All the lumens...

[Bushwhacker]

How many lumens are you using on your NON-CQ rifle? For open (non-reflective) applications with distances greater than 50 yards. I'm not trying to get into the nuances of lumen application, just curious what output you use that seems to work well out to xxx yards?

 

[HuckleberryFinn]

I run the inforce wmXl model. 500 lumens. Lights up the barn real well from about 40 yards. Haven't tried further than that but I like the pattern it throws.

 

[bulletpaluza]

350 on my rifle and 300 on my pistol not the best light at 50 yards but you can see what's going on at that distance. I have a streamlight 2,200 lumen I call the day maker for when I need to see everything going on. (At close distance it works as an x-ray too)

 

[kuduman]

You're asking about throw, not lumens. Check out Candlepowerforums.com for more than you could ever imagine about flashlights.

I've been running 900+ in my EDC lights for the last seven years or so... same on my HD rifle. I used to use normal filament bulbs, but I eventually made the switch to LEDs when they finally got bright enough to be useful (over 500 lumens). I exclusively run "warm" LEDs-- so you can tell when your steak is done. The typical blue ("cool") LEDs don't show shades of red at all. (And I'm not exaggerating about the lumens-- Surefire and Maglite are 5 or more years behind the cutting edge of flashlight tech. See Candlepowerforums.com.)

Haven't been impressed with pistol lights until this week-- Youtube the 4Sevens "Sentinel" pistol light-- 600 lumens, tiny like a laser, lightweight-- and $100. USB charging, and with Bluetooth you can even keep track of it remotely.

But the bottom line is that it's not the number of lumens that determine throw. It's the size of the emitter (small=better), and the reflector (bigger=better). The old Fenix LED TK10 had 200 lumens, a warm LED, ran on two AAs, but would illuminate a treeline at 150 yards trivially. But it hasn't been available since around 2010, because those LEDs are discontinued. The newer LEDs are bigger, which means brighter. But it also means that you need a proportionally larger reflector to make a good throwing beam. So most pocket-sized lights-- ones with a 1" reflector, don't have very good throw any more. If you want throw, you'll need something with a 1.5" or 2" reflector. The pocket lights are great for lighting up a whole room though.

 

[Bushwhacker]

Thanks for the post. I'm going to have to delve deeper into the link you posted. kuduman . From what I was understanding the "warm" have a higher CRI so they more closely resemble natural light or sunlight. I'm sure it's way more technical but that's my take. I guess my question would be does the the higher CRI led's work the same with emitter/reflector sizes as do cool led's?

IE- would an 800 Lumen warm light (3300 CRI) have the same throw as an 800 Lumen cool light (6000 CRI) light?

I feel 800 Lumens, is ample for distance of 300m, but is that effective distance of 300m?

 

[medium187mph]

Trade the lights in for thermal...

 

[Bushwhacker]

Trade the lights in for thermal...

I wish, but I know how I am. I'd never be able to settle for entry level thermal. It'd be FLIR or nothing and my I'd like to keep my family in tact, so it'll be more lights for now...

 

[NorthGA_Recon]

What's a non cq rifle?

 

[Wheeler]

What's a non cq rifle?

non close quarters.

 

[cmshoot]

On my general purpose carbine, I run a Streamlight TLR-HL, which has 800 lumens with a throw out to 245 meters.