Hi there
Although I've been visiting this forum for more than a year, this is my first post, so greetings to all.
I bought a Led Lenser P7 about a year ago, and was immensely impressed by its brightness and throw compared to my 3D LED Maglite.
However, when I visited this forum, my excitement was utterly dampened by all the negative comments on here regarding unregulated flashlights.
With this in mind I've saved up and finally bought my first regulated flashlight - the Olight T25 Tactical R5 which was delivered yesterday. It cost me the equivalent of about $80 if I do a straight currency conversion.
So, what sparked me to finallymake my first post on this forum is that I am rather disappointed after comparing the regulated Olight to my unregulated Led Lenser.
The Olight supposedly delivers 230 lumens compared to my P7's max of 167 lumens. What's more, the P7 only hits 167 lumens when you hold in the button. When you release it, the permanent high mode is only about 70% of that. So that's about 140 lumens, I'd guess. And, since the flashlight is not regulated, the P7's output most likely drops rather quickly to even lower - maybe 120 lumens or thereabouts.
However, despite this, my P7 APPEARS to be incredibly bright.
It way outshone my new Olight with its 230 lumens when I tested the two together last night. Furthermore, I had not changed my P7's batteries for more than a week, meaning that they were nowhere close to full power.
Don't get me wrong. The T25 is very bright, and is very impressive for such a small flashlight. But it really cannot compare to the Led Lenser in terms of brightness, and comes nowhere close to the Led Lenser's throw at maximum focus.
The question that I have - and please note that I am a novice as far as flashlights are concerned - is what's so great about regulation?
For all intents and purposes, the Led Lenser will give me greater battery life, MUCH greater brightness and throw at a cheaper price than the more expensive regulated light.
Other than the theoretical knowledge that the Olight will retain a constant brightness, for all PRACTICAL purposes it seems to me that I will get more performance out of the unregulated Led Lenser with its amazing lens and adjustable focusing ability.
I must be missing something, because the impression I was given by reading a lot of posts on this forum over the past year is that regulation puts a light in a different class to an unregulated one.
Anyway, I'd love to hear some comments from more experienced flashlight users than me. Oh, and it's nice to finally join the discussion on here. I plan to buy more flashlights in future, but I need more information first to avoid costly mistakes like the one I have just apparently made.
Although I've been visiting this forum for more than a year, this is my first post, so greetings to all.
I bought a Led Lenser P7 about a year ago, and was immensely impressed by its brightness and throw compared to my 3D LED Maglite.
However, when I visited this forum, my excitement was utterly dampened by all the negative comments on here regarding unregulated flashlights.
With this in mind I've saved up and finally bought my first regulated flashlight - the Olight T25 Tactical R5 which was delivered yesterday. It cost me the equivalent of about $80 if I do a straight currency conversion.
So, what sparked me to finallymake my first post on this forum is that I am rather disappointed after comparing the regulated Olight to my unregulated Led Lenser.
The Olight supposedly delivers 230 lumens compared to my P7's max of 167 lumens. What's more, the P7 only hits 167 lumens when you hold in the button. When you release it, the permanent high mode is only about 70% of that. So that's about 140 lumens, I'd guess. And, since the flashlight is not regulated, the P7's output most likely drops rather quickly to even lower - maybe 120 lumens or thereabouts.
However, despite this, my P7 APPEARS to be incredibly bright.
It way outshone my new Olight with its 230 lumens when I tested the two together last night. Furthermore, I had not changed my P7's batteries for more than a week, meaning that they were nowhere close to full power.
Don't get me wrong. The T25 is very bright, and is very impressive for such a small flashlight. But it really cannot compare to the Led Lenser in terms of brightness, and comes nowhere close to the Led Lenser's throw at maximum focus.
The question that I have - and please note that I am a novice as far as flashlights are concerned - is what's so great about regulation?
For all intents and purposes, the Led Lenser will give me greater battery life, MUCH greater brightness and throw at a cheaper price than the more expensive regulated light.
Other than the theoretical knowledge that the Olight will retain a constant brightness, for all PRACTICAL purposes it seems to me that I will get more performance out of the unregulated Led Lenser with its amazing lens and adjustable focusing ability.
I must be missing something, because the impression I was given by reading a lot of posts on this forum over the past year is that regulation puts a light in a different class to an unregulated one.
Anyway, I'd love to hear some comments from more experienced flashlight users than me. Oh, and it's nice to finally join the discussion on here. I plan to buy more flashlights in future, but I need more information first to avoid costly mistakes like the one I have just apparently made.