this post was submitted on 27 Oct 2023
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flashlight
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Portable illumination
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Not an answer, but a question.
OP, what do you use the 5 lumen mode on that flashlight for? Isn't that like half a candle?
Not OP, but I use the 0.5 lumen mode on my lights to see with dark adapted vision. I really like to have a 1 lumen or lower mode on most of my smaller lights.
I was wondering the other day how many lumen the 1.5V incandescent flashlights from when I was a kid would have been. Maybe 5-7 on a new battery? If I need to walk around the house at night, the moonlight mode on any of my lights is fine.
Embarrassingly, a common use is reading small print when I don't have, or can't be bothered putting on, my reading glasses - so I guess the answer is to illuminate close up things. The second most common use is finding a keyhole in the dark.
The most common use of the high mode is when people say 'oh wow, is that a torch?' and I immediately blind them with it because I'm cool like that.
Not OP, but same light. If there's no ambient light brighter than a moon or night light, the dim mode is bright enough for about a 5ft distance for me. If I've gone fully night-adapted, the dim mode is good for a large area. It has a relatively narrow pattern (center spot and weak flood) so it has decent throw so the "half a candle" has some reach. Some rough measurements put the spot at a 20deg beam and the spilled flood at 70. The bright mode can show me about a whole garage bay or bedroom. Again, we're talking in very dark situations, not streetlit areas or lamp-lit rooms. If there's that much light around, I'll need the bright mode for areas and use the dim mode for closeups in shadows.