Flashlight Terminology

Hello...been reading threads...but not sure I understand 100% of those therms. Need somebody explain those words in easy english understanding.

Mainly these 3 words came out often in L2 vs. A2 threads.

Incan: got no clue.

Flood: Here is my guess. Flood linking "water flood", means cover everywhere....so lights cover broad area instead of tension on one beam of focus light??

Throw: distance light travel? Good throw see far away. Poor throw close.

People say..."L2 not much throw but an incredible area coverage" How can Hi 100L be..."poor throw"?? Confused me logically. So i think i don't understand words correctly. If i misunderstood, please correct me.

Sorry for lack of knowledge in English. I am working hard on it.

Incan=incandescent bulb, i.e. the light bulb.

Flood denotes a beam which is broad in coverage, but doesn't throw far, with throw being defined as the light's ability to project a beam a great distance.

Some lights put out a good amount of light, but can't reach a distant object. Output is usually defined by a Lumen, which is total light output. Some use "candlepower" which is the measurement of the brightest point in the light's beam.

A light with a certain lumens will have a constant output measured in Lumens, regardless of beam characteristics (i.e. flood or spot/throw). A light with a high candlepower rating will usually have a fosused beam with lots of throw.

--dan

wuyeah said:

Hello...been reading threads...but not sure I understand 100% of those therms. Need somebody explain those words in easy english understanding.

Mainly these 3 words came out often in L2 vs. A2 threads.

Incan: got no clue.

Flood: Here is my guess. Flood linking "water flood", means cover everywhere....so lights cover broad area instead of tension on one beam of focus light??

Throw: distance light travel? Good throw see far away. Poor throw close.

People say..."L2 not much throw but an incredible area coverage" How can Hi 100L be..."poor throw"?? Confused me logically. So i think i don't understand words correctly. If i misunderstood, please correct me.

Sorry for lack of knowledge in English. I am working hard on it.

Click to expand...

Incan = short or slang for incandescant. The type of bulb technology, a wire heated up and glowing basically.

Flood = spread out or an area light.

Throw = As you said, how far the beam will go. A tighter beam will send more of it's lumens in a more coherant direction instead of just all over the place. This is a function of the reflector (or optic in some LED's).

A light with 100 lumens can have terrible throw because that light might not be focused tightly, so it is just going everywhere. A typical 40 watt refrigerator bulb is something close to 800 lumens, but it's not what anyone would call a throw monster. Even a 1700ish 100 watt bulb doesn't throw very far. But if somebody were to make a reflector that focused all that light tightly, it would be an insane thrower.

Craig at the ledmuseum.org has a page with useful acronyms that we tend to use on CPF (and his is great site to read twice or more a week, anyway).