LUMENS!

supersonic
supersonic Posts: 82,708
edited September 2014 in MTB general
Ah, but lumens is not 'brightness'. Lumens is analogous to the amount of light emitted, so if that light is concentrated into a smaller area then it will appear to be brighter. This is where the beam angle and pattern come in. Of course this could be standardised in tests (maybe).
GT ZASKAR CARBON TEAM

VOODOO CANZO

Come and see me at https://www.facebook.com/biketyke/

Comments

  • Ouija
    Ouija Posts: 1,386
    Mentioned it a few times in the big lights thread. If a light is too spotty staring at the spot causes your pupils to contract to let in less light and the spot gets dimmer and everything outside it disappears into blackness. It's why i tend to use my XM-L torches on medium with OP reflectors rather than high with SMO reflectors, as your eyes adjust and after a few minutes you feel like you can see way more in your peripheral vision.

    Multi-head lights tend to have large dissipated spots and be more floody anyway and can look like they are throwing out less light than a single SMO torch in some pics, But because of that, they tend to illuminate more as they don't destroy your night vision as much.
  • jairaj
    jairaj Posts: 3,009
    Also if you ride with other people, then you will need comparable powered lights as they have.

    I used be fine riding on my own with around 400 - 600 lumens (spotty head hight and flood on the bars). Then my riding buddy decided to get a massive Exposure something rather which is basically a mini sun. If he is behind me then all that happens is I can see a great big shadow of my self up ahead with my lights doing very little. I have upgraded my lights to a similar level to his and can see where I am going again.
  • Briggo
    Briggo Posts: 3,537
    jairaj wrote:
    Also if you ride with other people, then you will need comparable powered lights as they have.

    I used be fine riding on my own with around 400 - 600 lumens (spotty head hight and flood on the bars). Then my riding buddy decided to get a massive Exposure something rather which is basically a mini sun. If he is behind me then all that happens is I can see a great big shadow of my self up ahead with my lights doing very little. I have upgraded my lights to a similar level to his and can see where I am going again.

    Or to save some money the one with the most powerful light rides in front...

Categories