If anyone wants to provide me with a MS18 then I’ll happily be a test subject.
This was asked on Reddit too.
Here’s what I replied:
Let’s do some maths!
The MS18 is rated at 1350m throw. That means a surface 1350m away has 0.25 lux cast on it. That’s as bright as things lit up by a full moon. Once eyes get used to this then it’s easily enough for a night hike. Of you looked at an MS18 from that distance then it would look as bright as a full moon.
If you half the distance then there’s 4 times as much light hitting a surface.
- At 40 meters there’s about 250 lux. That’s about the same as room lighting. Shine a MS18 at a room across the street and your neighbors will think they left a light on. If they looked at your flashlight then it’d be like looking at a light bulb in the same room.
- At 20 meters there’s about 1000 lux. That’s like an overcast day. Looking up at the sky where the sun is can start to get uncomfortable.
- At 5 meters there’s about 20,000 lux. That’s the same as a shadow on a bright sunny day.
- At 2m there about 100,000 lux that’s like a bright summer day. So that would be as bright as looking directly at the sun (don’t do that). The sun is mostly dangerous due to UV though, so while the MS18 would look bright, it still wouldn’t hurt.