Too Bright....

Often I see people asking what is the brightest flashlight money can buy. Have you every buy flashlights that you found it is simply TOO BRIGHT that you don't use it as much?

Not yet, but then I always buy lights with multiple brightness levels because right...a lot would be *far* too bright if max were all that were available.

Do you buy single-mode lights, or else want lights with incredibly low-low modes?

I never use a setting over 30 Lumens unless I'm showing off.

--flatline

I am just wondering if ppl feel the same way or anyone feel "No way, brighter the better!"

I personally edc a JetBeam BC10. I was using it to fix a PC trying to see better, man, these are too bright for that use. I was once in a lounge and a girl was dropping her lipstick. I use it my BC10 to help her and it just lid up the whole place. Was drawing a bit too much attention. I set BC10 as lower brightness primary but this monster is still bright....classic A2 that I carry the past 5 years 3lumen low does make a lot of sense.

My Lamdalights 4D Maglight is 100 watts and estimated 6000 real lumens. Its too bright for close up or indoor use. Has alot of throw due to the insane lumens.:devil:

3 SST-90s, highest bins cutterelectonics sells
over 1lbs of copper heatsink
Copper to LED bonding for the best heat transfer humanely possible
Powered by 4 NiMH Tenergy D cells
over 20A at the tailcap
Looks like a football stadium light in your hand.

Here is the build thread:
http://flashlightnews.net/forum/index.php?topic=2619.0
Here is the heatsink:

wuyeah said:

I am just wondering if ppl feel the same way or anyone feel "No way, brighter the better!"

I personally edc a JetBeam BC10. .

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So the lowest on the BC10 is at least 30. I prefer lights with lower lowest-low settings, certainly. Though lower-lows and higher-highs are not mutually exclusive.

Say my TK41 - the lowest setting is 10 - great for up close. The highest is 800. "Brighter is better"/wanting low-lows again, are very compatible.

bigchelis said:

My Lamdalights 4D Maglight is 100 watts and estimated 6000 real lumens. Its too bright for close up or indoor use. Has alot of throw due to the insane lumens.:devil:

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Dear lord! What's the runtime I wonder?

The "currently being tested by Guiness World Records...bla bla...brightest flashlight in the world" 4,100 lumens! Which I suppose means either Guiness is a bit behind the curve, or the makers are being a bit dishonest at least at this point:

Now I never buy a single mode light, one of my first light is a 200 lumen single mode light and found it useless in a 3 day power outage we encountered way back 2009. 200 lumens w/ 2hrs runtime is blindingly useless around the house. better to have a 30 lumen light that last 30 hrs. Multimode lights is what I only buy nowadays.

I have a ROP maglite, 1 setting.. like 800+ lumens and it can smoke paper. Lasts about 1 hour. Probably should have got a multiple mode switch, mabe ill just put the low bulb in after i get tired of playing with it...

would probably wake ppl up if they saw me shining it anywhere outside their window lol

Short answer; yes, you can have too bright a light for the circumstance. 200 L is way too bright for working under a desk on computer connections. OTOH, 200 L is good for looking for the problem under the hood of a car, at midnight, in the pouring rain... 10-30 L is plenty for up close work.

Definitely. I bought an Olight SR90 because I wanted a super thrower. Now that I have it I'm not sure what I wanted it for, and hardly ever use it.

TOO BRIGHT?!? :huh2:

Colonel Sanders said:

TOO BRIGHT?!? :huh2:

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LOL, hard to please crowd~

mmace1 said:

Dear lord! What's the runtime I wonder?

The "currently being tested by Guiness World Records...bla bla...brightest flashlight in the world" 4,100 lumens! Which I suppose means either Guiness is a bit behind the curve, or the makers are being a bit dishonest at least at this point:

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They probably went with the brightest "mass production" flashlight category.

I favor lights that operate at both extremes--very bright and ultra low. That's one of the features of the ZL SC600 that I love. I have been nosing around for a thrower and was interested in the Olight SR51. Unfortunately, while the SR51 is very bright, it only has two levels. The high level is bright enough for me but the second level is too bright for its lowest setting. So I think the answer to th OP's question is, at least for me, yes. A light can be too bright.

Yes... but only at times with night dilated vision.

I guess it depends on where you live. Here in the city (major light pollution) my brightest light (SF LX2) sometimes isn't bright enough.
But I remember camping in Yosemite years ago and going on a night hike. I was using my Arc 4 on the lowest setting (2-3 lumens?) and couldn't believe how overly bright it was, had to cover some of the beam with my hand.

It depends what application the light is for. I tend to go for something with a bright high mode and a decent low mode for close-up work. The Klarus P1C is good for this. The ArmyTek Predator is also a great all-round light, which can be programmed and setup the way you want it. But, to be honest, I've set it up once and now have a decent array of light levels for multiple situations.

My SC600 is too bright to use for close up dark time work. But I'll tell you, during the daylight, crawling around inside a loaded truck, the high beam really helps when you adjusted day time vision, but have to see into in a dark area.

john-paul said:

Definitely. I bought an Olight SR90 because I wanted a super thrower. Now that I have it I'm not sure what I wanted it for, and hardly ever use it.

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And the SR90 is only a true 1250ish Out the front lumens (its close to 1500 OTF for 1~30sec only). So, Imagine how 5 of those turned on at the same time must look.


My 100 Watt Lamdalights 4D Mag has about 15min~20min runtime. It actually gets too hot to even hold at 2min. So, not very practical.

bigC