How low do I need to go? (Lumens)

I'm looking to buy my first "High Performance" flashlight. One thing that is important to me is the low lumem numbers. I'm looking for a light that I can use in the bedroom when I wake up for work (4am) that won't wake up my wife. Should I be looking at .5 lumens or 10 or 30? I have no frame for reference here. Can you guys help me out.

Thanks.

Anything less than 1 lumen will work. My wife told me that I was waking my daughter up just walking past her room with 3 lumens pointed at the floor so I got a Quark 123T and set it to Moonlight mode to avoid waking her. I've since bought lights that put out even less light. I'm finding that anything less than 0.01 or so lumens is the limit for me, with 0.09 (ThruNite Firefly mode) being about right. I can shine that light directly in my wife's face at one foot away and she won't even stir.

Yes, definitely sub-lumen output.

HDS/Ra might be worth a look ... lots of options (Rotary, Clicky, etc) - definitely "High Performance", and custom programming lets you create just about any setup you might want

One low lumen torch, for use at night in the home, with no options, you'll always select the bright one !!

A DIY single led torch, powered from 3v ( no or low resistor in circuit) or 9v with resistors ( to suit level preferred) is ideal.

Something like this

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...rch-%A31.50-with-quot-night-glow-quot-feature
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...amp-Mk2-%A31.50-(-2.75)&p=1599195#post1599195

Or a cheapy AAA from Hong Kong etc.

The old Safe-light Superbrights were ideal for home night-time use.

http://www.safe-light.com/
http://www.backpackgeartest.org/rev...ht Super Bright/Owner Review by David Wilkes/

Failing all this, a thumb over the bright end of a torch is quite an efficient red filter, dimmable by moving the thumb !!

Or.... even just the illumination from a mobile phone display, some also have a built in low power light.

Or maybe even just a cheapy keychain light, diffused through sharpie, or hanky.



I have PIR lights with red leds fitted around the house for night wanders.

A candle is about 12 lumens per the thread:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?61160-How-many-lumens-from-a-candle

I use a Quark's "moon" mode as a 24/7 nightlight in my bedroom. I like ability to tailstand it and it provides a 3ish lumen low mode to provide extra light when needing to focus. The High CRI version has a non shocking tint that may assist in reducing the impact on others sleeping. I find the standard cool white tint to be a little annoying and forces attention when it is on.

I like a 1 lumen low.
Under .08 lumens and I have to slow down. Unacceptable

The HDS low level is 0.08 lumens. It is perfect for that.

How much do you want to spend?

For what you want you need to be well under 1 lumen. in the .005 to .01 range is an ideal pitch black middle of the room light for me. If you go up to .1 it will still be okay but in the middle of the night that feels really bright.

The HDS is a great recommendation. The Surefire T1A is also a great light and it goes even lower with infinite variability.

http://www.zebralight.com/H51w-Headlamp-AA-Neutral-White_p_46.html

Perfect

• High: H1 172 Lm (0.9 hrs) or H2 86 Lm (2.4 hrs) / 120 Lm (1.7 hrs) / 4Hz Strobe
• Medium: M1 26 Lm (10.5 hrs) or M2 7 Lm (26 hrs)
• Low: L1 2.2 Lm (3 days) or L2 0.18 Lm (16 days)

I reckon the new jetbeam rrt01. It's infinitely variable and has THE lowest low possible for all the light sensitive people out there! As its a control ring only interface, there is no chance at coming on max mode! It's expensive but not as much as an hds.

Agree with shine, if you are just waking up, even 0.1 seems too much!

look at 4 sevens or zebralight..

I'll just add again to the recommendation for an HDS. But, for a little less money, I also have 2 different Nitecore models that go so low as to be almost too low for me. The Infilux IFE1, and IFE2. CR123's for the IFE1, and an 18650 in the IFE2. Either light ramps up with a control ring. But when they first come on, you can barely see the emitters glowing! Crazy lows from these two! YMMV. Not even sure if you can still get them, as I obviously haven't checked lately, but you might find one over on the marketplace. Good luck and :welcome:

I was impressed by the quark's moonlight modes, til i got a Sunwayman V10A which even had a much lower moonlight mode. In comparison, the moonlight of the Quark is twice or 3x higher than the V10A. Its so low, you could forget you had it on moonlight. It is so low, I think the only lower mode is OFF.

Cool thing about this V10A, with a 14500 cell, from moonlight, it can hit 460 lumens. Which is neat in a small EDC light.

Peak LED also has a few lights with a QTC switch that will adjust brightness from barely noticable to the highest output. They come in brass, stainless steel, and some models in titanium. The build is SOLID on these lights. Worth looking into.

Kevinkw1 said:

I reckon the new jetbeam rrt01. It's infinitely variable and has THE lowest low possible for all the light sensitive people out there! As its a control ring only interface, there is no chance at coming on max mode! It's expensive but not as much as an hds.

Agree with shine, if you are just waking up, even 0.1 seems too much!

Click to expand...

+1, one of the reasons that I got a RRT 01 is that my HDS was brighter than I like when waking up and trying to avoid disturbing my wife. It really is an individual thing and for that, the control ring on the JetBeam sort of works to please everyone.

.2-.1 lumens really is too bright when you've woken up in the night. I'd like something like .005 lumens personally.

look at the Thrunite "Ti" Firefly model. .04 lumen low, 60 high.

AAA-sized and it's only ~$15 or $20 iirc. i own two and love them

Fenix E01 or recently the Sunway M20C at the lowest level works well for me, Fenix E05 could be a little to bright. Although in your scenario, I would think that your wife wakes up because of your alarm clock rather your light. ;-)

Cheers
Thorsten

All the flashlights they told you are excellent but don't forget maglite solitaire.

Something below a lumen is good low low to have and would not wake your partner unless shined directly at their eyelids. You can always used bounced light off the ceiling or floor to soften it further.

A few things to consider with low lows that I didn't see mentioned above.

While I'm always willing to trade lumens for additional runtime, I don't see the point in carrying multiple decimal points out for the ultra lows if you are still only getting double digit runtimes. And an ultra low that is only good for one thing (navigating indoors in pitch blackness) may be a pain to always have to cycle through to get a useful level. Infinitely variable rings eliminate the cycle-through problem, but they're the worst in terms of runtime. Also, some lights use PWM to get that low... if that bothers you.

I'm personally finding 0.2/0.3 moonlights to be the best compromise as they give around 200-400 hrs of runtime from 1xAA, yet just enough light to comfortably read by (ie, only way I can read in bed after the Mrs. has gone to bed).