How Many Lumens Is Too Many?

[Abraham]

Scanning GT Distributer catalog for flashlights for guns and other uses, I saw one claiming 1100 lumens.

Perhaps, more lumens the better, but 1100?

When does a flashlight become an aviation style searchlight?

[RoyGBiv]

The more I can take away the night vision of the person I'm pointing my light at, the more I like it.
Other than the trade offs between battery size and run time, "too many lumens" is like saying "too many guns".

IMO. YMMV. EIEIO.

[ELB]

Since you are looking at GTDistributors and this is the Texas CHL Forum, I guess you are looking at weapon lights or handhelds for self-defense?

From working through some indoor low-light/no-light exercises with my training partners, it seems that for indoor work, 100-200 lumens seems to be about right.

There's lots of mention of using light as a "weapon" or at least advantage by blinding your opponent, but you can just as easily blind yourself too. If you light up a room with light colored walls (or a mirror, that's real fun), a goodly amount of the light can be reflected back at you, and if you're using a megawatt...or megalumen...light, the reflected light can be enough to overpower your eyes. That's not helpful. I think the main purpose of a handheld-self-defense light or a weapon light is to quickly and briefly illuminate the scene . If you can blind and confuse your opponent, that's great, but secondary.

Outdoors, I like as much light as I can get, and there tend to be less reflective surfaces --- but I live in a rural area, and need more reach. Might be different on city streets. I have a (alleged) 750 lumen light from LA Police gear that I like a lot for general illumination, it is great for standing on the road and scanning the sides, lighting up the barn 100 yards away, etc, but in an enclosed room it can be a bit overpowering. They have a 1000 lumen version of the same light, but the bezel is bigger (and it's more expensive). I like the 750 one because it is a straight 1-inch tube from front to back, easy to carry.

Also, as a side note, I hate flashlight on/off buttons that control three light levels + strobe + coffeemaker and who knows what else. An on/off button should turn on the light when pressed, and shut it off when released. No clicking, just press. No press twice for High, three times for strobe, etc. Just press on, release off. Modes should be controlled by other switches, or turning the bezel or something.

[Keith B]

A lumen is way smaller than a watt. Here is a comparison table

Incandescent Wattage = Initial Lumen Output
120 Watt = 1800 - 2200 Lumen
100 Watt = 1500 - 1800 Lumen
60 Watt = 750 - 900 Lumen
40 Watt = 400 - 500 Lumen
25 Watt = 200 - 300 Lumen
5 Watt = 20 - 65 Lumen

Most of your old incandescent flashlights were no more than 2-5 watts. Halogen bumped that wattage to run average around 5. LED's have greatly increased the wattage equivalent and now you have flashlights at 15 times the wattage equivalent of the old conventional types.

HOWEVER, remember that wattage is measure of power used, and not really a true measure of luminosity. So, while these numbers are in the ballpark, the brightness depends a lot on how tightly the beam is focused, the reflector, etc. A better comparison might be candlepower to lumens.

And, for your comparison, aircraft landing lights were 6-7 million CP, but 1100 lumens is only about 87.5 candle power. See the info below on conversion.

Difference Between Lumens and Candlepower

If you are shopping for a handheld light whether it be a flashlight or spotlight, you will notice that the packaging will use terms like lumens or candlepower to measure the brightness of the light generated. However, what do the terms lumens and candlepower actually mean and how are they related.

Candlepower

The term candle power is most commonly used when describing spotlights. Candlepower is the measure of radiance produced by the light at its source . As the name suggests it is a measurement based on the light produced by a single candle. For instance, a 2 million candlepower spotlight creates the equivalent radiance of 2 million candles at its source.

Lumens

Lumens is commonly used when describing the brightness of flashlights and now even spotlights. Lumens is a measurement of the light that illuminates an area. It is based on the illumination of a 1 square foot area one foot away from one candle.

Comparing Lumens and Candle Power

A simple formula exists for comparing candlepower against lumens. To determine the lumens in multiply the candlepower by 12.57 or rather 1 candlepower equals 12.57 lumens. To determine the candlepower, dived the lumen by 12.57.

Ex: A 2 million candlepower spotlight equals 25,140,000 lumens. While a flashlight with 150 lumens will equal 11.93 candlepower.

[cyphertext]

Depends on the use. I have a 600 lumen flashlight and inside the house, it can be blinding just from bouncing off the walls. Outside, it is great for finding the hidden trails that lead to my deer blind, or spotting hogs at night. Too bright for upclose use though, like looking under the hood of the truck, etc.

[Abraham]

ELB,

Your perspectives regarding the possibility of blinding yourself with such intense light power was one of the considerations I was thinking about.

The flashlight with 1100 lumens is a Streamlight Protac HL3 and it's one of those with a multitude of settings, that I too don't care for.

It looks narrow enough to be mounted on a weapon, but it comes with a removable clip and holster.

Keith, thanks for education. Good stuff...

[jimlongley]

I have several "high lumen" flashlights and have pretty much settled on Hexbright http://www.hexbright.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; as my standard and have three. The Hexbright will go up 500 lumens, which is more than bright enough to light up my entire back yard. Recently the power went off at work leaving us all literally in the dark and I drew my Hexbright from its holster and shined it at the ceiling at full power, and provided adequate light to move around by.

I have a couple of other high lumen lights and would warn you that some that claim such super outputs are playing fast and loose with the facts. I have one that claims super high lumens, but it is really just a lower power light (although still quite bright) with an adjustable magnifying lens. When you narrow the beam down to a pin spot, it is indeed super bright, but the beam is only a couple of feet wide at 75 feet, which is limited in its utility. It is also half again as long as a Hexbright and bigger around at the lens.

The Hexbright is programmable and I have the one I carry on me all the time set at 50 Lumens for the lowest setting as much more than that is really too much for most of the stuff I do with it. Hexbright is also bigger around than a lot of the others, making pocket carry a little inconvenient, but I have always carried mine in a belt holster that I bought at Home Depot, and it is a perfect fit for that.

I should point out that, as mentioned above, Watts is indeed a measure of power, but in light bulbs it is more "power disbursed" than "power used" and in incandescent lights a lot of the wattage is consumed in heat not converted to light so the watts to lumen scale is very general. There have been "high efficiency" incandescents which put out more lumens and less heat, but no one was willing to pay the price difference, but that is light bulbs, not flashlights.

[Abraham]

Thanks Jim, great information.

I'll be looking into the Hexbright lights.

[LDB415]

I have a Surefire P2X that is 15/500 lumens. It is very bright on high and would almost assuredly temporarily inhibit someone if shined directly into their eyes. The one thing I really don't like is having to push the button on/off/on to get to high. I wish there was some way to set it to always come on in either low or high and then switch if one chooses or second choice to reverse it to start on high. That applies to pretty much any light though I think. Overall I'm very satisfied with the P2X. Good luck with your search.

[Scott B.]

Also, as a side note, I hate flashlight on/off buttons that control three light levels + strobe + coffeemaker and who knows what else. An on/off button should turn on the light when pressed, and shut it off when released. No clicking, just press. No press twice for High, three times for strobe, etc. Just press on, release off. Modes should be controlled by other switches, or turning the bezel or something.

+1000

When I need light, the last thing I want to be doing is figuring out how to get off of blue or strobe.

[Pawpaw]

I'm a big fan of bright lights, used judiciously.

On my home defense shotgun I have a Streamlight TLR-1 HL which puts out 630 lumens.

That replaced my old light, an Inforce WML which puts out 200 lumens.

For EDC, clipped into my left front pocket, I have a Fenix PD35. The tailcap has a simple on/off switch, but there is a side button that can adjust between 14, 50, 180, 460, or 960 lumens and strobe. I normally carry it in one of the lower settings, but it's great to have that extra power on tap when needed. This is also the only one that runs on a rechargeable battery.

[Keith B]

I have a couple of O-Lights that I love. One is the T20 and other is the M20. Got them from Battery Junction http://www.batteryjunction.com/olt20t15t10.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. They also carry many other brands including Fenix and Surefire.

[Rrash]

The more I can take away the night vision of the person I'm pointing my light at, the more I like it.
Other than the trade offs between battery size and run time, "too many lumens" is like saying "too many guns".

IMO. YMMV. EIEIO.

Indoors, keep in mind that the brighter the flashlight, the more it will affect your night vision. I carry an 800 lumen flashlight with a tactical bezel when I'm outside the house, but by my home defense handgun, I keep a 200 lumen torch. It is plenty bright for a bedroom, hallway, etc. 800 is too blinding in those situations.

[KD5NRH]

When the BG does this, it's about right.