standard maglite...how many lumens??

nodoubt

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how many lumens does a standard 2d maglite put out ?? 3d, 4d ?? just curious because my girlfriend has had one for a while and i just bought a dorcy k2 rated at 120 lumens... it killed her 2 d maglite with the reg light, and still does just a bit after we put in an led upgrade light from lowes...thanks for the help and nice forum.... have always been into flashlights and spotlights but thought there was something wrong with me.... was going to seek help till i found this place...now i know im NORMAL ! :D
 

nodoubt

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tx for the quick response sir... why in half ?? so if it says 100 lumens its actually 50 ??
 

LED_Thrift

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Hey, welcome to CPF nodoubt. The divide by half rule for what most manufacturers quote is due to a few reasons. Lumen numbers on package are probably decided on by what the marketing people think they can get away with, by comparing it to a similarly bright light from another exagerating manufacturer. Also many lumen claims come from the data sheet that the LED makers put out. These numbers reflect the lumens that come out of the LED itself, and don't take into account the losses due to the reflector, the lens, the battery not being at rated voltage, etc. The review site FlashlightReviews.com has brightness data for hundreds of lights, although not any of the newer ones [he stopped reviewing about 18 months ago, IIRC]

Glad we flashlight junkies are helping you feel normal.
 
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PhantomPhoton

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Those are the specs for how many lumens the bulb puts out. With a reflector and low quality plastic window we end up with about only half of the light produced by the bulb actually leaving the flashlight out the front.
When companies and retailers quote lumens you have to be careful and figure out if they're quoting manufacturer's specified maximum possible lumens from the bulb or emitter... or whether they're giving real world tested out the front torch lumens.
 

LEDninja

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FLR overall output conversion #s
LED lights: multiply the Overall Output chart number x 1.39
Incandescent lights: multiply the Overall Output chart number x 1.62
http://flashlightreviews.com/features/output_vs_throw.htm#lumens

3-D incan: 23.00*1.62=37.26 lumens
4-D incan: 38.00*1.62=61.56 lumens
http://flashlightreviews.com/reviews/maglite_3d.htm

2-D LED: 38.00*1.39=52.82 lumens
3-D LED: 47.50*1.39=66.025 lumens
4-D LED: 43.00*1.39=59.77 lumens
http://flashlightreviews.com/reviews/maglite_mag-led.htm
 

ace0001a

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Started doing a quad Cree mod on a 3D Mag tonight...decided to fire my new 3D up before tearing it apart just simply because I haven't seen a stock incan Mag in quite a long time. Man, I was actually surprised how ugly the output looked and not to mention rather dim. The Mag website says a 3D Mag is about 77 lumens, but it looked more like 30 to me...and an ugly yellow at that. Guess I've gotten too used to LEDs.
 

nodoubt

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Started doing a quad Cree mod on a 3D Mag tonight...decided to fire my new 3D up before tearing it apart just simply because I haven't seen a stock incan Mag in quite a long time. Man, I was actually surprised how ugly the output looked and not to mention rather dim. The Mag website says a 3D Mag is about 77 lumens, but it looked more like 30 to me...and an ugly yellow at that. Guess I've gotten too used to LEDs.
yeah i was suprised when i got this dorcy at how much brighter it was then her stock 2d mag....made her beam look dim and murky.....looks way better with the new led in it but still falls short of this little k2 i have....anybody know how the k2 compares to some of the other high dollar lights like sf and fenix??
 

nodoubt

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Mar 15, 2008
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FLR overall output conversion #s
LED lights: multiply the Overall Output chart number x 1.39
Incandescent lights: multiply the Overall Output chart number x 1.62
http://flashlightreviews.com/features/output_vs_throw.htm#lumens

3-D incan: 23.00*1.62=37.26 lumens
4-D incan: 38.00*1.62=61.56 lumens
http://flashlightreviews.com/reviews/maglite_3d.htm

2-D LED: 38.00*1.39=52.82 lumens
3-D LED: 47.50*1.39=66.025 lumens
4-D LED: 43.00*1.39=59.77 lumens
http://flashlightreviews.com/reviews/maglite_mag-led.htm
nice info.......tx for the link....
 

Marduke

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Please explain how you came up with 50% derating factor.

Sure. A couple years ago MagLite magically replaced their lumens specs on all of their incan lights with values which were roughly on average 2x what they originally were, all without making any changes to their lights. They apparently went from torch lumens during the first couple hours of runtime to bulb lumens during the first few minutes of runtime.

I am sure you disagree with me for no particular reason, so I await your reply....
 
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