How many lumens do you really need for home defense? When is it too bright?

I'm an advocate of no limit for WMLs For admin tasks, I'd prefer no more than 150.

For weapon-mounted lights, 500 is a nice starting point. ****, if I could get a 1000-lumen light on my carbine, with good throw, and solid spill, I'd be in hog heaven.

I EDC daily with a WML, so I don't look at the light as being for night-stand/home invasion use only. I want the best combo of throw and spill possible. The Ultra series SF lights are outstanding GP weaponlights. If I didn't have a functioning light on my carbine now, Id slap a 600U on there faster than you can say Graham Combat. The a ultra-series lights exceed the maximum engagement distance of a handgun, and provide excellent spill for ID and SA.

My bump in the night gun is a G17, when we moved into our new house I upgraded the white light that I run on it from a Streamlight TLR-1 (first generation) which IIRC is 80 lumens with a new TLR-1 HL which peaks at 630 lumens. I have ran the light doing room clearing drills, if you want to call it that, and walked the entire house in total darkness multiple times. I am able to identify things much faster and at greater distances with the TLR-1 HL than I could with the older model. I'll take the 630 lumens over the 80 any day.

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Originally Posted by Moose-Knuckle

My bump in the night gun is a G17, when we moved into our new house I upgraded the white light that I run on it from a Streamlight TLR-1 (first generation) which IIRC is 80 lumens with a new TLR-1 HL which peaks at 630 lumens. I have ran the light doing room clearing drills, if you want to call it that, and walked the entire house in total darkness multiple times. I am able to identify things much faster and at greater distances with the TLR-1 HL than I could with the older model. I'll take the 630 lumens over the 80 any day.

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80 lumens is perfect...

...for reading a map.

I once searched a dance studio using a 750 lumen Surefire Lawman. Even with mirrors on all the walls, none of us became disoriented or blinded. I have the 630 lumen TLR-1 on my duty pistols. My rifle has got a Malkoff upgrade on the Surefire M500 system and the older Surefire mount on my shotgun has a 500 lumen Fury attached. I overall think the upgrades in lumens in the past few years are absolutely great.

That said, you have a different mission and different eyes than I do. While I'd recommend experimenting a little more with the 325 lumen lights, you're the best judge of your lighting needs. If your weapons are strictly home defense, you're not going to need to illuminate a suspect across a darkened movie theatre or warehouse.

Of course, I'm old enough to have been impressed with that first rechargeable Streamlight. Good luck and be safe.

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Originally Posted by ra2bach

think of lumens as volume.

low lumens can be made very bright if confined into a very narrow beam but it won't be useful for searching with no spill. however, when you try to spread that light, it becomes to dim.

a High lumen light, with the proper reflector can throw light over a very wide area but not be too bright.

it's how you employ the "amount" of light you have. personally, I think all the lumen upper limit talk is bogus. I want the brightest light available, given a good reflector.

I would rather see the discussion focus on beam pattern and spread, and how many lumens are required to fill that pattern...

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Amen. This is exactly why I can go to my local hardware store and buy a 700 lumen handheld for $40. Yeah it's 700 lumens and has a lot of spill but absolutely no throw, zero. You get what you pay for. There is much more to it than just lumen rating. Reflector design is extremely important but if the average Joe sees big numbers on the packaging, well it must be better.

-Jax

Between my Surefire mini scout at 110, the SF X300 and the 200 lumen Inforce APL I find that for me all the lights I own that are 200 lumens or less are perfect for inside my home.

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Originally Posted by jnc36rcpd

I once searched a dance studio using a 750 lumen Surefire Lawman. Even with mirrors on all the walls, none of us became disoriented or blinded. I have the 630 lumen TLR-1 on my duty pistols. My rifle has got a Malkoff upgrade on the Surefire M500 system and the older Surefire mount on my shotgun has a 500 lumen Fury attached. I overall think the upgrades in lumens in the past few years are absolutely great.

That said, you have a different mission and different eyes than I do. While I'd recommend experimenting a little more with the 325 lumen lights, you're the best judge of your lighting needs. If your weapons are strictly home defense, you're not going to need to illuminate a suspect across a darkened movie theatre or warehouse.

Of course, I'm old enough to have been impressed with that first rechargeable Streamlight. Good luck and be safe.

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a useful technique with these higher lumen lights is bouncing the light. aiming the light at the ceiling can flood the entire room well enough to see everything with surprising detail. you won't do that with a lesser light...

I have a 1K lumen Surefire PX3 (Pat Rogers addition) on my 12.5 inch gun. Works extremely well indoors and outdoors and lights up the night. Only gripe is that it gets HOT fast and battery life is short.

I have 2 fury's. a 500l attached to my Noveske and a PX3 like mentioned above. Both are great.

I also have a 750l rechargable (Cabelas Alaskan guide) that has a wider pattern that is good if one requires that.

I am very happy with all three, all have their use. I've not noticed the "blinding" that others talk about--- but then I am careful not to shine it in my face too.

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Originally Posted by soulezoo

I have 2 fury's. a 500l attached to my Noveske and a PX3 like mentioned above. Both are great.

I also have a 750l rechargable (Cabelas Alaskan guide) that has a wider pattern that is good if one requires that.

I am very happy with all three, all have their use. I've not noticed the "blinding" that others talk about--- but then I am careful not to shine it in my face too.

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The only time I have had "back light" where it somewthat obscured my vision was when your light hits cars that you are using for cover or when there are mirrors in rooms. But the same seemed to happen back when I used lower lumen lights as well. So the trade off is worth it in my opinion.