Stevie
Newly Enlightened
The one thing that really drives me nuts is when manufacturers put two output levels too close together, or too far apart, with no real regard for the spacing between output or the runtimes. WHY DO THEY DO THIS! :shakehead
Ok, I am no expert, but to my eyes, perceived light outputs follow that old chestnut, the square law, whereby to get double the perceived light, you must quadruple the lumen output. A couple of lights I have follow this rule quite nicely, indeed when stepping up through the levels the output appears to roughly double each time. Perhaps more importantly, the runtimes are also well spaced.
I was after an AA light recently for EDC and mentioning no names
....I have seen lights that jump from 10 lumens (25 hour run time) to 70 lumens (3 hour run time). So we have gone from 25 hours to just 3 hours?? There is no real perceived difference in 70 lumens and 50 lumens - so why not make the level 50 lumens and save some power - and have a nice run time with more power that actually lasts a working day without changing cells?
Another manufacturer brought out a 2 cell 123 light ages ago, marketed for "outdoor use" but I noticed at the time it had something like 10 lumens for 80 hours (fine) then 200 lumens for 3 hours, bit of a jump? - and then 280 lumens for 2 hours (what!) ... so the outdoor guy either has a low level light which is only good around camp and in the tent , or he has a high power blaster (200 lumens was high power back then..) for either 3 or 2 hours.... his choice...where is the middle mode please which will give the best compromise between power and run-time and will last 8-10 hours??
Grrr....:scowl:
Rant over.
Ok, I am no expert, but to my eyes, perceived light outputs follow that old chestnut, the square law, whereby to get double the perceived light, you must quadruple the lumen output. A couple of lights I have follow this rule quite nicely, indeed when stepping up through the levels the output appears to roughly double each time. Perhaps more importantly, the runtimes are also well spaced.
I was after an AA light recently for EDC and mentioning no names
....I have seen lights that jump from 10 lumens (25 hour run time) to 70 lumens (3 hour run time). So we have gone from 25 hours to just 3 hours?? There is no real perceived difference in 70 lumens and 50 lumens - so why not make the level 50 lumens and save some power - and have a nice run time with more power that actually lasts a working day without changing cells?Another manufacturer brought out a 2 cell 123 light ages ago, marketed for "outdoor use" but I noticed at the time it had something like 10 lumens for 80 hours (fine) then 200 lumens for 3 hours, bit of a jump? - and then 280 lumens for 2 hours (what!) ... so the outdoor guy either has a low level light which is only good around camp and in the tent , or he has a high power blaster (200 lumens was high power back then..) for either 3 or 2 hours.... his choice...where is the middle mode please which will give the best compromise between power and run-time and will last 8-10 hours??
Grrr....:scowl:
Rant over.
