What was the first commercially available LED flashlight?

[Sleestak]

Folks,

I know there's gotta be a great number of posts on this already, but there's so many that say things like "I got my first LED flashlight" that it's hard to sift.

Going to do a presentation at work, and going to tie into flashlight innovation as a feature of process improvement as a whole.

I remember that some, like the Pak-Lite style of light, have been around for a long time, as far as LED lights have been concerned.

Thanks guys n' gals!

Sleestak

 

[Marduke]

LRI was selling Photons in 1993. I recall a promotional 2xAAA red LED light by HP or someone from the late 80's.

 

[Flying Turtle]

I think the first I remember seeing were the early yellow LED Photons. No doubt there were earlier ones. The CMG Infinity goes back a bit, too. I'd bet Craig at the LED Museum has the definitive answer.

Geoff

 

[Bronco]

Yea, I think you'd be hard pressed to come up with a commercial LED light that was widely available before the Photon was introduced.

 

[lukus]

The Tek lights were the first I remember seeing.

 

[Flashlight Aficionado]

The first LED flashlight was the Starlite. Edit: NOT true. It was that company's first flashlight, SORRY! Edit#2 The first Luxeon LED flashlight was the Arc LS in 2001. That link and Wikipedia agree.

I found a lot of interesting information looking for it. So here it goes.

History of LEDs and LED Technology

The First Flashlight in History(Third paragraph)

LED Lighting History
1907 - Light Emmiting Solid
1955 - Infrared LED
1962 - Red LED
1971 - Blue LED / 1993 production
1972 - Yellow LED / 90's production
1972 - Amber LED / 90's production
1995 - White LED / late 90's production
late 90's - UV LED / late 90's production

 

[The_LED_Museum]

I think the first I remember seeing were the early yellow LED Photons. No doubt there were earlier ones. The CMG Infinity goes back a bit, too. I'd bet Craig at the LED Museum has the definitive answer.

Geoff

Unfortunately, the earliest LED flashlight that was in my custody (featured a diffused 10mm red LED powered with a 9 volt transistor radio battery and covered with a red & black nylon "sleeve") became lost in one of several moves I've made since acquiring it sometime around the turn of the century. :shakehead
Best guess here is that it came out in the mid- to late-1980s; though I cannot narrow the date range down to any particular month or even any specific YEAR for that matter...but as far as I'm aware, it was one of the earliest commercially-made LED flashlights.

 

[kromeke]

LEDtronics had a line of 2AA lights in colors (including white) back before the Arc came out.

Tekna light had a small bright red LED keychain light before that.