80 lum.......too bright ?

nightbeam · Dec 1, 2007

just about to buy a 80 lum led torch as a gift. Nuwai LED Flashlight 3 Watt But here is the problem, its to be used to check up on horses etc in stabels at night. I havent used one of these more powerful led torches so i dont know what they are like, though i guess they are farly blinding !! Im thinking that i might have to scrap the idea as it might be too blinding and simply scare the horses in their stables at night.

What do ya think ??

Marduke · Dec 1, 2007

It's not that bright. Recommend the 1watt over the 3watt though, as the runtimes on the 3watt are dismal on alkalines, and are only slight better on NiMH.

nightbeam · Dec 1, 2007

I know its not mega bright.......I have a 35 watt hid:twothumbs

Its just these LEDs seem to have very narrow intence beams, and in a dark stable that would be an issue :sigh:.

Hitthespot · Dec 1, 2007

Too Bright? I didn't know there was such a thing. What could possibly be too bright?

Seriously, I don't think 80 lumen would be too bright for your application. Is a matter of fact it should be just about right.

65535 · Dec 1, 2007

If you can find a multiple brightness light that might be a good idea, I would personally recommend a G2 I know 1 hour isn't great runtime, but the other party could buy 17670 cell and a lumens factory bulb.

clintb · Dec 2, 2007

80 lumens bright? Yeah, I'd say so. I thought big time brightness was cool before I got my 120P and I now use the .08 lumen setting most of the time. Mind you, when I say "most of the time", it's to get up in the middle of the night and go to the bathroom. Glorious usage for a 120P, but I digress.

Seriously though, I find the 10 lumen setting to be most usable for all other tasks. Walking around in a dark stable and not wanting to frighten the horses, I'd say 10 lumens would be just fine. I'm not sure what other lights fall into that lumen range though...

Derek Dean · Dec 2, 2007

Howdy nightbeam,
It sounds like you should spend a bit of time reading up on reviews of the various new LED lights being offered, as I'm sure with a bit or research you will be able to find one that will be ideally suited to your needs. There are LED lights with wide floody beams, and others with narrow spot light beams...... and everything in between. And just to give you something to think about.... how do horses react to different colors of light? Maybe an LED light with a red LED (excellent for human night vision) would be something to consider.

I'd also highly recommend that you keep your eyes open for lights that offer multiple levels of brightness (did someone say NovaTac?... or how about a Fenix L2D-CE), as these will allow you to tailor the light level to your current usage.

Here are a few review sites that you might find interesting:

http://www.lightreviews.info/

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/features/buyers_guide.htm

http://www.cpfreviews.com/

http://flashlightnews.org/

As well as the review area here on CPF. Happy hunting!

qadsan · Dec 2, 2007

We use Novatac 120P's to check up on our horses, etc.

The Novatac 120P can be configured from 22 brightness levels for quick and easy access to 4 different pre-sets. This light is perfect for our needs whether it's being used for walks at night, camping, checking on our horses at least once a night, etc. Our 120P's (using the factory included belt clip) stay clipped to our belts all the time for every day carry and its small enough to never get in our way. I believe I usually use the 10 lumen setting for looking into our stalls, checking for unwanted critters or rodents in our feed room, checking our tack rooms, checking locks, latches, etc.

If I need a different level of lighting, it's just a few clicks away. The family room of our house looks down a small hill where I have another building and a 120' X 20' strip of grass that borders a horse trail. From our patio right outside our family room, I can illuminate that area good enough on the 120 lumens setting to see if I have any rabbits or other critters attacking my grapes, boysenberries, fruit trees, etc, and I can also look down the horse trail to see if the coyotes are out.

The 120P costs a good bit, but it does carry a lifetime warranty and it's built extremely well.

defloyd77 · Dec 2, 2007

Here's a link on horses and color http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/horsehelp/colourvision.shtml

Seems they were least responsive to red, but would you be able to work with that? I do think 80 lumens would be too bright for this task however.

LEDninja · Dec 2, 2007

The Fenix L2T v2.0 RB80 or L1T V2.0 RB80 might be a good choice. It is about $10 cheaper than the LxD and does not have the strobe mode which might spook the horses. They have a low of 15 lumens adequare for indoor, and a high of 90 (L1T) or 140 (L2T) for going to and from the stables. Don't forget the discount codes.

BigD64 · Dec 2, 2007

I'd go with a Surefire L1 nice low and a good high.

SEMIJim · Dec 2, 2007

nightbeam said:
just about to buy a 80 lum led torch as a gift. Nuwai LED Flashlight 3 Watt But here is the problem, its to be used to check up on horses etc in stabels at night.

Does it have multiple brightness levels? My Nuwai TM-301X-3 has two, and the lower of the two is perfect, IMO, for night-adjusted vision.

Jim

Gaffle · Dec 2, 2007

Do you need throw to check the horses?

I don't know what would really scare a horse. I know that the Nuwai probably throws less than 80lm out the front.

Go buy a Streamlight ProPolymer 4AA Lux. Long runtime with great throw. It is a luxeon, but there is not a Cree or SSC light that rivals the Poly when it comes to throw and price (don't forget about the warranty and runtime). Then again, if you want to spend $$ then there are hella options.

Just found something funny. Click here to check out this Nuwai light. Scroll down to see some stats. This light is stated at having at 75lumen output. Below that there is a link to a FlashlightReviews review of this light(here). OK, so you go to FlashlightReviews and you notice, at the bottom, this Nuwai has a lux rating of 2,720 (beam center) at high and the overall output is 3000.

Now go back to that Poly review. The lux rating (beam center) is 3,000, and the overall output is 2350.

Poly = more throw (higher lux)
Nuwai = more output

All of a sudden a 75lumen and 40lumen light are very similar in the grand scheme of things. I am not saying that the Nuwai isn't brighter. It is just good to know that those extra lumens aren't always the cats arse.

BTW, I don't know if this is the same light Nightbeam was interested in.

whippoorwill · Dec 2, 2007

80 Lumens have their place but, like some of the other recommendations, I would go with a multilevel light. 80 lumens can be overpowering to dark adjusted eyes. But that being said, sometimes you need a kick *** light to turn the night into day.

Hardcoreleo · Dec 2, 2007

In my opinion a 80 lumen light is not too bright for horses, it depends on your overall behaviour if you are going to scare the horses.
Many animals don´t even react to bright light in the dark.

nightbeam · Dec 2, 2007

can anyone sugest a good red LED torch ?

flashy bazook · Dec 2, 2007

The Surefire L1 comes in a red LED version. Make sure you get the latest version as there are a couple of older ones out there.

There should be two modes, so you can choose between a lower one in case the higher one spooks the horses.

Be aware though that red light makes your field of view kind of like being inside a black and white picture. So it's not sure that you'll be able to avoid stepping into you-know-what-those-horses-put-out-plenty-of without a good white light source and its optimal color discrimination capability!

65535 · Dec 2, 2007

This dilemma is why I bought a U2, most tasks require different levels of light, sometimes I don't want to be a walking lighthouse, others that is exactly what I want to be.

Lobo · Dec 2, 2007

Gaffle said:
Do you need throw to check the horses?

I don't know what would really scare a horse. I know that the Nuwai probably throws less than 80lm out the front.

Go buy a Streamlight ProPolymer 4AA Lux. Long runtime with great throw. It is a luxeon, but there is not a Cree or SSC light that rivals the Poly when it comes to throw and price (don't forget about the warranty and runtime). Then again, if you want to spend $$ then there are hella options.

Just found something funny. Click here to check out this Nuwai light. Scroll down to see some stats. This light is stated at having at 75lumen output. Below that there is a link to a FlashlightReviews review of this light(here). OK, so you go to FlashlightReviews and you notice, at the bottom, this Nuwai has a lux rating of 2,720 (beam center) at high and the overall output is 3000.

Now go back to that Poly review. The lux rating (beam center) is 3,000, and the overall output is 2350.

Poly = more throw (higher lux)
Nuwai = more output

All of a sudden a 75lumen and 40lumen light are very similar in the grand scheme of things. I am not saying that the Nuwai isn't brighter. It is just good to know that those extra lumens aren't always the cats arse.

BTW, I don't know if this is the same light Nightbeam was interested in.

Well, that depends entirely on what kind of beam you need. A laser would outthrow both of them with a lot less lumens out front, but it wouldn't be such a usefull illumination tool. Extra lumens is the cats arse depending on where you want them, or even if you need them at all.

80 lum.......too bright ?

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