Originally Posted by
Burton
From that response I'm guessing you're used to narrow beam lights that throw a lot of light but only illuminate a very small area. Total waste of lumens IMO.
But if, on the other hand, you want to light up the whole width of the street - it'll take a lot more than 1,500 lumens to do it.
Halogens are only about 60% as effecient as LEDs and an automobile uses 110 watts on low beam. So a close approximation would need about 60 watts of LEDs to generate the same lighting over an equal area. Currently, bike lights aren't even close.
This has to do with the fact that a true 1500 lumen light will create a bright white road with lots of light bouncing back into your eyes off the pavement closing the pupal of your eyes to a small pin hole, this means that if you were to look to your left or right all you'll see is black and very little if any detail on a country road. I don't about you, but I prefer to have my night vision acuity because I don't ride or drive with my eyes glued to one spot on the road.