Brightness Isn't Everything

[mvyrmnd]

I always chased the biggest, brightest lights I could lay my hands on - hence my purchase of a number of ma_sha1's builds

Now, I want my cake, - and I want to eat it. I want a light that is High CRI, can do thousands of lumens AND can run for hundreds of hours on low.

Since I have that flashlight, I'm stuck on where to go from here.

That said, my most commonly used light is my Quark AA on moonlight mode.

Please excuse the disjointedness of this post. New homebrew batch complete tonight.

 

[AFKAN]

Fantastic thread...

Ultimately I suppose it comes down to what you want to use it for?

My RRT3 never fails to bring a smile to my face on high, and yet I can run it on a single lumen.

For the sort of things I do with it, it's perfect. However, I can totally see a million situations where it wouldn't be right, so I also carry a small LedLenser with me.

It's small, it chucks out light (I don't even know how much and frankly I don't care) and for almost all situations it's more than enough. It will most likely fulfill most peoples requirement on its own for a flashlight.

So why did I buy an RRT3 if the LedLenser's so good?

It's big, it's heavy, it's eyewateringly expensive. But it's utter utter flashlight porn, and I fooking love it

As Mike says above it's Big Kid Syndrome, to which I'm rapidly finding out, that there is no cure :devil:

 

[ZMZ67]

Yeah... I kind of got caught up in a max output quest until I found myself with about 30 nice lights and realized that I really only need a few good ones.

And also discovered that there were a variety of other flashlight attributes which were much more important to me than attaining the brightest possible output. I'm quite content with a flashlight which has reasonable max output (even if not the maximum possible) as long as the flashlight has the following qualities:

1) a nice clean beam (not ringy)
2) nicely defined central beam (a little throwy) easing softly into a moderately wide, bright, and useful spill
3) pleasing neutral to ever-so-slightly warm tint
4) a low low (like 1 to 4 lumens or so)
5) easy UI to attain max, min, and one or two intermediate levels.

As long as a general-use light offers these attributes (which have nothing to do with maximum brightness), I have little need nor desire to seek out and obtain ever brighter maximum output. So no, for me, brightness is definitely NOT everything. It is nice to have but secondary to these other attributes.

DHart laid things out nicely so I will use a similar format.

1. clean beam
2. neutral/warm tint,4000K seems to be my sweet spot
3. consistent UI,not really interested in memory,programming etc.
4. quality/reliabilty

Those four are attributes I look for besides output.I am also a big fan of the NW XP-E Quarks and see no need to try and replace them with brighter versions,actually I wish I had purchased a couple more.Malkoff M60/M61 warm or neutrals are another favorite even though other drop-ins offer more output.One other concern I have with "Brightness" is that the LEDs may be driven at max or overdriven to achieve the highest output levels and shorten the life of the LED.These lights are not cheap and I want to be able to use them on thier highest setting without constant fear of damage.

 

[Bullzeyebill]

I agree also that the highest brightness, and lumens is not everything. My Surefire M6 with the venerable MN15, and two 18650's, always brings a smile to my face. The about 200 lumens that it puts out casts a huge center beam and has great visability with good contrast at distance.

Bill

 

[eh4]

We just had a power outage, and despite my house being filled with bright hotwires and superbright LEDs, it was the low level lights that produced the most satisfaction. Don't need much light and the runtime is longer. Did miss CPF and the internet, though!

A brighter light makes the unlit areas that much darker.
On the other hand a bright light bounced off a ceiling can be the best sort of dimmer light.
I'm really looking forward to getting to mess with a Zebra hi CRI flood.

For days and days of no power (been a few years since that's happened here) dim red light was the most comfortable for me, again there was less distinction between what was illuminated and what wasn't, didn't have that sense of huddling around a light, more a sense of seeing in the dark. I still went with a dim yellow to go looking for something or a trip to the bath -which was fine, but turning on a brighter white light plunged my red lighting back into unsatisfactory ineffectiveness for some time... I just avoided using the brighter lights because it really knocked out the homey feeling that the red provided after getting used to it. Before getting used to it the feeling was more like "stuck in a submarine at the bottom of the sea". ;-)

 

[kaichu dento]

A brighter light makes the unlit areas that much darker.

...turning on a brighter white light plunged my red lighting back into unsatisfactory ineffectiveness for some time... I just avoided using the brighter lights because it really knocked out the homey feeling...

This has been said many times and is one of the most counter-intuitive aspects of using a flashlight. Moreover, it speaks directly to the reason that some of us who really do enjoy bright lights and all, have such an affinity for sub-lumen levels.

The second part of your edited post also hits the nail right on the head with the mention of the 'homey feeling' since I'm assuming your meaning had to do with atmosphere as opposed to hangin' out in the hood.

 

[NewlandPhotography]

1 AAA battery sized like the microstream and one mode: = Beam Of God!

 

[Bullzeyebill]

Let's close this thread and continue over here. Same general topic, and started this year. LOL.

Bill