Flashlights How Much Light Do We Need?

    We all encounter darkness. It might seem silly, but what is darkness? Darkness in its simplest form is the absence of light. Carrying a flashlight comes in handy because we don’t always know when we will encounter the darkness. Have you ever dropped something under the bed? The light shining from the ceiling won’t shine through the mattress and box spring, but a personal flashlight will easily find the object. SO when we carry a flashlight, how much light do we really need?

    Flashlights are tools and we need to choose the correct tool for the job at hand. A mechanic wouldn’t use the wrong socket and a chef wouldn’t use the wrong knife. So we have to choose the correct light. I break flashlights into two categories, self defense and the other is utility. Manufacturers classify the self defense light as tactical. There is a button on the back and pressing it turns the light on its brightest settings. You shine it into the eyes of an aggressor blinding them, giving you time to retreat and leave the area. Utility lights are for general purpose tasks like finding the ring that rolled under the bed. A 600 plus lumen flashlight might be too bright for this task, but a keychain light is perfect.

    I was a teen back in the 90’s where the Maglite Mini mag with 14 lumens reigned supreme as the light most people carried. If they needed more light, a multi D cell or C cell Maglite was in the car. I had the 2 AA Mini Mag hanging on my belt and I used the five D cell while coon hunting. For utility, those two flashlights took care of my lighting needs. Whether walking down a well established trail such as walking along a lake shoreline from the fishing dock to the parking lot or other lighting tasks, these two lights served me well and they would still do so today. But they won’t handle the other category of self defense.

    For the self defense light, how much light do we need? To answer this I will take another trip down memory lane. I served in the Marine Corps from 2000-2004. I purchased a SureFire Z2 Combat that produced 65 lumens, but the lamp could be switched out with a high output lamp that pushed 120 lumens. If you search online, you will find a general consensus that 120 lumens is the minimal output for self defense light. That Z2 Combat was advertised as being the official light issued to the FBI. If 65 lumens was good enough 20 years ago, why wouldn’t it be good enough for today? Technically it is, but flashlight technology has come a long way over the past 20 years. We don’t have to limit ourselves to what was groundbreaking back in 2000. I would call the 65 lumens the minimum, so I split the difference with the general consensus and say 100 lumens.

    While most flashlights have multiple modes or settings, I still carry a couple of them on me. I want a keychain light that has somewhere between 10-15 lumens and a tactical light bright enough to blind me in broad daylight. I have recently retired my Fenix E01 and I currently have an Olight i3E EOS, and find that the 90 lumens output has been too bright for a couple of occasions. Like trying to find a splinter and the light just overwhelms my eyes with the close proximity. The low output setting from a Streamlight ProTac 1L-1AA does a better job for this task. DO I really need the keychain light? Maybe not, but I have had one on my keyring for so many years and it just seems right. If I find myself not using it then it will be removed from service. The other light on me is the Streamlight ProTac 1L-1AA. At 350 lumens it is 5.38 times brighter than that Z2 Combat. I also have an Olight Warrior X 4 and a SureFire G2Z MV that finds its way on my belt from time to time. Each light is a tool and has a purpose.

So let’s take a look at these lights.

    The Fenix E01 is now a discontinued model that has been replaced by a 2.0 version that puts out a lot more light. This originally came in a cross between OD and grey. You can see the wear from the years of riding in my pocket. Over the course of time, the ring that connected the flashlight to my keyring stretched out. I will cover how I made the new ring.

Olight i3E EOS ended up with a lanyard and put it in my work bag.

    The Streamlight ProTac 1AAA another discontinued light that has a high output of 115 lumens with a usable low mode of 8 lumens. I was carrying this while working until I noticed that it is no longer available.

    The SureFire collection. The Z2 Combat is a friend that has sentimental value, but it is basically obsolete with current flashlight technology. At 800 lumens and the knurled bezel, the G2Z MV is a great duty light.

    The Olight Warrior X 4 is massive in comparison to the SureFire. The SureFire weighs 4 oz and the Warrior X 4 is double that plus an additional .8 oz. The Warrior X 4 when set in regular mode pushes 2,600 lumens and in defensive mode makes for a better impact tool than the SureFire. But a side by Side comparison might be a good article for another day.

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    In conclusion, this article is for me and I’m just sharing my thoughts. There is about $300 worth of flashlights that I would love to add to this article, but I think that would contradict the point of this article. I have a “toolbox” of lights that will get the job done. If I spent $40 on a pocket flashlight that produced 1000 lumens, I would end up with a light roughly the same size as the Streamlight ProTac 1L-1AA that would have a capability that falls between the SureFire G2Z MV and the Warrior X 4. Or I could pick up a Streamlight ProTac HL-x, but it would have some fancy features that I might not use and it doesn’t do anything that I would use my 800 lumen SureFire for and if I set the Warrior X 4 to its tactical setting, it produces the same output. Take some time to evaluate your own needs and remember that our needs and wants don’t necessarily agree with each other.