Longest Running light on low setting

Which makers have the longest run time on the very low settings? I saw somehere an led light which at .5 lumen would run 80 days. I cant remember where i saw that now. Might be good if you were planning on being stuck in a mine or cave for a couple months.:sick2:

I should clarify, I was thinking 2 or 3 x's CR123 batteries.

The Armytek Predator is supposed to last for 100 days on the lowest setting and runs on 2xCR123.

I would be willing to put money on it, that no one who ever acquires a light capable of running for many days on low, will ever actually find themselves trapped down a mine or in any similar situation where the capability proves to be critically useful.

HDS lights can get down to 0.08 lumens; CPF user Powernoodle left his HDS on low strobe nonstop for just over three years before the battery finally gave up. But if you want max runtime, skip the 123 format and look to larger cells.

Powernoodle had his older model HDS on the locator flash. The new model rotaries aren't as efficient as the old clickies, I'm not sure if the new model clickies are as efficient or not. The longest running low output lights I have are the Quark AA^2 and the Armytek predator.

Cheapskate said:

I would be willing to put money on it, that no one who ever acquires a light capable of running for many days on low, will ever actually find themselves trapped down a mine or in any similar situation where the capability proves to be critically useful.

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They might, but then you'll see that they just happen to have forgotten to bring that specific light.

But it is great to be on a longer trip without any chance to reload your batteries and although your battery supplies are already critical, you can still read in the tent for hours without any remorse at all. And when you finally stand in the dark forrest with your last battery dying, you will know it was not because of the reading in the tent.

The Quark AA with 14500 SAFT primaries and the Quark AA2 were both tested to run over 1200 hours (nearly 2 months continuous runtime), there are heaps of other low output long runtime lights out there thou, like the Zebralights SC600 (51 day runtime) etc. A lot of them have not been tested though, so i would only trust the tested ones.

I was going to say ArmyTek Predator but that's already been mentioned. Another one is the ZebraLight SC600, it is supposed to go ~80 days.

I'm not sure how long my Jetbeam 111M. would shine on low low? It's a lot dimmer than any of my HDS. lights on level 1; in fact, setting it to the lowest low is almost an art-form, requiring you to anticipate the lowest low coming on before it actually does. Waiting any longer and it starts the ramp. Mine is set dim/dim and that required a mirror and now I have it set, I shall not fiddle! With AW's 2,900mAh. 18650 cells, it should run forever. :thumbsup:

but what would that low low low output really be useful for? I guess if in an absolute black mineshaft even .08 lumens would seem like a 60watt lamp but in everyday use its basically only good as a close quraters marker lite isnt it?

In the Vin Diesel movie "Pitch Black" I bet you would want a light that would run for days,lol

I use my Zebralight SC600 as a nite light. The lowest setting is .1 lumens and with it tailstanding, it lights up the entire room when your night vision adapted. Almost too bright.

Only have it on for the new puppy.

The Peak QTC lights have the capability to go super low and runtime is pretty good. I got 77 hours out of a AAA Duraloop before the Eiger shut off, and testing the voltage it still had 1.10v so if I were using a Alkaline it would have easily doubled or tripled that NiMH time as NiMH aren;t the best battery choice for super low low/ long running lights.

bhauer said:

Might be good if you were planning on being stuck in a mine or cave for a couple months.:sick2:

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I dont think I would ever plan on being stuck in a mine or cave for a couple months! And if for some reason I did plan on it I'd also be bringing multiple batteries along, and not using a flash light unless I had to.

Tons of lights last super long times on very dim low settings.

There seem to be fewer real-world reports of actual runtimes on low, because, well who wants to test a light for 80 days? lol.

Just going of mfg data even my single AA zebralight will do low2 (moonlinght) for 16 days on a eneloop AA. At 4hrs/night thats 96 days... Moonlight might not be much, even stepping up to 2.2Lm it would still go 18 days at 4hrs per night off one AA.

Cheapskate said:

I would be willing to put money on it, that no one who ever acquires a light capable of running for many days on low, will ever actually find themselves trapped down a mine or in any similar situation where the capability proves to be critically useful.

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statistically that would be a minority, and even though its good to know your light could do it, you dont need to be in such a critical situation to find the feature useful, a few examples that apply for everyday uses:

Navigating without disturbing others often
Using a light to read very often
Not wasting much batteries / not needing to recharge a particular battery too often
knowing where your light is so you leave it on that lowest setting and it doesnt disturb but you can easily grab it in the dark

purelite said:

but what would that low low low output really be useful for? I guess if in an absolute black mineshaft even .08 lumens would seem like a 60watt lamp but in everyday use its basically only good as a close quraters marker lite isnt it?

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Actually, there have been studies that show it's much easier to go back to sleep if when you get up in the middle of the night, for whatever reason, you use the least amount of light needed.

When I first read about that here on CPF I had just gotten my NovaTac 120P (about 4 years ago), and so I tried it one night, using the lowest setting (.08 lumens), and was amazed at how easily I went back to sleep. I've used my NovaTac as my night light every night since.

Either way, having a super low/runtime capable light would be good to have on you at all times that you're out of the Rule of Law environment.
Murphy's Law - Anything that can possibly go wrong, will go wrong.
Murphy will bite you on the butt when you least expect it, s*** happens!

Speaking of which, gotta get myself a HDS soon, just in case I find myself in a mine for some reason. Too paranoid? You bet!

It's not a cr123 light, but the Pal Light can run for almost two years on a single 9v battery in glow mode [I'm guessing about 0.06 lumens]. If you used a lithium 9v it would probably last a lot longer. It is enough light to navigate in a dark room w night-adapted eyes.