need at least 500+ lumens – such as customs flashlights with multiple LEDS or even HID.

I believe the 'Lumen count' between 'bright' vs 'ultrabright' LED flashlights today, isn't as important as it was 2-3 years ago. Most of the top lights provide more than enough illumination, and happy with that. It's like the difference between a 210Mph Supercar and a 230Mph Supercar. When you have cars that exhibit slight difference at what is an already mind boggling speed, other factors become more important such as acceleration, quality of construction, steering, feel, etc. A Porsche might not be THE fastest car, but it's an awesome drive. Same with Surefires lights.:twothumbs

It's the same with flashlights. No longer are we merely just concerned with the Lumen Count, because for an EDC flashlight, anything more than hundred lumens is far plenty. Unless you want to go trekking in the Amazon – you'd probably need an HID.

 

[ACMarina]

To me, where I live and work, 60 lumens is generally about the most I'd ever need. Not that I don't have brighter, mind you, but I've been trying different lights for quite a while and find that 50-60 lumen mark to be the high-end of what I need. Figuring out which way the pesky raccoon went, for example, or what's ahead on the path is my main goal.

Of course, a good spotlight is always nice to have too..

 

[scott.cr]

Yeah... outdoors in the wilderness can make a huge difference in your "need" for lighting power. When I was a kid in Boy Scouts, my first backpacking trip I only brought an AA Minimag. Rolled out of my tent in the middle of the night to take a whiz and even with dark-adapted eyes, my "sphere of influence" with the Minimag was only like 10 feet in radius. It was actually fairly difficult to find the latrine and find my tent (hidden among 20 others) that night. And of course, by the time I got back to my bag, I was wide awake.

Last winter in the desert me and my pop were exploring a mineshaft and we didn't emerge until after dark. His 4Runner was like a quarter mile away and it was so dark outside you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. THANK GOD for the power of the Thor. If it wasn't for that light we may have never found the 4Runner until sunup. Once we were finally back on paved road we passed a VW bus that was stuck in the sand of the soft shoulder of the road. I used my Surefire M4 to illuminate the work area while we attached the tow strap.... lots of light made the job a lot easier. No guessing how to "thread the eye of the needle" under the dark, hot undercarriage of a motor vehicle.

 

[BrokenR1]

Isn't it the same question asked about a lot of things?

Why do we need faster cars?
Why do we need faster or smaller computers?
Why do we need bigger hard drives?
Why do we need bigger or better resolution TV's?

 

[Illum]

86% of the time I can work with just a stylus or a photon
10% of the time I can work with a CREE or any 3 watt based light [1 watt if absolutely necessary, once you hit cree theres no going back]
3% of the time I need a light that bright enough to illuminate everything my eyes can see [where the L4 comes it]
3% of the time its recreation....thats where the medium end photon hoses come in.

so no...I dont really need all that light:nana:

 

[Gatsby]

I do think that for many EDC uses at least, many have been looking for less rather than more lumens - at least a low output option (perhaps the top complaint about Fenixes seems to be their not very low low). With multi level lights it is nice to have a fair number of lumens out the front when you need them - but I use max brightness on any of my lights maybe 5% of the time. That being said - there are some times when you really need a lot of light and often a lot of throw - so I would not go into a backwoods setting, for example, with nothing but an Arc AAA - what if I needed to move at night? Or find that 4Runner as mentioned above, etc..?