What are Flashlight Lumens?

There is a lot of confusion surrounding flashlight lumens. What exactly are they? How are they measured? Never fear! We are here to explain it to you.

Basically, lumens measure two things: how bright a light is and how far that light travels. Watts measure how much energy a light uses, while lumens measure how much light is given off. Calculating lumens is a complicated process but it can be broken down pretty simply.

The first thing you should consider is the value of a single lumen. One lumen can be compared to the light given off by a single small birthday candle. Because lumens also measure the distance light travels it also needs to be taken into consideration. So, one lumen is equal to the brightness of 1 candle, if you are standing one foot away from the candle.

This can be extrapolated to mean, that if something is 100 lumens it would be equal to a hundred small candles, if you are standing one foot away from the candles.

Another factor related to lumens is the lumen to watt ratio. This is the amount of lumens that are produced for each watt of electricty used. This can be used to measure the efficacy of a light source. The more lumens you get per watt, the longer your flashlight will last.

This is one of the reasons that LED flashlights are so great. You can increase the amount of lumens by replacing the standard filament in the bulb with an LED. This generally gives you three times the battery life and double the brightness.

If you’re looking for a flashlight with a lot of lumens you should consider the 4Sevens Maelstom series of flashlights. The 4Sevens Maelstrom S18 Flashlight has an impressive output of 1200 lumens. It is equipped with three brightness levels so you can directly control the battery life.

Another powerful light is the LED Lenser X21. This powerful light has an output of up to 1000 lumens. The X21 puts out a broad circular beam that can reach up to 1500 feet. This flashlight has 2 light settings so you can conserve battery when needed.

And last, but definitely not least is the Fenix TK70. This flashlight reaches up to 2200 lumens and is a powerful outdoor searching light. 7 days of battery runtime and will throw a beam over 720 meters.