With the current state of flashlight technology reaching retina burning levels of brightness, I'm wondering where people stand on what level of brightness is too much? As a civilian my use for carbine mounted lights is strictly home defense and I personally like about 200 lumens for that application. Anything more than 200 and the light reflecting off the walls actually blinds me seriously effecting my night vision, in addition to drowning out my aimpoint. I recently purchased a surefire z2x rated at 325 lumens and it's so bright that I feel it's unusable for handgun use indoors. I've since reverted back to my original z2 with a malkoff M61L rated at 170 lumens which is about perfect. Bright enough to blind a person at room distances, and not so bright it kills my eyes. My HD carbine is fitted with a 200 lumen surefire scout m600 and it's perfect for my application as well.

With weapon lights reaching 500+ lumens now does anyone else think that's way overkill for most folks? I can see where 500 lumens might be useful in law enforcement or military applications, but for me I think the brightness ratings are getting a little out of hand. Am I the only person that thinks there's a problem with lights being too bright these days for home defense applications?