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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?"
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.
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.
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 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.
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.