Night walks and how many lumens one really needs

I recently went on a night walk with a friend along the Thames Path - if you’re a Londoner I cannot recommend the Thames Path enough. I was constantly in awe at the beautiful sights. We did the walk from Hampton Court to Albert Bridge (Thames Path - Transport for London) from around 10pm and ended up finishing at ~5am in the morning. Due to not being organised enough I’d ended up taking my Thrunite TN4A HI and, Thrunite TiS which is permanently on my keychain.

Now, this walk is dark. Even though it’s a city walk, much of it is away from city lighting and along the river, so your eyes adjust quickly. I decided to use the TiS for the hell of it and it ended up being the more appropriate flashlight for our walk. The perfect mode was low at 12 lumens as it gave a good spread of light in front of us and peripherals, was sufficient to swivel around and see what was behind us if we heard rustling, and didn’t ruin our eye’s adaptation to the darkness.

Being part of the flashlight community one gets used to high output flashlights and at times chasing lumens. I’d argue that your average suburban home dweller doesn’t need any more than a 250 lumen flashlight. This being said, thank goodness for modes and being able to light up a mountainside at short notice.

I found a BLF 348 on AAA (~50 lumens) sufficient for a night hike on a reasonably familiar trail with steep terrain, loose gravel and several places where it’s not terribly hard to lose the trail. I brought a more powerful light, but did not use it for the sake of conducting an experiment. Sufficient isn’t ideal though and I wouldn’t want that to be my only light if things didn’t go great.

Agreed. I rarely find myself these days using much of anything more than 500 lumens. Usually 50 to 100 is sufficient for my around the property needs. I live fairly rural so it’s always pitch black outside. If I need it 500 lumens is more than enough to light up an acre or so if needed. Sometimes it is. I have 3K to 5K lumen lights. They are complete fun and when I need super long run times I grab one of those and dial it down to what I need. The Q8 is my favorite light for around here outside. I can adjust it to anything I need and know it will last a good long time. Even made myself a lantern top out of some orangish plastic cups that help it work great for a lantern out on the deck at night using probably 25 lumens or so. I assume that light will probably run for days at that level full of MJ1’s.

Lately I’ve been doing my night walks with a Utorch UT01 attached to the brim of my hat, putting out around 60 lm or so. I still carry my s2+ for occasionally lighting things up in the distance.

Any of us over a certain age used to go camping or hiking or any number of other outdoor-in-the-dark activities with a 20 lumen maglite. So yeah, 250 is plenty :slight_smile: Flashlights get brighter so we get used to that, and crazy output flashlights are lots of fun, but its not really getting any darker out there…

For me, personally, it depends on how much ambient light and light pollution there is. On a moonless light in the middle of nowhere, 10 lumens is probably sufficient for me. It also depends on what my beam pattern is, too. For that sort of stuff, I like a very even, diffuse pattern, like what I get out of something like a Skilhunt H15 or Lumintop HL-AAA. Of course I’d also carry either an all arounder or something with decent throw, depending on the nature of my walk. That being said, I find the 30ish lumens I get out of a Nitecore NU20 CRI is generally more than enough for my typical walks.

Yes, I’ve also found around 10 lumens to be about right for night hiking when the sky is dark. It’s good enough to see terrain clearly enough not to trip and slip without blinding reflections and without killing night vision too much.

On backpacking trips I try to keep output low to preserve battery life so I can keep weight down. It’s why I bring my AA powered Zebralight H52 instead of one of my 18650 headlamps. The battery easily goes for weeks.

Frankly, for lighting up a path in front of you, an aspheric stuck in flood mode would be ideal. No need for a hotspot to concentrate the light. In fact, the warmer the better.

For the occasional rustling, a more powerful donk would be useful.

Queensland.
Lots of bush and minimum (if any) street lighting in built up areas.

Long walks. I normally take my little Jetbeam. Jet 1 MK. on first or second twist.
Third twist gives around 450 . Quite bright. But batt don’t last long.
In pocket I carry my Sofirn C8T for longer range.
Have stronger. but not really feasable/necessary, for normal walkabout.
Both give a loong time on the one battery. and easy enuff to carry spare 14500\18650 if wanted.

I never thought much about smaller torches. thought they were mainly a novelty.
But nowadays. one littlie in pocket. is quite sensible

When fishing. (off tracks) I have C8 in pocket and a XM-L2 headlamp with 2 x 18650 cells behind head.

I’m like 50 to 150 depending on the ambient lighting. Usually 150+ for riding bikes on the local trails

I been using my Viking with dc fix at about 20 percent. guessing somewhere around 60 lemons. Best beam I have used for a hand held walking light.

Of course I walk all my lights. 9-100 lemons depending on the light, and the light.

I use anything from 200 to 800 lumens, depending on the surfaces I’m lighting, the range I want and the weather conditions. Dark surfaces, longer ranges and wet weather need more light.

About this much… :partying_face:

I generally use a TK15S on moon mode for walking heathland and coastal trails, and depending on the exact area I also carry either a DT S2+ or C8 on high mode.

Having said that though, I started a new medication with one of the side effects being that I have improved vision in the dark :open_mouth: . For the past few weeks I have been walking without switching on any lights except for when looking for critters.

Q8 on max….

….what? Only me? :wink:

D4 on the highest regulated setting, 150lm?

Oh yes, a D4 will run for quite a while at that output. I think. No way of telling output. Just kind of a set it and forget it type light. I have many D4’s. My favorite is the one with a fresh battery. :slight_smile:

ALL THE LUMENS!! :partying_face:

This thread inspired me to try a lower output level on my walk last night. I reprogrammed the UT01 for the highest low mode which is about 6 lm on AA NiMH cell. Walking with it was manageable for the most part. But there were times where I wanted more. I’ll try it with a Li-Ion cell next time - that should give about 10 lm output.

I don’t need much to see the dog poop, only carry cheapo Ultrafire 2K zoomie on low. Bring bigger light for fun sometimes but can use it only on low because neighbors might call the Police. If we lived outside of town, It would always be the biggest light for fun. One thing we have learned to appreciate more since joining BLF is higher CRI lights.
Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. :beer: