How many lumens for home defense?

[1911pro]

My only light is an old Executive 1 that is about 15 lumens. I am thinking of getting a weapon light for my LMT and want to know how bright to go for home defense. What is the rule of thumb?

[Jay Cunningham]

My only light is an old Executive 1 that is about 15 lumens. I am thinking of getting a weapon light for my LMT and want to know how bright to go for home defense. What is the rule of thumb?

65 lumens

[MisterWilson]

However many come in a Surefire X300.

[John_Wayne777]

My only light is an old Executive 1 that is about 15 lumens. I am thinking of getting a weapon light for my LMT and want to know how bright to go for home defense. What is the rule of thumb?

To quote Ken Hackathorn, people get "absolutely queer" over how many lumens a light will generate without thought for how that will actually effect them in a low light environment when they are trying to clear rooms or deal with a threat.

The general rule is that for a general purpose light meant for use with/on a weapon, you want between 60 and 80 lumens. Much more than that and you end up flashbulbing yourself.

Take a look at the following article:

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=16114

I'm running a 60 lumen Surefire G2 in a VLTOR mount on my home defense/general purpose carbine and I like it quite a bit. I saw Larry Vickers running that setup and decided I'd give it a go to check it out. It's cheap, light, and very effective.

[theJanitor]

i'm using an x200/300 on both my HD carbine and my pistol. they're almost too bright (don't even try a malkoff in your house, you'll blind the neighbors). i find it interesting that many will say that 65 is the max that they'll bolt to a rifle, but they also swear by the x300 (110 lumens IIRC) for their HD pistol.

i keep a malkoff led in my bedside 6p, but it's there if i have to leave the house. for outdoors, the malkoff mod is fantastic. i also have a malkoff led in my scout light for an AR that i might need take ouside as well.

[John_Wayne777]

i'm using an x200/300 on both my HD carbine and my rifle. they're almost too bright (don't even try a malkoff in your house, you'll blind the neighbors). i find it interesting that many will say that 65 is the max that they'll bolt to a rifle, but they also swear by the x300 (110 lumens IIRC) for their HD pistol.

I keep an X200B, which doesn't put out as many lumens as the X300 and is, in my view at least, a better compromise for a handgun light.

Since it's no longer made, it's a moot point. The X200/300 or TLR-1 are going to be superior to something like an M3 simply because they work...even if they may put out more light than is optimal.

Lights are compromises like any other gear choice. I prefer all my lights to be in the 60 to 80 lumen range, which I find to be plenty manageable for most purposes as light in that range doesn't zap my night vision too badly.

If your primary threat profile is longer distances or mainly outdoors, 80 lumens will probably be the absolute minimum you want to use rather than the maximum.

[theJanitor]

i've never got to try the x200B, i have the x200a on my 1911 (to clarify my mistake on my earlier post) and the x300a on the AR and they seem to be just the right amount of light for me.

[Stretz Tactical Inc]

Lights are compromises like any other gear choice. I prefer all my lights to be in the 60 to 80 lumen range, which I find to be plenty manageable for most purposes as light in that range doesn't zap my night vision too badly.

If your primary threat profile is longer distances or mainly outdoors, 80 lumens will probably be the absolute minimum you want to use rather than the maximum.

I think your on point here. I use a Surefire g2z at work generally, but for out door stuff (at distance) or in certain situations were I want to temporarily blind someone and backsplash isn't a concern, I use my Surefire M3. I wanted to do just that last night and when I hit the subject with the beam from the M3, they turned away and shreeked "ooohhhh".

[John_Wayne777]

and they seem to be just the right amount of light for me.

That, I believe, is the secret of the universe. Everybody's eyes are different. Lumen recommendations are based on some general principles the experts know to be true of how human anatomy functions....but within the acceptable ranges listed there's some wiggle room based on what the world looks like through your eyes.

[Pk14]

MilitaryMoron suggested a beam diffuser to "tone down" a high lumen drop in. I was trying to figure out a solution to an indoor / outdoor single weaponlight set-up for a HD carbine and his suggestion looks reasonable.

http://www.surefire.com/maxexp/main/...-Beam-Diffuser

777 - have you experimented with one of these for a Malkoff drop-in (the M60)?

Thanks,
Pk