How many lumens are you really satisfied with.

[quatra2008]

How many lumens is daylight? I'm satisfied with that.

nice i agree

 

[mr.squatch]

I think the point at which I started to think my light might be a little too much for practical use was between 60 and 100 lumens. I had a g2 that's plenty bright enough to do everything day and night, then started to upgrade it. Now it's dangerous really. haha. And that's probably the least bright I now own out of 20 or so. I like to spotlight things 1000 ft away, but I rarely need to. I guess if I had to choose one light to use for the rest of my life (god forbid), it'd be my g2 at 60ish lumens.

g

 

[Oddjob]

Indoors, 3-10 lumens (the low settings on any of my various lights)
Outdoors, 50+ lumens (the high settings on any of my various lights)

 

[Crenshaw]

I still don't get this.. I walk in the woods with no light if there's some moon. Doesn't have to be a full moon, just enough. Much more enjoyable than stabbing around with a bright light.

are you sure youre a flashaholic? sure you can walk around in the semi dark...but wheres the fun in that? :nana:

anthing less then 100 on a 2xcr123 on hi is a no go...heck, anything less then 100 on single cr123 is a no go, unless its a longbow...

anything above 100 on a AAA, is a MUST BUY!!! subject to shipping charges

Crenshaw

 

[MarNav1]

My ML1 covers 99% of my needs, I think it's like 10 on low and 60 or so on high. I have a Lumapower M1 Cree, a D-mini w 18650 tube and a P1D Q5 if I need anything brighter but they are borderline too bright on high for the majority of my uses. Especially the P1D, that is one bright little bugger!

 

[Akita]

:devil: My Romisen RC-F4 ( Around 120 lumens ) is the standard I measure all my lights against.

The 100-150 lumens range seems to be my favorite comfort zone for both indoor and outdoors.

My work takes me into some very dark conditions where anything less would be borderline dangerous.

Outdoors while hunting or camping...100 lumens is bare minimum.

 

[GreySave]

I use a Kroma every night becasue I like its lower output performance. If I need a bright light, I am usually satisfied with a 100 to 125 lumen "out the front" rated light. Beam type is equally important as output for me though.

 

[djblank87]

Everybody is popping off solid numbers. What I'd like to know is how you know with such certainty how many lumens your flashlights are producing?

c_c

C_C: I would not say certainty when it comes to stating what lumen out-put we like/need/use. I'm going by what the manufacture has stated the products lumen out put is.

Now, we all know the real lumen output is overboard on some lights and underrated on others. So when I say I want 60-700 lumens on an outdoor light I base it by comparing the following:

Say a G2 or 6P most would agree it is putting out some where near the 60 lumens mark or more. So I base it off of that when comparing lower lumen output lights.

I will take my TL, M6 or ROP (HOLA) and compare those to putting out about 375 lumens, 500+ and way over 500 lumens. So comparing is what I think most are doing here.

 

[paulr]

There's been a few threads computing how many lumens the sun puts out (it's in the gazillions). That's how many I use every single day when I do something outside during the daytime. If there's stuff that I find easier to do during the day using daylight than at night using flashlights, it follows that anything less than gazillions of lumens can never really satisfy every possible situation.

That said, I find my 1x123 powered Cree lights (Mule Ti PD for flood, Fenix P1CE for throw, each around 60 lumens) to be enough lumens for most edc flashlight purposes. There are a few situations when I want something a lot more powerful but I get by without it. I have an SL TL3 Xenon which not that much brighter than the P1CE but is around 5x larger. The next step after that is my Mag85 which I still need to get back. After that would come either a fairly big spotlight, or night vision gear.

 

[SolarMan]

I still don't get this.. I walk in the woods with no light if there's some moon. Doesn't have to be a full moon, just enough. Much more enjoyable than stabbing around with a bright light.

Are you sure you are IN the woods? With a canopy of leaves or pine needles blocking the light?

My friends and I have done some testing ...

With a FULL moon you can see where you are going if you are on a path.

Some of the places where we hike the "path" is on your GPS.

So, the light is really to see things that hinder progress (thick brush, that little creek you are about to step into, that root that is about to twist your ankle, etc...)

Sure, path hiking can be done with a little keychain led ... but where is the fun in that?

Maybe you use LED lights in the woods? That will ruin your experience because of poor depth perception and poor coloration.

anyway...I too doubt your flashaholism!

:welcome:

 

[Germ]

I recently got a Fenix P1D CE Q5 with the orange peel reflector. I find it's medium that Fenix rates at 96 lumens to be just about perfect for walking around my suburban neighborhood and in the unlit areas just beyond the neigborhood. If I had to have one lumen setting that would be it. The light on this setting gives me a good field of view and enough distance where I feel I'd have time to react to something. It is also bright, but not what I would consider "rude" to others, unless you shined it directly at them

While I could live with that amount of light, I also like to take along a 2x18500 Leef bodied light with a P91 lamp that SureFire rates at 200 lumens for seeing a little further. I could use a brighter light still, but I don't want to carry anything bigger.

Indoors the Fenix 96 lumens is probably overkill, but not uncomfortable.

Those of you that mention needing XXX lumens at work, please mention what that work is. I'm dying of curiousity, are they doing pre-flights on a 747?, forestry?, police work?

 

[BVH]

702,000 Lumens is what it takes me to do my job with my light. Nothing less will do.

 

[SolarMan]

Those of you that mention needing XXX lumens at work, please mention what that work is. I'm dying of curiousity, are they doing pre-flights on a 747?, forestry?, police work?

I guess I should be embarrased to say:

I'm a pharmacist...but I should be proud to say...I have turned many a pharmacist on to this technique; don't use a magnifying glass...(you need to spill the pill into your dirty hand to look at it) ... I shine my E1L thru the amber vial and the effect is beautiful...

The light makes a shadow across a tablet (white tab with impression ID) that has an imprint ... showing the tablet ID as a dark color / shadow

I know...I'm a geek (or a genius!)

LOL! :welcome:

 

[zespectre]

If I'm trying to find something in the tent at night while camping... 1 lumen

But overall I like a 20-40 lumen range with about 120 lumens on tap. I've rarely -needed- more than that.

 

[shinbone]

Satisfied with 15-60 lumens around the house and vehicle for mundane tasks, but when taking public transit at night, or walking in between, I want 100-200 lumens at my disposal. Ideally it would be a multi-level light, but still easy to operate and easy to mod as technologies improve.

 

[SuRgE]

Bump in the night 1500 lumens minimum
Outdoor camping/hiking 100-200 lumen led
EDC 15-100 lumen adjustable led

 

[LEDninja]

4.5 lumens (L0P SE low) was too much reading a programme in a concert hall.

30 lumens to 60 lumens going to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

I find the stronger spill of a 46 lumen L0D CE preferable to the 200 lumens of My Little Friend 3x3W while walking down a dark alley. There was streetlights on the street at the end of the alley so the extra throw of My Little Friend was not needed.

I live downtown, nearly everything is well lit. No need for a searchlight for spotting. Sigh.

 

[savumaki]

Are you sure you are IN the woods? With a canopy of leaves or pine needles blocking the light?

My friends and I have done some testing ...

With a FULL moon you can see where you are going if you are on a path.

Some of the places where we hike the "path" is on your GPS.

So, the light is really to see things that hinder progress (thick brush, that little creek you are about to step into, that root that is about to twist your ankle, etc...)

Sure, path hiking can be done with a little keychain led ... but where is the fun in that?

Maybe you use LED lights in the woods? That will ruin your experience because of poor depth perception and poor coloration.

anyway...I too doubt your flashaholism!

:welcome:

I agree with Khaytsus since it's quite easy to navigate in the woods without the aid of a bright light which destroys your night vision. Agreed it becomes difficult with the new moon and a light source is helpfull (less is best) however if you need a light and 'paths' then perhaps you should not be there at night.
How many lumens? I believe you should carry at least two lights; one at the very low end and one near the middle.
Have fun and BTW I think ":welcome:" is inappropriate to Khaytsus.

 

[Well-Lit]

I'm pretty much satisfied with 10 to 40 lumens inside the house. 100+ lumens minimum outdoors at night.

Bob

 

[Hodsta]

The 3lm/80lm TiPD-S suits me just fine for most EDC tasks, however this is as much about the beam shape as the lumens.

80 lumens with the MCR20 reflector in the PD-S is of much greater use to me than 120 lumens in a HDS/Novatac configuration.