Difference between low and power saver

It dawned on me early today that some people prefer a low setting on their flashlight while others prefer power saver. Me? I prefer both. A power saver and a low to go with full output.

Yet many light makers will take a 65% output and call it "low". Then their specs tout the massive increase in run time. It's more of a power saver setting than a low according to the logic that woke me out of a sound sleep at 3am.

Low (in my mind) would be say, 25% output or less. Realizing it's not really up to us what light maker A or B chooses to name a setting that is less than full output. But if said company did ask a bunch of flashlight nuts what to call an output of say 65% or say 20% what would you call it? This is presuming it is a 2 setting flashlight.

I personally subscribe to the Malkoff/Elzetta school of low. Maybe 10% of high? A'la the Hound Dog 18650, various MD2's and 3's, Wildcats, Bravos, and Charlies. High level to keep your hand warm, and low bright enough for walking around, maybe usable indoors. This is all assuming outdoor multi-cell lights. EDC single cell stuff I like a super low for midnight snack runs, not waking Mrs. Scout, etc. Milky, when he was still active here, had "full power" and "mizer" modes on some builds. 4 taps on the switch cut all outputs visually in half, and extended runtime 3-4 times. That's my idea of power saver

I like to idea of a "low" setting being enough to be useable in a general sense, like what a 2 cell incan used to do. Depending on a lot of factors that can be 5-25. Like the EDCL-2T says 5 but my gosh that 5 looks mighty bright. Or the SureFire G2x Pro being around 15. PK lights choose around 20.

What prompted my thinking was when I grabbed a late model Maglite and clicked it to what would be called low by most. It's kinda like a car starting out in 3rd (out of 4) gear. Not low in my view. Tony calls it power saver. Now his "low" is called eco, which to me signify's some kind of envrionmental friendly thing. Perhaps it's short for economy? Power save mode by some would be medium where you get near full appearing output with huge run time improvement. To call that low makes us flashlight fans typically say "that's just too bright to be called low". Heck some would say 1 lumen is too bright to be called low.

Yes I like the Malkoff/Elzetta approach to a low setting. I also like how they achieve it mechanically. That allows me to feel like it's user serviceable. It would also have the potential to be adjustable if one knows how to. I don't but I'm sure some here do though.

Anyway I just got to wondering what others call an output reduction mode that is at least half of full output. Or what is a threshold for low? Take the newest ProTac HL5 where low is over 100 lumens. Is that "low" to some or "super saver mode"?

I like having both, too. For low, I like having between 10 and 30 lumens depending on the beam pattern, and mostly it's 10% or less of full power. The only power saver mode (as you put it) that I have experience with is the 50% mode on Convoy torches with Biscotti. They work nice to avoid heat buildup and really stretch out the runtime, with barely noticeable difference in brightness from 100%.

Byk, Fenix has been using the "eco" denomination meaning "battery ECOnomy" for I believe some 7 or 8 years. The first PD35 already called its 10-ish lumen mode Eco.

I struggle to call anything over 50Lm a low mode, regardless of maximum output. "low" should be able to adequately light up a dark room or area in close proximity. Nothing more. Even only 10% of a light with 1000Lm maximum output would still be 100Lm. Way too high to be called a "low" mode. 100Lm is no small amount of light, like the work "low" would suggest.

Personally, I like a low mode to be below 30Lm, but above 5lm. This depends on the light.

As for "energy saving" or "Eco" modes, I always thought those would be around 0,5 – 5 Lumens? Perhaps I'm missing something, but 50% of maximum output, when Max. is 500lm (for example), would still be 250Lm and by no means energy saving. But I understand that many manufactures instead call this a firefly or moonlight mode, which is in essence the same thing.

I use "Lower power modes"
almost exclusively.

Olumin said:

I struggle to call anything under 50Lm a low mode, regardless of maximum output. -snip-

Click to expand...

Going by the rest of your reply, don't you mean over 50lm?

Ups, of cause. Edited.

I think Moonlight or Firefly modes are the only modes you can attatch real Lumen figures to, the rest really has to be as a percentage of total power available and therefore it`s not possible to attatch a fixed lumen value to. Having said that, I`d probably go with High being 100%, Mid 50% and Low 25% or less, I don`t like using the term "Turbo" because I think it sounds silly in relation to flashlights.

I like about 15-20 lumens for low, not much need for more than that up close. For high I like a timed step down to 50-75% after 10 minutes or so. I know most here hate lights that step down, but I like the idea that the light automatically extending battery life and reducing heat build up. If I'm running a light for more than 10 min., chances are I don't need full output, but I do need extended battery life.....I think of it as a hidden battery saver mode that I don't need to think about.

This discussion highlights why I almost never use lights without at least three brightness levels, and prefer more than that. Every two mode light I've ever used has left me feeling like I'm either wasting battery with too much light or I don't have enough light. No matter how you space them it just can't cover enough range. Sorta like driving an old three on the tree where it just always feels like you're not quite in the appropriate gear.

For me, a low is 5 lumens or less. A power saver mode is a medium between 20-60 lumens. I want that setting to run at least all night regulated without a battery change. That's the setting I use the most while hiking. High is the running or bike riding setting (100-500 lumens). Turbo is 1000+ lumens for route finding and signalling.

I think of "Low" as being something under 30 lumens and more closer to 10-20 lumens. Anything brighter than say 50 lumens is just a power saver mode to me. Especially the ones that approach 150 lumens. I recall back when 350 lumens was considered "scorchingly" bright and people routinely commented about how unnecessary it was to have something so bright. If I were to make a light with only two outputs accessible by one hand, those two outputs would be 15-20 lumens and 800 lumens. except that I would also want to have a special .5 to 1 lumen output as well. For those times when you're in a movie theater as the movie is starting when you feel something fall out of your pocket and you're not sure if it was the change from the concessions or your keys.

As said above, the terms "low, medium and high" are relative with no innate numbers applicable.

"Turbo" to me means an unsustainable level higher than "high".

"Moonlight" and "firefly" are words that I feel do have lumen values, no more than 2 and .5 respectively.

"Battery saver" is a mode I haven't encountered in my purchases outside of HDS's burst setting, but the principle of reducing output by half to more than double battery life is a sound one.