What moonlight output do you prefer and why?

Manker MK34 lets you set the moonlight level anywhere from barely visible to 30 lumens. A very nice feature. I normally keep it at a firefly like level.

There seems little sense is trying to choose a moonlight level, a firefly level, low level, medium level, or high level. They are all relative, and not all lights have them.

It would make more sense to have a list of tasks and then see if there is a preference level or the range of lumens people prefer for these tasks. Then one might be able to say something about which lights would be suitable for which tasks. Firefly, moon, ultra low, low… they are all just names with no standard on which they are based and they all have changed over time.

For enthusiasts adjustable level might be good

But the majority of sold lights get to people that are happy to have more than one mode and that are not interested in adjustable modes or any fancy UI

0.5 to 1 lumen is a good moonlight mode for me…

this might be true, but not on BLF :wink:

By far the most ideal, but likely too complex/expensive is to hook up the flashlight to a computer or phone app.
Then configure the number of settings in a group. For each setting configure a percentage or lumen
That way everyone can configure the most ideal setting. That includes moonlight.

Or have a flashlight with 100 settings. Allow the user to pick 3 of them to put in the group for daily use.

I think it be a little brighter than thing you write to vote i sence it about 4-5 lumen if i haven’t error.

With my Zebralight SC62w, I prefer the brightest of the 3 moonlight modes which is rated at 0.4 lumens. Low is 3.4 lumens, which is too bright in my opinion to be considered moonlight.

The lowest moonlight (i.e firefly) is rated at 0.01 lumens and apparently can go for 5.5 months. That seems almost too low to be useful, but in a totally dark room, in the middle of the night, it’s enough lumens to maneuver around without waking anybody up. And most importantly, it’s enough light to make my son not afraid of the dark.

My manker E01 claims 0.14 lumen. This is fine for navigating around the house at night. My thrunite archer 1a v3 has a 0.1 lumen and this works also, but is much brighter than the E01. Not sure which is accurate, I suspect my E01 is significantly less than 0.1 lumen, as it has been running for a week in moonlight mode and is still nearly as bright as when it started on an eneloop.

I am in the “Total waste of a click” camp on this one. :wink:

I’m not sure if they fixed it yet, but Zebralight’s moon modes (as of 2015) tend to be significantly lower than the rated spec. Their other modes are usually spot-on, but not moon. For example, the 0.34 lm mode on my SC52 is actually about 0.10 lm (and selfbuilt’s measurements agree).

In general though, moon modes are rarely very precise. It’s hard to get a consistent output when it’s that low. Some (like everything I’ve measured from Thrunite) are rated at 0.09 lm but actually are closer to 0.03 lm, while at the other end of the spectrum I had one rated at 0.50 lm which actually produced 4.7 lm.

On lights I make, I generally try to hit somewhere between 0.1 lm and 0.5 lm, and I’m happy if I can get anything in that range… especially if it remains in that range on both a full battery and an empty battery.

FWIW, I put a “good night” mode on my night stand light. It slowly ramps down from 6 lm to ~0.3 lm over about an hour, then shuts off. It’s not so much for being afraid of the dark though; more just so we can see each other while chatting before sleep.

For an all-night light, a Zebralight generally works better.

Agreed :+1:

That is a neat feature

My old eyes can hardly see half a lumen looking straight into the reflector during the daytrime anymore, so I had to go with 1-3L. Also I almost never need unaided night vision.

Less light is easy; a finger or hand covering most of the reflector fixes that and it’s an old habit from my incan days when my eyes were much better than now.

Phil

For me, I’m fine with a “Moon” that’s around 2-4 lumens. That’s technically more of a “Low Low” I guess. I rarely want minimal illumination or am in a setting where <=1 lumen is ideal. Although, I do have to admit that when I’m in those situations a 1 lumen light is great.

Well under .5 lumens for me. With night acclimated vision in this very dark area of the country, I could probably hike with less than a tenth of a lumen, but I’m not going to risk my ankles to prove that point. It’s more than enough to get around the house though, and the house has a few indicator lights that aren’t great for retaining optimal night vision.

If I want to be able to see the ceiling when waking up in the dark, a 0.01 to 0.09 nightlight is sufficient. I call less than 0.1 a firefly level, but that is not as specific, or clear, as naming a number, and the scenario in which it applies…

When I wake up in the dark, 0.1 to 0.5 is enough to see the floor easily, when walking to the toilet. I call less than 1 lumen a moonlight level, but Ive seen some call 10 lumens a moonlight. Best to specify, and qualify when you use whatever level.

If I turn off all the lights in the house, and am walking to the bedroom in the dark, after being acclimated to home lighting, I need 3-5 lumens to see easily. I call 1-10 lumens a Low level.

The L11c AA model w Nichia, SBFlashlights - authorized dealer of Solarforce, XTAR, iTP, Lumintop, Thrunite, Spark flashlights
is an example of a light that has both firefly, and what some here would call moonlight
it has 4 modes and offers 0.09, 3, 30, 90 lumens.
It is an extremely versatile light, especially the first 3 modes, for indoor use when acclimated to full darkness.

I really don’t have a need for moonlight…in the house we have a nightlight for late night pee runs or whatever. At home the flashlights are for power outages or similar. I have one on the nightstand, one in the living room, one in the computer den, etc. I have no need for a moonlight when sleeping at home. When we’re out camping, hiking, geocaching, whatever, a low of about 10 lumens is good for finding stuff in the cooler or checking the doneness of a burger around the fire. For walking to the bathroom while camping about 50 lumens is good to not trip over roots, rocks, racoons, or avoid a branch in the eye. I taught my family to not shine flashlights at other people, campsites, pets, so 50 lumens doesn’t bother anyone else, and the user can see where they want to go safely.

Finally, of course 300+ lumens is for scaring away the boogeyman, or bears, or nosey park rangers!
:smiley: :smiling_imp:

I like my moon modes to produce a lux of about 0.25 candelas at one or two meters… in other words, a moon mode which is actually the same brightness as moonlight. If it’s significantly brighter or dimmer than moonlight, it’s not really a moon mode.