How many Lumens for hiking at night in the woods ?

[MichaelW]

Are there zombies in these woods

 

[rodwolfington]

I just use my Petzl Tikka 2 for trail running. I am actually going to get a red colored headlamp, so it doesn't disturb my night vision.

 

[Lumens my eye!]

Though unenlightened, I would choose a multi mode for trail excursions. No shortage today of any number of good lights with Hi and low features and levels that will do the job. My preference though is a light with default low, nothing worse than being bounced in the eyes with your reacher when all you want is to check your map or just keep an eye on the trail, with the right switch-
a quick tap and the big guns are giving you a better look at Sasquatch or what ever made that noise, then, back to saving battery life. My favorite currently is the x pro series, good output span, and for me 2 levels are enough, my only current complaint with the X p series is the bump shift.
If anyone cares to respond I would be interested in finding other default low lights.
Thanks
LMI!

 

[cccpull]

Then it dawned on me that the only thing a BRIGHT light would do for me is let me see what's about to eat me just a little bit better!

Down here we also have to worry about what you step on, like poisonous snakes.
Moonlight doesn't cut it in the swamp. :shakehead

 

[EnduringEagle]

Down here we also have to worry about what you step on, like poisonous snakes.
Moonlight doesn't cut it in the swamp. :shakehead

Yep. Hard to see a black moccasin with a 10 lumen flashlight.

 

[Ian2381]

Actually for me it depends on where you are going. I you are already familiar with the site or have already been there, you could use a low output light but if it's your first time and you are doing a night hike, its better to use a very bright light to familiarize yourself where your going and be able to memorize the trail specially going back.
This is based on experience as on my last mountain hiking, I only used 40 lumens on my headlamp on a night hike and was able to see the trail but not able to get a better view of the surroundings so come the next morning I wasn't able to find the trail going back and even need a help from a friend(good thing there's a signal from my phone at the highest peek of the mountain).

 

[ringzero]

I don't know if this makes sense, but when there is a good moon out and I'm not walking in really dense forest I like to be able to "feather" a low lumen light in with the moonlight - usually about 2-5 lumens of warm light. Often I've been in a scenario when the moon is out and I can make out mountain peaks 10 miles away. I can barely make out the trail I'm walking on by the moonlight alone. If I turn on 100 or even 10,000 lumens of light there is no way I'll be able to see the big picture as well. 10,000 lumens with a 1 million lux at 1 meter isn't near enough light to show the mountain peaks 10 miles away. In that kind of scenario adding 2 lumens the trail is helpful to not stumble and enables me to still see the mountain peaks miles away. 50 lumens though and my night vision would be shot and I would only be able to see the area lit up by my light.

Right here rickypanecatyl gives the best explanation yet in this thread for the advantages of low lumen lighting on the trail.

Using high lumen lighting you move through the darkness confined within a small bubble. Within that bubble your vision is sharp, but beyond the reach of your light everything is black.

With low lumen lighting your vision isn't as sharp, but it's not confined within a little bubble. You can look out across moonlit fields and see the hills way across the valley.

Hiking outside the bubble is much more rewarding - at least it is to me.

.

 

[Valmet62]

Thanks everybody for the responses ! I guess I don't need a longer distance thrower to see over the next hill afterall. Maybe all the hype about all of the new 300-400 lumen lights makes me feel I am missing out. But from the general consensus, I already have what I need, or maybe find something with more spill..

Valmet62

 

[B0wz3r]

Using high lumen lighting you move through the darkness confined within a small bubble. Within that bubble your vision is sharp, but beyond the reach of your light everything is black.

With low lumen lighting your vision isn't as sharp, but it's not confined within a little bubble. You can look out across moonlit fields and see the hills way across the valley.

In the study of visual perception we refer to this as the "bandwidth vs. acuity trade-off".

 

[indychris]

Down here we also have to worry about what you step on, like poisonous snakes.
Moonlight doesn't cut it in the swamp. :shakehead

Now that's a GREAT point, and one I hadn't considered given our lack of snakes and poisonous critters overall. I do know that when hiking last around phoenix around squaw peak and South Mtn I was told to keep my eyes open for snakes. Should've thought of that one!

 

[angelofwar]

15 lumens on my L2 or LX2. Just the right amount for navigating! And that extra level of high is just a muscle twitch away!

 

[angelofwar]

Thanks everybody for the responses ! I guess I don't need a longer distance thrower to see over the next hill afterall. Maybe all the hype about all of the new 300-400 lumen lights makes me feel I am missing out. But from the general consensus, I already have what I need, or maybe find something with more spill..

Valmet62

Grab a Surefire L2 off the MP...Nice floody two stage light. Do a search and some reading on it, and you'll see it's a highly prized light.

 

[quad088]

Well, it depends. For navigating a trail that I'm familiar with 1 lumen is sufficient (SF Saint Minimus on lowest setting). But for trying to find my way in unfamiliar territory I like at least 200 lumens. And if your "woods" contain any critters that may be above you on the food chain (bears, mountain lions, wild hogs) I'd suggest you can't have too many lumens. For me, the Minimus on low usually does the trick, but it's always backed up by a M3LT CombatLight or a HoundDog XM-L, the latter mounted on a rifle.

Thanks for your good sharing and advice - apprecaite more reasons as to why " U cant have too many lumens" - see above letters above in Bold.

I am new to tracking and would like to learn more - thanks

 

[luceat lux vestra]

On regular flat trails, I use from 0.2 lumens when it's real dark to 30 lumens when it's real bumpy. I might go as high as 50 lumens on rough mountain trails. I don't remember ever needing more than ~100 lumens to check out noises (no bears around here) and do remember my eyes hurt every time I go from 0.2 to 100 lumens, but I often use a lot more than that just to find out if there's a big puddle of mud ahead, only so I don't have to get there and turn back before I look for an alternate road. Of course, I always have something strong to play with, but for actual walking 30 lumens is plenty of light.

+1
a few nights ago it was a new moon and I was out walking the dog with my quark aa, and was very surprised when I turned my light on and I thought that I had medium or low because it was plenty of light for just walking around so I bumped my light through its modes and found that I had been using moonlight mode for the five to ten minutes that I was outside!!! Thats 0.2 lumens!!!

 

[richpalm]

Then you need a G5!!

Got one! <g>

 

[vali]

I did some night hiking with a E01 in the past. In some places I wished it had a lower mode (1-2 lumen or so). Right now I use a Mini AA neutral, low when it is dark and there are trees or medium in open areas. I carry a Quark AA2 neutral too just in case I want more light or throw.

 

[cratz2]

My #1 hiking light over the last 5 years or so has been a Mag 2C with a UW0H Lux III module on an old school heatsink and an nFlex driver which provides 8 levels of output and a Mc27mm reflector for less throw, larger hotspot, brighter spill and nicer bean overall than a Mag reflector. I pretty much always use the lowest level which I'm guessing is around 15-20 lumens and if it's wet outside esp in the fall (ie, reflective leaves on the ground) that's too bright.

Lately I've been using a Surefire C2 with a 3 mode Thrunite XML on the lowest setting. I really like larger hotspots for hiking lights and again, I'd guess this is in the 20-25 lumen range.

 

[gcbryan]

For me in the woods on a well defined trail 30 lumens on down to 5 lumens (or less) is fine. If it's a mountain trail and the edge of the mountain comes close to the trail sometimes then I'll turn the light up.

If I come out of the woods for some period of time I'll turn the light up as well. Unless you're riding a bike I don't see needing more than 100 lumens under any circumstances.

Admittedly more light might be nice in Australia as it seems that everything there is dangerous

I don't find a pure flood beam to be the best for hiking but I do like a somewhat diffused beam that still can be directed rather than a tight hotspot and spill beam. The key for me is that it needs to project ahead a bit more than a pure flood.

If you are in camp then a pure flood is often nice. If it's more important to see what you are directing your attention to then a directed beam even on low and even while you are in camp is sometimes preferable to pure flood IMO. If it's a pure spot however it's usually more annoying than useful.

 

[Reaper]

Been gone a long, long time and just looked in tonight. Since there's been a lot of improvements and advances in LED's, drop-in's and lights --- I don't know how my choice will hold. I have almost every Malkoff drop-in available but the one I always carry is the Malkoff M61LL in his MD2 with the Hi/Low ring. Low is just about right for night hikes and camping while High is more than enough for anything else. I've used the Malkoff M60 in my Surefire 6P but the blinding light is way too much for the dark of night. Another point in the M61LL favor is the run-time.

 

[yliu]

My Fenix TK12 R5 in camping mode have always worked for me for hikes in the wood. The 245 lumen mode throws quite far away, more than I ever needed for a hike.