Flashlights

[Bob_Skurka]

My Christmas stocking had one of the new LED flashlights in it last year and I am amazed at how bright it is.

But it is DIFFERENT. The LED flashlights are very bright and throw very white light, but they do not throw a beam pattern, nor do they throw it very far. Mine has 10 LEDs in it, and there is no reflector, the thing is fully coated in rubber armor and it is pretty indestructable and I've used it with the same set of batteries since I got it, the beauty of LEDs is they are super efficient and you can run the light for HOURS without running down the batteries.

The LED flashlights are not suitable (at least mine is not) for scanning the distant tree line for critters. But if you need an emergency light to work by or for anything within maybe 30 feet of where you are standing, the light is amazingly brite and very white and is great to work by. They will sit in your glove box for a couple of years and still be brite. They are great for indoors or for emergency work under the hood of the car.

But do not look into them because they are so brite they will blind you temporarily, they are super brite, they just don't cast a long focused beam.

 

[GaryM]

Some of the lights using the Luxon Star LEDs actually do throw a beam. But you are correct in that they are not good for scanning a distant tree line. I'm interested in the Streamlight Dual Task light. I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

I have a German import Luxon Star powerd light I bought last month at a ham radio swap meet. Really broight and runs on 3 Lithium N cells. Throws a pretty good beam out to about 50 feet or so. The brand is Coast.

 

[_RaT_]

They sell them here among many other locations.

Streamlight Twin Task Lights

 

[GaryM]

Thanks for the link. I now see that they have several models. Decisions, decisions!

 

[BigDave]

I had to wait a couple of weeks for my order to get here, but I found a cheap alternative/improvement for your MagLite: A MagLite Zenon bulb to replace the OEM Kryton bulb. You can ugrade your Maglite for about $4.00, and you can get these bulbs at Home Depot. Your 4 D-Cell MagLite will go from 24,000 candlepower to 32,000 candlepower. I don't understand why they don't supply these bulbs with the lights in the first place. I tried the new bulb on my 3 D-Cell Maglite in the woods this evening, & I see a difference. The 3 D-Cell goes from 22k to 28k. I wanted a long running light for evening walks, so I picked-up a couple of small Streamlights for LED use, but the jury is still out on them.

An alternate source: Action-Lights.com

 

[Egon]

Dave:

Long evening walks--- have you considered any of the headlamps such as petzl?

I have one petzl headlamp setup that uses a 10 watt halogen bulb and runs off of a rechargeable 6 volt sealed rechargeable lead acid battery. It will have at least 10 hours between recharges. A 6 watt bulb would be better as it will not produce as much heat.
All Ive done is switch the bulb over to bicycle headlamp type. The battery is heavy and about the size of a liter oil container. I put it in a water bottle holder and wear it on my belt. There is a large choice of different size and weight batteries. Mine was picked for dual BLT 10 watt cycle headlight system.

Egon

 

[BigDave]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've considered the headlamps, but I like the technique I have used in the past. I usually carry the light generally pointed forward to provide somelight in the direction of travel. If a car approaches from behind, I just start rocking the light forward and aft so that is clear to the driver, but I can maintain my stride. I bought Twin Tasker from Streamlight with the LED lights since they are good up to as many as 150 hours on a pair of batteries. The only problem with them is that they don't project the light in a focused beam in LED mode. The zenon bulb that it has provides a more focused alternative, but that really diminshes the battery life quickly, so I have to avoid the temptation to switch to zenon everytime I want a good look down the road.

 

[Caddyshack]

If your interested in an "illuminating" discussion site all about flashlights checkout this link.

Candle Power Forums

 

[Mrwurm]

That's a great board. Over 5,000 members who like nothing more than flashlights ! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif That's about as odd as a board with over 7,000 members who like nothing more than tractors /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[GaryM]

BigDave,

How bright is the Zenon part of the light? I'm trying to compare it to my rechargeable Stinger. On the Streamlight site they indicate the power of the TwinTask in lumens and the Stinger in Candle Power. I know that they're not the same and don't know if there's a conversion factor.