Runtime vs. ......

I admit I am not a flashaholic. In a situation of social breakdown I think 50 hours of 50 lumens would be better than 5 hours of 500 lumens. :duh2:

There's a time and place, but lights in general are getting better at performing at both extremes now.

alnico357 said:

I admit I am not a flashaholic. In a situation of social breakdown I think 50 hours of 50 lumens would be better than 5 hours of 500 lumens. :duh2:

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The voice of reason. Yessssssss


To add; in social breakdown scenario unless you're well armed or friends with the gang leader a 500 lumen flashlight will get you killed quicker than a 50 lumen one.

Happy New Year!!!

I'm with you alnico357 (and bykfixer).

Quality, exceeds quantity, for me.

Apples to oranges for the example given. I have found 50 lumens will do everything 70 can. Same for 10 vs 15. A little lower on a level that the human eye can hardly decern can give much longer runtimes. But then again does it really matter? For an EDC I charge or change the battery at my leisure. In the woods I want max runtimes.

I don't really get what's the point here, is it time to create multimodes flashlights ?

bykfixer said:

The voice of reason. Yessssssss


To add; in social breakdown scenario unless you're well armed or friends with the gang leader a 500 lumen flashlight will get you killed quicker than a 50 lumen one.

Happy New Year!!!

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I would say that answer is more dependent on tactics rather lumens.

Imo both options saves lives, run times for out door duration that might become a lot lot longer than planned!. Brighter out puts to stun or make aware of your presence(animals or humans).

My answer would be a light that has both covered , or as close as possible..........

alnico357 said:

I admit I am not a flashaholic. In a situation of social breakdown I think 50 hours of 50 lumens would be better than 5 hours of 500 lumens. :duh2:

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Yep.

The real problem here is weather. Ice storms and blizzards and very long nights. At that point you don't need a ton of lumens for a few nearly as much as you need a few lumens for a ton.

Raggasonic said:

I don't really get what's the point here, is it time to create multimodes flashlights ?

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I guess my personally designed FL would be a rather large (2C) light for extended run time. Perhaps two settings; 50 lumens and 300 lumens. I just returned a light to a box retailer. It was a 3C with a 500 lumen high, a low, and strobe. It crushed the battery terminals in and nixed the contacts. My point is, for me, run time is very important. (I do know multi-mode lights exist.)

My EDC cop light is a little ole Streamlight TL 2 with a measly 160 lumens.

Plenty of light with plenty of runtime.

I keep a Fenix LD10 - XP-G (R5) In my get home bag.

It can go down to 3 lumens. That way if I have to do something like rad a map or navigate in the woods, I can do so with minimal lighting that might attract unwanted attention.

Almost all of my EDC lights now have a sub-lumen mode on them for the same reason.

I have to say I'm impressed with the run times of some of the newer lights. The 950 lumen Olight S2 has an hour more of run time on the same 18650 than my Fenix PD32UE (740 lumens). Same can be said for some of my newer CR123 and AA lights. 20%-40% more run time than lights that are just 2-3 years old. But some brands are still stuck in the past.

The runtime tradeoff is the reason variable or multiple output lights exist. Sometimes you need maximum output but most times you don't. The Surefires with 5-15 lumen lows and 125-300 lument highs cover most situations. I personally prefer Malkoff M361s and HDS which have a bright but long running medium output. The ultra low of the HDS is an added bonus. I have a few single output level lights for specific purposes, some situations demand minimum complexity. I don't believe that one light works in every situation, that's why there are so many choices.

Just my observation over the years: Family room idling, ceiling-bounced ~100 lumens. Idling by yourself, ceiling-bounced ~25 lumens. Idling by yourself, direct light, ~2 lumens.

The guy who lights his house like the power's still on during a power outage may begin regretting his choice on night two..

Don't forget the battery powered radio.

Yeah, but I do like seeing whats out there for short bursts. I finally got my thrunite archer 2c.
while walking outside the .24 lumens is a stretch for seeing anything farther than a few feet away. I can walk or even run with 14 lumens, 180 lumens lets me see in color anything within ~ 30 meters, 840 lumens lights up an entire large tree like day.
The runtimes on everything but max is long enough for me to not worry about running out of battery in one night. The two low modes would be great for full blackouts with the flashlight constantly on all night for a week or more. I am able to navigate inside fine with the firefly mode pointed at the ceiling.
If I had to have a single mode flashlight for an extended emergency, I would probably go for a single AA light with a brightness of 10 lumens (over say 120 lumens) because it would be enough for nearby tasks and it would be able to run longer than 24 hours on a single cell.

StarHalo said:

Family room idling, ceiling-bounced ~100 lumens. Idling by yourself, ceiling-bounced ~25 lumens. Idling by yourself, direct light, ~2 lumens.

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This is spot-on for me, too!