Of brightness perception and 1 Lumen Dog Walking - Henry Schneiker is right…

[Modernflame]

I've had nothing in my pocket but HDS for about the past year and a half. I do keep a Malkoff Hound dog and/or an Elzetta Bones handy when circumstances require more horsepower, although this is rarely necessary. I won't sell the larger lights but this is mostly because I enjoy them.

Heck, most people survive only with the goofy emitter on the back of their mobile phones, but this is not living. You can survive on a crust of bread and a little water, but that sure ain't eating.

Cheers, friends. Happy New Year!

 

[Poppy]

I've had nothing in my pocket but HDS for about the past year and a half. I do keep a Malkoff Hound dog and/or an Elzetta Bones handy when circumstances require more horsepower, although this is rarely necessary. I won't sell the larger lights but this is mostly because I enjoy them.

Heck, most people survive only with the goofy emitter on the back of their mobile phones, but this is not living. You can survive on a crust of bread and a little water, but that sure ain't eating.

Cheers, friends. Happy New Year!

Very funny... and true!

Other than the occasional short term use around the house, I don't really use my flashlights much, except when camping. At night it is to find stuff in my bag, in my tent, when walking to the latrine, or to my tent from the campfire. I'll wear a headlamp with a max output of 650 lumens, but it is usually set at about 100 lumens, I guess. OR it is OFF, and I navigate with the light of the person next to me.

My first Convoy was a S2 with an XML emitter at 1400 ma. About 500 lumens. There were times that I wished it had a little more output, but the battery lasted for about 3 hours on high. When my daughter and grandson go camping, I am a little concerned that they won't carry a back-up light and will run which ever light they carry on high, usually limiting their run-time to a little over an hour. Sometimes I think about getting a couple of S2+ lights driven at a max of 1400 ma, about 550 lumens max, so that they'll get 3 hours even at max. about 50 lumens for about 40 hours IIRC.

 

[CigarPundit]

For sh_ts and giggles is indeed a use case. Not something I'd personally throw that kind of coin down for, but to each their own. I've got oil lamps that I light up periodically for similar reasons - because they put a smile on my face.

The use case I described is not merely shits and giggles. If I want to light up the area outside of my garage door to get situational awareness at night, the X7R has the power and beam to do it. Sure, sometimes I light it up for shits and giggles, but other times I do it for perceived need. Let's be honest here, 90% of what is discussed on CPF and 90% of what people on here buy is based on want, not need. I'm pretty sure no one "needs" 20, 30, 50, or 100 flashlights, or to obsess about beam patterns, CRI, etc. etc. This place is full of glass houses if you are going to dismiss "shits and giggles" as a weak "use case."

 

[CigarPundit]

My brother with the Cool Fall knows what's up. :thumbsup:

Life is good when you are in the shop with a cigar!

 

[idleprocess]

The use case I described is not merely shits and giggles.

In terms of professional use, I can imagine relatively few scenarios for the likes of the X7R and similar offerings ala the X9R, Imalent, and Acebeam. Construction, emergency field ops seem to gravitate towards multiple static light towers with huge batteries for 8+ hours of runtime. S&R seems to prefer actual spotlights or more compact lights than even the soda can formfactor. Recreational users also seem to be relatively few although the markedly greater costs for those units may explain their apparently modest uptake.

Let's be honest here, 90% of what is discussed on CPF and 90% of what people on here buy is based on want, not need.

I don't mean to be dismissive when I say for sh_ts and giggles, it was just the first thing that came to mind; wants after all power a huge - and growing - percentage of the economy since needs have been fairly easily met in the industrial world for the last ~century.

Blast away with your X7R. I certainly do similar with my Emisars when walking the dogs occasionally - a task that normally only requires a few hundred lumens. I personally can justify two figures in a single 18650 package for such tasks, but personal value propositions vary.

 

[nbp]

As you can tell by the shape of the curve, I went with a Gauss-Markov weighted transformation for Laplacian least-squares regression, but that did leave out the few data points which were not normally distributed

There needs to be an additional trend line that correlates post count with average flashlight purchase price to make the graph complete. Haha

 

[bykfixer]

As you can tell by the shape of the curve, I went with a Gauss-Markov weighted transformation for Laplacian least-squares regression, but that did leave out the few data points which were not normally distributed

^^ Was this even in English? ^^

 

[InvisibleFrodo]

As you can tell by the shape of the curve, I went with a Gauss-Markov weighted transformation for Laplacian least-squares regression, but that did leave out the few data points which were not normally distributed

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...

 

[wweiss]

Just finished a 2 mile dog walk through my dark, local "Sleepy Hollow" with the HDS @ 1 Lumen. Took about 15 minutes for my 69 year old eyes to dark adapt and then I could drop it to .5 Lumen.

When something went bump - went to 200 lumens and could see deep into the woods on both sides with no blowback of excess lumens off the trees and rocks. Dark adaptation not affected. Battery in the HDS still over 70% after a week. Backup light not used.

Feels good to use what nature / evolution gives us in the way of seeing in the dark. It just takes a little patience at the start.

 

[wweiss]

Full moon tonight in CT clear and bright. Measured the Lumens per sq ft at .015 with the HDS, matching the Lunar Society's estimate of full moon illumination. Almost too bright. Just needed a thrower to blast out if there was a bump far away.

 

[5S8Zh5]

Great post - thanks.

7th FAQ under heading Operational considerations

How can I see further?

 

[Jash]

200 lumens for me and no less. My walk takes me through bushland and past the lake. Eastern Browns and Coastal Taipans live here too. I choose life.

Dark adapted eyes can get knotted.

 

[wweiss]

With those two in the bushes and along the trail, I agree. For ma , it would be 1,000L minimum.

 

[tech25]

I remember going on a night hike as a teenager. We were in a desert like area and were navigating by moonlight. When I turned my incandescent minimag on, it was so bright and it took a few minutes to get used to the moonlight after I turned it off.
Now living in the city, I feel like the ambient light swallows up even a couple hundred lumens.

My main light is an HDS NLT but I tend to back it up with a Convoy C8 from MTN electronics to really light stuff up.

 

[wweiss]

It is strange that the darker it is, the easier it is to see with less lumens. The brighter - full moon, urban etc it is, it seems natural to want way higher constant light and way more high beam to "overcome" the ambient urban light levels. It's as if our eyes are flooded with all the ambient city's light sources and we need more lumens to create our own source to drown out the distractions.

 

[Skaaphaas]

I find (and this is probably subjective and bound to be found scientifically inaccurate), that the amount of ambient light in the city also creates a lot of shadows at night, and that I need a light with more lumens to illuminate the shadowy parts.

It's my first time living in a big city, and I'm actually on the outskirts, but I find the lack of "proper" dark rather unnerving.

Some days I venture out the house with a light clipped to my pocket but wondering what use it will see, if any.

 

[idleprocess]

I find (and this is probably subjective and bound to be found scientifically inaccurate), that the amount of ambient light in the city also creates a lot of shadows at night, and that I need a light with more lumens to illuminate the shadowy parts.

Having lived in the Dallas/Fort worth suburbs for ~30 years, I've almost never encountered an area of the region that can't be reasonably navigated at night (walking along roads and sidewalks) unaided. Even hike/bike trails along waterways set back from streetlights and houses are mostly passable with the naked eye.

Flashlights in the city are mostly for task work, navigating more treacherous terrain, and visibility to motorists along roads.

 

[TomK85]

Having lived in the Dallas/Fort worth suburbs for ~30 years, I've almost never encountered an area of the region that can't be reasonably navigated at night (walking along roads and sidewalks) unaided. Even hike/bike trails along waterways set back from streetlights and houses are mostly passable with the naked eye.

Flashlights in the city are mostly for task work, navigating more treacherous terrain, and visibility to motorists along roads.

And avoiding piles of dog poop around here [emoji6]

 

[Lynx_Arc]

It is strange that the darker it is, the easier it is to see with less lumens. The brighter - full moon, urban etc it is, it seems natural to want way higher constant light and way more high beam to "overcome" the ambient urban light levels. It's as if our eyes are flooded with all the ambient city's light sources and we need more lumens to create our own source to drown out the distractions.

What happens is your eyes adjust to the level of light, not the level of darkness. Same thing happens if you turn off the lights in a room it takes awhile for you to be able to see as your eye readjusts. In pitch dark no moon out you can get by with sub lumen levels of light depending on the color of objects lit up lighter colors you can see farther away with less lumens darker colors either need more light to see or have to be closer to you unless you have a more tight throwing beam on your light source the farther away the more your usable lumens spread out and are "diluted".
For many people like Idleprocess said low lumen lights aren't useful as there is too much light pollution out there the "average" amount of light that gets to your eyes locally and from a distance is high enough that your eyes aren't as "dark adjusted" or your night vision isn't kicking in.
In the old days when incans were most of all there was you often struggled seeing things well when there was light pollution if you had a mediocre flashlight of 10-15 lumens that often could be using depleted alkalines running in the less white to almost orange range of light today with LEDs you have lights in the hundreds of lumens and 30-50 lumens is easy to find in even cheap lights.
I often take walks at night but need about 100+ lumens most of the way to make any difference except in the dark spots where there is no streetlight within a few blocks.
I think most of us flashaholics are rather surprised the first time there is a neighborhood blackout and suddenly that mediocre 50 lumen flashlight is hugely bright and inside your house a sublumen light is actually useful.

 

[wweiss]

Very good essay - thanks. Makes a lot of sense.