What moonlight output do you prefer and why?

The wide variety of preferences is interesting, anywhere from .03 lm to 3 lumens so far! But it’s no surprise since moonlight is the one mode that is directly linked to our physiology in regards to our sensitivity to light in total darkness, and everyone seems to have a slightly different way of seeing.

More manufactures should consider user-adjustable moonlight modes to account for this; a 0.2 to 0.5 lumen difference in moonlight is going to make a much bigger user-experience impact than, say +/- 100 lumens, on a 1200 lumen turbo. I appreciate that a Zebralight UI allows you to do this and even some Manker/UTorch lights as well. There must be a few other brands out there … are there any clickies that do this or are they limited to e-switches?

0.2 if possible, but 0.5 works. I like ceiling bouncing a light on the nightstand while I sleep, so the lower, the better. Blue tailcap light works, too. Makes it easy to find when I get up, doesn’t burn a lot of battery, doesn’t ruin my night vision and bright enough for basic lego/hot wheel avoidance.

+1
That’s a good idea, I usually have a bunch of old AAA AA batteries “adjust” or simulate a moonlight/firefly.

Just be sure you’re not using them in any nice lights in case they leak :weary:

Good point. :+1:

For these eyes with five decades of mileage on them, 1-3 lumens is perfect. The 1 lumen moon mode on the Acebeam EC50 Gen II is fine if a bit dimmer than ideal. I have other lights that are on the higher end of that range or even closer to 5 lumens. For navigating the house and checking on kids and other animals, this is just about perfect,
Wilkey

I’m legally blind, with no low-light vision whatsoever, so “moonlight” for me is 5 to 10 lumens.

Even then, I almost never use that sort of level - I usually step up to something on the order of 25 or even 50 lumens, depending on beam profile. This is why I like BLF-348s, and Convoy lights with lowest modes at 5%.

All you firefly aficionados should probably hope never to encounter me on a campsite after dark :slight_smile:

1 lumen is enough for me, honestly, i hate some flashlights that has useless moonlight mode: too bright(5-6 lumen) or too dim{below 1 lumen)

I use my Astrolux S41 around the house on lowest setting. It is about perfect for me as it is so floody too.
Bump it up one notch and I can see where stuff is in most rooms, rarely need more than that indoors. Not sure what the lumens are for the S41 tho???

Moon/firefly much less use on narrower beams I think.

I believe the usefulness of moonlight modes are completely dependant upon the eyes of the user.

Personally, if I wake up and need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, the (claimed) 0.5 lumens from any of my Olights is simply painfully bright. A neutral AO1 or Thrunite offering less than half that value are much more comfortable.

My wife, on the other hand, finds the 0.5 level useless - and needs about 3 lumens. It’s sure nice that we have lots of choices.

+1

If I recall correctly, Narsil (BLF Q8) lets you set the moon level.

Me, I like moon in the range of 0.20 lm to 0.50 lm. Anything in that range is fine. I don’t find firefly modes to be as useful (~0.01 lm to ~0.10 lm). My preferred spacing is approximately 0.2-0.5 lm, 3-10 lm, 30-50 lm, and … anything above that is optional. Moon, low, medium.

For me it’s somewhere between .5 and 1 lumen i have a couple one lumen lows and although i understand that some would think lower is better I generally disagree .One lumen really doesn’t offend and it’s actually bright enough to be useful …where super low low moonlight or firefly modes can be just stupid and have very little actual usage .If you had to err it’s better to err on a bit more than not enuff…
lots of super low lows are just for bragging rights or so the manufacturer can sell it as a 47 day runtime …
If you have the ability to change moon modes like the zebralights than a lower low is possible and nice to have .But if you can only have one choice it would have to be between a half and one lumen .

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.