How bright is bright enough for tacictal lights?

[TheTman]

I was in a Radio Shack looking for some parts, and saw this Life Gear with Cree LED 80 Lumen flashlight on clearance for $20.00 and picked it up. Nothing fancy, just an on and off switch on the bottom, no adjustments but it was very close to what I was looking for so I bought it. Seems to be well constructed of aircraft grade aluminum with a rubber coating on strategic places, is waterproof, and impact resistant. No fancy batteries, it runs on 1 AA battery. Says on the package you can see over 200ft with it, and be seen from 1.3 miles. Probably would have liked a pen clip, but I will probably get a holster for it anyway. I'd like a Surefire light, but they are awful proud of those little guys. So I was on the lookout for something solid and priced more to my budget and this seemed to fit the bill.
Question, do you all think 80 lumens is bright enough? It sure blinded me when I looked into it. Seems to light up the house well enough at night.

Here is a photo with some a .45 6 round mag, my EDC knife, and the flashlight to give an idea on it's size.
http://kartalk.pccomps.com/EDCstuff.jpg

[Longitude Zero]

If it works for your intended purpose thenit is bright enough. Is it bright enough to recognize something in complete blackness at the stated 200'?

[TheTman]

Hard to say if it shows something at 200' don't have much to go by, but it illuminates pretty well down my driveway to the road that is getting close to that distance. For it's intended purpose, lighting up across a room or in the yard is plenty good and it does that just fine. If a BG is 200 feet away, I'm leaving well enough alone unless he approaches me for some reason or is on my property. As long as it will blind or disorient an intruder in my home so I can get a shot off then it's done it's job. I might want something a tad brighter in the future, but this seems like a rugged little light that would do what I need it to do for now.

[muggsy]

I was in a Radio Shack looking for some parts, and saw this Life Gear with Cree LED 80 Lumen flashlight on clearance for $20.00 and picked it up. Nothing fancy, just an on and off switch on the bottom, no adjustments but it was very close to what I was looking for so I bought it. Seems to be well constructed of aircraft grade aluminum with a rubber coating on strategic places, is waterproof, and impact resistant. No fancy batteries, it runs on 1 AA battery. Says on the package you can see over 200ft with it, and be seen from 1.3 miles. Probably would have liked a pen clip, but I will probably get a holster for it anyway. I'd like a Surefire light, but they are awful proud of those little guys. So I was on the lookout for something solid and priced more to my budget and this seemed to fit the bill.
Question, do you all think 80 lumens is bright enough? It sure blinded me when I looked into it. Seems to light up the house well enough at night.

Here is a photo with some a .45 6 round mag, my EDC knife, and the flashlight to give an idea on it's size.
http://kartalk.pccomps.com/EDCstuff.jpg

You aren't supposed to look directly into a LED light, because it could blind you. Of course, I'm sure that your mother gave you a similar warning about another practice and that didn't stop you. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzSUc5wb6F8&lr=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWCaYAZJ7cM&feature=relmfu

[Longitude Zero]

I might want something a tad brighter in the future, but this seems like a rugged little light that would do what I need it to do for now.

All sounds good to me. I am a huge fan of SureFire but they can be costly. I also have a TLR-1 weapon mounted light system on my duty pistol and I recommend them for CCW uses also. By having the light on your weapon it frees up your non-gun hand.

[dirtkicker]

All sounds good to me. I am a huge fan of SureFire but they can be costly. I also have a TLR-1 weapon mounted light system on my duty pistol and I recommend them for CCW uses also. By having the light on your weapon it frees up your non-gun hand.

+1 on the TLR1 weapon light. I have one mounted on my Glock 17 in my nightstand. It is bright as hell and can be turned on momentarily, permanently, or strobed. If I am startled in the middle of the night I have 17 rounds and a tactical light at the ready.

[dirtkicker]

Manski, I am a fan of Fenix and Streamlight. You can get a Fenix PD30 on Amazon for about 40 bucks. It's nothing fancy but shoots around 180 lumens and is tiny. The downside is it uses the cr123 batteries. My streamlight is rechargable.

[les strat]

Ooh, ooh, a flashlight thread! :hungry:

80 lumens is good for indoors and makes a good strong everyday flashlight. Outdoors might be a little on the weak side for identifying something across property. Usually, to blind a BG, you want to shoot over about 120 lumens indoors, not over 200 as reflection off lighter walls will blind you back. Outdoors, the more lumens, the better.

Like Longitude Zero, I am a big Surefire fan. I have 3 of the G2X Pro's that are 15/200 lumens. It will run 42 hours on 15 and 2.5 hrs on 200. It will flat out blind you and lights up my property like football stadium lights! It is waterproof and shockproof. I bought 3 when they first came out for $50 each at my LGS. They made me a sweet deal.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v385/KevinJenne/CMStreamlight-1.jpg

While we are talking about lights, I run a Streamlight TRL-1s 160 lumen weapon light on my AR. The strobe option is really cool and would definitley disorient a BG.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v385/KevinJenne/Untitled.jpg

[TheTman]

Funny, I had ordered a higher output flashlight from Amazon, and someone stole it out of the mailbox I think. Anyway Amazon refunded my money, and but I never ordered it again. I figured 80 lumens was about as low as a guy would want to go for indoor use. I have a streetlight on top of my house so I can light up the yard pretty well. Don't ask me how a streetlight got up there, it was there when I bought the house.

[dirtkicker]

The surefires are still around. http://www.amazon.com/Surefire-Tactical-Dual-Output-Flashlight/dp/B00489NX44/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344828216&sr=8-1&keywords=surefire+g2x+pro