The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - How many lumens to get a disorienting effect?

mtuchris · December 27, 2011, 01:03 AM

Lumens alone won't get the full disorientation effect without a decent reflector to focus the light into a good hot spot. Surefire claims 50 lumens as a minimum tactical light output, but any decent handheld or weapon light around 90 to 200 lumens should be adequate. Keep in mind that there are lots of bogus claims for big lumen numbers made by certain companies and these are based on the theoretical output of the LED. The better quality brands like insight, surefire, and streamlight rate their lumen output based on real world test data so their 150 lumen light is probably as bright as a chinese knock off at 300 lumens.

December 27, 2011, 01:03 AM	#3
mtuchris Junior Member Join Date: December 8, 2011 Posts: 7	Lumens alone won't get the full disorientation effect without a decent reflector to focus the light into a good hot spot. Surefire claims 50 lumens as a minimum tactical light output, but any decent handheld or weapon light around 90 to 200 lumens should be adequate. Keep in mind that there are lots of bogus claims for big lumen numbers made by certain companies and these are based on the theoretical output of the LED. The better quality brands like insight, surefire, and streamlight rate their lumen output based on real world test data so their 150 lumen light is probably as bright as a chinese knock off at 300 lumens.