Price per lumen/etc winners?

I figured there ought to be *some* threads for those on a budget. There's only so much drooling to be done before it gets old.

Has a survey been done for the best deals, a la price per lumen?

I just picked up a Dorcy Spyder for about $20 (at Lowe's) that says it shines at about 120 lumens (119.i-forget), and I think I believe it, since it is more than twice as bright as the PrincetonTec Blaster Rage I had ($12), rated at 41 lumens. So the small side winner is about 6 lumens per $.

My winner for the large is the Thor Cyclops 15M candle at CostCo for $29, which is about 500,000 candles per $.

I'm guessing that custom jobs might improve on these, but factoring in the price should make it interesting.

The dorcyu's lumen count is peak bulb lumen, so in the real world you are getting about 80 out of the lens, and 50-60 on average.

lumen inflation is used by everyone except Surefire, HDS, and a few other more reliable companies.

I think one of those no-brand single white led squeeze keychain lights might contend for low price lumens per watt considering how cheap (way less than a dollar) they are per item.

The off-brand plastic lights in the $1 bin are going to win on $/lumen every time, so I'm not sure that's an interesting criterion by itself.

How about: Best $/lumen in reliable lights with LEDs, aluminum bodies and reasonably available batteries, under $50?

When I say ``reliable'', I'm thinking ``not guaranteed to fail'', rather than ``guaranteed not to fail''. Remember, we're talking low cost, so Surefire, Gladius and HDS are right out, despite their quality.

I've been looking at the Nuwai TM-301X-3 (see http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/nuwai_tm301x3.htm ). At about $43 for maybe 70 lumens or so (see the claim at amondotech: http://www.amondotech.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=816 ), it's about 61 cents per lumen. The lithium 123 batteries are stretching the ``reasonably available battery'' point a bit, maybe.

The Pelican M6 LED looks tempting, but it's about $60 for about 40 lumens, so too pricey for me and a bad $/L ratio.

Getting a bit more serious about available batteries, how about the streamlight Jr? That looks like about $30 for 30 lumens. If you have a minimag, how about the Terralux Ministar-2? Less than $30 for about 25 lumens.

I hope that others can fill in some other candidates that are in the $1-a-lumen-or-better range.

Better than a dollar per lumen? Definitely the Dorcy Metal Gear Lux for $18; all the other Dorcy 2L incans; Mag 2D and above; Streamlight TL-3; and maybe the winner would be the P Tec Surge if you got it for $15.

LumenHound said:

I think one of those no-brand single white led squeeze keychain lights might contend for low price lumens per watt considering how cheap (way less than a dollar) they are per item.

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Hmm. It would be nice to have a number. I've only been looking at keychain led.s in the $5-10. However, all these that I've seen could be less than 1/10 as bright as the Spyder, but that's a visual guess. They would have to be about $1-2 to contend, if so. Somebody with light meter equip. would have to test the little guys that don't advertise any numbers, since I suspect visual impressions might be deceiving.

Lumens per watt might be interesting, and relevant to total-cost-of-ownership, but for me, lumens per $ at purchase is what converts to fun factor for me.

nelstomlinson said:

The off-brand plastic lights in the $1 bin are going to win on $/lumen every time, so I'm not sure that's an interesting criterion by itself.

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Since these are *so* much dimmer, I don't think that's a given, even at <$1. They would have to be > 6 lumens at a $1. I've no data, though.

270winchester said:

The dorcyu's lumen count is peak bulb lumen, so in the real world you are getting about 80 out of the lens, and 50-60 on average.

lumen inflation is used by everyone except Surefire, HDS, and a few other more reliable companies.

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Because these guys have priced themselves into their own category, they don't have to play the cheating game with the rest. However, even if they are twice as bright, they are more than twice as expensive, with the possible exception of the entry level Surefire G2™ Nitrolon at $34.00 for 65 lumens, assuming that Surefire lumens = 2x competitors' lumens.

Lumens seem to be prone to vagueness, but if 100% inflation is standard, that's disappointing, but not disillusioning.

Candlepower might be better since it specifies brightness delivered to an area, but none of the smaller lights seem to give this or any of the more precise scientific UOMs. More than one type of measurement should be required, really. Ask and ye shall receive:

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/features/chart_throw.htm has 2 nice comparisons, *not* based on lumens: "throw" and "output". The Surefire G2 P60 bulb, advertised as 65 lumens, shows 59.5 "throw" and 52 "overall", and the Dorcy Spyder advertised at 119 lumens, shows 67/61. This seems to validate the 90-100% inflation for some. Others, like the PrincetonTec Surge, advertising 115 lumens, shows 94/90, which indicates very little inflation, if you use Surefire as a basemark. The Surge at $25 might be a winner for true-output / $, and definitely at $15 (where? I saw was $22 at http://www.leisurepro.com ).

The keychain lights on this page seem to be around 4/2 throw/output. Assuming this mean 3-8 lumens, they would have to be $.40 to $1.50 to beat the Surge at $.21/lumen (retail $25).

Well, if its not dependent on it being a small flashlight I own a 1.5 million cp Vector rechargable Spotlight that has a metal body and seems to be fairly durable that I payed about $20 for. I also have a 3 million cp light with a similar body that I paid $30 for. Not sure what the lumen output would be, but I doubt there are few things in the same price range that could beat the. I've carried the 1.5 million with the shoulder strap many times for outdoor adventures, it has pretty good runtime. Not the lightest, but certainly one of the brightest. Oops, didn't see the part about the Thor 15 million cp, but that thing is huge, lol.

I also got lucky and found a Surge for around $15. Oh yeah and I think the Mag 6D I bought on clearance last week would be fair to put in this category, probably around 60 lumens or so for $9.