Best flashlight?

[V8toytruck]

Lumens ratings differ from one company to another. Some use candlepower instead of lumens.

Fenix, as well as a lot of other flashlight companies exaggerate lumens numbers while Surefire is usually very conservative with theirs.

Also 200 lumens vs 100 lumens doesnt really look like double the light.

My Surefire X300 and E2D LED put out 100+ lumens and is slightly dimmer, but not by much than my T1 (1st gen TK11)

The TK11 is a great flashlight for the money. Pick up a LOD CE for your keychain while you're at it!

[sb_pete]

Hmmm, fair amount of flashlight FUD going on in here. First off, I don't claim to be an expert here and if you're interested in the subject I would recommend CPF as a great info source.

First off:

Lumens ratings differ from one company to another. Some use candlepower instead of lumens...Fenix, as well as a lot of other flashlight companies exaggerate lumens numbers while Surefire is usually very conservative with theirs

This is not quite true, although that is often how it seems. Candlepower, Candelas, and Lumens are different units of measurement. Surefire actually has a great explanation of the difference. Basically though, Candlepower is a measure of a specific spot of light (the brightest part) in a beam whereas Lumens is a measure of total light output (this requires the use of an integrating sphere to measure properly). Candela is a metric equiv of Candlepower.

Regarding supposedly exaggerated lumens measurements, you need to look at what they are measuring. Surefire measures light output "out the front." This is the light you or I will see, some of the Chinese manufacturers (like Nightcore and Fenix) have started doing some measurements this way, but they have traditionally measured theoretical emitter output. This is the mean average output of a given LED diode for a specific amount of current (the amount that particular product is configured to draw from a full battery).

Further complicating matters, Surefire's reputation for being conservative in light output refers to their listing of measurements not at peak battery power. With incandescent bulbs especially, a fresh cell is not really representative of the light's output and will have a short initial period of significantly increased brightness. Surefire has traditionally listed the lumens rating that comes after this and lasts for %60-%80 of the "useful life" of the batteries. This type of measurement means much less when talking about regulated led flashlights though. These lights regulate the current draw and provide a much more consistent output for the life of the battery's charge, negating much (but not all) of the need for such conservative measurements.

The general rule of thumb for "emitter lumens" is that actual "out the front" (OTF) lumens will be about 2/3's of the emitter lumens. This can go up and down based on things like the window's quality and/or coatings, the lens/optics quality (if applicable), and reflector design/quality (if applicable).

Whether one type of measurement or the other is better is for you to decide. Theoretical measurements are often more useful for comparison purposes however. This is because of variations in method for obtaining OTF lumens measurements and the possibility the end user may change up the flashlight's window, lens, or reflector.

Regarding candlepower vs lumens, both are useful and talking about one without the other is a bit like comparing horsepower without mentioning torque or powerband. You'll want to know how the light is put out, not just the total amount in order to understand if it will be useful to you. Think of those famous "Surefire vs Other Brand" ads. They were valid for close range stuff, but try lighting up a distant object and the "Other Brand" suddenly became pretty attractive again. Candlepower was a measurement that flattered the output profile of maglights and streamlights which were geared towards "throw." Lumens were a measurement more flattering to surefire which has traditionally had greater focus on "flood" in its lighting tools.

Also 200 lumens vs 100 lumens doesnt really look like double the light.

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The human eye's perception of light is logarithmic. In essence, this means it will take an approximate doubling of output for you to perceive one light as being brighter than another. So a 200 lumen light WILL seem brighter than a 100 lumen light, but whether it will SEEM to be DOUBLE the output is another matter. On the other hand a 200 lumen and a 225 lumen light are likely to be indistinguishable (assuming same tint ie. color temperature). This is a general rule, not a scientific certainty. Basically, if one light puts out 4 lumens and another 5, you won't tell the difference. But if one puts out 400, and another 500, you probably will perceive a slight difference between the two.

LED tint and, more broadly, a light's color temperature are another matter. Some led's (the Luxeon Rebel series for example) are famously warm (yellowish/greenish) and closer to incandescent. This means your perception of an object's color will be better (especially in the case of flora where browns and greens dominate). Others (such as the Cree XRE series) are famously cool (more tendency towards blue/purple). These will result in a more "black and white television" look to things. Some prefer this. For a given lumen rating, warmer color temp lights will seem brighter to the human eye.

LED's don't work in smoke. Even a little smoke from a few rounds going off will greatly diminish the effectiveness of the light.

This is a reflection of color temperature, a warmer tinted led will break through smoke better than a cooler one. No matter what though, a 150 lumen OTF led light will break through smoke better than a 60 lumen OTF incan light. You may not like the color rendition, but more light will get through. OTOH, a blue tinted light will tend to illuminate the smoke or fog particles more than a yellow/green tinted one. This, depending on your eyes, may obscure what is beyond that smoke or fog.

This is like the old ham about not using your brights in the fog because it will illuminate the fog and not what is in front. Well, it does both, but you have to train your eyes to focus through it. This is why WRC rally cars load up on thousands of watts of lighting in order to operate in fog, the fog may be blindingly lit up, but if you can focus through it, so is what is beyond.

This also brings up another point though, because the led lights emit very little light in the IR spectrum. Because of this the flip cover IR filters that abesh was talking about are more or less useless with led lights. There are specific IR leds though and all the tactical light companies have their own version, but these emit little to no visible light (which can be an advantage of its own but does not lend itself to dual-use).


Batteries are a whole nother topic that I won't even try to get into. basically you have rechargeable batteries vs primary; alkaline vs lithium vs E2; Ni-Cad vs lead-acid vs NiMh vs Li-ion vs LiPO4 vs Li-poly vs ........etc. I will leave the research to you, but again suggest CPF as a great source.

I know that was a ton of crap, but I hope it helps people in understanding all the lighting stuff.
-Pete

[Shawn L]

I personally like my Surefire 6PL with the Malkoff M60 drop-in upgrade.

[Bobula]

I had a Surefire Z2, and currently have a G2Z, and an E2D love them.

[Ironchef]

I personally like my Surefire 6PL with the Malkoff M60 drop-in upgrade.

+1 While I'm partial to Fenix lights, I would say for the OP, ANY light that can take a Malkoff M60/M60L/M60LL drop-in is the best bet for that budget..and it'll give you room for some 18650 rechargables and you'd have the best possible illumination set up for the money.