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Posted: 8/1/2006 10:20:43 AM EDT
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What lumens rating does a light have to meet to be considered blinding? My light is rated at 65 lumens, and I consider that to be blinding, but I have seen ratings much higher with descriptions of 225-blinding. I guess I need clarification on what the industry considers blinding. |
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Not trying to be a smartass, but this is from the faq tacked at the top. "WEAPON LIGHTS ----- All indoor weapon lights should have at least 60 lumen output with a good hot spot. This will generally be most 6 volt incandescent lights or 5 watt LEDs. Surefires 3 watt KL1 LED is about the only exception at the moment. Indoor lights should generally have a good hotspot for blinding, but also a good flood pattern to better light a whole room. Indoor lights should not be over 225 lumens or you will blind YOURSELF every time you light up a light colored wall or reflective surface (around 120 is better suited for indoors). Outdoor lights should generally have at least 100 Lumens, but many people use 60+ lumen lights as long as they have a really good throw and hotspot. All weapon lights should have battery retention unless they are powered by a quality LED or the design keeps the batteries front impacting the bulb. Pistol mounted lights generally fall under the same criteria as indoor lights from above, but should be left on pistols. You cannot easily activate most pistol light switches when they are mounted to a rifle or carbine hand guards. Some offer tape switches that help this, but your still looking at something designed for indoor use." So I guess a 60+ lumen will do the trick indoors. I know my 120 lumen 6p doesn't feel great when you get a face full of it. -dave |
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I read the tacked thread. What I was referring to was the specs that the industry uses in describing the attributes of their lights. The highest lumen rating that I recall seeing is 225. After that, I only see blinding. What confused me was the fact that I am blinded by a much lower lumen rating, and was wondering at about what range one can expect a light to temporarily blind. |
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There are a few lights out there that exceed the 225 lumen peak lumen rating. I don't think there is a clean cut-off point in terms of what is “blinding” or better stated disorienting. - If it really dark, as in very little ambient light, and you are close to the subject, and his eyes are fully dark adapted a small output on a small LED light will give cause the subject to avert his eyes & temporarily lose situational awareness. - As the ambient light levels increase, the distance increases, and the subject eyes are less dark adapted, you need more juice plain and simple. Another important factor is the quality and focus of the hot spot itself. Light A may have 125 lumens and light B might have 90 lumens. Light B might in fact achieve a more disorienting effect if the hot spot is cleaner and focused more tightly assuming you are shining it accurately into the opponent's face. Larger reflectors generally mean tighter focus and therefore more “push” downrange. Another thing I have noticed as least subjectively. Incandescent lights seem to cut through ambient light sources a bit better that LED lights. But when the ambient light levels diminish the LED's see to "hit" harder in terms of what the subject experiences even if the lumen rating is lower than the Incandescent light source emitting from the same distance. I am guessing is that the LED is emitting in a tighter frequency range and therefore overwhelming that range of the human light sensors in the eye. All that being said, inside of 20’ in a reasonably dark lighting condition, 65 lumens out of a professional quality light is generally considered sufficient to gain situation awareness as well as powerful enough to cause opponents to have their situational awareness degraded if the light is shined directly into their eyes. I personally put lights on my long guns that are at a minimum of 125 lumens with a larger reflector. My sniper rifle has a removable 500 lumen light on the optic. I can illuminate and engage targets at 300 yards with exceptional accuracy in conditions that there is no way you can see the target with the naked eye. It will also cause folks inside of 150 yards to avert their eyes if they try to look at it. |
LED's start out as a blue only light source and are converted to somewhat full spectrum. Their spectral emissions have a huge blue peak. Our eyes are relatively sensitive to blue. While I've noticed that LED's don't cut through environmental conditions as well as a similar rated incandescent, they still seem to retain a good blinding effect, especially around big sodium vapor lights. I think mostly as the extra blue has more of a negative effect on us. I got a low wavelength blue 3watt LED that I put in a minimag lite, it was very bright and very very irritating. It made me throw up, lose my bowels, and my brain explode. Not really, but I didn't like it. Think about how overcast days are still very bright. Color temp goes up as the clouds filter out much of the reds that warm the color spectra. |
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UVvis: Thanx for the great information! I just played with a new HID light we are distributing....The Polarion Helios. The lamp puts out 4,000 lumens +. Was on the water with Special Boat Team 20 last nite and lit up the contact boat from almost 300 yards away. Nobody on the contact could continue to look at the light and everybody had their head turned away as the boarding boat made it's approach. Sold quite a few lights on that demonstration of it's "blinding" effect alone.        |
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Thanx for the feedback on the Gladius. Helios HID: $1,595 polarion-store.com or www.strategosstore.com/product.asp?0=893&1=1220&3=7240 Best to you. |
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Some more images: Polarion is playing with a Titanium Finish: 1. Highly Polished (Looks like Chrome) 2. Duller Silver 3. Smoked or Charcoal Silver Wea are ONLY shipping the Standard Type III HA in Black for now. Eventually there will probably be Type III HA in Olive Drab as well.     
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From the Strategos website Specifications * 40W High Intensity Discharge Lamp * Lamp Output: 4000 lumens with High Efficiency Reflector * Lamp Life: 3000+ hours * Run time: 105 mins per rechargeable Li-Ion battery pack with convenient charging design (cradle) * Cartridge-style battery (enabling easy swap) * Fast charging time: 2hours 30mins to fully charge one battery * Universal charger (90 ~ 240V) * WaterPROOF to 100 Feet * Locking magnetic switch * "Removable handle" design * IR Filter will be Available * Weight: Approx 4 lbs. * Length: 12” | Largest Front Diameter Approx 5” | Rear Diameter Approx 4” * Center Section Easily Palmed 1-Handed * Lanyard / Shoulder Strap Attachment Points That is amazing. A little pricey, but amazing. |
Actually I would say this is bit pricey.... www.servicelighting.com/catalog_product.cfm?source=Froogle.com&prod=SF16057 Runs on 20 lithium batteries....2,000 lumens.... Do you you get the Jeep with the price of the lights? |
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