Reasons to choose Wuben C3 1200 Lumens Flashlight

Reasons to choose Wuben C3 1200 Lumens Flashlight

Wuben C3 1200 Lumens Flashlight

Tips for choosing a flashlight

There is so much flashlight choice!  Different brands and different types of flashlight with their own individual specifications! We have summarised key factors and described one of the quickest and most easiest methods to find the most important information about a flashlight so you can get the one to suit your needs!  

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ANSI FL1 standards

ANSI is an abbreviation for the American National Standards Institute, which is a non-profit organisation.   In 2009, ANSI created the 'FL1' standards to ensure that flashlight companies tested their products in the same way and used the same definitions and terminology.  This was to make it easier for the consumer to compare different torches. For your convenience, on this website, each of our flashlights has a summary table with their ANSI FL1 standard ratings.  These ANSI FL1 standard tables are by far one of the easiest ways to check if a flashlight is for you.  For an example, we are going to use this table which is for our popular C3 1200 Lumens Flashlight.

The table shows specifications for 4 output modes - in this case the C3 has 'high', 'medium', 'low' and 'eco' modes.

This first area looked at is the 'output'.  This is measured in lumens and is a direct measure of brightness.  You can read more about lumens, beam (or throw) distance and candela here. As you can see, for 'high' mode it reads 1200 ʅ 500 and for run time it says 1min + 2.5hours.  This is actually the case for most high (or 'turbo') modes for modern flashlights, where for a brief period of time, typically a minute or sometimes 30 seconds, a flashlight will be at its brightest then drop to a lower output level.  The flashlights are engineered this way on purpose, to prevent them overheating and becoming damaged over time. Note that the other modes, 'medium' to 'eco' do not have this drop of output, because the output on those modes will not generate so much heat to cause damage.  The runtime shows that the C3 can emit 1200 lumens, for 1 minute before dropping to 500 lumens which it can emit for 2.5 hours.  In eco mode, it can stay on for 143 hours straight!  That's nearly 6 continuous days!

Next, there is 'runtime', beam distance, also known as 'throw'.  This also varies depending upon the mode of the flashlight, so the C3 can have a maximum range of 179m on high mode and this drops to 50m for medium, 10m for low and then 1m for eco.

'Candela' is next on the table and this is a measure of beam intensity and how focussed it is in 1 direction.  You can read more about candela here.  Generally speaking more candela means more throw distance, for example, the C3 gives 7985 candela in high mode with 179m distance and 30 candela for eco mode with 1m distance.

'Flash' modes are two other types of output settings which are in addition to the high to eco modes.  One of these a modes is the 'strobe' mode which can be used for self-defence and has a high output of 1200 lumens which is the flashlight's maximum output.  In strobe mode, the torch flashes very quickly to disorientate an assailant.  'SOS' mode is used for being found when lost and the C3 gives 200 lumens output for this.

The type of LED is sometimes given in these ANSI FL1 tables, in this case it's the Osram P9 for this C3 flashlight.  You can read more about LEDs used in flashlights here.

Next, there is 'impact resistance' i.e. how from how far you can drop the flashlight without damaging it.  In this case, for the C3, it is 1.5 metres.

The degree of protection from water and dust are determined by the 'IP' levels.  IP stands for 'ingress protection' and the C3 is 'IP68' rated.  The definition of this can be found below, along with other ratings which are common for flashlights.