Led Vs Bulb

M

Macbeth

Joined
Jun 22, 2003
Messages
98
I know that led have imporved alot. All i want to know is that if it is as good or better than conventional bulb. What are the pro and cons of a Led buld over conventional bulb?
I know led use less power compared to conventional bulb. But is it as bright or brighter than conventional bulb and if is as realiable as conventional bulb.
 
An LED will last virtually forever, is very efficient and doesn't lose much energy as heat. Batteries last a long, long time (as a general rule) with LED's. They still don't produce as much light as an incandescent bulb, though progress is being made.

If I want to produce a lot of light, I use an incandescent - Streamlight UltraStinger, Stion, or one of those cheap 1,000,000 candlepower lead acid battery lights. For everything else, I prefer the durability and looooong battery life of an LED: Streamlight 4AA LED, Inova X1, etc.

See www.candlepowerforums.com and http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/ for the fun of it.

best regards
 
I use both at work. With the current technology available, incandescents are still better for long throwing lights, where I need to see a distance, or blast an area with light.

I have found that LEDs can be better for close range lighting in some cases. The lack of a filament can make a more even light pattern.

Plus, incans and LEDs produce different colors/types of lights. Those differences can be useful for different types of tasks.

Thus, I carry both (a common answer to your question) :D
 
I got my first Luxeon Led a few weeks ago (a Longbow Micra). It puts out about 25 lumens, which makes it far brighter than a minimag. It has about the same throw as my Princeton Tec Vortec, but with a wider beam (the Vortec has a very narrow beam). It's also much brighter than my 4C Maglite with half depleted batteries.

Furthermore, the Micra is regulated, so the light remains more or less constant, which is much better than any of my incandescents. On top of that, the beam is white, compared to yellow for incans. It makes a huge difference to the eye. I find that I can spot objects much quicker in real color than through a dingy yellow landscape...

Granted, it's not as bright as my Streamlight Scorpion, but it's sufficient for about 99% of what I need a flashlight for. I have to say that I was skeptical when I ordered it, but it really does put out a lot of light.

Guy
 
Some companies advertise the LED life of their flashlights at 100,000 hours, but it's more like 10,000 hours since they're typically overdriven. Still, that's years of use before the LED's life begins to diminish. Even if you EDC an LED flashlight and use it for 10-15 minutes a day, you shouldn't be concerned. The bonus is the extended battery life.
 
Cosmic Superchunk said:
Some companies advertise the LED life of their flashlights at 100,000 hours, but it's more like 10,000 hours since they're typically overdriven. Still, that's years of use before the LED's life begins to diminish. Even if you EDC an LED flashlight and use it for 10-15 minutes a day, you shouldn't be concerned. The bonus is the extended battery life.
Click to expand...

Actually it depends on which LED flashlight and which LEDs. Surefire does not overdrive their LEDs, and they always seem to provide sufficient heat dissipation capabilities. My Longbow Micra has a 1W Luxeon Star, and I believe it is being driven at 1W.

On the other hand, the 5W Luxeon Stars have much shorter lifespans, in the hundreds of hours rather than tens of thousdands of hours.

Also, keep in mind that LED lifespan is not the same as incandescent lifespan. LEDs don't blink out at their rated lifespan. They are just much much dimmer.
 
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