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KEY POINTS ABOUT LIGHTING
Making an informed choice
With the growing number of headlamps now on the market and the different technologies being used, some explanation is
necessary to choose the headlamp best suited to your needs.
Different ways to
use the available
energy according to
usage
Brightness or burn time:
A question of balance
Brightness and burn time are two inextricably linked parameters of any headlamp, regardless of its lighting technology.
For a given quantity of energy, increasing the brightness automatically decreases burn time, and vice versa.
Headlamp energy source:
- batteries
- integrated rechargeable
battery
Brightness
(lumens)
Burn time
(hours)
or
Favoring brightness to the
detriment of burn time
Favoring burn time to the
detriment of brightness
Lighting power: the shape of the beam directly affects lighting
distance.
Lighting distance depends directly on lighting power, but mainly on the
shape of the beam.
In fact, given the same light output, lighting distance will differ depending
on the shape of the beam. For example, 100 lumens of light will project to
40 meters with a very wide beam, but up to 100 meters with a narrow
beam.
100 lumens
40 m
100 lumens
100 m
Note:
For a compact headlamp worn
entirely on the head, the energy
source (standard or rechargeable
battery) has a limited capacity in
order to reduce s ize and weight
for the sake of comfort. In spite
of the improved performance
of today's LEDs and batteries,
this still limits the capacity of
a headlamp to provide both
significant brightness and long
burn time.