Good Light

bulbboy is often queried by customers:

"does this give out a good light?"

which got me thinking, what is a good light?
a light that doesn't misbehave?
does exactly what it says on the tin?

most of those people that ask really mean:

"is this bright?"

now if i was to respond in the affirmative and say yes, it gives out 1300 lumens of light, they would probably
look at me as though i had two heads.
the equivalent in auto terms would be to ask if a car
could go fast, then be given the answer that it could reach
96 miles per hour, and not understand the answer.

instead of brightness levels, it might be more appropriate to
think in terms of how useful a light is.
what is its purpose: ambient lighting, or for working under?
spot lights, or flood lights?

it might surprise you to find out that bulbboy doesn't always
think that brighter is better. sometimes a softer light is needed.
why use more energy than you need?

so what is a good light? or even a perfect light?
i don't believe there is such a thing (yet), but coming
pretty close is the Surefire U2.



what's so good about it? well first up its
light output has 6 variable levels from 2 lumens to 80 lumens.
you adjust the brightness by using the ring selector changed by
a flick of your thumb.

its pretty rugged and shock proof, drop it and it will keep on working. obviously at the higher setting the batteries will be drained faster, so it's great to have the option of using only as much light as you need, rather than blinding yourself while working up close. at the lower setting
the battery runtime can be as much as 40+ hours.

i would say that's pretty good.