Are throw lovers mostly outdoor people and floody light lovers indoor people?

I'm always looking for lights with more throw. I have a Scorpion V2 turbohead I call my XL EDC good for about 20k lux and a dedomed Varapower good for about 80k lux. In a boat the other night between 2 islands I just had the scorpion and couldn't quite make out either island but I was fairly confident with the varapower I could have.

I consider the scorpion TH floody as it only has about 50% more throw than the old 3D mag lights though about 20X the lumens. When riding off road on my motorcycle I like to attach it to my helmet and find it really helps at night. However if I forget to take it off when I get on the road I'm quickly reminded how floody it is as the hot spot does not fit between reflective signs on either side of the road and always blinds me.

I don't know if here on CPF guys that like more thow vs more flood are 50/50 but I know there are lot of both. I was just curious if most of the throw lovers tended to be outdoor types - military, hunters, boaters etc and if the guys that like flood are more indoor oriented.

To add an honest question for those who really like flood lights, what is the point of a 500 lumen, 2,000 lux AA size light? I find they they aren't too good for iluminating things at a distance and up close, 500 lumens is blinding! One situation I could imagine would be in a power outage - tail standing one you could probably give enough light for a small school classroom to do their homework just from something you carried on your key ring.

For you military guys who've done active combat couldn't a high power floody light give away your position while at the same time not enable to even see your enemy if he was 150 yards away?

I have both floody and thrower.
Floody type for indoor/close range use and thrower for outdoor/longer range spotting.

Very good thought there, I would be the outdoor type, extreme, yes I like the throw factor, I love my TN11.

I find a floody light with a bit of a hot spot more useful for hiking after dark. 30 - 50 lumens gives me enough light to see the track about 20 yards ahead whilst also allowing me to see my feet and preserve a bit of night vision.. On difficult terrain I need to see where I am stepping and I don't find throwy lights as useful - I have to keep moving the spot around.

But there have been many times I would have found a thrower useful for checking out strange noises etc further up the path. There is something comforting about being able to see further than 20 or 30 yards sometimes!

Nope. I love the outdoors and also love floody lights. Different purposes for each type of light. A couple of years ago when I was out hunting, I had my DX brand R2 thrower with the super focused beam. It is great to look out ahead a great distances, but just blinded me when I was trying to get out of an area with really thick brush and trees (think a swamp). I ended up using my Quark or something similar to get out of the woods for the most part and still did use the thrower to light up a few far away objects. When you have little branches hanging down in front of your face and are trying to keep from getting scratched (and blinded) nothing beats a floody light.

I think it depends on your needs and preference, not environment. I prefer flood outdoors and in because my activities don't require seeing long distances. As a Paramedic we sometimes run outdoor calls at night where we are away from vehicles and there lighting. A bright, floody light can light a scene nicely in these situations.

I like both.
Floody lights are great for outdoor stuff too. You dont use a deft edc when you try to put up a tent or search for firewood in the dark. I dont find 500 lumens blinding, the bulb hanging over your head at home got way more than 500 lumens. It's the lux that blinds you, so throwers blinds you more than floody lights.
Throwers are more for the fun of it, and it's sometimes useful. (when im hiking at uncharted trails)

i, too, have reached that conclusion.

i use a surefire 6p everyday. previously, i kept looking for drop-ins that gave me more throw, even selling off a malkoff m61ll because i found it, then, too floody. but the truth of the matter is, 90% of my flashlight usage is indoors at home or up close where a floody beam pattern is more useful.

i now own both a nailbender xp-g and xm-l module. i switch them around once in a while for fun but the xm-l is the drop-in that sits in the 6p 6 days a week. outdoors though, i prefer the xp-g's throwy beam profile but mostly for fun lighting up objects at a distance.

I use my lights almost always outdoors, unless there is a power outage.

I have throwers and also flooders.
I would say that the flooders get 95% of the use, and throwers get only occasional use.
I started out wanting a lot of throw, but I quickly found that the flood lights are MUCH more useful to me.
But, I'm not using it as a light to find land from a boat.
I use it to light up pasture land about 150-180yds out in the open, and for that the flood works great.

i have my dedicated throwers, but dont use them nearly as much as my smoother beam flooders.
i dont have the best vision for seeing at a distance, and never wear my glasses, so having light that far away doesnt make much of a difference for me.
and its rare i need light for anything beyond 70 feet.

and i agree, i dont need 500 lumens for anything medium to close range. 150 lumens will do it, and most the time i dont even go that bright.
except at work when i do use a 500 lumen smaller XM-L powered light, it makes my inspections faster, easier and more thorough.

For me also, it's task dependent. About 90% of my usage is for stuff that's task related, and I prefer floodier lights for that. I don't have much of a need for throwy lights, and the ones I do have that have some throw are just because they do so out of sheer horsepower. I've been wanting to get a big gun thrower just for fun, but I honestly don't have any genuine need for one. While I do a lot of outdoor stuff, it's typically camping or hiking kinds of things, and if I need to see far away, the max setting on most of my lights in those situations is usually enough to see as far out as I need to.

twl said:

I use my lights almost always outdoors, unless there is a power outage.

I have throwers and also flooders.
I would say that the flooders get 95% of the use, and throwers get only occasional use.
I started out wanting a lot of throw, but I quickly found that the flood lights are MUCH more useful to me.
But, I'm not using it as a light to find land from a boat.
I use it to light up pasture land about 150-180yds out in the open, and for that the flood works great.

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Im with this guy. Floody lights are are more useful unless you need to spot something at distance. When im hiking or camping it's floody lights all the way

I much prefer to walk in the dark and have a light for if something unusual occurs.
A balanced flood/throw light with a good low setting does most everything for me, figuring out barbed wire, brambles, best stones to hop or wade...
I feel a lot more blind and conspicuous with a light on all the time, especially if it's a powerful thrower. Also I don't feel that my hearing, balance or spatial senses are nearly as good when I'm dealing with a tunnel of light in the darkness.
I've been out walking with people that had their beams flashing around the whole time and I just wished that they wouldn't, and when it hasn't been too rude I ended up walking way, way behind them.
It would be great to have a light weight spot light on hand for the rare times that I really needed to find something at a distance and didn't mind making a scene for the surrounding countryside.
A spotter would be great for long range kayaking, which is something I'd love to get into, gotta move first.

I love the outdoors. Camping, hiking, backpacking, hunting, fishing, biking...etc. I greatly prefer flood over spot. When it's dark, I want to see what is in front of me as well as around me...I generally do not need to see what is several hundred yards away. Throwers are, IMHO, a genuine PITA to use for any kind of up close work when compared to a flooder. 99.9% of my torch use involves illuminating things that are 100 yards away OR CLOSER...with the vast majority being MUCH closer. If I spent a lot of time out in open water at night, I would want to have a serious thrower along...but I would also never be without a good floody torch.

To me, a serious high output thrower is like a Chevy Chevelle with a 454, Blower, NOS, and "mile wide" drag slicks...and a serious high output floody torch is like a BMW 7 series. The BMW will never beat the Chevelle in a drag race...but it will beat the Chevelle at just about everything else.

I like flood at the campsite and throw out in the meadows and woods. When I work on things up close, I like a tight beam that lets me focus on a small point. I guess every situation is different.

Jeff

I agree with most here. A floody light is what I use 90% of the time but throwers have there place. I bought my Tiablo A10 to fish at night( run yo yo's and lines out of a boat) but always have a floody light on me. I found camping and hiking it's just to much throw for general use. I guess different situations call for different lights. That's why I keep buying new lights. Lol. ...... That's what I keep telling myself anyway

I would say throw is for outdoors and flood is for indoors. I like my Olight Warrior and my Jetbeam RRT 21 with the diffuser. Pure flood with the diffuser on an when I want and some throw I take it off. Throwers can be used all around as long as they can be turned down low enough so they are not too bright for up close tasks.

Short answer...no.

I find a floody, bright light perfect for checking the yard at night, as it is with a darkened room.

The throwy lights are fun, and have their place, but I'll EDC a floody one primarily.

I do have a few which can bridge the gap. Those are my favorite dog walking lights.

Throwy lights are more interesting to talk about and more fun to play with but I end up using floody lights most of the time. In the situations where I need throw I generally carry two lights. I don't really like lights that try to do both. I have diffused most of my lights (even the floodier ones) just because I like that nice even gradually fading out look.

When I need throw I don't need or generally want spill so I'll carry the smallest aspheric that will do the trick. It doesn't have to be practical as a walking light since I'm have a headlamp or diffused flashlight for that purpose.

I agree (for my purposes) I don't need or want 500 lumens when I'm outside at night. I try to use the least amount of light for what I'm doing. I think the uses for the greater lumen output lights are more for people who are moving at a greater speed than hiking such as bicycling, skiing, maybe running in uneven terrain.