Updated 26th August 2010
These are pretty approximate. To get lumen numbers take the lightbox number and multiply by 160 and divide by 892. Those numbers were arrived at by taking the reading for the Preon 2 with new AAA alkalines which is claimed by the manufacturer to be 160 lumens OTF. It read 892 lux on high on my lightbox. So here are some numbers for a variety of lights. These numbers are not hugely accurate and need some fiddling with. Not to mention that lights may well vary from sample to sample but these give some idea of what the lights can do. Any other numbers people would like to see? I hope this includes all the methodological recommendations from everyone who has commented. Thanks for your inputs.
This will get updated as time permits, and supply of fully charged cells. Where possible I'll try to link to reviews, but this quickly gets messy.
I have now pasted the more accurate table from here into this top post.
Light | Battery | Lightbox Immediate |
Fenix E0 * | Alk. AAA | 12 |
4Sevens Preon 2 Low | 2AAA NiMH | 18 |
4Sevens Preon 2 Low | 2Alk. AAA | 18 |
Trustfire XP-E F23 Low ** | AAA NiMH | 33 |
Maglite Solitaire w. Lambda LED | Alk AAA | 34 |
Aurora SH-035 Low | 14500 | 36 |
Fenix E01 *** | AAA | 37 |
Powerlight 1 | AA NiMH | 64 |
MDXL "3W" | AA NiMH | 69 |
TiKey | 3xLR44 | 81 |
Trustfire Z1 low | RCR123 | 87 |
Trustfire XP-E F23 Low | 10440 | 90 |
Romisen RC-C6 Low Zoom | RCR123 | 95 |
Lumapower MRV SE Low | 18650 | 110 |
BLF DeLight 1 | AA NiMH | 135 |
Aurora SH0031 **** | Alk. AAA | 142 |
Ultra-budget C3 clone | 2xNiMH | 144 |
Ultrafire WF-504B - 5 mode R2 Low | 18650 | 155 |
Romisen RC-C6 Low wide | RCR123 | 181 |
4Sevens Preon 2 Med | 2AAA NiMH | 187 |
Akoray K-106 | AA NiMH | 189 |
4Sevens Preon 2 Med | 2Alk. AAA | 195 |
Ultraqfire WF-602C | 10440 | 210 |
Hugsby P32 Low | AA NiMH | 214 |
Mrlite Lipstick ***** | AAA NiMH | 214 |
MX Power ML-310 Low | 14500 | 216 |
Tank007 TK-703 | Alk. AAA | 237 |
Aurora AK-P7 Low | 18650 | 266 |
Aurora SH-035 Med | 14500 | 269 |
Piritlight SG-L8 MC-E Low | 18650 | 282 |
Tank007 E07 (2) | AA NiMH | 310 |
Romisen RC-C6 High Zoom | RCR123 | 333 |
Trustfire XP-E F23 High | AAA NiMH | 383 |
Tank007 E07 (1) | AA NiMH | 423 |
Golston "7W" | 2xRCR123 | 425 |
Ultrafire WF-504B - 5 mode R2 Med | 18650 | 445 |
Uniquefire AA-S1 | AA NiMH | 565 |
Uniquefire S10 | AA NiMH | 575 |
Smallsun ZY-C85 full zoom | 14500 | 581 |
Trustfire F22 | AA NiMH | 586 |
Lumapower MRV SE Medium | 18650 | 630 |
Aurora SH-035 | AA NiMH | 644 |
Hugsby P32 High | AA NiMH | 650 |
Trustfire R5-A3 | AA NiMH | 650 |
Akoray K-103 | 10440 | 697 |
Romisen RC-C6 high wide | RCR123 | 697 |
Ultrafire C3 SS Q5 | AA NiMH | 718 |
Aurora SH-033 | RCR2 | 744 |
Solarforce L2R Solarforce low voltage R2 | 2xNiMH | 779 |
Piritlight SG-L8 MC-E Med | 18650 | 800 |
Smallsun ZY-C85 | 14500 | 867 |
Solarforce Skyline 1 | 2 CR123 | 880 |
4Sevens Preon 2 High | 2Alk. AAA | 892 |
Aurora SH-035 High | 14500 | 898 |
MX Power ML-310 High | 14500 | 900 |
Ultrafire A30B | RCR123 | 909 |
Trustfire Z1 High | RCR123 | 919 |
Ultrafire WF-502B R2 single mode | 18650 | 940 |
Trustfire XP-E F23 High 6* | 10440 | 957 |
First batch Aurora SH-034 | RCR123 | 1016 |
Akoray K-106 | 14500 | 1055 |
4Sevens Preon 2 High | 2AAA NiMH | 1074 |
Uniquefire S10 | 14500 | 1112 |
Ultrafire WF-504B - 5 mode R2 High | 18650 | 1148 |
Trustfire F22 | 14500 | 1254 |
Uniquefire AA-S1 | 14500 | 1255 |
Ultrafire RL-118 | RCR123 | 1260 |
Ultrafire C3 SS Q5 | 14500 | 1391 |
Fusion 36 dropin | 3D NiMH | 1399 |
Uniquefire L2 w DX 5 mode R5 dropin | 2 RCR123 | 1437 |
Lumahunter MRV SE High | 18650 | 1462 |
Uniquefire R5 5 mode XP-G R5 | 18650 | 1565 |
Uniquefire L2 w DX 5 mode R5 dropin | 18650 | 1578 |
Trustfire R5-A3 7* | 14500 | 1630 |
Ultrafire WF-503B DX MC-E | 18650 | 1636 |
ROP Low | 6D NiMH | 1670 |
Fusion 36 dropin 8* | 6D NiCd | 1937 |
Solarforce L2M DX P7 | 18650 | 1956 |
Ultrafire WF-500 9* | 2 18650 | 2300 |
Ultrafire Wf-504B KD MC-E | 18650 | 2310 |
Piritlight SG-L8 MC-E High | 18650 | 2400 |
Aurora AK-P7 High | 18650 | 2420 |
Ultrafire WF-501B M bin MC-E | 18650 | 3240 |
ROP High | 2x32600 | 3760 |
Varapower prototype | 4C NiMH | 8650 |
* - An ancient alkaline. Will restest with a brand new one. The cell in there is at least 3 years old.
** - battery on light meter gave out. Will redo the test.
*** - Pulled off keyring to test. Needs to be retested with a fresh cell. I think it is the same one the light came with.
**** - Pulled out of office desk drawer. There's a theme here - I think I need to buy a big box of AAA alkalines.
***** - At some point I will go through the multiplicity of modes this one has. Don't hold your breath.
6* - I'd not trust the two minute reading too much - I was using protected 10440s and the protection kept kicking in - need to test this with a good unprotected 10440.
7* - This still feels too high to me - I guess around 280
8* - Need to do this with the 8,000mAh NiMH Ds which seem to have lower internal resistance.
9* - This one is usually said to be around 350-370 lumens but that may just be that the cells in it were at 4.2V
There are several lights in here to be retested. Must get around to building balancing harnesses so I can charge more lithium cells at a time. That way I can pull cells from the charger and guarantee uniform performance unless I have a dud cell. See my comments on the R5-A3 for the startling effects a dud cell can cause.My guess is that there is a systemic over-reading here. It'd be nice if I could find some other light that is well standardised to check against.
Next trick I suppose is to compare the five Ultrafire C3s I have so I can get a feel for "natural" variation.