Luminox owners chime in

Reignman

Reignman

Joined
Oct 18, 2012
Messages
1,073
How bright is the tritium..? I've seen two examples that even if I completely cover it in daylight I don't see any illumination... are they dimmer than night sights? I've heard they reproduce replicas but can't see running into them that many times casually.
 
The older ones had great illumination, the newer ones not so much. Mine is all stainless and it's about 8 years old and it is still visible day or night.
 
I have a Recon that I got as a Christmas gift last year. The illumination is quite dim, can only be seen when its quite dark, and the small tritium on the rotating bezel went out after only a few months.
I'll probably send it in for them to fix, but I'll never buy another one.
 
It will not be as bright as charged lume in a standard dive watch, but the intensity will stay the same all night. I have 2 that I wear that are probably close to 10 years old and they are plenty bright for use at night. If I get up in the middle of the night they seem very bright.
 
I have a F-16 model that is now 10 years old. The illumination is mostly gone. I contacted the repair center before the 10-year warranty was up and I was told that there are no parts to repair my watch. However, they did offer a discount on a new Luminox. I do not think I would spend my had earned money on a watch that has no parts for warranty repairs if needed.
 
See the ones I've looked at I literally can't tell if they're illuminating if I cover them in my hands and peek in.... can that be right? Perhaps the originals really were that much brighter.
 
I don't have a Luminox but I have a few tritium watches( Ball and a GSAR). Any tritium watch will not be bright in the daylight, even when you cover it. In fact, until your eyes start to adjust to the darkness they don't appear bright. But, where the truly shine, sorry for the pun, is at night long after any light charged lum would have faded, the tritium continue to glow bright consistently. I've used mine as a light source while out in the dark night, they caste quite a glow. You wake up at 4 am and check your watch with lum and you're not going to see what time it is, check your tritium and you'll practically need to squint.
 
Reignman said:
See the ones I've looked at I literally can't tell if they're illuminating if I cover them in my hands and peek in.... can that be right? Perhaps the originals really were that much brighter.
Click to expand...

Sitting at my desk with the desk lamp on, I can do my best to cover the dial of the watch with my hand and peek in and I can't see a thing, but at night when it is dark it is more than bright enough. And this Luminox is nearing 10 years old.
 
KDUJ said:
I have a F-16 model that is now 10 years old. The illumination is mostly gone. I contacted the repair center before the 10-year warranty was up and I was told that there are no parts to repair my watch. However, they did offer a discount on a new Luminox. I do not think I would spend my had earned money on a watch that has no parts for warranty repairs if needed.
Click to expand...

I've got a 3600 Series titanium that was also starting to get pretty dim after 10 years or so and got the same line about parts availability and offered a discount on a new watch :( Pissed me off royally, but after a bit of searching I was able to get my tritium replaced by a third party. You can see the results and the company info in my thread about it.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1431852-Luminox-replacement-Or-tritium-replacement

~Chip
 
I've only had two.

My original one from 1997-1998 was still glowing bright when I sold it last year.


My wife bought me the same model but brand new 4 years ago. And it was dim from the get go.
Not half as bright as my other that was 15+ years older.

And the quality seems way less when compared to my original one.
 
I have a watch with luminova markings and hands. I can see the time if I wake up at 0400. I hear super luminova is even better. I would look for either of those brands on the dial.
 
The ones I have had the trits were bright. About all brands use the same T25 tritium tubes. You have to watch that you don't get a watch that has been sitting for years. A local shop had some that were in their stock at least ten years,they were pretty dim.
On another note I will never buy another Luminox for the fact that the last one I had after 2 weeks the second hand fell off. Luminox wanted 100.00 to fix it. Took it to a local watch repair and got it fixed for 15.00.
I EDC a Marathon TSAR. Well worth the extra money,one tank of a watch.
 
u812 said:
The ones I have had the trits were bright. About all brands use the same T25 tritium tubes. You have to watch that you don't get a watch that has been sitting for years. A local shop had some that were in their stock at least ten years,they were pretty dim.
On another note I will never buy another Luminox for the fact that the last one I had after 2 weeks the second hand fell off. Luminox wanted 100.00 to fix it. Took it to a local watch repair and got it fixed for 15.00.
I EDC a Marathon TSAR. Well worth the extra money,one tank of a watch.
Click to expand...

Ball Watch and Deep Blue use T100 rated tubes. (In a "technical" nutshell, T25 means the watch has between 1 and 25 Millicurie (mCi) of radioactive tritium and T100 (or T) has between 26 and 100 Millicurie.)
 
I was thinking Deep Blue used both. Would love to see one of their T100 watches in person. I would have to go look to be sure but I think the TSAR has 26 mci printed on the case back.
 
Hi! I own a three years old 201 BO sentry, entry level Luminox. Tritium it’s still very bright, it actually shed some low intensity, “ambient” kind of light in the dark :):thumbup:! Not yet changed the battery, which is rather amazing, considering I have to replace battery in my SUUNTO every 9-10 months. This Luminox is a very good watch, IMO. Value for money product. It sports a low profile, doesn’t catch any attention, it “disappears” on my wrist during the day just to come back discretely during the night. Very light to carry, sturdy, resistant to impacts and very reliable. Like this a lot! :)

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