Ar lights ?

[jakerz]

My mileage does vary. 200+ lumens in my experience is blinding when shined onto a white interior wall. All night time vision that you had previously is lost when seeing that light hit the walls. At least it does for me. My eyes don't adjust that quickly, going from extreme brightness back to complete darkness.

I used a 60 lumen surefire in the Army and found it to be adequate. Everybody is different I guess. It sounds like you have some experience with night time light use, so I'm not going to knock what you're saying, or call it crap. However, I will say, for me, 60-120 lumens is all I want for an indoor specific firearm.

 

[english kanigit]

Fair enough.

Can I ask though how far out with the lights you've mentioned you can 1. Identify a person. 2. Identify that there's something in their hands. 3. Identify what that thing in their hands is?

Ek

 

[SMS]

Jakerz, what model Surefire weapon light did you use that was only 60 lumens?

 

[jakerz]

It was a scout. And I'm talking room / average hallway distance. I agree that it's pretty useless outside. But it was a great inside light.

 

[jakerz]

So I'm going to go ahead and say I was wrong. I just found this thread and it looks like the flashlight I had was 100 lumens. Not 65. It was measured incorrectly by surefire. At least, if this thread is true. I always thought I had an awesome light at 65 lumens. It's been awhile, but I'm pretty sure I had the same light depicted in the thread below.

http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=3&f=20&t=310972

 

[english kanigit]

If it was an M600A then it had the KL4 head. When it was developed this emitter was the cutting edge of technology. It made 100 lumens (according to the web. I couldve swore it was around 80&#8230 and it did so with a very wide spill and literally no hotspot in the center. In a small bedroom or closet (no joke) it was very usable and let you see a lot of stuff outside of the specific point where your long gun was pointed. In a large bedroom, trying to look for and identify things in one room from another or in any sort of hallway the light became anemic the point of uselessness. It was beyond useless outside. I ended up giving that head to some hippie chick I know on the East Coast to upgrade one of her older incandescent E-series of lights lights. She thinks its the bee's knees for use in her car as a utility light but even as a poor college student she ponied up the cash for a 500 lumen Surefire Fury for her personal security needs…

Surefire later went the other direction with their next evolution for the scout, the KX2C. This was a 120 and later following an upgrade a 180 lumen emitter. Like the previous LED head, the KL4, it was very durable and robust in regards to withstanding a weapons recoil and muzzle blast. The reflector on this emitter was different in that it was engineered for the throw of the light versus spill; it had a lot of reach With almost no light falling outside of the center hotspot. The biggest deficiency of this was that when searching for things you literally had to point the carbine directly at them otherwise you would completely miss the item in question. I still have one of these on a gun and it is slated to be upgraded ASAP with the head from a M600u.

The scout series of weapon lights are a superbly engineered solution but they are also extremely expensive. If they're going on to a weapon system with lots of recoil or muzzle blast then they are probably the best option. If none of these criteria are the case it is much more economical to get one of the handheld lights that work well on a Carbine and use a simple mount. Because it's more economical you can usually afford two of these set ups for one scout.

Ek

 

[Jwryan84]

The WML is 200 lumens and to me is not distracting or over powered for inside. Very light weight and can be had for $110-120. I use mine mounted on the top rail and activates intuitively using a c-grip.

Got this to run my SBR, 100 lumens in the lowest I'd think about using. It Is just enough inside and not enough for outside. English is right go with the most you can get , can't ever have enough light