Changing my thoughts on flashlight lumens

[Rastoff]

The prevailing thought on a flashlight to carry along with your regular carry gun is to get the brightest light you can carry. The idea is to blind the bad guy so he can't see you to shoot back.

That's a great idea in theory, but maybe not so great in real life. The value of a super bright light changes depending on venue. Outside the bright light can be very helpful and do exactly as the prevailing thoughts claim. However, add a light colored wall behind the bad guy or do this inside and the eyesight of the defender is compromised as well. This is very easy to test/validate.

I was just in a class that included two nights of low light training.

The first night was pistol training. We went into a shoot house and had to engage targets as we found them. Some were bad guys and some were innocent bystanders. We had to find them and make snap decisions to shoot or not.

With the light I had, 300 lumens, I instantly lost what little night vision I had when I turned the light on briefly. More, I was actually taken aback by the power of the light when I used it. Sure, it would have blinded the bad guy, but it really narrowed my ability to find him. Using it on the 40 lumen setting would have been much better.

The second night was done with the rifle and shotgun. On the rifle I had another 300 lumen light and a 100 lumen on the shotgun. This shooting was done on a regular range, outside.

Shotgun was done at 15 yards and the rifle was used at 15 and 25 yards. In these situations the 100 lumen was adequate and the 300 lumen was very nice. Because I was a fair distance from the reflective surface, neither light was blinding to me.


So, as a result of this training, I'm keeping the bright light on my long gun. I will keep the carry light on the lower setting. This is how I'm doing it based on my personal experience. If you're of the mind that you need the brightest light possible, I suggest looking for some night time or low light defensive classes. Maybe your mind will change too.

 

[rwsmith]

One of my crazy ideas.....

Use a very bright light, but put a red filter on it. The brightness will cause glare to the perp, but the red light won't ruin your night vision. I made my own red flashlight to read maps when I was doing astronomy. I could flip it on and see what I needed and flip it off and my eyes would still be light adjusted.

Or keep your red goggles handy with your gun in your dresser drawer.

 

[Kanewpadle]

Never saw the need for any more than 200 lumens. The last low light class I took it seemed everyone had 500-1000 lumens. Too each their own but they didn't shoot any better than did.

I'm not concerned about blinding my attacker. I want to identify him and let him know I mean business.

 

[MichiganScott]

I've got an older 160 lumen TLR-1 weapon light on my bedside M&P9 1.0 and a bunch of 130 lumen Polytac flashlights throughout the house. The first time I turned on the TLR-1 at 3am, the reflection off a white wall was physically painful. I learned my lesson on how to use lights in the house and can't understand why anyone would want one of the newer HL series lights for use inside.

 

[reppans]

I'm a former CPF (Candlepowerforums) flashaholic, and strongly agree with using low lumens and maintaining night vision. Although I lean heavily toward EDC and camping flashlight use, I understand the tactical applications. I estimate that I use 0.5/3/20/300 lumens about 50/40/9/1 % of the time, respectively. Using low outputs and maximizing your night vision has a number of advantages: batteries last forever, you can see well outside of the light's beam, "I can see you but you can't see me", and 300 lumens will feel like 1,500 lumens when you need it.

Personally, I find 0.5 lumens (moonlight mode) painfully bright when woken from sleep (reflecting off white walls and carpets), but that's what I would use to clear my home if a bump in the night got me out of bed. From a tactical perspective, my favorite flashlight 'feature' is a momentary max from moonlight/low (0.5/3lms). Survey the area with your night vision intact, and a seemingly weak light, and then when surprised by a bad guy, momentarily light him up in the face with 300 lms, then drop back to a low low to duck and cover.

However, the risk of using low lumens, and/or momentary max from low, is the additional step(s) to bring it up to blinding outputs.... will we be able to do it in moments of high stress. I personally prefer taking that risk, over blinding myself silly from the onset.

 

[kthom]

I too prefer lower lumen lights for close ranges. I do not and will not mount one on my handgun but I always have one handy. My favorite light for inside my home and in my small yard is a barely 100 lumen light by 5.11 that uses two AA batteries. I can see very well with it inside my home, and I don't have to worry so much about bounce back light from reflective surfaces inside my home. If I were still out in the wide open spaces along highways, I'd like a higher power light such as the 300 or so lumen ones that use two 123 batteries. There are very few reflective surfaces there and the opportunity to use that brighter light are much greater under those circumstances. I thought when the Maglights (D Cells) came out that I could really see well with them, but they are not a patch on what these smaller light produce today. But I have no need for a light brighter than 300 lumens and would be happy with 250. That bright light can bounce back off a nicely painted wall with satin finish paint on it during hours of darkness. Most places have enough ambient light inside to allow pretty good vision without a light, except for the purpose of certainly identifying a target. A brief flash of light is much better for me under those circumstances than is a steady beam of it. I do not use or carry lights that produce multiple levels of lumens. I want one level and I want to be able to either flash the light myself momentarily or click it on for a steady beam. These are just my personal preferences!

 

[ContinentalOp]

I typically have 2 flashlights on me when I'm out and about, a 4Sevens Quark X 123^2 clipped to my pocket and a Fenix PD20 on my keychain. The Quark is set up to have about 360 lumens as the default setting, but twisting the head brings it down to around 80. I've practiced switching power levels one-handed. The Fenix is about 100 lumens. I can't remember the exact numbers.

Even at night, I'm not anywhere that doesn't have at least some ambient light so preserving night vision is not as much of a concern for me. And my own experiments tell me that 360 lumens can glare, but not debilitatingly so, when reflecting off white walls. Plus, I consider my lights as potential improvised self defense tools, either by impact or using the light. I've seen firsthand how disorienting shining a bright light into someone's eyes can be, even as low as 60 lumens in a well-lit room.

With that said, I do have some concerns about waking up in the middle of the night and using such a bright light, so I keep an older incandescent Surefire E2E, with about 80 lumens, on my nightstand. My experiments so far have shown that works for me.

Whether you prefer max output lights or something with a lower power rating, experimenting and evaluating your environments is something each person should do to find out what works best for them.

With that said, based on the posts here I will probably re-evaluate my Quark's settings and possibly switch it around with 80 lumens as my default setting.

 

[Mister X]

I don't feel a super high output light is necessary, especially for indoor use. I do have a lower limit, but it's not all lumens. Candela and focus pattern of the beam matter a great deal as well. I've been experimenting with different lights over the last year and found a Streamlight with an advertised 250 lumens has a very different effect on my own night vision than a 120 lumen Surefire. The Streamlight has a much different focus(much wider pattern) and has less negative impact on my own night vision. It also does a better job IMO of illuminating an entire room rather than putting out a narrower, very bright beam light like the Surefires which make it more difficult to see peripherally.

 

[Rastoff]

Found this little tid bit. Very interesting info.

Candela v. Lumens

Confused by the lumens and candela listed for your flashlight? Here are some helpful definitions.


Lumens – The measure of the total amount of light from a given source. Not the actual brightness since the total light output is unfocused.

Candela – The power emitted by a light source in a particular direction. 1 candela = 1 “standard candle”

Candela is more important than lumens in a flashlight, lantern, etc. because candela is the actual measure of brightness in a focused beam. The lumen is a term referring to total light output, and is not a measure of the light when it is focused in one direction.


Comparing Lights Using Candela and Lumens - To compare candela versus lumens, it is always useful to understand that these are terms for entirely different properties of light. They do not mean the same thing. So when shopping for a flashlight or lantern, you should consider the job the light will perform.

If the light’s job is to illuminate a room, a field, or other wide areas, or if power/battery use is a concern, a higher lumen rating is what you want. If the light’s job is to produce a beam that will penetrate fog or smoke, or if you want to illuminate the length of an alley, see what’s in the tree tops and power lines or look at people/objects at a great distance, a higher candela rating is what you want.

By comparing lights in this fashion, you will make a more accurate decision on whether candela or lumens serve your purposes.

Very few manufacturers of flashlights give specifications in both lumens and candela.

 

[richbuff]

I thought about attaching a small flashlight to a standard size hand-held firearm, but I have not yet, pending giving the matter additional thought.
I live west of the Mississippi in hilly country, and I walk a few miles nightly with a very large dedicated thrower and/or a very large flooder and/or a very large power thrower. (TN42vn, X45vn, X65vn)
Do I want to see what I am shooting at, or do I want to possibly shoot what I am looking at?
When I walk my miles at night, I spend a lot more time looking than shooting. Therefore, I am thinking about attaching a very small firearm to a very large flashlight, instead of attaching a very small flashlight to a medium size firearm.

 

[Whitwabit]

I carry a MH12 by Nitecore ..
High: 1000 Lumens / 1hr 15min
Mid: 240 Lumens / 6hrs
Low: 70 Lumens / 28hrs
Lower: 1 Lumens / 520hrs

allows either a low lumen beam or one you can see 100 yards to the fence line ..

With the number of multiple lumen lites sold .. there is really no need to be using one with a single setting !!

 

[Weimar]

I carry a MH12 by Nitecore ..
High: 1000 Lumens / 1hr 15min
Mid: 240 Lumens / 6hrs
Low: 70 Lumens / 28hrs
Lower: 1 Lumens / 520hrs

...

how tough is the flashlight? I looked online and it looks solid.

I used to buy cheaper lights and now only buy nice ones, they last and work!

 

[soFlaNative]

Very few manufacturers of flashlights give specifications in both lumens and candela.

Thanks for that info.
Candela rating would help me as I have yet to find an LED
that will pierce fog and smoke as well as an incandescent.

 

[Mister X]

Speaking of Lumens vs Candela

Check out this comparison between two Maglites...

Maglite 3 D-cell LED
Lumens -168
Candela- 42,533
Beam distance- 412 M
Run time- 80 hours

Maglite 3 D-cell ML300L
Lumens-625
Candela-41,200
Beam distance-406m
Run time on high-16 hours

 

[Whitwabit]

how tough is the flashlight? I looked online and it looks solid.

I used to buy cheaper lights and now only buy nice ones, they last and work!

Been banging it around now for 2 1/2 years and stick it on the charger about every 2 weeks with the amount I use it ..

I will buy another !!