What is the highest amount of lumens you usually need?

[Noctis]

"Need"?

About 250 lumens from my Malkoff M61. My eyesight is too horrible to make do with puny 60 lumen lighting, at least outdoors. Inside of a small room 5 lumens would be fine.

Now if we're talking about "want", the sky is the limit, though the light still needs to fit in my pocket.

 

[sol-leks]

I like 25-50 for indoors, 150-250 for outdoors.

 

[old4570]

The most = all one can get .... [ How long for 5000Lumen ]

 

[chenko]

Sometimes I come to think it's never really "enough", no matter how bright my light is. :nana:
How much will I have to wait before a led flashlight in 2xAA format matches the "Intimidator"? :tired:

 

[RepProdigious]

Well, if you're really talking about 'usually' i think im a bit less demanding than other CPFers here..... Currently I mainly (80~95%) use my light to navigate in and around the house at night because the other half goes to bed quite a bit earlier than me and i found that if i let my eyes adjust to total darkness for about a minute the moonlight mode on my quark i more than plenty to see everything i need to see without disturbing my sleeping beauty :tired:

But this is summer-times where its still light enough outside to see for miles till midnight, during winter months i also need a light to see outside and in that case i found that more is indeed better and i prefer the turbo on my quark or better..... But on the other hand, in winter months there isnt really a lot that needs doing outside at nighs....

 

[don.gwapo]

Well, it's different for me. I have an L2M with a single mode drop-in. So I'm using 400 lumen all the time. It's the highest lumen I have right now but that will gonna change soon.

 

[alejo71]

Walking around indoors = "2" lumens are enough...:candle:
Blackout and walking outdoors = "100 / 200"
Bike riding = "700/ 900"
Judgement day = "0" There is light at the end of the tunnel…

 

[Eddie-M]

Right now I use a cheap Lifegear LED flashlight I bought from Target @ 210 lumens.

I'm building a 2D P7 maglite which should be at least 800 lumens when its done.

I work 3rd shift at a huge U.P.S. air hub, and the 210 aren't enough lumens for me to find packages stuck along our 24 miles of cenveyor belts and 30' high ceilings ect. With over 800 lumens no package shall be left behind, and plus I get to make all the people outside on the runway with their reflective vests glow from even farther away!:laughing:

 

[emac]

0.3 lumens - indoors at night dont want to be a nuisance
250 lumens - indoors at night dont really care LOL :devil:
80 lumens - indoors diring the day general tasks
120 lumens - outdoors at night general tasks
500 lumens - outdoors at night for checking out the bogeyman :mecry: or
scaring small animals

I have a specific light in mind for each of those tasks.

 

[Per-Sev]

I find I just use low on my Haiku most of the time but I got about 190 lumens if needed and I find that only if I am outside in daylight do I need the high setting. The darker it is the less light you need so its really a matter of your needs but as it goes you never know what you might need your light for so a nice 3 mode light comes in handy for me.

 

[Epimetheus]

12 indoors
200+ outdoors

For mine, a massive lumen thrower (EG 900) is a waste of time as I run out of useful eyesight. My eyes are the limiting factor and not the throw.

 

[LiteShow]

Indoors pitchblack (don't want to wake up the sleeping family): 0.5 - 5 lumen
Indoors general use (with ambient lighting) 20 - 60 lumen

Outdoors general use: (depending on light conditions) 40 - 200
Outdoors (mid - long distance projection) > 200 lumen ( I currently max out t 3200 lumen)

 

[LEDninja]

I live downtown, lots of streetlights, have no use for torches outdoors.

For indoors I find 10 lumens (EZAA) dim.
15 lumens (Quark mini AA) adequate.
30 lumens (Fenix L1P, Civictor V1) good.
100+ lumens is too bright unless I want to read a newspaper.

The longest straight distance in my apartment is 15 feet. I do not need throw more than that. I prefer a wide floody beam so use 4AA stubby (Dorcy cool blue equivalent with '1 watt' PR2 bulbs) with homemade diffusion filters. I also have a homemade diffusion filter for my Mags. (Flashlightlens was out of LDF material when I ordered UCL lenses for my Mags. Flashlightlens have now restocked.) The 4sevens Preons produce a big blob of light so I am using my WARMS Preon 2 on medium as my bedside light at this time.
Never got round to buying a Zebralight.

 

[ragweed]

For outdoor use around 100 lumens gets me by just fine. Indoor use around 10 lumens is fine for me.

 

[mclight]

I'm still in the newbie to LED WOW phase and am only limited by my budget but I need more - more - more...

lighting up my backyard like a baseball stadium is not enough.

 

[randomlugia]

Thanks for your answers everybody! It seems like the most common answer is about 180 lumens, so I'll probably get something around there, keep the P7's for biking/walking, and get a good Q5 thrower. Looks like I've got a lot of lights ahead of me.

I'm still in the newbie to LED WOW phase and am only limited by my budget but I need more - more - more...

lighting up my backyard like a baseball stadium is not enough.

I know how it feels... But I usually just switch to high to wow people, then go back to low and continue using it practically.

 

[ToddM]

for close up work in pitch dark ~1 lumen
for hiking in the pitch dark ~10-15 lumen
for my general work day and night ~60-80 lumen is more than enough for 99% of it

Mountain biking/snowboarding/etc. it just depends on how fast you want to go, but there are downsides to having too much light esp. if it's not helmet mounted or if you ride in tight twisty trees because reflections destroy your night vision. I'd say 200 lumens is a pretty good setup, I've rode with over 1000 but it's certainly not needed.

In the above I want as much run-time as possible in a reasonable sized package. If it only runs for 20-60 minutes I have no use for it as an everyday, camping, vehicle, backpacking light.

For things that go bump in the night as much as possible that's weapon mounted or is a 6P sized light with a pressure switch. If it runs for more than 5 minutes it will be way more than enough for what I need to do.

I generally don't need huge amounts of throw at night but the crazy bright stuff sure is fun to play with! I'm a big fan of the newer lights that are 2x123 sized but will run 5+ hours at that 50-60 lumen range.

I also have to say I've become an LED snob, having used them for quite awhile now the few lights I have that are still incandescent the warm/yellow beam is always kind of sad to see compared to the more white LED color temps, though I also don't like the ones that are too blue in color, they don't work as well in urban areas with a lot of black/dark colored materials.

 

[ss355]

Like most have already written, a low output for sparing night-adapted vision or not waking kids/wife/tent mates, something in the range of <1 lumen to about 3 lumens, is darned handy. Also useful is a medium output for walking/hiking or other general illumination tasks, somewhere between 20 to 60 lumens. I rarely have a need for high output, say greater than 100 lumens, but it's nice to have when you need it. For example, while on a camping trip I was walking alone one night using only moonlight, and I heard something move in the brush close by. I instantly aimed the LX2 in the general direction of the noise and hit it with full output. It was only an armadillo, but it sure was nice to have enough light available to identify it instantly.

 

[MR.A]

50% i need from 50 to 100 lumens. I word in electrical factory so i need serious light.

and the other 50% from 100 to as much as the flash light can give me. For example if this is a range of 100 to 1000 it is much acceptable.

 

[PCC]

I usually only need about 40-50 lumens. Less when I'm sneaking around the house when I get home from work since I get home around midnight and I don't want to wake up the family. My MiNi 123 fills the bill quite nicely.