What do you do with x lumens?

I would like to know what you do with x number of lumens. Another thing I would like to see is a chart of what uses an x-x range of lumens should be used for. What you could do:

x lumens if for (put your answer here)
x lumens if for (also put your answer here!)

(This chart will be much bigger, make it as big as you can! (Possibly up to 20000 lumens! :duh2

This could be for people who need a little guide on what lumen ranges are for.

*If a thread like this already exists, delete this if you want to. If you are not a Moderator, ignore this!*

Hi there,its not quite as simple as X lumens for this or that as it also has to do with the reflector depth/width too along with type of led. I can have a 600lm deft x that has 1,000,000cd or a 7400lm mm15vn with 30,000cd as examples. The deft x far out throws the mm15vn with less than a 1/10th of the lumens.........just thoughts

In general 100-200lm tends to be enough for most general purpose uses imo or for my uses anyway. Enough to see around and what your doing close up(within say 10-20m) without dazzling yourself with reflections. I find higher lumen better for pure flood so you get a bright spill all around.

Just my opinion

The highest lumen light i have is 140 2D Mag and that is pretty darn bright, in fact it's a little too bright for most needs, as ven has mentioned the reflection of that light is a bit too much and is better used for a flood light. I do have another light coming in the mail 625 lumens 3D Mag and i'm stoked to see how bright this light really is but it's probably only going to be practical if i am in a desert or some plains area. Not sure how it's going to react to the woods with light bouncing everywhere lol, but it's got low power mode and eco mode so i'm not too worried if the full lumen mode is too bright.

I'm more of a 30-60 lumens guy, i won't need the extra lumens and essentially when a flashlight is brighter than a regular house light it's pretty unnecessary imo. Though since i lovecpf & flashlights i gotta have a few high lumen flashlights in my arsenal .

I have always been a fan of lights, Since I was little the brighter the better but as my eyes age and I mature I found that more light isnt always better. I carried a Surefire 6P flashlight for many years and it was more than bright enough for almost any situation I needed. About 3 years ago I purchased a light that was 170 lumens with a "dimming" function. Essentially it had a low lumen mode that was equivalent to a discount store AA battery LED light. I found that the dim setting was great for most of my daily uses and the bright setting was nice to have at night when you see green dots walking towards you.

Its also important to look at what type of reflector/lenses are on your emitters. The brightes emitters are only as good as the lens they pass through. as far as I'm concerned a good reflector/lens far outweights the need for the brightest of emitters.

To get to your question

30 lumens with floody reflector - Great for working on the inside of PCs
50-100 lumens with a diffuser - replacment camp lanterns, especially if the lights have lanyard holes
100-200 with a middle of the road reflector spot/flod - great for daily use, working on the car at night or walking at night
200-500 lumens with a spot>flood lens - good for bike lights. bright enough that oncoming cars see you but not so bright that you blind yourself
200-500 lumens - tactical lights designed to disorient a target. ( usually with strobe feature )
1,000 lumens - upper limit for most EDC lights. too bright at 1000 lumens to be useful for anything up close but with the proper lens they can be very useful when camping or hiking. most high output LED lights have dimmer settings to make them more useful
1,500 lumens - as bright as a single automotive headlight ( OEM replacement sylvania H11=1375lm for reference )
10,000 lumens - offroad LED lighting or stage lighting very dependent on housing, cooling and reflector/lens
20,000 lumens - CPF special flashlight??? : )

I hope that helps

J

I'm not sure if I understood the syntax but:

With my Thrunite TN12 (hotspot with a good spill):
0.5 lumens - to go to the toilet at night
20 lumens - walking in the dark apartment, riding a bike in the city or during the dusk
280 lumens - walking outdoors, exploring the surroundings or riding a bike in the dark
800 lumens - riding a bike fast in the dark or challenging conditions
1050 lumens - showing off

With my Armytek Tiara A1 (floody with no remarkable hotspot)
0.1 lumens - beacon
2 lumens - moving in the dark preserving nightvision
12 lumens - close work, crochet, walking in the dark (with a dog and also TN12 at 280 lm level within arm's reach to explore the surrounding)
85 lumens - cleaning up the apartment, working in the dark
250 lumens - so much light I rarely find any use for it with the headlamp (not throwy enough for a bike light and most likely to just annoy others if hiking or working)
550 lumens - taking pictures of objects nearby when flash (or 250 lm level) isn't enough in the dark, showing off

This is an interesting idea Maybe you could make two charts for throwy and floody lights.

- with .5 lumens i sneak thru the house at night to steal cookies, pet the cats and not disturb my batcrazy , er lovely GF of many years.

- with .5 lumens i sneak thru the forest when stealth camping or raiding my friends beer coolers.

- with 1000 - 3000 lumens i light everything up, and take cool night photos of cliffs and ravines. I also help people by literally pointing the the beam towards where they need to go when night hiking.

- with 1000 - 3000 lumens i blind the drug addicts trying to break in the apt lobby or parkade, and I assist the Police by simply pointing the long range beam of light down the alleys to where the junkies are running or hiding.

Roughly speaking:

0.5.............Night Light (business travel so a nightlight in a hotel room is nice)
1-5.............Navigate around the house
4-10...........Reading a menu in a dark restaurant
10-30.........Walking the dog; looking for something in the house (keys, wallet)
30-100.......Task light
100-200.....Illuminating a room; wandering around a camp site
200-300.....Illuminating the inside of the barn (12Wx20Dx15H)
300+...........Illuminating yard, street, front of house, interior of cave

Ape Cave - Fenix PD32UE on Max (740 Lumens)

^^^^ I wanna go!


1,000 Lumens - I dream about a P3X on my doorstep.

Not being funny but this is a very silly thread to start and quite honestly a complete and utter waste of time.One 200 lumen light is not the same as another 200 lumen light.

My latest Cannon camera supersedes the older version,this upgraded version has less pixels for better pictures.More lumens does not mean better light it is how you get the light out there.

37.5 octillion lumens - I go for a nice walk in the afternoon.


(Yes, just showing how silly comparing lumens can be. Lux is probably a better unit to use. BTW, 37.5 octillion lumens is the real output of my favourite light.)

WalkIntoTheLight said:

37.5 octillion lumens - I go for a nice walk in the afternoon.


(Yes, just showing how silly comparing lumens can be. Lux is probably a better unit to use. BTW, 37.5 octillion lumens is the real output.)

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"Octillion lumens"...... What will that do? Will it burn everything in its path? Will it be like the sun?

WalkIntoTheLight said:

37.5 octillion lumens - I go for a nice walk in the afternoon.

Click to expand...

thinkFlashlights01 said:

"Octillion lumens"...... What will that do? Will it burn everything in its path? Will it be like the sun?

Click to expand...

It's not too bad, as long as you're standing about 150 gigametres away.