Lumens for 1980s / 1990s headlamps?

mickfarnworth

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Apr 22, 2010
Messages
3
Hello everybody,
Most of the new LED headlamps quote light power in lumens. Over the years I have had many headlamps for camping, mountain marathons and caving.
Can anybody give me a rough idea of the lumens for the following headlamps that I own or have owned?
This would give me a benchmark to judge the LED lamps.
Petzl Zoom from 1985 with standard 3.5 V bulb and zinc oxide lamp battery
Upgraded Petzl Zoom from 1995 with 3 x Duracell AAA and halogen bulb
Oldham Cap Lamp on spot
Oldham Cap Lamp on wash
Speleo Technics FX2 on spot
Speleo Technics FX2 on wash
Thanks
Mick
 

uk_caver

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 9, 2007
Messages
1,408
Location
Central UK
Hello everybody,
Most of the new LED headlamps quote light power in lumens. Over the years I have had many headlamps for camping, mountain marathons and caving.
Can anybody give me a rough idea of the lumens for the following headlamps that I own or have owned?
This would give me a benchmark to judge the LED lamps.
Petzl Zoom from 1985 with standard 3.5 V bulb and zinc oxide lamp battery
Upgraded Petzl Zoom from 1995 with 3 x Duracell AAA and halogen bulb
Oldham Cap Lamp on spot
Oldham Cap Lamp on wash
Speleo Technics FX2 on spot
Speleo Technics FX2 on wash
Thanks
Mick
From what I remember Inglesport reckoning when they sold Spelotechnics stuff, I think the FX2 (halogen) main beam was ~20 lumens, (FX3 halogen ~40 lumens).
The FX2 pilot bulb would probably be sub-5 lumens, being ~1/3 of the power input, and non-halogen. Also, some of that light would have ended up lighting inside the headset, rather than the world outside.

I think an Oldham halogen main beam would have been somewhere around 40-50lumens, the pilot maybe a third of that.
Probably similar (slightly lower?) figures for the halogen/regular Zoom.
 

mickfarnworth

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Apr 22, 2010
Messages
3
Thank-you everybody.

What is the output of a standard bulb? is that about 70% of a halogen?

Regards
Mick
 

rickypanecatyl

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 2, 2009
Messages
913
I'm sure somebody smarter here can comment on this, but I still have the
Petzl zoom with the Halogen as well as newer, 3-400 lumen led lights.

I think the Petzl would look really bad lumen #'s wise next to my 300 OTF Eagletac, but trailrunning at night I can probably see better with the petzel and the beam probably goes farther.

There's nothing like buying a light that is way smaller and advertised as being 2X brighter than a D cell Mag light - then getting the next generation that is 5x brighter and even smaller and then one even smaller and 10X brighter... the WoW! factor comes from grabbing that outdated, old dinasour of a mag lite that everyone knows is 10X weaker and you go, "Holy crap that thing is amazing the beam it puts out for being 10X weaker!"

I know once upon a time they measured lights in candlepower and surefire debunked how accurate that was. Now they measure in lumens but I'm not convinced that jacking that lumen # up helps you see better - it probably is pretty accurate for how bright it is... it's just that is not the same thing as SEEING better. I'm just going off cuz I just found my old Petzl and was amazed how good the beam was!

Without question though it eats batteries up so much faster than my XPG eagle tac! And here's something else ... though my Petzl goes farther than my Eagle tac and helps me see the trail better if you were to shut yourself in a dark bathroom with glossy white paint and turn them on one at a time, the eagletac probably makes the bathroom 5X brighter...
 

cheapbastard

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Mar 26, 2010
Messages
52
Now they measure in lumens but I'm not convinced that jacking that lumen # up helps you see better - it probably is pretty accurate for how bright it is... it's just that is not the same thing as SEEING better.

That is true, our eyes are very sensitive and adjust to the amount of light present.
 
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