What do you do with your 1k lumen lights?

On recommendation from this forum, I purchased a Zebralight h52w. I was excited about it when I opened the package, and I've grown more excited about it as I've found so many uses for it.

Hoping lightning would strike twice, I then purchased a Sunwayman D40a as a backup. I didn't realize at the time how BRIGHT a modern flashlight can be, even a relatively small one. What do I do with all of that? I think this light is well-suited to an LEO, but no recreational use has yet come to mind. My little Zebralight has been more than enough light to hike at night and underground, and I haven't even tried a 14500.

The great thing about an AA light? If I decide not to keep it, I can gift it to someone who will be grateful. Is there something I haven't realized yet? Some compelling reason for a city liver to have that much light?

More importantly for me is the runtime. Big lumens are fun, but not always practical. More runtime, however, means not carrying any backup cells when I go backpacking. And having the option of 1000lm is NICE, but not used very often. I'll run 300lm or less for longer periods of time.

Now these 3000lm+ lights oo:

I have the h600w and thr h52w. I now prefer the h600w because of the runtime. I don't really use the 1k lumens it can put out on high. In fact, I don't even go above the lowest high setting, which is like 150 or something. Mostly, I use the low modes and mid modes. But again, it is nice to have the output if needed and the runtimes are much better with the 18650 headlamp.

The story is different for my s200c2. I really only use it on high, putting out a bit over 1k lumen. It's used when hiking when I need distance spotting of trail markers and landmarks.

ahtoxa11 said:

I have the h600w and thr h52w. I now prefer the h600w because of the runtime. I don't really use the 1k lumens it can put out on high. In fact, I don't even go above the lowest high setting, which is like 150 or something. Mostly, I use the low modes and mid modes. But again, it is nice to have the output if needed and the runtimes are much better with the 18650 headlamp.

The story is different for my s200c2. I really only use it on high, putting out a bit over 1k lumen. It's used when hiking when I need distance spotting of trail markers and landmarks.

Click to expand...

Same here! If my S200C2 twist head somehow got stuck on high mode, I probably wouldn't even care.

People don't realize how bright 1000 lumens is. If you're in a very dark area, you really don't need it in a lot of situations. However, I find it useful in Central Park when I walk my dog. The lights in Central Park are pretty bright, but they make areas beyond them appear much darker. I need at least 1000 lumens to cut through to make sure there are no possible threats hiding somewhere...


Sent from my iPhone using Candlepowerforums

it's good for blinding a possible assailant. it's also good for getting someone's attention in an emergency

it's good for search and rescue......the only downside is the poor run time but if you were in a situation where you really needed it, you wouldn't be worrying about how much the batteries cost

It's amazing how much more important the reflector/emitter type becomes after you try a lot of different lights. I sometimes see people complaining in online reviews about "a" being not much brighter than "b" light even though "b" was 10x cheaper. If it's a throwy light, even a cheapo Ebay special can be pretty impressive. I wish you could have both in a single light, but not the cheap zoom types.

depending on the use.
F.e. My H600w sees 85 % of use as helmet light for night (trail) riding.
Here the high setting is great.

when typical other uses (hiking / caves) one needs low/med settings
... for runtime and for not "outblinding" the other ppl with their "typical hiking lights"
(which are (for hikers/backpackers) "well known makers" and their expensive plastic low output lights)

When you're looking around outside at far distances the lumens really get eaten up fast. I don't often need to do such a task, but when I do I am sure glad to have plenty of power. Sometimes when I go on night hikes I like to keep things more dark, but other times I like to light everything up a whole lot for fun.

It's amazing how wet asphalt sucks the light. Even 900-1000 lm doesn't seem to be enough.

Also, if you want to double the throw of a 250 lm flashlight you should get 4 of them. And that equals to 1000 lm. (Ofc you might consider different reflector and so on...)

Just yesterday I was lighting up the area under a house in the middle of the day. I used the Nitecore TM06vn for this task on the second-highest level because anything under that made it tough to see the whole area we were working on. I guess it was because our eyes were still somewhat adapted to the sunlight outside at that point. So even well over 1k lumens were very useful in that situation.

I don't use it very often, but having a ~1k setting is really useful for me. If I'm out hiking or running, then sometimes it helps to have a look what's a bit further ahead, especially if you're not certain of the route or looking for landmarks.

When I only had a 65 lumen headlamp, I used to carry a 14500 'pocket rocket' for this purpose, but not when I have a H600!

I use headlamps for home-owner projects, so that's mostly close-up work. But when poking around in the attic or crawlspace, it's often useful to be able to see to the other end of the house. A headlamp with a bright momentary burst mode keeps me from awkwardly fishing my hand light out of my pocket when wiring or plumbing.