Looking for Best LED Flashlight

Posted by frank1492 on October 14, 2009, 11:57 pm

Should have Li-Ion battery, with good life, and be rechargeable. Saw a
nice bike light, but would like this to be hand-held. Would prefer
flood to spot, high lumen.
Recos much appreciated. Thank you!
Frank

Posted by on October 15, 2009, 4:23 am

wrote:

>Should have Li-Ion battery, with good life, and be rechargeable. Saw a
>nice bike light, but would like this to be hand-held. Would prefer
>flood to spot, high lumen.
> Recos much appreciated. Thank you!
> Frank

I don't know what's best but this one has a hand crank so that you can
charge it or your cell phone by hand.

http://www.mypreciouskid.com/led-flashlight.html

Posted by Don Klipstein on October 15, 2009, 6:48 pm

>wrote:

>>Should have Li-Ion battery, with good life, and be rechargeable. Saw a
>>nice bike light, but would like this to be hand-held. Would prefer
>>flood to spot, high lumen.
>> Recos much appreciated. Thank you!
>> Frank

>I don't know what's best but this one has a hand crank so that you can
>charge it or your cell phone by hand.
>http://www.mypreciouskid.com/led-flashlight.html

My experience with hand-crank flashlights is that they tend to have
three low-power LEDs.

The flashlight here is said to have "3 Mega Bright LED's providing over
100,000 hours of light". I still suspect 3 low power LEDs.

This flashlight appears to me to be good for an emergency flashlight, as
in a light that works as long as your arms and hands are functional. The
usual 3-LED hand-crank flashlights do not produce a lot of light, and I do
not recommend them as primary lights for night hiking or as first choice
for working on anything in the dark.

========================================

One more thing: Most low power white LEDs, at full power, are
significantly faded at 10,000 operating hours, sometimes 4,000-6,000
operating hours. 100,000 hours is merely a widely-repeated number for
life expectancy of LEDs, and it is actually true of most colored ones.
White ones and a few others are different by having a phosphor that is
faded by the extremely intense light at the surface of the LED chip.

Better high power white LEDs are claimed by their manufacturers to fade
by no more than 30% in 50,000 hours, provided specific temperature limits
for 50,000 hour life expectancy (which are cooler than maximum-allowable)
are not exceeded. 50,000 hour life expectancy may require use of not
exceeding a magnitude of current at which the LED's chaeracteristics are
all "characterized", which may be less than the rated maximum.

========================================

As for an emergency flashlight - avoid rechargeable batteries here. If
you want a good flashlight with rechargeable batteries and an "emergency
flashlight", then you want at least two flashlights. Rechargeable
batteries self-discharge faster than non-rechargeable batteries, and they
age faster if they are constantly maintained at topped-off-full-charge
(and also if they are allowed to over-discharge).

- Don Klipstein (don@misty.com)

Posted by Stormin Mormon on October 15, 2009, 7:18 pm

>I don't know what's best but this one has a hand crank so
>that you can
>charge it or your cell phone by hand.
> http://www.mypreciouskid.com/led-flashlight.html

My experience with hand-crank flashlights is that they
tend to have
three low-power LEDs.

The flashlight here is said to have "3 Mega Bright LED's
providing over
100,000 hours of light". I still suspect 3 low power LEDs.

CY: Twenty bucks, too. The cell charger is useful. I've seen
crank flash lights in the 5 to 8 dollar range, and probably
worth about that much.

This flashlight appears to me to be good for an emergency
flashlight, as
in a light that works as long as your arms and hands are
functional. The
usual 3-LED hand-crank flashlights do not produce a lot of
light, and I do
not recommend them as primary lights for night hiking or as
first choice
for working on anything in the dark.

CY: Too much noise. Crank up flash lights (might, maybe) be
good for remote location where you only vacation once a
year. If the internal nicads don't go bad on you.

========================================

One more thing: Most low power white LEDs, at full power,
are
significantly faded at 10,000 operating hours, sometimes
4,000-6,000
operating hours. 100,000 hours is merely a widely-repeated
number for
life expectancy of LEDs, and it is actually true of most
colored ones.
White ones and a few others are different by having a
phosphor that is
faded by the extremely intense light at the surface of the
LED chip.

Better high power white LEDs are claimed by their
manufacturers to fade
by no more than 30% in 50,000 hours, provided specific
temperature limits
for 50,000 hour life expectancy (which are cooler than
maximum-allowable)
are not exceeded. 50,000 hour life expectancy may require
use of not
exceeding a magnitude of current at which the LED's
chaeracteristics are
all "characterized", which may be less than the rated
maximum.

CY: More ad hype?

========================================

As for an emergency flashlight - avoid rechargeable
batteries here. If
you want a good flashlight with rechargeable batteries and
an "emergency
flashlight", then you want at least two flashlights.
Rechargeable
batteries self-discharge faster than non-rechargeable
batteries, and they
age faster if they are constantly maintained at
topped-off-full-charge
(and also if they are allowed to over-discharge).

CY: For emergency light, I'd want something with alkalines.
And buy a new set of batteries each year, if they need it or
not.

- Don Klipstein (don@misty.com)

Posted by ransley on October 15, 2009, 6:59 am

> Should have Li-Ion battery, with good life, and be rechargeable. Saw a
> nice bike light, but would like this to be hand-held. Would prefer
> flood to spot, high lumen.
> =A0 =A0 Recos much appreciated. Thank you!
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Frank

www.ledlenser.com has a big lineup, HD carries a few of them I just
got one that is 2.2 watts with 3 aaa batteries. Recharagable? get
recharageable batteries but if you dont use it much the batteries will
be dead when you need it and alkaline last a long time in Led lights.
Li ion battieies, will cost more than a flashlight.

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