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Which LED Flashlight Do You Use?
An anonymous reader asks: "There are now a LOT of LED flashlights on the market. A quick Google turns up 59,000 hits. Some of these flashlights are pretty ballsy. The LightWave 4000 contains 10 LEDs and offers one month of continuous light output. The Photon MicroLight is bright as all getout and goes on your keychain. The EverLED will go in a MagLight or any other high quality existing flashlight. There is even an entire web forum devoted to modifying existing flashlights to use LEDs. What experiences have Slashdot readers had with LED flashlights, and what recommendations would you make to a choosey buyer?"
Does it run Linux?
Donate background CPU time to fight cancer.
Imagine a beowol....ahhhh forget it.
:-)
If you really wanted a cool flashlight you'd get one of these from thinkgeek and support OSDN!
/* oops I accidentally made a comment, sorry */
You can get them at sporting good's stores for less than $8. They are surprisingly bright, and amazingly useful. I've got a red one and a blue one.
More info
THERE IS NO DATA. THERE IS O
I'm blind... you insensitive clod!
Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
I love my Turtlelite II. It's got everything you'd expect from an traditional flashlite minus the terrible battery life, yellow light, and fragile bulb. The 2 LEDs and the reflector make it perform quite similarly to a regular flashlight. The best part: I haven't changed the batteries in 18 months since I got it. You can stand it on it's back and light an entire room decently when the power goes out, and it'll last all night and through the next night. It's fairly compact, but not so small as to be unusable for long periods like the little squeezy flashlights, and to top it all off, it floats!
They're a little pricy at $28, but I think it's well worth it. Also, if you have a regular flashlight that you particularly like, they'll sell you a 2 LED "bulb' and a reflector so that you can convert your favorite flashlight...
I like the light built into my key. Of course, it's a little spendy.
I've got the Trek 4 4 led flashlight. Working great and still on its orignal set of batteries after 8 months.
Go to Dan's Data.
I bought one of these...nothing like the normal LED flashlights! This thing was BRIGHT...much brighter than a normal bulb, and it just lasted and lasted and lasted. It turns ANY flashlight into an LED flashlight...amazing. The only product like it. I highly recommend it!
For working around the house, pearing into dark corners, etc, I use an Opalec NewBeam drop in for my MiniMag. It is voltage regulated, so you get 10 hours of constant brightness, and it has a low a battery indicator LED. It is driven with 3 bright white LEDs. Nice, tight focused beam. Not quite as bright as the Maglight with the incadescent bulb and fresh batteries, but perfectly usable. And not too bright to annoying when using it to read in the dark, work up close to yuor face, etc.
For backpacking, I use a Black Diamond Moonlight headlamp, with 4 LEDs. Runs on 4AAAs, supposed to go for 70 hours, and is as bright as the NewBeam.
I like both very much. Probably THE best place for information like this on the web is Candle Power Forums, and the LED Museum. At CPF you'll find all sorts of user experiences with most everything out there, and some home grown "pill" style ultra bright MagLight dropins. These are guys who collet $100+ flashlights! And LED Museum has a ton of technical information and reviews.
_sig_ is away
I got an Eternalight "Ergo-Marine" for Christmas, and it's defintely worth the money. The four LEDs are microprocessor-controlled, so they can be dimmed, made to flash in sequence, or strobe. There is a lot of "spill" light, so it's very useful for walking in the dark. Unfortunately, since there are no focusing lenses, the range isn't that great, and you need a precision screwdriver to change the batteries. More information can be found at Technology Associates (yes, their website is poorly named :).
I also have an Energizer folding LED light. It's a great booklight and nightlight, but it's fragile and hard on batteries.
I found these guys a REI.com on sale for $7 bucks a peice, I bought three of them about two years ago and am still on my first one. I put it on my keychain and use it at least once a day for finding stuff in my car at night, plugging and unplugging cables behind dark desks, and pushing it really hard into the palm of my hand so i can see my veins.
Pretty cool stuff...
Cloud City Digital: DVD Production at its cheapest/finest
I got 4 different colors of the everLED. Check out the Teal. www.everled.com
I have a couple of the PALight flashlights (blue and white). They are nice due to the very dim always-on setting so they can be found in the dark. They also run on 9V batteries which is ideal for me since once a year I go around and change the 9V batteries in my smoke detectors, water alarm, alarm-clock backup, etc. The batteries still have substantial life left and the PALlight about the only place I can use them. Of course the batteries last so long that it's almost impossible to use up even my used batteries. The PALlights also feature a couple of brightness modes and a strobe mode.
For a head lamp I use the Princeton-TEK 3led light (stays in my networking bag for peering behind computers under desks) but if I were to buy today I would get the Zipka since it fits in a tiny space with not in use.
I've kept a white photon micro-light on my keyring for years but there are many acceptable alternative keychain lights now.
~~~~~~~
"You are not remembered for doing what is expected of you." - Atul Chitnis
I keep the campfire white LED on the keychain. Itwas about $10 and has an on/off switch. Good for when you don' have a third had to squeeze it to turn it on. I have a "Torch" 3 white led / 3AAA battery for around the house. It was about $15. I'm waiting to replace my quartz halogen Torchars with a white led lamp.
Key features:
1. Lightweight.
2. Very bright, 7 LEDs. (Brighter than my big Mag-Lite.)
3. Soft diffuse glow over an area, good for reading.
4. Runs for 155 hours on 4 AA cells.
5. Waterproof to several meters.
6. Floats in water.
7. Rubber and polycarbonate construction, can easily survive a 2m drop onto solid concrete.
8. Push-button rubber-sealed switch on the end.
9. Available in black or safety yellow.
10. Fits in a coat pocket.
Got it for my significant other after she had a bad experience with a Mag Lite and a puddle in some dark woods.
Apparently Streamlight is the brand of choice for rescue workers.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
You can find the advantages and disadvantages of all the different coloured LEDs here.
However, if I were to buy a full sized one, I'd go for either: 1) A multi-LED drop-in for my 3 D-cell Mag Lites (any good ones out there?); 2) The Inova tactical light (drool!); or 3) the Lightwave linked to in the original post.
Method of processing duck feet
They are pretty hard to find, but if you want the ultimate battery life, look for an LED flashlight with a driver. We're talking about... like 4-10 times the battery life of a resistor run (no-driver) LED here. The EverLED is one such product, but the driver is somehow contained inside the bulb, so it can be used to replace normal incandescent bulbs (it's the same form factor as the normal drop in flashlight bulbs). Pretty cool.
This EverLED thing just goes in ANY flashlight? That is cool... And the Super LED they use is 10 times brighter than the ones used in those keychain flashlights. Anyone else thinking about getting one of these? They say it uses the flashlight's reflector, but I've never seen anything like this before.
I keep getting spam advertising for these everlasting flashlights! The Last Flashlight You Will Ever Need!
So, I won't be buying one.
My specific use is that I hike the lava fields at night here in hawaii... On moonless or cloudy nights it can be pretty dangerous because of the huge cracks (some of them 30 ft or deeper) and very very uneven ground (you regularly go up and down 15 ft as you clambor over tumulous (lava tubes)).
We use super bright flashlights so we can see distances as well as illuminate the area to find the best paths around obstacles. Since we're 20 miles from any services and any lights (hawaii is VERY dark at night) we often bring 3 or 4 flashlights and plenty of batteries.
We prefer to use flashlights that have a fairly wide field so that it illuminates as much as possible in front of us (and a bit to the sides) without blinding others in the party.
Any recommendations specific to these needs would be GREATLY appreciated since I feel that LED, if bright enough, would be great as it would be lighter and have infinatly better shelf life and battery life.
Anything that is lighter than my 2 million candle power 6 volt rechargable would be a blessing ;))
(btw, before you say it, yes, we do use nightvision too but that is very dangerous to wear and walk at the same time, plus it doesn't do that great a job of showing the cracks in the ground which are often in shadow... though it DOES do great for finding where the flowing lava is ahead of you - the NightOwl M is batteryless and uses squeeze pizeo for power - very neat).
I have a couple of the EVER-LED flashlight kits (I think LEDSupply.com is the only vendor so far). I bought them after seeing a friends blindingly small flashlight (a typical 2 aa shell) that he said lasted days. I have one in my car, which has been more than powerful enough to use at night to fix small problems with my car, yet small enough to get in tight places (try getting a D cell light in your engine bay to push a belt on!!). I have owned a couple other cheapy LED flashlights, but they seem to never be very impressive (light wise), and don't last very long. While they were rather expensive, I am *VERY* happy with my Everled flashlight. It doesn't ever seem to die (I left it on by accident all night and it is still working..). They are definately worth the extra money. My favorite part is that they are just so damn bright.
They are easily as bright as the halogen head lamps that some people have (not car lights, the headmounted ones..).
SB.
sPh
If you buy an extra LED flashlight and some ultra-violet LEDs on ebay, you can make a nice *very* bright portable blacklight cheap. Great for rockhounding in the desert, finding bark scorpions (they glow), etc...Just don't shine it in your eyes...
I ride a mountain bike, and I was wondering about those LED lights. Are they better than halogens? Brighter? Use less power?
What in the flaming blue hell is a "tactical light" ? Is that the nouveau-riche term for "flashlight" or something even more expensive?
I've got an EX40 from Tek Tite with 40 white LEDs. It works very well and is incredibly bright. The lady they have who takes orders by phone is also very nice. I'd definitely recommend this flashlight..
I bought the LightWave 2100 flashlight a couple of months back to keep in my 72 hour emergency kit. In a nutshell, I'm disappointed.
Here are some of the things that bug me about it:
* Light is blue, not white. I was expecting a crisp white light, not a dull blue one.
* No reflector. The LED's are nested in a black plastic dish.
* No lense. Not only can you not focus the beam, but the LED's themselves have no protection.
Ultimately I didn't do my homework when I bought this thing. I hope there are some better ones out there that address some of the shortcomings that I mentioned.
I like the Inova x5 - it is small and exceptionally durable. Supposedly you can run it over with a car. They also have a steel version that you can run over with a tank (and it will still work). Perhaps if you are planning a trip to the middle east...
Note that they use lithium batteries which have an long shelf life - so they are good to leave in the car. The downside is significantly more expensive replacement costs.
I also have a turtlelite II. Also well made, but a different style. Plastic, light, and quite durable. Not as bright, but it uses AA batteries.
Another flashlight was the LED-LENSER V2 Triplex. It is bright, small, and durable. But outclassed by the Inova x5 and turtlelite II.
I also tried some of the adapters for maglights. I was not impressed - the output was significantly lower than the original incandescent bulb.
No, I don't trust in god. He'll have to pay up front, like everybody else.
I would like to get an LED flashlight that has both a bright white led and also a red led to keep night vision. Has anyone seen one like that?
No, I don't trust in god. He'll have to pay up front, like everybody else.
Most LED flashlights currently on the market suffer from one or more of these shortcomings
The EverLED addresses all of these issues.
So for the reasons above, plus the fact that the EverLED works with any size flashlight from 1 to 6 cells, pretty much makes it the best LED flashlight solution going. Nobody will touch you with a 6 cell LED Maglight. That's just my $.02
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
It's waterproof, made of aircraft aluminum, visible from 2 miles away, and casts a beam that's brighter than my maglite.
Check it out here.
LEDs don't need a reflector. Unlike incandescent bulbs, there's no spillover from the sides, thus nothing for the reflector to reflect. Light pretty much goes where the LED is aimed.
Greatest store ever... i found these little babys there. It says they're not the brightest ever, but they light up a room pretty well. I have 7 of them, one of each color(they had green and purple at the store, but not online) and an extra blue one on my keychain. The rubber button is great because if you push it down all the way you can jam it under the casing and the light stays on. About once a week i find the one on my keychain jammed on in my pocket, but its still birght as ever. The last one broke(the keyring clip) before i noticed any decrease in brightness.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
I wonder why nobody mentioned arc flashlights
www.arcflashlight.com
The ARC AAA uses one AAA (surprize) and it will be BRIGHT for many hours (it's semiregulated). You can read or hike or do anything at night with one VERY small light (smaller than Mag$ Solitare). Just visit the web site and you'll see what I mean. The small light is of course waterproof; and the head is totally sealed; you can take the light apart under water without any problems. This small light has been freezed inside an ice cube, boiled in oil and run over by SUVs. Did I mentioned it's HA (hard anodized) III. If you wonder why HA III is important just look at your Mag$ Solitare (regular HA) and you'll see what I mean.
By the way, Mag$'s does not qualify (IMHO) as "high quality existing flashlight". Maybe they were, 30 years ago. Maybe they still are compared to 1.99$ lights from department store. But for example a Princeton Tec 40 (around 12-25 $) will be smaller (fits in a pocket) and about 60 g (!). With batteries (standard 4xAA) will be around 130g. And will have a nice white output (no rings). In a 3D Mag$ you'll find: ringy, yelowish output (and less brightness), about 460 g dead weight + 400-450 g for batteries. Oh, and the Princeton Tec is waterproof to 2000 ft (yes 2 and three 0) while mag will be flooded if you try to see how it's working in the pool.
No other LEDs can come close to the Luxeons in brightness. Seriously, these things are probably 10 times as bright as the next LED. I have been planning to make my own flashlight out of a Luxeon 1W and a mini maglite case along with a driver circuit. Recently Luxeon released a 5W version that is blinding to look at. You won't believe these things until you see them. Search on ebay for Luxeon, from there you can buy the parts to build your own or buy a prebuilt flashlight.
this is simply the best! leaves both hands free, always shines where you're looking. can be worn above a baseball-cap to reduce glare.
i use a BLACK DIAMOND headlamp. it is light, nicely balanced (batteries in back) and works for a long time (about 70h with 3 aaa cells)!
I have three LED flashlights. My first was an Arc AAA flashlight. It uses a Nichia white LED, a DC-DC converter, and a single AAA cell. You twist the head of the flashlight to turn it on and off. It is very small, only a bit bigger than the AAA battery, but gives quite a bit of light and has a great runtime of approximately 5 hours on an alkaline cell. It's terrific.
My second LED light is an Arc LS LED flashlight. It features a white Luxeon Star 1 watt LED, a DC-DC current regulator, and runs on a lithium 123 cell. It has a hard anodized finish that is extremely durable. It is only 2 3/8" long and is just under an inch in diameter. It has a very bright bluish-white light. It is very easy to carry in your pocket and I find myself using it daily. I bought it as a factory second directly from Arc. I highly recommend this flashlight. Arc sells their flashlights through distributors and from their own webpage at http://store.yahoo.com/flashlight/.
My last LED light is an Electro Lumens Blaster II. It also features a white Luxeon Star 1 watt LED, but has a large aluminum body that holds three 1.5 volt D cells. This light is very bright and will run at nearly full brightness for about 24 hours, and at reduced brightness for another 48 hours. It is a very cool flashlight. You can find them for sale at http://www.elektrolumens.com/4_SALE/For_Sale.html
Even with the ringer on silent, the alarm wakes me up when the backlight kicks in! must have 6 LEDs in it.
Did I mention its BLUE?! Thats right kiddies -- makes for nice ambient lighting. Now if I could just string a few of these in the house, I could remote-activate room-lighting by calling each phone!
Heck, I use it to see my way in the dark at night, to alert my buddies to my location at the local watering hole, to annoy my sleeping flatmate when she's sleeping, and for just some cool blue ambient room-lighting.
heck, I even use its blue light to wakeup early when -- set the alarm and put the phone in silent mode; when the alarm goes off the backlight kicks in and *ta0dah!* instant timed lighting!
While I'm here riding on the coattails of a +5 ... my pick is the Princeton Tec Aurora headband light. Three LED's, three brightness settings, useless blink settings, comfortable headband, and the lamp tilts away from the headband. The absolute best for doing work with line-of-sight light hands-free.
--- Jason Olshefsky
Karma: Poser (mostly affected by adding this line long after everyone else did)
What I can't figure out is... why are they still specialty items? Why do you only see them in yuppie camping boutiques or boating accessories stores?
The other day I was in the supermarket and saw a big display of flashlights from some familiar mass-market name... I'm afraid I forget which one... that said "LED!" on the package in big letters.
It was a traditional flashlight with a regular incandescent bulb--and a flashing red LED on it, allegedly so you could find it easily in the dark. Why? WHY?
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Why does MS sell wireless keyboard for over $100 by marketing them as BLUETOOTH?
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
My favorite is the Princeton Tec Attitude Light. We sell them along with a large selection of other LED's.
Because we sell LED flashlights I'm pretty familiar with what is popular among our customers. The time-tested favorite seems to be the Streamlight Stylus penlight.
A great resource for reading about the differences between a lot of LED's is Brock's LED Page.
Bryan Noonan
Zbattery.com
800-624-8681
Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in. The biggest lightwave (the hefty one with 3 d batteries) is just amazing. To respond to earlier comments: YES the light is bluish, the color index of the "white" led's is still not great due to the use of a blue GaN led + a yellow phosphor. Some of the blue light sneaks out and is visible but it is not so bad that you can't see reasonably faithful colors of objects. Also, someone objected to the lack of a reflector. It doesn't need one since the angular intensity distribution of the led's is quite narrow in the forward direction. A reflective cup wouldn't really send much more light out... FINALLY- the thing is ridiculously bright. I mean I can just point it at the ceiling of a 15x15 foot room that is pitch black and it is like I turned on a chandelier.
For a flashlight to keep with you at all times the arcflashlight is great. It is intensely bright and the body is machined out of basically 1 piece of solid anodized aluminum so it is quite durable.
Go take a look at the 5W luxeon led's at www.lumileds.com to see what I dream about in my
next flashlight (powered by a serious LiIon battery of the laptop variety....
I have a CMG infinity with red led. It's a small, sturdy metal light that takes one AA battery and gives 40 hours of full brightness light, then another 30 or so of slowly dimming light. I use mine for general use and astronomy, and love it. It can take a beating, runs all year of heavy use on like a 4 pack of AA batteries. There's now an ultra version out with twice the brightness and half the battery life. See it here: http://www.theledlight.com/infinity.html Review here: http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/inf1.htm
Blessed are the pessimists, for they have made backups.
the EverLED uses the Luxeon..it isa already a drop in bulb that will work with any flashlight.
I also have the Inova X5 Tactical flashlight that's already been mentioned and and love everything about it...except the blue light just doesn't really do it for me. Apparently it comes in both blue and white configurations (maybe green too), but I have only ever been able to find blue. While I'm sure all the arguments about blue light at night being better than white are true, I find that it is not totally useful at night for all situations. Maybe it's just that our eyes have been trained to white light but I sometimes find it harder to see things at night with the light than without it. Using a regular white flashlight solves the problem. Other than that most of it's other claims appear true; It has been dropped, kicked, thrown, left in a pitcher of beer for over 10 minutes, and flashed from at least 1000 ft. away (Obviously this is not 2 miles but from this short distance it was still somewhat blinding) Anyway just my thoughts. -peel
What I really want is to never have to change another light bulb in my house, and get full spectrum lighting.
Any full spectrum LED light bulb replacements for 110v in houses?
I have purchased both the Photon II and Photon III keychain LED lights. They are quite bright for being so small, but I would not buy the "III" model again since it has all these annoying light modes, which are a pain when you just want to turn it off and on.
These are the only LED flashlights that I've used.
However, when you want a real flashlight, pony up and buy a SureFire rechargable. You will not be disappointed.
help fill in hidden movie endings @ End of the Credits
Only cons are that they're overpriced, and well, the case could've been titanium rather than aluminum. But still there is no competition, yet.
See also the high-brightness Luxeon Star model; but those are beyond what most can afford, and then you have to pay extra to get the AA battery chamber.
The next thing I want to see is a retrofit for my 3-D-cell Maglights, which I still use when a penlight isn't enough.
Testimonials My two EverLEDs arrived today! One white, one cyan/teal. I am in process in trying them in various flashlites, and so far have been quite impressed. Even in a very cheap 2C Lumilite K-2C, it is impressive and puts the PR-2 incandescent to shame. The white is one of teh whitest LED light sources I have ever seen, no pukey dogpee green, no purple or blue hot spots, all white, no BS... it is as pure clean white as it comes. The Cyan is also impressive. Couldn't be simpler, just replace teh PR2 glass thingie with the EverLed and you have light! The EverLEd doesn't get too hot, after a 20 minute run, it was warm but not hot. And this in an el-cheapo plastic $2 flashlight. Looks like you have a home run with this product! /ed in NH
I have a couple of the EVER-LED flashlight kits (I think LEDSupply.com is the only vendor so far). I bought them after seeing a friends blindingly small flashlight (a typical 2 aa shell) that he said lasted days. I have one in my car, which has been more than powerful enough to use at night to fix small problems with my car, yet small enough to get in tight places (try getting a D cell light in your engine bay to push a belt on!!). I have owned a couple other cheapy LED flashlights, but they seem to never be very impressive (light wise), and don't last very long. While they were rather expensive, I am *VERY* happy with my Everled flashlight. It doesn't ever seem to die (I left it on by accident all night and it is still working..). They are definately worth the extra money. My favorite part is that they are just so damn bright.
They are easily as bright as the halogen head lamps that some people have (not car lights, the headmounted ones..).
-S.B.
Just got mine about half an hour ago and they are "The Bomb" They actually came in a box, not a baggy in an envelope. Once in the box what should to my wondering eyes appear, faceted lucite jewelry cases holding the gems. I ordered and received two white and one teal.
I can not imagine the teal color being any prettier than the color of this led. I've had an old Lumilite K-2AA laying around in a drawer for ther longest time. As luck would have it this light is trimmed out in Teal. My teal lamp has a home.
Output of the white Everled totally blows away a pr2 and is equal to or better than a mag 3c I have with a halogen lamp in it.
The color of the white Everled is white. No green, no blue and no yellow streaks. Anyone that charges extra for a specially selected "White" Luxeon needs a lesson in how to purchase these lamps.
Reflector performance in the Mag is best when in spot. At wide angle center is very dark. The performance of the teal Everled in the fixed reflector 2AA is nothing short of spectacular. Bright at the center with with very little sidespill. ...If they come out with a boxed set I plan on being one of the first to have it.
Anon
Bottom line at this point would be best quoting Lesly Snypes in Demolition Man "... I like it. I like it a lot!"
-Anon
Greetings:
Today I received my order for a Cyan EverLed bulb.
"ITS BRIGHT BABY!" I tested it in a 2 cell and in a four cell flashlight. It has exceeded my expectations for its performance.
-JR
http://www.hdssystems.com/Products.htm
http://www.starkelectronic.com/nightst.htm
Its rad a rad headlamp, weighs nothing, runs 10+ hours on 2 AAA's, perfect for, fixing 'puters, cars, parties, night climbing, cycling, camping etc, I swear by mine, got everyone in my family one for X-mas. No one should be without one of these SRP $30 (not a paid endorsment). MM
The only thing to be careful with if you go for diving lights is some of them don't like being used in air; not enough cooling.
My recommendation for the type of hiking they are doing is multiple sources of light so you get shadows... a petzel and a torch.
I always have my green photon 3 microlight on my keychain. Fairly bright, the batteries last a fairly long time. Was very useful in my last job as a support tech, when opening up computers and installing nics and such. It has 3 levels of brightness, 3 levels of flash (i wouldn't call it strobe, the duration of each flash is too long for a decent stroboscopic effect), and an auto-shutoff mode where it flashes for a couple seconds, gives you a minute of light, flashes for a couple seconds again and then shuts itself off. The back button is a little hard to push, but not too bad. The front button just turns on the light for as long as you hold it down (like the button on the photon 1). Also check out the Rav'n light for some neat effects. Don't have one, but i've seen pictures of it.
Their website has fairly accurate information, and their description of the colors are accurate. Remember that while there is a white available, it isn't as bright as colored LEDS.
So Gilmore and his crew have been giving out lights for a couple of years that with stickers saying "Linux Freeswan.org" on them, originally in colors and later in white LED when that came out. By now they'd like you to buy your own Photon lights (:-), but in the crypto-geek community they're fairly common keychain accessories. Aside from using them as blinky-light toys, I've found them useful for looking inside and under things, repairing cars in the dark, etc., and the keychain size means I've always got one with me.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Because the keyboard uses bluetooth to communicate with the reciever. The flashlights he mentions don't use LED to do what they are designed for. They use LED as an add on.
WTF are you talking about ...I *own* a NightOwl monocular, and NightOwl Optics (www.nightowloptics.com) lists no 'squeeze' piezoelectric nightvision model(s) on its website, so I can only assume that you have indeed been partaking of the 'maui wowi' (the herb, not the smoothie), on your midnight treks.
Watch out for those crevases, duuuude!
there are a few models out there that actually have both an LED and regular bulb. as a member of a search and rescue team i need less light and more battery life about 80% of the time, and the other 20% of the time i want a very bright light. switching to a differnet light or carrying two is not a practical option. petzl makes a model called the "duo", black diamond makes one called "gemini". both of these have served me and my coworkers very well, even after being subjected to some serious abuse. not only do you get the best of both worlds, but if either the LED or bulb side of the light dies, you still have a working flashlight. Jon Sullivan
Good place to buy LED flashlights: Botach Tactical
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
I can recommend the Led-Lenser V9 Micro-Lenser because of its light-output per volume. It is the ideal keychain flashlight and can be ordered from Conrad Electronics for about 15 Euros or Dollars.
where's all that Karma?
I went to Radio Shack, bought a pack of "Jumbo Red" LEDs, along with some resistors, went to the dollar store and bought a couple AA flashlights, threw out the bulbs and replaced them with the LEDs.
Why? Because you don't want a bright white light at a telescope at night, but red LEDs are perfect - they illuminate the scene without ruining your night vision.
Clear, Dark Skies
I've got two; one black, one gunmetal. One's on my belt, the other's in the car.
Anyone know how these two stack up againsed eachother?
MagmaLED
and
NewBeam
Is bigger/more == better in this case? They both look sexy...
Going with an EverLED for my club. Eer, 6-D Mag. (ya sold me n1ywb).
Oh, and what of my poor little Maglite Solitaire? Or is there just too little room?
Obviously, I *really* like Mag, but that Arc AAA is looking like it's worth a shot if not.
Well, I use it for a booklight actually. But I built my own super-bright-LED booklight. An LED generally draws about 10-15mA. I built a little 10mA constant-current source that will drive a super-bright-white LED off a 9V battery until that battery's drained to about 5V (at which point the current source gets less "constant", and the light starts to dim). Most 9V batteries are rated at about 500mAh, so that should be about 50h of continuous use - or maybe longer, since the battery ratings don't generally discharge them that low. Of course, if you add more LEDs, you reduce the battery life accordingly.
When i train, for the Air Force Auxillary, we use brinkman LED flashlights. Why? they last 1,000 years, first off. Also, they have an optional "flash" where we can use morse code with them. They are small, portable and powerful. They are also cheap. One of he nicest things about it is that it also has red, blue, green and orange covers to go over the Flashlight. Red: So it does affect your eyes, easier to adjust in teh night if you have to turn it off quickly and run like hell. Also is easier on other people's eyes. Orange: if you need to get noticed the orange-yellow light helps. Green: if your in the woods the green light is the least noticed. Blue: hmm- i have no clue what the hell the blue is for, we never have used it.... The Brinkmann flashlight goes for like 16 dollars or some cheap thing it also hooks onto your belt easily with its strap :) its very light, too. :D
~Just keep eating, porky. Fat people are harder to kidnap.
I just got a Dorcy model 41-2750 Aluminum LED, which is similar to a 'shorty' D-cell MagLight, except the Dorcy uses 4-AA's, and purportedly lasts for 200 hours per set of batteries.
It is a single LED light, with an adjustable beam, (ala MagLight) and 'loves' rechargable Nickle Metel Hydride batteries, which produce a more LED friendly current.
I'm impressed.
By the way, Dorcy appears to be the supplier of the 'rebadged' LEDCorp branded models.
My point was that the fact that they keyboard uses bluetooth offers absolutely no advantage to the customer vs. other wireless keyboards. Bluetooth was supposed to standardize wireless peripherals and thus make them cheaper, yet the MS bluetooth keyboard is 2x as much as an equivilent logitech non-bluetooth keyboard. The ONLY possible advantage I can see is that if your computer already has bluetooth built in, you don't need to use the included MS receiver, but I don't know if it even can work with generic bluetooth receivers. Maybe range is better but seriously how far away from your computer are you going to try and use your keyboard? Anyway this is pretty offtopic so I'm finished.
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
I keep getting spam advertising "SEX!"
So, I won't be reproducing.
Luxeon Star-based flashlights (as mentioned earlier) are *amazing*. 1 watt and 5 watt Luxeons are available (although 5W whites are rare, but getting more common.) The 1W units are used in a number of lights such as the Arc LS (Expensive, but excellent) and the CMG Reactor (Don't get it, worst LS light out there). Another person mentioned EL's Blaster series, which are good lights. Also there's plenty of info on the forums linked from the article (candlepowerforums) on converting a 2D or 3D Maglight into a resistored LS light.
For small and relatively cheap, register on the forums and investigate the BadBoy and MadMax drop-ins for MiniMags. These "pills" replace the bulb in your minimag and include a 1W Luxeon on a DC/DC step-up converter. The MadMax is constant-voltage, the BB constant-current (the latter is the best way to drive an LED if you want consistent brightness.) They are both BRIGHT. My BadBoy 400 can tangle with a 2D Maglight and win, with a much whiter and smoother beam.
If you order a BadBoy, I suggest trying the McFlood optics, also from dat2zip's site. They give a nice smooth flood beam. For an intermediate beam, I have a 22.5mm diameter DCX lens from www.anchoroptical.com mounted in a MiniMag accessory holder in front of the McFlood, for a "tight flood" beam.
Nice thing about these "pills" is that if the body gets scuffed up, replacement bodies are only $7-8 each at any local store.
Unfortunately McLuxes are no longer in production - At $120 or so per light, these were quite expensive but they were VERY solidly built with an excellent design, and they were also one of the smallest LS lights out there.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Where's the "I forgot something" button.
The Arc AAA is an excellent light for those looking for something smaller (and less bright) than the Luxeon.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
I didn't think ppl made those butt-ugly webpages anymore.
The content might be just fine, it's just a little hard on the eyes. These pages should have a tag.
beauty is only a light switch away
I came accross this site that claims it has the "Forever Flashlight." You can power it by shaking it for a few seconds. This could come in handy if there is ever a nuclear apocolypse or you just don't like buying batteries. Find out more at http://www.foreverflashlight.com/ I personally can't vouch for it, but I'm thinking about trying it out!
Size of a typical pen, uses 3 AAAA batts, made from aircraft aluminum. Fits right in my pocket. I use it every day, change the batts. every 4 months or so.
A friend gave it to me as a present a year and a half or so ago. Best damned flashlight I ever owned. Cracked the LED about 3 months ago, 1 drop of superglue fixed it. (of course the beam scatter is not as even as when brand new, but I can and do live with it) I highly recommend Streamlight products.