2000 Lumen Flashlights And Their Uses

1000 lumens used to be a pretty impressive marker for tactical flashlights, but LED technology moves fast. These days 1000 lumens is practically standard for a hand-sized tactical flashlight. If you really want to impress your friends at this point, you've got to get a 2000 lumen light.

Now there's a lot of great brands for 1000 lumen flashlights. But the best brand right now is possibly Klarus. Klarus has put a lot of effort into handheld lights that run off beefy high drain batteries. So what you've got are lights that are durable, rugged, waterproof, and also have a really unusually high lumen output. So let's take a look at some of these 2000 lumen lights!

The Klarus XT11GT

The XT11GT is currently Klarus’s star flashlight and ranked the best tactical flashlight from a few sources. And it hits that 2000 lumen marker exactly. This gives it a fantastic distance. It's got a beam throw up to 316 meters, which is over three football fields long. What's especially nice about the XT11GT is it's got several modes, and it's programmable. So you have the full 2000 lumens whenever you want it, but when you have a light this powerful, part of the issue is the interface and getting exactly the amount of light that you want at that moment, and making that process as intuitive as possible. Because if you've got a 2000 lumen flashlight, that is an incredible amount of light. You don't want to just be using that every time you pick up the light. The XT11GT especially is a good light for using indoors or just lighting your way to the bathroom at night or checking out something in your backyard. So it's definitely nice to have the 2000 lumens available, but sometimes you don't want to have that full brightness bouncing back into your eyes.

So the XT11GT is also great because the site switch carries a memory function, so you can always have access to whatever brightness level it is that you prefer to have, and you don't have to turn it on at the brightest setting and shield your eyes while you dial it back. What's also nice is you've got that programmability so that you can actually mess with the button functionality, and get that just how you want it. If you're not, for instance, planning on using the strobe function, as that can be a surprising mode to just stumble across while you're on your way to the bathroom at midnight, you can actually program the strobe out and completely replace it with the lowest brightness setting. Which is sort of just what you need for regular home use with the light.

The Klarus G35

Now if you're thinking about a flashlight that you're definitely not going to be using indoors, a great light for outdoor use is the Klarus G35. Here's where the importance of reflector and head design comes in. Because the G35 is also a 2000 lumen light. However, while the range on the XT11GT is only 316 meters - I say "only" like that's a small amount of light, like three football fields is not enough for most people - the G35 actually has 1000 meters of range at the maximum brightness. That's an incredible level of range. We're at, at that point, something like a third of a mile. So how does it get that sort of range on its beam when it has the exact same level of brightness that the XT11GT has?

The answer is in the reflector. The G35 has a large head with a very deep reflector. And this tightens the focus of the beam, so you get all the photons going in one continuous and very narrow stream, straight out. The XT11GT is designed a little differently. It's designed to sort of flood the area in front of you. So if you're just outside, just trying to find something in your backyard, you don't need a 1000 meter beam that forces you to sweep the hot spot all over the yard. But if you're out camping, if you're doing some hiking, some kind of outdoor recreation, you might really want the G35 because that's sort of an incredible distance.

The G35 has also got some of the other functions that the XT11GT enjoys like a side switch with a memory function. So now you've got a way to instantly turn it on at the brightness level that you want and not necessarily have to use that ultra powerful 2000 lumen setting every time. Another really nifty and unique feature that makes the G35 a great outdoors light: most tactical flashlights require 18650-sized lithium ion batteries. That's pretty standard. And for a light as powerful as the G35 you normally need three at any time. So it's actually three that fit inside of the light. What the G35 does that most lights don't do is it's designed so that you can actually scale that back. You can just put in one battery. And of course you won't get near the same level of brightness with that one battery, but it can function that way. You can use the S.O.S. You can use low light settings. So it's nice to have that sort of survivability with the light, and that flexibility, where if you only have one good battery left, you still also have a good flashlight that you can use it with.

The Klarus RS30

Now we are talking about 2000 lumen lights. But let's say that that's just not quite enough for you. You need more lumens, you need an even brighter light. You might want to check out the Klarus RS30. So whereas the X11GT and the G35 will get you up to 2000 lumens, the RS30 goes even a little better and it gets you to 2400 lumens. So it's a dual head rechargeable flashlight, just a very rugged, sturdy, useful flashlight for just about all occasions.

The range is not going to be as crazy as what you get on these other lights. Remember what I told you about how important the reflector design is for your range, because the 2400 lumens only gets you 260 meters. That seems, you know, outright small next to the 316- and the 1000-meter range of the two flashlights we've already discussed. But it's still going to be enough for most people's uses. Plus, because it uses two 18650 batteries, whereas the XT11GT only uses one, it still has a considerably better run time even at the higher brightness settings. So the XT11GT, its max brightness, you're looking at about 50 minutes or a little under an hour taking into account the brightness stepdown feature as the light gets hot. But the RS30 gets you an hour and 50 minutes. That's almost two hours at the max brightness setting.

Another nice thing about the RS30 is it gets you a very low level of light. It's does sound like it's going to be very important when you're looking for the brightest possible flashlight. But a lot of hard core flashlight people know that a true moonlight level is really great for when you're in the dark, you don't want to interrupt your night vision, you want to just do some reading, and the RS30 has something for that. The RS30 has a very low, very gentle five lumen "moonlight" setting. It goes Turbo at 2400 then you get your high, medium, low, and then you've got your moonlight. Just five. And one of the great things about this moonlight setting is how long it lasts. This is a setting where if you were to only use it you would have a continuous 1000 hours of light. The XT11GT nearly has a moonlight mode. It's not quite there. It's 10 lumens, and at 10 lumens it can last for 170 hours, so that's pretty nice as well. But with the RS30 you basically, if you're keeping it at low levels of light, then you've got some incredible stamina in this flashlight, making it possibly just the best all-around, the best utilitarian 2000- or over 2000-lumen flashlight that we have on offer.

Plus, you've got the rechargeability feature, which the XT11GT does also have, making them both nice flashlights to have in the home. It's nice when you don't have to worry about removing batteries and put them in a charger. You can just leave these guys plugged into the wall and you're pretty much good to go.

So those are probably the best 2000 lumen Klarus lights that you can get. Definitely take a look at these!