I am curious about something....being a newbie flashoholic I am wondering why there are no real ratings for low lumen output of flashlights. I know that we want the brightest, meanest, baddest flashlight we can have....but what about us who want a dim light with long runtimes? I know there are threads on here about runtimes, but not much talk about lights that has say 1lumen/5lumen/10lumen outputs. Why is this? I am in the market for such a light right now. I have that XM-L T6 18650 light, now I want the other end of the spectrum. :)
Most reviews will talk about the lumen ratings for low modes. I will say that budget lights aren't usually so great at long runtime on low. Most budget lights use PWM which flashes the light on and off at full brightness to simulate a low mode. That's fine, but my understanding is that PWM isn't really all that efficient. If you want good efficiency, you want lights with good "current regulation." That's something you pay for when you buy more expensive lights like Fenix.
Still, there are people around here that really value long runtime and don't mind if the light isn't that bright, including the board's founder.
So that is why an inexpensive light flickers then, I never knew that. It seems that people like the K106 for dim and long runtimes. I also see the BLF Tank lights being talked about but when will we be getting those? :) I mean the 4Sevens lights have nice low modes but they are not budget lights. :)
Here is an easy way to see PWN take your light with the Manafont drop in select medium or low mode and aim it at a running fan in a dark room.
OR go cutting edge...
There's a few threads around here about adding QTC pills to single-mode flashlights. This serves as the current regulator, and can be easily added to most twisty lights. The simplest mod so far is on the Tank007 E07, and while it does cut a bit off the high end (since it's very hard to compress the pill fully), if you're shooting for a low, low light, this might just be the thing.
Check it out here: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/1471
To my normal naked eye I do not see that flicker. When you use a fan I do see it in the form of it making the blades flash or flicker. My Fenix LD01 does not do that. My Quark 123X2 does not do it either so I see what you mean about paying more for a light in general. I am enjoying my learning from this site.
I don't have the numbers to back it up, but I run my AKOray K-106 on Low most of the time. And it seems like to me the runtime isn't that great. It uses very fast PWM that you will have a hard time noticing and I think the really fast PWM is less efficient than the slower PWM that you see in the Manafont drop-in and some others.
Good observation with the Fenix and Quark. That's exactly what I'm talking about.