.18 lumens is too bright!

silentlurker

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Never thought I'd say this, but something woke me up at around 3:30 this morning so I decided to give the low-low mode on my SC51 a try, which is .18 lumens (the lowest mode on any of my flashlights). It's remarkably bright for night-adapted vision, so bright in fact that I wanted to make it even lower! It seemed low enough to not destroy my night vision but I could still see clearly. I liked it better overall then the red light from my headlights (which is considerably brighter, but overall less useful). Are there any other flashlights that offer a lower mode than .18 lumens?

I'm assuming it actually was .18 lumens and not overdriven for some odd reason (I'm using eneloops).
 

subwoofer

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I started a similar thread prior to the CPF meltdown and all the content was lost. Only my original post exists without the answer.

In brief I have the Photon Freedom Micro which has an even lower low and the Nitecore infilux range goes even lower. I have a couple of photos I'll dig out to show the difference in output.
 

TooManyGizmos

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~

Try a couple layers of diffuser to scatter the light more ..........

or just wear your "Ray-Ban's" ...... (sunglasses)


If .18 is too bright ....... there is really no hope for you .


Have you considered .... night vision goggles ? ... to sleep in ?

~
 

ASheep

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HDS lights go down to 0.07 or 0.08 lumens. At those kind of drive levels the driver circuit is eating more power than the LED!
I use a Ra twisty 85Tr is my dedicated "low light". It is set up for red -> 0.12 -> 1.9. With dark adapted eyes, and the throwy GDP emitter in the twisty, 1.9 lumens can go a long way, plus it'll last forever on a single cell...
I've found the ultra low levels to be some of the most useful... There is nothing worse than waking up in the middle of the night, and blasting your night vision with a "low" of 5 lumens!

Cheers,
Alex
 

RepProdigious

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Call b@rt for some tritium tubes and put em in an old incan reflector. Should work nicely also pretty good output for a 0mA light; about 8~10 years 'high' and diminishing output for another 20 or so years on no cell at all.....
 

subwoofer

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If .18 is too bright ....... there is really no hope for you .

I agree with the OP 100%, the .18lm of a zebralight is good, but is too bright. The Quark moon mode is about half as bright and is also too bright with fully dark adapted eyes. The Photon Freedom Micro is possibly 1/20 the output of Quark's moon mode and is perfect in total darkness.
 

Z-Tab

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You can buy a Novatac Storm on the cheap and set it up for a super low-low, the same as the HDS.

The Nitecore IFE and IFD lights look good, but the decision to put strobe below the lowest mode seems like a huge UI flaw to me. If you want the lowest light possible, then you probably don't want any chance of accidentally switching over to the brightest and most disorienting mode. I don't know how good the stop is at the low, but it would make a lot more sense to me if strobe was up past the high end.

The Titan T1A gets impressively low, but is not cheap.

I like the tritium idea, and would love to see a light that was just tritium tubes mounted in a reflector for a little throw. Personally, I think that tritium makes any flashlight light better, since you can actually find it in the dark.
 

ringzero

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Are there any other flashlights that offer a lower mode than .18 lumens?


Yes, any 1AA or 1AAA light with an efficient driver will go lower than that when run on a depleted cell.

I have an old Streamlight 1AA with a 5mm LED that I use for just that purpose, kept bedside for middle of the night use.

With a sufficiently depleted cell, its output is incredibly dim. In fact, it'll run at levels so dim that it's useless for me to use finding my way around the house, even with dark adapted eyes.

When it gets that dim, I swap out its cell for a "new" depleted AA cell. Sometimes a "new" cell will make it too bright. No problem, just run it for a few hours to dim it down to a desirable level.

Additional tip: use depleted lithium cells to avoid the depleted cell leaking and ruining your light, which depleted alkalines are prone to do.

.
 

2100

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The "problem" is that the SC51 is a XP-G with a 17mm or so reflector, so the hot spot would still be "pretty bright". If that's a XM-L with an OP it would be ok.
 

Roger999

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Call b@rt for some tritium tubes and put em in an old incan reflector. Should work nicely also pretty good output for a 0mA light; about 8~10 years 'high' and diminishing output for another 20 or so years on no cell at all.....
People actually make that, it's called a tritium map light.

img1236gzu.jpg
 

scout24

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I'm a HUGE fan of the SF Titans, two Ti and one T1A. I went on the search for the perfect nightstand light for years before coming to CPF. Freedom Micro is as low as the Titans, but the PWM kills me... Jetbeam, Nitecore, Sunwayman are all nice, but have a throw oriented reflector. Titans are floody as well as insanely low, a perfect combination. The UI and the ability to add or subtract just a bit of light is fantastic for me. Nothing comes close. :)
 

TooManyGizmos

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Glowing / always on PAL lights are good for night stands .

Are they too bright for you in their Glow mode ?

How many lumens are they glowing out ?

The reflectors can be removed - to make it pure flood .

~
 

subwoofer

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Found my other post with the photos:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...ots...-Here.&p=3641358&viewfull=1#post3641358

Each of the photos uses one light from the previous one so you can see the relative decreasing outputs. The Nitecore IFD2 goes ludicrously low, so low it is not usable. For me the Freedom Micro's low is the right level to be useful and good with fully dark adapted eyes.

~

Glowing / always on PAL lights are good for night stands .

Are they too bright for you in their Glow mode ?

How many lumens are they glowing out ?

The reflectors can be removed - to make it pure flood .

~

PAL lights don't have reflectors, but do have a lens. If you remove the lens you expose the LED.

The comparative light output is shown in the photos I included the link to earlier. Glow is really low!
 

lightsandknives

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I too have the same issues with all my "low output" lights. For total night adapted vision, they were still too bright. I started with my Nitecore D10, which I hardly ever used. A lot of water bottle caps will fit perfectly over the D10 bezel. I trimmed it up to where it was a perfect fit, and then covered the cap in gaffers tape. Any dark colored tape would work like duct tape or electrical tape. I then took a knife blade and made a very small hole in the tape where just a small amount of light could escape. It's perfect and sits on my nightstand for those late night trips to wherever.
 
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