On average, how many Lumens meets your needs?

[270winchester]

Ok, I was curious how many lumens is considered enough for most people for MOST situations.

Keep in mind, sometimes you want less light. If you are camping and need to pee in the middle of the night, do you really want to blind yourself with something too bright? Those EMT guys use dimmer lights to check your eyes for a reason.

Other times, having a little more light is better than having too little.


Use the force and choose wisely. Fortunately, for this poll there is no need for "A true Flashaholic would never ask that question. Let's get him!" option.

2 D-cell ~ 16 lumens (I live in the dark ages.)
3 D-cell ~ 24 Lumens (I've seen the light, but am still afraid of it.)
Fenix ~ 40 lumens (I think I can see now.)
QIII / Surefire ~ 60-75 lumens (There you are!)
INova ~ 82-100 lumens (I can see clearly now, the rain is gone.)
Nuwai ~ 120 lumens or more. (Stop, you are under arrest.)
1 million candlepower light (I like a little more excitement.)
5 Million candlepower light (I live life on the edge.)
10-15 million candlepower light (Extreme lighting, groovy baby.)
Got anything brighter? Arrr, arrr, arrr! (Walk into the light.)

If you really think an Inova puts out mroe than 80 lumens, you need a better source of lumen figure than the manufacturer. And putting Nuwai an Surefire in the 75lumen category really goes to show your options as being poorly selected, I hope you have heard of Surefires other than the G2?

 

[Timson]

I must be a bit of a power freak....
I use Surefire C3 or M3, both with HOLA's and LiIon cells for 200Lu + for my day to day needs and my Mag85 for serious night time search situations.
Admittedly - this is when I'm working.

However.....I also EDC an L1P in my jacket pocket which is all I need for ordinary out of work situations - Light up the path to the car door - kind of use.

A night time dog walk...Probably my WX1S 2D Mag for around 150 - 200Lu

Horses for courses...





Tim

 

[BatteryCharger]

I'm not happy with anything less than the 3200 that come out of my X990.

 

[tron3]

Until my tigerlight gets delivered - or I get a good deal on a used HDS... I'm stuck with a 2AA light from the dollar store. I'm ashamed to confess that I'm currently not even close to the 2D level...

I don't know if we should pity you, or jump you for showing your face here. And there are 2 of you at this writing.

The scary ones are those who want to walk into the light. That was sorta the joke answer. Do they realize that is a death reference?
:devil:

 

[tsask]

My ARC AAA P , and FENIX 1L P I thought were enough, now I find that I value that Super 1 watt Dorcy 123 from Sears $19.95. anything farther neededing throw requies my C3 or G2 Surefire 100+, 200 lumen incans

 

[CLHC]

I prefer brigher luminous flashlights due to my poor eye-sight. Brighter the better!

 

[Kenski]

If I had to choose one level, the Fenix L1P class of lights.

In reality, I carry a Photon-clone on my keychain which is fine for 'most applications'. The Fenix in my pocket is just 'mo betta'!

I do have brighter lights, but how often do I need to illuminate that hill over yonder? Can't really count that as a regular need.

Kenski

 

[hquan]

I don't know if we should pity you, or jump you for showing your face here. And there are 2 of you at this writing.

The scary ones are those who want to walk into the light. That was sorta the joke answer. Do they realize that is a death reference?
:devil:

No pity needed nor wanted as I am in the process of remedying the situation. Where you are isn't important - it's where you're going that's important. At least I see a light at the end of the tunnel... and wait - I also hear soft music... must...head...towards...the...light! No - wait, that's just my wife pulling into our driveway with the music blaring!

I guess that until my lights arrive, I'll have flashlight envy - anyone got a couch for me to lay on and talk about it? :lolsign:

 

[Planterz]

Inside, I find the 10 lumen setting on my HDS 42 is only slightly wanting. Outside, I'd prefer 30+ for stuff like taking out the garbage.

That's "enough", but since when has "enough" ever been enough?

 

[tvodrd]

"On average..."

I'd guess 5-10! I use it to navagate my house with the lights out and out through the garage to the truck on work mornings. Arc AAA-level output is quite sufficient for navigating a dark path, and for my purpose a couple minutes "on-time" per night results in months of run time on my EDC! (Yeah, I'll put a new battery in it before the SHOT Show Party ) (Last one went in at Ghost Mtn!) Add-in the "stuff gets dropped and rolls underneath..." daily's!) :shrug: I suppose I could start a thread: Why do I "need" a Maxabeam? (Well, it does get my friend/neighbor out at the Landers shack (1/2 mile away) to turn his porch light off and on when I light his place up to let him know I'm there! )

Larry

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

I too haven't a clue where I fall in the Lumens scale.

I did not vote as my choice isn't up there.

I get the most use from a LUXIII in a Minim*g reflector at approx. 950mA (actually bouncing between 990ish and 1A on my multimeter).

 

[lukevsdarth]

Well I blind criminals with a modified surefire-style rechargeable flashlight at 90+ lumens. Easy to carry in my pocket with a metal clip. Surely a bigger flashlight is better but sometimes harder to carry & decreased battery life also . You have to be fast to draw your weapon and a big *** flashlight would not help.

lukevsdarth

 

[ViReN]

Just to Correct here.... some missleading figures... of Some Lumens in some very important Lights....

Fenix ~ 40 lumens... NO ... L1P is more like 23 - 27 Lumens
QIII / 60-75 lumens... NO ... it is more like 33 - 37 Lumens

Surefire sure have around 60 - 75 Lumens
QIII on R-123 is around 50 Lumens (on SYAK) and about 60 - 75 Lumens on TWOK/J

I wonder why so many people so wrongly link Fenix with 40 Lumens and QIII with 60 Lumens ... when actual figures are 25 and 35 respectively....

Fenix L2P is more like 40 - 42 Lumens ... (please be clear when mentioning lights in above pool) People might buy L1P thinking figures of L2P.....

Also Yu are trashing 2D and 3D lights like anything...
2 D-cell ~ 16 lumens
3 D-cell ~ 24 Lumens

Since I am not much in to these lights... these figures may be corrected by some one who knows more about them...

 

[JanCPF]

You've put Inova and Nuwai in a higher lumen category than Surefire ?????!! :huh2: :shakehead
I'm sorry - I'm *not* going to vote in this pole.

Jan

 

[270winchester]

You've put Inova and Nuwai in a higher lumen category than Surefire ?????!! :huh2: :shakehead
I'm sorry - I'm *not* going to vote in this pole.

Jan

My sendiments exactly.....but he tried to silence us by saying correcting him is not an option so.....eh I'll be happy to be the messanger that gets shot I guess...

 

[KevinL]

My sigline used to be "life begins at 100 lumens" so I ticked the Nuwai. I love my 100+ OUTPUT lumens from the Surefire U2. If the Nuwai can claim 120 lumens (LED lumens, not output lumens) then I can claim 190+ on my U2's output lumens - I suspect I got an unusually good U2.

My current criteria for owning a Surefire incandescent is that it has to put out 200+ lumens. The favorites are the M3 with MN11 HOLA and SRTH with MN16, both 225 output lumens.

On occasion I enjoy doses of 800-2000 output lumens too..

 

[dim]

The amount of light one needs and the amount wants are, obviously, two different things. My Dorcy AAA, at about 3-5 lumens, come in surprisingly handy for navigating dark spaces and even working "hands free" with it clenched between my teeth. The 25 or so lumen from my SL Jr. Lux and SL PP 7 LED usually gets the job done. I've been spoiled as of late by my Gerber LX 3.0 and my throwy Inova XO3, both at about 50 lumens - Ahhh, NOW I can see!

73
dim

 

[tron3]

My sendiments exactly.....but he tried to silence us by saying correcting him is not an option so.....eh I'll be happy to be the messanger that gets shot I guess...

I never said correcting me was not an option. I simply put models there as a point of reference. The focus here is LUMENS, not the models I associated with it. Voting is not a way of admitting to the specifications of the manufacture. You guys need to relax.


"...the rod up the that man's butt, has a rod up it's butt!" -Superintendant Chalmers on Principle Skinner / Simpsons

 

[Sub_Umbra]

With the key word being average, I'd have to say something around 0.3 lumens. I have many brighter lights (and usually carry 2 ), but on the average 0.3 lumens is all I need.

 

[270winchester]

I never said correcting me was not an option. I simply put models there as a point of reference. The focus here is LUMENS, not the models I associated with it. Voting is not a way of admitting to the specifications of the manufacture. You guys need to relax.


"...the rod up the that man's butt, has a rod up it's butt!" -Superintendant Chalmers on Principle Skinner / Simpsons

That's nice if you live in the world of 120 lumen nuwais, 100 lumen inovas and 60 lumen Q3's.. But the rest of don't and your poll is highly misleading to newbies. The point here is that the lumen figure given with the makers are compeltely off. You specifically said that you didn't want people to criticize your poll options, and we are just here to point out what most flashoholics already know. No need to further perpetuate the false marketing of these manufactuers now do we?