What is your definition of a Practical light?

One that fits on my keychain. S2 Baton. And many, many others.

Another one that fits in my pocket. Emisar D4V2. And many, many others.

Another one that fits on my belt holster. Acebeam X45/X50 and Imalent MS06 and Thruinite TN42 and many, many others.

Another one that fits on my shoulder strap. Imalent MS18 and Lumintop GT94 and Mateminco MT90 Plus; and many, others.


What make a light impractical? When I want it to ride on my keychain/pocket/hip holster/shoulder strap and it is too big. Then I simply bump it up to the next higher stage of carry.

Runtime? If it has too much runtime at maximum power mode, I choose a smaller light that has same power, but less runtime.

If it has not enough runtime at max mode, I throttle back to a lower mode, or select a larger light.

What is your definition of a Practical light?

Practical light

1 :An illumination tool fit for its intended purpose without extraneous elements in its design or functionality.

2 :An illumination tool reliable within its intended field of use.

3 :An illumination tool intuitive in function and efficient in its application and design for its intended task.

This is an inherently subjective definition:
A reliable light that provides effortless utility across a reasonably broad set of circumstances the user is likely to encounter.

• Reliable : If you've got to futz with it or it goes out on you at the wrong moment you may suffer more than mere inconvenience
• Effortless utility : A combination of the design and user's experience should equal ease of use with minimal adjustment or manipulation of the flashlight
• Reasonably broad set of circumstances that the user is likely to encounter : While no light can possibly do everything, a practical light should accommodate a reasonable cross-section of situations for which it will be employed

Given the competing sets of needs that exist, any given person might have several practical lights for a variety of situations.

I've personally got so little use for throwers to the point that they're not practical and sit on the shelf >95% of the time. Conversely, someone in different circumstances might need throw and find flood counterproductive to their purposes. I can get by with inexpensive moderately robust lights while someone else might need something that could survive being dropped several meters onto concrete or similar rough treatment.

For me, my EDC lights are lipstick jobbies with 16340s, have clips and disappear in my pocket.

I'll carry my larger SC600/D4V2, but those times are rare.

I'm a city slicker, so finding Bessie out in her field at 2am isn't a concern for me.

Chris

To me, practical means "push button, light comes on". Now to narrow it down some I'll add "and lights up what I need to see better".

Being a first worlder means I have a bunch of flashlights laying around that serve various tasks be it a bit of light at 2am or a bunch of light after sunset. And that gets whittled down even further in order to either spread out light to light up a vast area or throw it forward to light up the distance.

Now the two most "practical" lights (at least to me) are an incan 3D Maglite from the 1980's with a spare bulb in the tailcap or a yellow body SureFire G2x Pro. Everything else I own is just for convenience. See, the Maglite works every time, isn't ridiculously bright at 2am but can spot my black dog at 100 paces. The G2x provides a nice beam for general use at start up with an option to put out a beam similar to the headlight on my car.

Strangely enough I don't carry either one because I own pocket sized numbers that can do the same thing as those two.

+

Thought about which light I'v used the most in the last 5~7 years,, my D25LC2 Mini or 'Twisty'
(no switch to get flaky)

..if EagleTac made it in a 21700, I'd get two.

bykfixer said:

Strangely enough I don't carry either one because I own pocket sized numbers that can do the same thing as those two.

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I don't think it's strange at all, BF. The old expression that 'the best xxx is the one you have with you' might be applied here too. The 'best' flashlight may be the 'one you have with you', and it might be argued that, by definition, the most 'practical' flashlight is also the 'one you have with you'. I think form factor and ease of transport / use and suitability for a wide variety of anticipated possible tasks / uses should factor heavily in what is deemed 'practical'. From my standpoint, the one in my pocket is, by definition, highly 'practical', and that's in fact why it's in my pocket. I think I make the 'most practical' decision every day when it goes into my pocket. If one were to accept that, I'd figure the 'pocket sized numbers' you actually carry are more practical than the ones you mentioned earlier in the post. I could be very wrong (as I've been many times in the past, but I figured I'd put that perspective on the table for consideration.

Most practical light will vary person to person, depending on their use , surroundings etc...
For me the Nitecore MH20 has been my most carried light so far.For almost 6 years ,Iam using this beloved flashlight.
Two stage switch,direct access to low/turbo,battery level indicator,onboard charging,beautiful beam with perfect flood and throw combo,compact size,good run time ......and so on
So for me the definition of practical light is Nitecore MH20.

aznsx said:

I don't think it's strange at all, BF. The old expression that 'the best xxx is the one you have with you' might be applied here too. The 'best' flashlight may be the 'one you have with you', and it might be argued that, by definition, the most 'practical' flashlight is also the 'one you have with you'. I think form factor and ease of transport / use and suitability for a wide variety of anticipated possible tasks / uses should factor heavily in what is deemed 'practical'. From my standpoint, the one in my pocket is, by definition, highly 'practical', and that's in fact why it's in my pocket. I think I make the 'most practical' decision every day when it goes into my pocket. If one were to accept that, I'd figure the 'pocket sized numbers' you actually carry are more practical than the ones you mentioned earlier in the post. I could be very wrong (as I've been many times in the past, but I figured I'd put that perspective on the table for consideration.

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Well said az. Well said.

You can't buy an impractical light nowadays. I already tried. I searched the Parametric site by brand and ran across a Wow tac. Got to be a clown act there right? I ordered one, an A1s in neutral color, ha.
I figured I will get it, have a good laugh and give it to someone I don't like and tell them it's better than an Atomic Beam. I got the light, charged it up and took it with me on the nightly night hike with a proven practical light to compare. That didn't work because it is actually a really good light and "practical". It now shares time with the rest of the practical lights in my rotation. You can't lose for winning!

Small enough to carry with you at all times (pocket or holster sized), waterproof enough for any weather conditions, has a rechargeable option for batteries for everyday use, can use lithium primaries for cold weather and long term storage, is durable enough to survive drops and doesn't overheat (protection from high temperatures if it gets hot), made from good materials that don't rust or corrode, has brightness settings that accommodate over 90% of your needs, has to have long enough runtime to accomplish your tasks, ability to use for tasks hands free (tailstands, has a magnet, is a headlight, has a hat clip, etc. To sum it up, it has to be reliable in all conditions, usable for all tasks, and portable enough to carry at all times.

+

Practicality depends 100% on the situation

or

'the right tool for the job'

___________________

Overall, almost nothing beats a good headlamp for general practicality.

hsa said:

You can't buy an impractical light nowadays. I already tried. I searched the Parametric site by brand and ran across a Wow tac. Got to be a clown act there right? I ordered one, an A1s in neutral color, ha.
I figured I will get it, have a good laugh and give it to someone I don't like and tell them it's better than an Atomic Beam. I got the light, charged it up and took it with me on the nightly night hike with a proven practical light to compare. That didn't work because it is actually a really good light and "practical". It now shares time with the rest of the practical lights in my rotation. You can't lose for winning!

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Even bad flashlights aint bad these days.

I think nailing down a set of specifications to call something practical can lead to problems. Especially as each person has their own use case. I just like looking around in the dark. But there are people who do search and rescue. There's also police officers. We all have different use for our lights.
That being said, I think I can shed some of my own personal opinion with some criteria.
With today's high power LEDs and exceptionally capable high drain lithium batteries, It's possible to have a very small flashlight put out an incredible amount of lumens. But how useful that is.... I'm not so sure.
My first "good" flashlight after getting into the hobby and joining this site was a solar force L2M with a vihn made drop in with an XM-L2 at 3.4A with an op reflector. Because I thought that I needed over a thousand lumens. The problem is besides the P60 drop in heat sinking issues, which I feel doesn't make them a very good LED host, was that having such a large die in such a small reflector created a wall of light. Now for some people they may like that. And it sure does wow the user. But for me, try and use a light in the lower modes, did not light things up very well as it was just blowing photons everywhere.
Then I bought a solar force K3 head. MTG2 putting out around 2,200 lumens. Really cool light. Nice neutral emitter. Tons of output. And felt pretty good with an L2P and a single 18650 extension. But this had the same problem as the last light except for much worse. Even though it was in a 2-in turbo head, that LED is so huge that it was just a wall of light. And it needed to be on high to be able to really see anything or get any distance out of it. Using lights like this uses batteries quickly while creating a lot of heat.
Back in the day, a surefire 6p was considered a good bright light. And it made 60 lumens. But those lumens were crafted into a very nice beam. Which means you don't need as much output when it's focused properly. I have a streamlight poly stinger LED. On Max is 180 lumens. On low it's 40. Even that 40 lumen low will light up a couple hundred meters away. With plenty of spill to see everything in front of me.
For me that's practical. Sure that light is too big for an EDC. But you can get a small light that has a good beam. It just generally doesn't put out 2,200 lumens as well. And my point being that if it's a well-designed reflector or optic and LED combo, you don't need a huge amount of output to be very useful. Which saves battery. And gives better consistent brightness.
Unfortunately, and nowadays people think a light is low quality if it doesn't put out 1500 lumens or more. The quality of the product has nothing to do with the output. (Looking at maglite haters)
So I guess after that rant that is my definition of a practical light. Something that can get decent run time on high without a noticeable amount of dimming or overheating. A light that has a well-focused beam and an intense hotspot to be able to see things in the distance without ruining your peripheral vision with huge amounts of photon scattering all over the place

For me, a light is practical only if it is simple to use.

A light being simple is necessary, not sufficient, for being practical. There are other necessary qualities for being practical, but the simplicity aspect is one of the most important to me.

Yeah I too feel the beam quality /reflector aspect also matters.Even if my other similar sized edc flashlights puts out more lumens (~2000-3000lumens),somehow with the 1000 lumens from Nitecore mh20 ,I feel more comfortable.The high mode of around 400 lumens is plenty for all my outdoor activities.It lights up everything near and at distance pretty well imho.I think its reflector quality and clear glass helps to put out the light more efficiently .

Just being bright alone doesn't improve its practicality or usability.I guess efficiency is also a major factor,even if it's reflector efficiency,led thermal efficiency or circuit runtime efficiency /battery standby drain etc, that makes it more practical and useful.