My lumen sweet spot for the "downcountry" trail riding I do at night is around 800 lumens as long as the beam pattern is wide enough and diffused well, across my whole field of view within the beam pattern. I sometimes will ride with only 500 lumens on a lower setting if I want to conserve battery power.
Would I like more than 800 lumens? Sure! Do i need it? ...no.
My advice to anyone choosing their first headlight is first and foremost...get what you want! But my advice to anyone that is choosing their first headlight based on lumens is.....don't feel like you need as high lumen output as many expensive headlights offer.
This is all subjective and everyones preferences are naturally different, and the trails we all ride can be very different, along with our skills and speeds we like to ride. Me for instance, I don't bomb down hills and I avoid jumps and drops because I'm older than most riders and avoid injuries to myself and my bike, so less than 1000 lumens works for me.
Also my advice for what it's worth...I would say, that if all headlights were no brighter than 1000 lumens, we'd all be okay with that and we would be able to ride at night on most trails at night at varying speeds. So when choosing a headlight, be sure to look closely at the low, medium, and high lumen output settings on the headlight, and how many runtime hours it offers on each setting. Ask yourself how many hours you want to ride at night....2 hours? 5 hours?
For me it's more important to focus on how many hours the headlight will run at whatever setting is close to 800 lumens for a minimum of 2.5-3 hours. For me to get a headlight that offers at least 3 hours of runtime around 800-1000 lumens, I have to shop for a headlight that usually has at least a 5200mah battery, and a battery that size in a self-contained headlight will usually offer a much higher lumen output than 800-1000 lumens on it's highest setting. So what I look at closer than it's highest lumen output, is how long the headlight runs at it's medium setting typically. What gets tricky is that each make and model of headlight has a big difference in lumen output between it's own low, medium, and high settings, and if I'm looking for a new headlight with the right balance of lumens vs battery runtime, I often have to comprimise between slightly lower lumens with extra runtime, or higher lumens than I need with a shorter runtime than I'd like. Another tricky thing is the beam pattern and efficiency between makes and models. One model might offer 1200 lumens but appear to be less bright than another model's 800 lumen setting. The beam patterns width will vary. Some models flood better than others, while some models may be more like a spotlight.
What would be great is if there was a headlight that allows you to choose your own specific lumen output and not have to choose between factory settings. For instance If there was a headlight with a 10000mah battery and you could dial in your lumen output to anywhere between 100 and 3000 lumens, with several different beam pattern setting, or interchangeable filters/diffusers....that would probably be a pretty popular headlight!
Would I like more than 800 lumens? Sure! Do i need it? ...no.
My advice to anyone choosing their first headlight is first and foremost...get what you want! But my advice to anyone that is choosing their first headlight based on lumens is.....don't feel like you need as high lumen output as many expensive headlights offer.
This is all subjective and everyones preferences are naturally different, and the trails we all ride can be very different, along with our skills and speeds we like to ride. Me for instance, I don't bomb down hills and I avoid jumps and drops because I'm older than most riders and avoid injuries to myself and my bike, so less than 1000 lumens works for me.
Also my advice for what it's worth...I would say, that if all headlights were no brighter than 1000 lumens, we'd all be okay with that and we would be able to ride at night on most trails at night at varying speeds. So when choosing a headlight, be sure to look closely at the low, medium, and high lumen output settings on the headlight, and how many runtime hours it offers on each setting. Ask yourself how many hours you want to ride at night....2 hours? 5 hours?
For me it's more important to focus on how many hours the headlight will run at whatever setting is close to 800 lumens for a minimum of 2.5-3 hours. For me to get a headlight that offers at least 3 hours of runtime around 800-1000 lumens, I have to shop for a headlight that usually has at least a 5200mah battery, and a battery that size in a self-contained headlight will usually offer a much higher lumen output than 800-1000 lumens on it's highest setting. So what I look at closer than it's highest lumen output, is how long the headlight runs at it's medium setting typically. What gets tricky is that each make and model of headlight has a big difference in lumen output between it's own low, medium, and high settings, and if I'm looking for a new headlight with the right balance of lumens vs battery runtime, I often have to comprimise between slightly lower lumens with extra runtime, or higher lumens than I need with a shorter runtime than I'd like. Another tricky thing is the beam pattern and efficiency between makes and models. One model might offer 1200 lumens but appear to be less bright than another model's 800 lumen setting. The beam patterns width will vary. Some models flood better than others, while some models may be more like a spotlight.
What would be great is if there was a headlight that allows you to choose your own specific lumen output and not have to choose between factory settings. For instance If there was a headlight with a 10000mah battery and you could dial in your lumen output to anywhere between 100 and 3000 lumens, with several different beam pattern setting, or interchangeable filters/diffusers....that would probably be a pretty popular headlight!
