BRIGHTEST FLASHLIGHT

UrbanExplorer

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I have always had this belief that technology advances exponentially. No clue if this is true or not but the older I get the more plausible it seems. We made more progress between 1900-2000 than we did between 1700-1800 due to more discoveries to build upon. The same has proved to gen true in the LED world. Especially in 2017. The past few mosts I've been having a very hard time keeping up with which LED flashlights produce the most light.

I remember when the Nitecore TM26 was top 5 at 4000 lumens. Now their TM28 at 6000 lumens is Childs play. Olight came out with the x7 at 9000 lumens. The Imalent DT70 produces 12,500 lumens and the acebeam x45 beat that by 16,500 lumens. Now olight is coming out with the x9 rated at 25,000 lumens!

What is the brightest non-modded LED flashlight in production (or planned to be produced soon) today??

How about throwers? Is the thrunite TN42 at 1550m still the top LED thrower out there?
 

JohnnyBravo

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I think you nailed it so far; the X9 and TN42. I don't think it'd be too long before another OEM makes something to top either of those.

A few years ago, it seemed that Wicked Lasers' "The Torch" was the most powerful hand-held flashlight at 4000+ lumens. But that is an HID light not LED. I have no experience w/ HIDs but understand that they produce crazy heat.
 

UrbanExplorer

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Gotcha. I'm sure in exactly 1 month most of this info will be outdated haha. Do uk about those modded flashlights and howthey work? I heard about this mod called vn (i think it's the guys initials) and like a tn42vn has like 400+ m of throw. A bit sad that I found that out the day after I dumped 200 on a new light but who knows maybe I can mod afterwards. But do you know what that guy or other modders do???
 

Modernflame

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I think the recent spike in flashlight luminosity is more the result of marketing than technological advance. The next leap forward in technology will have to increase emitter efficiency so that less energy is converted to heat. To put it another way, the 25,000 lumen flashlight uses the same technology as the 500 lumen flashlight, except that the former has no realistic means of thermal management. Heat is an LED's mortal enemy.
 

INFRNL

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Gotcha. I'm sure in exactly 1 month most of this info will be outdated haha. Do uk about those modded flashlights and howthey work? I heard about this mod called vn (i think it's the guys initials) and like a tn42vn has like 400+ m of throw. A bit sad that I found that out the day after I dumped 200 on a new light but who knows maybe I can mod afterwards. But do you know what that guy or other modders do???

His name is Vinh Nguyen. He is a Vietnamese guy that lives in the NW (either Washington or Oregon)
Go to skylumens dot com and you can see his modified product, videos, history, etc.

He basically gets the most out of the lights possible. Has his own drivers, mods or changes emitters, etc, etc.

If you are into throwers and mass output he is one of the best out there. I believe he has his own thread in the modding area too

Definitely worth a look and he has a ton of great videos of reviews on the lights, performance of his mods, and comparisons
 

UrbanExplorer

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I think the recent spike in flashlight luminosity is more the result of marketing than technological advance. The next leap forward in technology will have to increase emitter efficiency so that less energy is converted to heat. To put it another way, the 25,000 lumen flashlight uses the same technology as the 500 lumen flashlight, except that the former has no realistic means of thermal management. Heat is an LED's mortal enemy.

Correct in fact I was just discussing this in another threat and apparently Cree is coming out with some technology (I think it was called NX??) and it produces 4x more flux than the xlamp or aka has 4x less heat. Further confirming this. But I will agree I always found it bizarre that no one dare touched the XHP70 but now that LED + the XHP30 HI are pretty much the only ones being used. Even XML-2's look like they're getting replaced by the XP-L HI.
 

UrbanExplorer

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His name is Vinh Nguyen. He is a Vietnamese guy that lives in the NW (either Washington or Oregon)
Go to skylumens dot com and you can see his modified product, videos, history, etc.

He basically gets the most out of the lights possible. Has his own drivers, mods or changes emitters, etc, etc.

If you are into throwers and mass output he is one of the best out there. I believe he has his own thread in the modding area too

Definitely worth a look and he has a ton of great videos of reviews on the lights, performance of his mods, and comparisons

Gotcha! Never knew much about the guy, will look into him.
 

INFRNL

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He's always working on new stuff too, he's already started on some of the newer lights that have recently released.

And i think​ he can/will mod just about anything that isn't potted.

If you don't see a particular light on his site you can always ask him via email and possibly by phone. Option are probably damn near endless from what I have seen or heard.

Some of his work, I don't even think he gets enough for his time and effort but he is the type of guy that just loves doing it.

You will find that he is really into throwers more than anything and he is all about putting the most light out.

I think you will enjoy what you find. I'm not into mass output or thowers at all, but I'm extremely impressed with his work. Also love watching his videos which show what the lights can do, especially when he compares them to other lights

Best of luck
 

CREEXHP70LED

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Yes the X9 will be 25,000 lumens, but needs a cooling fan inside it to keep it cool, so not my first choice. On the Vinh front, I stumbled upon a light bar from mtnelectronics. Vinh wanted his own version with more spot, as he likes spot over flood and they made a version just for him. I am looking for a new vehicle soon and if I buy a truck I will want one of those incredible light bars on my truck.
 

CREEXHP70LED

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How do his light bars compared to ridged industries?? They uses some real quality LED's and have crazy outputs.

It looks like the mtnelectronics light bars put out more than twice what Ridged light bars do check out their videos and pics.
 

Billy Ram

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Not too many years ago "not counting HIDs" incandescents were the brightest lights you could buy. If you wanted something brighter than the SureFires or Pelicans you had to build it. The m*g 85 was one of the favorites. My first bright led was a SureFire L5 LumaMax 100 lumens.
Billy
 

UrbanExplorer

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Update:
Please correct me if I am wrong.

Current furthest throwing flashlights:
1. LumenTop BLF GT (~2200m/~1800 Lumens)
2. Thrunite TN42 (1700m/2000 Lumens)
3. Acebeam K70 (1400m/2300 Lumens)

Current brightest flashlights:
1. Imalent DX80 (32,000 Lumens)
2. Acebeam X80 (25,000 Lumens)
3. Acebeam X45 (16,400 Lumens)
4. Imalent DT70 (16,000 Lumens)
5. Olight X7R (12,000 Lumens)
6. Thrunite TN36-2017 (10,000 Lumens)
 

Swedpat

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The question is also if you want "burst" lumens or a lumen level that actually can be used more than a very short time without step down until the heat will be too high or batteries no longer can sustain the requirable power.
Because of the lumen race the brightest offered flashlights give the impression that the development of LED effiency has reached a far higher level than it actually has. I personally prefer flashlights who are not over powered. Thrunite mini TN30 is such a light.
 

fivemega

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Current furthest throwing flashlights:
1. LumenTop BLF GT (~2200m/~1800 Lumens)
2. Thrunite TN42 (1700m/2000 Lumens)
3. Acebeam K70 (1400m/2300 Lumens)

Current brightest flashlights:
1. Imalent DX80 (32,000 Lumens)
2. Acebeam X80 (25,000 Lumens)
3. Acebeam X45 (16,400 Lumens)
4. Imalent DT70 (16,000 Lumens)
5. Olight X7R (12,000 Lumens)
6. Thrunite TN36-2017 (10,000 Lumens)

Are all of them honest claim? If so, do they stay same brightness for few seconds? Do they step down to 75% (or whatever) after 30 or so seconds?
 

donlong

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Feb 28, 2018
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Any word of new record breaking flashlight(brightness) for 2018?
 
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