Stinger vs Scorpian

This should be obvious, but the scorpion keeps getting great reviews. Which is brighter. The stinger says 15000cp while the scorpion is rated at 6500cp. Is it really twice as bright? I guess I am looking for someone who has used both side by side.

Thanks.

<FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">This message has been edited by kb0rrg on 01-18-2001 at 08:19 PM</font>

It is twice as bright -- AT THE BRIGHTEST POINT IN THE BEAM -- but there is so much more to consider.

A laser pointer would register 500,000 cp on many meters - it's REALLY bright! - but useless as a flashlight. It's bright in just one spot.

So a beter approach to measuring light is needed - enter the lumen - measuring how much light is produced, and not weighting it on the brightest point of the beam.

Sort of a lumen measurement (which most companies hesitate to publish), I tend to judge a light by watts and bulb - a 20W xenon/halogen light is REALLY bright - that's what is used in the 12Z surefire (500 lumen) and the streamlight SL-35x (40,000 cp) - the 1,000,000 cp lights have a 6" reflector and usually a 55W headlight bulb - the 2,000,000 cp lights are using the 100W bulbs. A little hard to cary in your pocket though.

Most of the xenon/halogen lights have relatively close lumen/watt efficiencies, so you can judge how much light they are going to produce by the wattage numberand get in the ballpark - that leaves just one factor.

Beam quality - even the $1600 maxabeam has a dark spot in the center, which is annoying for up close work (so they sell the $200 beam diffuser to correct it) - yet the surefire lights give a smooth beam without the defects common to perfect reflector designs.

It has always bugged me about how flashlights were rated so I started doing it myself. I know that lamp wattage is a good rule of thumb for how bright a light is, but until I tested a LOT of lights I found it is pretty much right on. There are some exceptions, like if a light has a really tight spot of light and one is a flood, even if they are the same wattage the spot will "look" brighter. A good reflector can help also.

This is the biggest reason I added a "wattage" line to my reviews, is backs up what I am seeing and also lets you compare one light to another.

Unfortunately I haven't started on rechargeable lights. I already spend too much money as it is

Brock - http://www.uwgb.edu/nevermab/flash.htm

Your are right 15,000 versus 6,500 candle power.

The Scorpion almost seems brighter than the Stinger if you can believe that.

It just seems like the lithium powered lights have the rechargeable lights beat in brightness.

Of course the rechargeables have the alkalines beat in brightness ability.

If you buy a Stinger with a fast charger you will spend $115.00 for it, good for a 1000 re-charges (NiCAD).

If you buy a Scorpion $40.00 for light plus for me $130.00/month in lithiums = $1560.00/year in lithiums.

$1600.00/year versus $115.00/year.

hahahahahaha....pretty damn scary.

------------------
Seen any Martians?

Where do you get your Lithiums?

Are you bulk buying SureFire 12Bs?
I'm sure they'd work out at under $30 for 12 which is $2.50. Maybe you could buy in bulk for $2.25...

Alastair

Posted by hmmwv,
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR> So a beter approach to measuring light is needed - enter the lumen - measuring how much light is produced, and not weighting it on the brightest point of the beam. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have to disagree that lumens is all that much better. It tells only the total output of the light, not how bright it actually is. A regular generic Safeway 100 watt lightbulb is rated at 1700 lumens, over ten times more than the 140 of your Surefire 9N. Which would rather have pointed at your eyes? My Stinger has a lower light output than my 9N, but since the beam can be focused tighter it can have a brighter hot spot, and also reach out a little further. Lumens like candlepower doesn't give a complete picture. I think that manufacturers need to list both lumen and candlepower ratings, as well as the distance the candlepower was rated. A penlight measured at a quarter inch could have a higher cp rating than a Mag-Lite at 20 feet, so this would give a more complete image.
Lumens (and foot candles) do have th advantage of being a constante. There is only one way to measure the lumen output. Candle power will vary depending on the focus, and how far from the light it is measured.

<FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">This message has been edited by Unicorn on 01-25-2001 at 11:41 AM</font>