thetcutkid
Newly Enlightened
Hi,
Apologises, newbie post coming up!
I'm sure this has been done to death on the forum but could I just clarify my understanding of advertised burn times under the ANSI FL-1 standard.
A lot of manufacturers use the line 'ANSI FL-1 Standard: Runtime to 10% of initial output' in the specs for their torches, so am I right in thinking that for a 500 lumen beam, with an advertised burn time of 4 hours, they're actually saying that over a period of 4 continuous hours, that 500 lumen brightness steadily drops to just 50 lumens and therefore, in reality, that 500 lumens output is only really 500 lumens for a fraction of the 4 hour period?
I'm more interest in constant output burn times but not many manufacturers seem to show them or you have to dig a bit to find them.
Some Fenix torches advertise a 'non dimming output', a couple of LED Lenser models have the ability to switch into a constant output mode but not even their UK distributor could tell me exactly what the burn time would drop to, his best guess was to take 2 hours off the burn time in energy saving mode.
Some of the most accurate burn times are those advertised by Lucifer Lights and I did exchange a couple of emails with Petr who was able to explain how rigorously they test their torches and strive to give a much more accurate burn time.
I appreciate that heat build up will always be an issue but are we really saying that a head torch's burn time is only ever going to be as good as its ability to dissipate heat, otherwise some sort of thermal dimming will always be kicking in to reduce the temperature (and therefore beam) as it will always reach maximum heat threshold before it reaches its maximum burn time?
I'm in the market for a new head torch but after several weeks of trawling the internet looking at different brands, checking reviews etc., I've got a bit bogged down with the whole FL-1 standard thing and I'm no closer to actually buying anything - in fact I think I've arrived at the conclusion that there's not really one torch that does everything I really need !
Many thanks for your time.
Apologises, newbie post coming up!
I'm sure this has been done to death on the forum but could I just clarify my understanding of advertised burn times under the ANSI FL-1 standard.
A lot of manufacturers use the line 'ANSI FL-1 Standard: Runtime to 10% of initial output' in the specs for their torches, so am I right in thinking that for a 500 lumen beam, with an advertised burn time of 4 hours, they're actually saying that over a period of 4 continuous hours, that 500 lumen brightness steadily drops to just 50 lumens and therefore, in reality, that 500 lumens output is only really 500 lumens for a fraction of the 4 hour period?
I'm more interest in constant output burn times but not many manufacturers seem to show them or you have to dig a bit to find them.
Some Fenix torches advertise a 'non dimming output', a couple of LED Lenser models have the ability to switch into a constant output mode but not even their UK distributor could tell me exactly what the burn time would drop to, his best guess was to take 2 hours off the burn time in energy saving mode.
Some of the most accurate burn times are those advertised by Lucifer Lights and I did exchange a couple of emails with Petr who was able to explain how rigorously they test their torches and strive to give a much more accurate burn time.
I appreciate that heat build up will always be an issue but are we really saying that a head torch's burn time is only ever going to be as good as its ability to dissipate heat, otherwise some sort of thermal dimming will always be kicking in to reduce the temperature (and therefore beam) as it will always reach maximum heat threshold before it reaches its maximum burn time?
I'm in the market for a new head torch but after several weeks of trawling the internet looking at different brands, checking reviews etc., I've got a bit bogged down with the whole FL-1 standard thing and I'm no closer to actually buying anything - in fact I think I've arrived at the conclusion that there's not really one torch that does everything I really need !
Many thanks for your time.