Lumen Wars
Recent times in the world of tactical flashlights have seen manufacturers continually introducing new flashlight models with higher and higher lumen ratings. This push for the highest lumen count is undoubtedly driven by consumers wanting the greatest number of lumens possible, mistakenly supposing lumens are related to performance, value, and/or quality. Unfortunately, the quest for ever-higher lumen ratings has led many flashlight makers to greatly compromise the reliability and even safety of their products.
Before examining the folly of pushing flashlight output to its highest achievable end, it may be valuable to explain the humble means of producing lumens (go here to better understand lumens). Today’s flashlights generate light simply by passing electrical current through a Light Emitting Diode (LED). The amount of light (measured in lumens) produced by an LED is, within limits, proportional to the amount of electrical current passing through it. All flashlight manufacturers shop in a common marketplace to obtain LED’s and naturally select the most efficient technology available at the time for use in their products. This ultimately leads virtually all flashlight makers to use the same type of LED. Given this common LED, the only way a manufacturer can produce more lumens than a competitor is to pass more electrical current through the LED and therein lies the problem.
When companies try to outdo one another in producing greater lumen numbers they are forced to drive the LED with higher and higher amounts of electrical current. Such competition inevitably leads manufacturers to bypass reliability and safety specifications of electrical components and push components to their absolute limits in effort to squeeze out a few more lumens. The result is a flashlight that may boast the best lumen rating in the industry but is dangerously risking catastrophic failure and greatly inhibiting longevity, dependability, and safety. One simple way to identify a tactical flashlight that pushes circuits too hard is to measure the electrical current drawn from its CR123A batteries (this can be done with a simple ammeter or multimeter that measures DC current). CR123A batteries have a maximum discharge current rating of 1.5 amps. If a value higher than this is measured, the flashlight is operating beyond safety and reliability standards. (An example of this test can be seen here.)
The quest for high lumen ratings also steers companies to use LED’s with bluish tints since emitters with the highest lumen capacity commonly emit light near the short-wavelength/violet-end of the visible spectrum. This is why most tactical flashlights on the market today produce beams that look unnaturally blue. Such beams hinder color rendition and are generally less capable of penetrating smoke and fog. These detriments are tolerated however to achieve high lumen ratings.
It is also worth noting that the cost to design and manufacture a high-lumen flashlight is no more than the cost of a lower-lumen model. It does not require extra resources or technology to lower the electrical impedance of a circuit and send more current to an LED. Yet consumers often embrace faulty logic in thinking that high-lumen flashlights are more valuable or should cost more than lower-lumen competitors. Shopping for the product that delivers the most “Lumens per Dollar” is a flawed strategy and will likely result in procurement of the least reliable product on the market. Rather, choosing a flashlight that meets your illumination requirements while operating within safety and reliability specifications will lead to a more sound and responsible investment and years of dependable service.