Flashlight brands that deliver advertised lumens

JupiterPaladin

JupiterPaladin

Joined
May 4, 2016
Messages
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Hey guys I'm starting to look at getting some more lights for the house. Basically larger than keychain lights but not too big to leave hang by the keys at the main door we use like for anyone to use. I had a pair of 18650 lights there before, but after some turd at work dropped my SureFire light and busted the emitter (it fell a good 20ft onto pavement) I took one in to work to fill that role until I talk the boss into getting everyone new lights. The second light is just MIA now somehow. The wife and 3 adult kids all got Olight i2R's and i3eos for Christmas but having a little bigger rechargeable just makes sense.

Aside from the Olights which are fantastic, the only other ones I have left are both Thorfire TK18 (18650*1) and a TG06S (14500*1). Both are very nice and I believe that they do deliver the rated lumens. My minimal research tells me that Thorfire is owned by Sofirn so logically Sofirn should be a solid choice.

I'm looking for a list of brands that deliver what they advertise. I'm not looking at cheap Amazon crap, but would like to keep to budget models for these that I'm sure will get misused or lost.

I know Olight is good, as is Streamlight, SureFire, Maglite, and AceBeam. Who else makes a decent light?
 
I own a few sofirn, mentioned above, and they are solid and lower cost. Archos is also fine, as are most of the known brands these days. Fenix, Nitecore etc, but they are not cheap. Wurrkos seems popular and low cost, but I do not have any experience with them.
 
I've seen positive reviews for Convoy, Thrunite, Lumintop, and Nitecore but haven't seen any mention outside those reviews.

The Lumintop Tool AA 2.0 looks pretty sweet for the $20 pricetag, but I'd really like it better in the 18650 size. I got over 40 cells for a project I'm never going to get to do so I may as well use them for something ;)
 
I mostly have dealt with more high end production and small run/custom lights, but for more modestly priced quality lights like you’re asking about I have had good success with Fenix, FourSevens, and Nitecore. On a budget I do like Lumintop. The Tool AA clicky is nice for the price, especially if you look at the special run metals and emitters. The FW3 and its derivatives are fun to play with if you get Anduril firmware and are stupid bright for their size.
 
I have several lights bought in the past decade, most running 18650 batteries. The past couple of years I have been buying Sofirn and have about 5 of them, all used regularly for bikes, diving, walks (headlamps) and so on. Some use larger batteries but you can use 18650 in them with adapters, plastic tubes. I usually order the sofirn with their own batteries, unless they use 18650, as I have several of them, new or from old laptops.

Most lights these days, even those that have no real brand seem to work OK, provided you ignore some exaggerated lumen claims. I usually look at the LED model (Usually CREE models) and version and the power supply and get, from experience, a good idea of what Luminoscity to expect.

Convoy was popular a few yeas ago, and probably still is.

For keychains I use Tank007 (old light) and Nitecore TIP(s). I have had some Fenix but they did not last long.

There is a forum on budget lights that may give you some more ideas too.
 
Sheer lumen output means less and less these days. For a few reasons:

1. Your eyes don't register light in a linear progression. More logarithmicaly. The visible difference between 1500 and 1000 lumens is far less than 150 and 100, or 15 and 10. More important, IMO, is the balance between different levels in a given light. 10%/50%/100% for example isn't as well spaced as 10%/65%/100%, again, because of how your eyes perceive light. 10%/20%/50%/100% would be even more useful in the real world.

2. Lights are so potentially bright these days that the "turbo" level shouldn't be considered it's max lumen output; rather the "high" (if there is a "turbo), or whatever the 2nd brightest output is should really be considered its nominal output. Depending on the light, I'd say that it's "high" should be whatever level it can sustain for the life of the battery, or for at least the amount of time you expect to be using it before it steps down (whether due to voltage or heat). That's why finding the right light for yourself might not be finding the brightest. For example, I use a Fenix PD36R for my bike, and although it can put out 1600 lumens, I consider it to be an 800 lumen light. If absolute sheer amount of light for a brief time is what you need though, disregard all of that.

3. Beam pattern matters as much, if not more, than output. An Osram with a TIR or a large reflector can out-throw many lights that have several times the lumen output, but with a very narrow beam. It matters which LED(s) and optic the flashlight has, and choosing the right one for you.

4. With lights as bright as they are today, unless you need sheer maximum output, it might be worth it to sacrifice lumens for CRI. Sure, Olights are bright, but they're also a hidious shade of cold white/blue with terrible color accuracy. A 4000-5000K Nichia 219C or Luminus SST20 with 92-95+ CRI will be far more natural, accurate, pleasing, and less irritating than a 6000-6500K LED (that Olight loves to use), albeit at the sacrifice of some output/efficiency. I don't mind the cool tint of my PD36R while riding my bike at night because it has the brightness, beam pattern, and runtime that I need to see (and be seen). But my EDC light is a Lumintop FW3A with 95+ CRI 4000K SST20 LEDs that puts out very natural, almost incandescent light in a beam profile that's smooth, fairly floody, and throws as far as I need it to.

Just some times to think about...
 
Planterz Planterz I'm not looking for max lumen output, just a measure of quality from the brands that they are reputable and deliver what they promise. I'd guess lights giving off 50-100 lumens are fine for the purpose. I haven't really looked at the emitter diodes recently so I guess I can do that. I do like the warmer light colors but not really picky there. The old lights had a T6 that seemed to be the popular choice over a decade ago. Those were fine. I think they were more of a cold white color and battery life was excellent. I had used 18650 cells that were basically trash, 2600mAh LG cells that tested out around 1000mAh capacity left, and I would get 6-8 hours of run time on the medium light setting (guessing about a 50 lumen output).
 
In my experience, Malkoff, Elzetta, and ZebraLight are all excellent at providing real-world performance stats, lumens and runtime included. Every light I've owned from those three companies has matched its provided stats perfectly.
 
Another vote for ZebraLight. Very good quality and beam patterns.

I use mine daily for cycling,or when i go for hikes and backcountry skiing.It is at probably ten years old by now and i've dropped it countless times.

I like it so much i bought another one with a 4000k LED
 
Dadpool said:
In my experience, Malkoff, Elzetta, and ZebraLight are all excellent at providing real-world performance stats, lumens and runtime included. Every light I've owned from those three companies has matched its provided stats perfectly.
Click to expand...
I think 300 to 500 real lumens is sufficient for most uses, although a little more light usually doesn't hurt anything.
 
I tend to use brighter lights (over 1000Lm) when cycling (especially if there is bright sunlight, so that I can be seen), when I drop something small like a screw on the floor and underwater.
For headlamps brightness will depend on how far ahead I am looking at (too close and you blind yourself), beam spread and time of the day. Keychain, 100 to 200 Lm is usually OK, as you are also limited by the battery life.

However, even though all my lights are users, like knives, I do not just buy a light because I am in desperate need for one- there is the fun of lighting things up that are far away from you, or pretending to be hunting for aircraft in WW2 by having a nice thin beam cut through a misty night and so on.

You can even get into selecting a smaller emiter to produce a more throwy beam etc., if you have the desire.

After several years when the XML was king now, in the past few years new and impressive emitters have come out and they are fun to try.
 
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