Pinnacle Flashlights Blog

Have you ever purchased a flashlight which advertised that it would run for 200 hours, but when you actually went to use it only lasted for 5 hours before it became so dim that you had to change batteries? This is because the 200 hour number usually means 200 hours of “useful light” which is usually defined (somewhere in fine print often not found on the package) as less than 3 lumens or so. Not exactly the same thing as 200 hours of full brightness!

The problem is, in a normal circuit, LEDs and bulbs will draw less energy from normal batteries as they get weaker and become dim as a result. This phenomenon explains the fact that cheap flashlights are reasonably bright at first, but steadily dim as less and less energy can be taken from the batteries, which end up feeding a small amount of energy to the emitters for a long time. The good thing is, many of the modern LED flashlights (and a very few incandescent) on the market use regulation circuits to balance the 5-hour and 200-hour numbers out by keeping the energy coming from the batteries at the rate it started with. This means you get more time at full brightness and less time with less brightness.

As with everything, one solution isn’t always the best one for every need. Some lights have regulation circuits which will remove practically all the energy from the batteries before allowing the brightness to decrease, which means that the light will usually go from full-power to dead with a short and very-low dim “moon-mode” before the light shuts down completely. For most situations, this is fine, and results in the best brightness for the longest period of time. However, some lights have regulation circuits that will keep the brightness the same for most of the batteries’ life, but intentionally dim the light before the batteries are completely dead to give the user a longer and brighter moon-mode. Neither setup is better, it just depends on what you want. Regardless of which you choose, an effective and efficient regulation circuit is a critical part of a high-quality light.

To understand the advertising about lights which claim “80 lumens” or “1,000,000 candlepower,” you need to understand what those things are. To put it simply, lumens are a measurement of how much light a device produces, and candlepower is a measurement of concentration of the beam a device produces. These are not the same thing.

To use an analogy, imagine you have an adjustable water hose that shoots out 80 gallons of water every minute, and that those 80 gallons of water are spread out in a 6-ft. wide cone so that if you sprayed a wall for 1 minute, every square inch of wall would get about 2.5 oz. If that hose were a light, you could think of the 80 gallons as 80 lumens, and the 2.5 oz. of water per square inch as the candlepower. However, let’s say that you adjust your hose so that it shoots the same 80 gallons of water per minute, but that it is concentrated into a very thin jet that hits a 3-inch circle on the wall instead of the 6-foot one. The wall would still be hit by 80 gallons of water in the course of 1 minute, but each square-inch of the wall would get almost 1450 oz. (around 11.3 gallons) from the jet instead of 2.5 oz. Again, we can think of the 80 gallons of water as 80 lumens of light, and the 1450 oz. as the candlepower.

The important point here is: Just because a light produces more candlepower, that doesn’t mean it produces more light. More candlepower isn’t always better, either – would you use a laser-pointer (which has high candlepower for its brightness) to light up a room? In other words, some flashlights produce a very thin, strong beam which travels for great distances, something that is great for spotting objects a good distance away but very poorly suited to lighting up a general area or searching for something up close. In general, lights that have wide beams good for close-range work are poor for long-range work and vice-versa. A light that has an “in the middle” beam is usually the best choice for most people. Thankfully, fewer and fewer flashlight manufacturers are bothering to rate their products with candlepower, and lumens are being listed more often as time continues. A good rule of thumb is, “Lumens are brightness, candlepower is beam shape. Buy the number of lumens you need with the beam shape for the job.”

The Nitecore Piston Drive (PD) System available in the D10, D20, and EX10 is among the most advanced flashlight “operating systems” in the world. With an infinitely adjustable output, you can program the exact amount of light or runtime that you need making it a perfect choice for daily carry. The system is very easy to use, but may be confusing at first. This article will explain how to use all the features of this amazing user interface.

Light Operation: The light can be operated through one of three switching options available.
1) It can be operated by simply twisting the bezel clockwise to switch on and counterclockwise to switch off. This is the most straight forward operation.
2) When light is in twist mode off position, pushing the tailcap activates momentary mode.
3) When the head is fully tightened, the light enters tailcap switching mode. In this mode, light behaves as simple click switch light. Push the tailcap to switch on and push again to switch off.

Changing Brightness: When light is operating in tailcap switching mode, from ON position, press and hold piston will start ramping up or down brightness level. When desired light level is achieved, simply release the piston. The light will remember the last used brightness level.

Instant Minimum & Maximum: When light is operating in normal switching mode, from ON position, double clicking the tailcap jumps to minimum light output level. Also, from ON position, double click & hold will instantly switch light to maximum output level.

Check out the Nitecore Piston Drive System in action: