"Night Visits" to wherever

Quite often I see reviews on lights and people refering to low modes being good for "night visits to the bathroom" or wherever else. I'm not trying to offend anyone that ever said this, but does anyone REALLY do this? Or is it just another justification to have a light that will do a super low mode? Other than that, I understand night reading, checking maps, preserving nightvision, etc. requires low modes.

I'm just curious since it probably only took me a few days to learn the layout after moving into a new home. Now I can basically walk anywhere in there in pitch black and be fine. Especially to the bathroom which seem like it would always be rather close in most homes. Plus my eyes are very sensitive and things like the clock on the microwave, coffee maker, cable box, etc. give me enough reference light.

Maybe I'm missing something, like kids that leave toys out on the floor? Just wondering

markr6 said:

Quite often I see reviews on lights and people refering to low modes being good for "night visits to the bathroom" or wherever else. I'm not trying to offend anyone that ever said this, but does anyone REALLY do this? Or is it just another justification to have a light that will do a super low mode? Other than that, I understand night reading, checking maps, preserving nightvision, etc. requires low modes.

I'm just curious since it probably only took me a few days to learn the layout after moving into a new home. Now I can basically walk anywhere in there in pitch black and be fine. Especially to the bathroom which seem like it would always be rather close in most homes. Plus my eyes are very sensitive and things like the clock on the microwave, coffee maker, cable box, etc. give me enough reference light.

Maybe I'm missing something, like kids that leave toys out on the floor? Just wondering

Click to expand...

Consider a hotel room you didn't have a few days to learn the layout of...or a camping trip where the latrine is a ways away from your tent, and your fellow tent dwellers may resent being awoken by a "close encounters" level lighting solution...or even a tactical scenario where you need to reposition, but don't want to expose yourself to an opponent, etc.

That said...some of the sub-lumen mania seems a bit over the top in usefulness, in that its almost as if there are people who want a light so dim they can't see it, as if a photon reaches their eye, they feel like its a fail.



Another issue is the beam SHAPE. If the light has too focused a beam for close range task lighting, you NEED a very very low lumen level to not glare...hence requests for 1 or 0.1 or even 0.001 lumen outputs, etc.

If the beam is appropriate for close range task lighting, even 10 lumens can seem dim...as the lumens are very spread out, and there's no glaring hotspot, etc.

So one guy's 0.1 lumen light might seem too bright to him, and another guy's 10 lumen light might seem too dim, and so forth.


In disaster scenarios...say months of no power, people look for long run times....and the less light, the longer it can run.

Some people are OK with barely being able to see, and like using super low levels of illumination.

Me, I find that I get too much eye strain (There are charts listing how much light you should have for a given type of task, such as reading) using too little light to see WELL with.


So, different strokes for different folks...there's no UNIVERSALLY wrong answer, its a personal preference.

No kids, but both my dog AND my cat are in on the foot ambush conspiracy. They often leave lots of their toys and themselves laying around in the hallway between the bedroom and the bathroom. Also I suffer from a frequent equilibrium problem and when it's acting up I have to navigate by sight because I can't always trust what my inner ear is saying.

The other time a "sub-lumen" light has come in handy is out camping because trying to memorize the inside of a camper or a tent is a hopeless exercise and I've been out in plenty of pitch-black nights where I wanted to find my water bottle or something, but not wake my wife.

I do it. I like moonmode cause it does not blind me when I turn the light on. I need the light to protect my toes from door frames and aiming at the toilet. I am extremely sensitive to low light, but it is VERY dark in my appartment and my green LED alarm clock cannot light the floor since it sits way back on the night stand. I know my place enough I can walk through the living room and halfway through the kitchen and reach for the light switch like I can see it, but I still stub my toes on the door frames and tables when I'm half asleep. And then there's the bathroom with no windows or source of light... So, yes, I really use a light on moonmode for nightly bathroom visits wether I'm home or not.

True, all those scenarios make sense. I was specifically thinking of people using them on their night stand at home, where of course, I could have been mis-reading those posts. I always use my H51 and H502 moonlight modes while camping or while in unfamiliar hotels, it's very useful.

markr6 said:

I always use my H51 and H502 moonlight modes while camping or while in unfamiliar hotels, it's very useful.

Click to expand...

I so want an H502!

zespectre said:

I so want an H502!

Click to expand...

I may be putting mine up for sale soon so keep an eye out!

You obviously haven't hit 40 yet! I don't usually need a light at home, but hotel rooms, cruise ship staterooms, friends houses, etc., I need to use a light to get around.

gravelrash said:

You obviously haven't hit 40 yet! I don't usually need a light at home, but hotel rooms, cruise ship staterooms, friends houses, etc., I need to use a light to get around.

Click to expand...

LOL, I'm working on it! My dad is always reminding me "it's a real B____ getting old!"

markr6 said:

True, all those scenarios make sense. I was specifically thinking of people using them on their night stand at home, where of course, I could have been mis-reading those posts. I always use my H51 and H502 moonlight modes while camping or while in unfamiliar hotels, it's very useful.

Click to expand...

Maybe they just mean they keep the light on the night stand... I do use my IFE2 (goes as low as 0.003 lumens) for reading, but I bounce it off the wall with ~30-40 lumens for that purpose... Even the lower modes on my H502d are too low for me to read; I have to crank it to ~10-20ish lumens before I'm comfortable for reading. So, I'm curious too... does anyone actually read with less than 2-3 lumens in bed? (maybe to not distrub their other half??)

At night between me and the light switch are ninja dogs hidden in carpet colored camo fur with land mines designed to destroy feet disguised as toys. Simpler just to grab the light, go to the bathroom and come back.

gravelrash said:

You obviously haven't hit 40 yet! I don't usually need a light at home, but hotel rooms, cruise ship staterooms, friends houses, etc., I need to use a light to get around.

Click to expand...

+1

At my age and with my eyes, 5 lumens IS moonlight mode!

Of course, it might help if I took my dark glasses off! (see avatar)

My wife is very sensitive to light, and our bedroom is still very dark (this time of year) when I get up and get dressed for work in the morning. Without some kind of low light, I wouldn't be able to tell if my socks matched! But anything brighter than 20 or 30 lumens coming on in a very dark room would disturb her. Not to mention it would be a shock to my dark-adapted eyes as well. My perfect light for this purpose (picking out matching clothes in the early morning) is my Surefire A2 Incan, with calipsoii's warm white ring installed. I twist the tailcap on just so the warm white LEDs are glowing in a soft, floody, orange, 10-ish lumens. Perfect. It renders my subtle sock color differences very well, also.

Yep i am another who uses a light to see my way.I have movement detector light in my room and have a small light like an EO1 or nano or some other that i use to wander to the bathroom,when I am in a strange hotel with work I need it more then.

I ordered in the post today a nice light with a firefly mode for my evening use.

I always want a light of some kind. At 80, I can't afford to fall. I have a Thrunite Ti with the moon mode on low. That is enough when I want to walk through the house to adjust the furnace, for example.
Jerry

JerryM said:

At 80, I can't afford to fall.

Click to expand...

80?!?!

I admit I've known a man of 80 actively using the Internet, but damn! And on a hobbyist forum, no less. Such a rare occurrence... Then again, lots of old people here, it seems?

JerryM said:

I always want a light of some kind. At 80, I can't afford to fall. I have a Thrunite Ti with the moon mode on low. That is enough when I want to walk through the house to adjust the furnace, for example.
Jerry

Click to expand...

Top man Jerry admitting you are just 80 years young and using the internet like a good un,like your choice of a Thrunite,that is just what I ordered for the bathroom walk.Happy xmas Jerry.

any small light like the tv standby annoys me and makes it difficult to sleep. i'd sleep more soundly with a double shot espresso rather than a night light.
20 lumens is super bright when it's really dark.

i never can figure out how people can sleep when daylight breaks through..

Exposure to any light also affects melatonin levels could be used as an excuse. I don't use a light for that but if your looking for a reason there is some science behind it.:thumbsup:

f22shift said:

any small light like the tv standby annoys me and makes it difficult to sleep. i'd sleep more soundly with a double shot espresso rather than a night light.
20 lumens is super bright when it's really dark.

i never can figure out how people can sleep when daylight breaks through..

Click to expand...

LOL! Thank you! My wife makes fun of me for putting black electrical tape over the cell phone charger plug, TV cable box and flashing light on the smoke detector...that crap is torture at night!