Whats the first led light you ever owned?

[Vermonter73]

Tikka sometime around 2000

 

[blademan]

My first light was a Tekna like the one shaper image sold with red led and button batteries like Avidhiker was talking about. Mine did not have titanium. I thought I was hot stuff with it. I still have it.

 

[BigBluefish]

My first LED light was $10 Cabela's Mini-Mag knockoff I got back in January of this year.

And I'm already listed as a "Flashaholic!" Probably becasue I post here too much. Certainly not because I know anything about flashlights.

 

[_Shawn_]

1+ Photon Micro-Light I

 

[shakeylegs]

The Lightwave Pocket Bright is the first I remember purchasing back in the late 90's. Kind of bulky compared to the Photon, I treated it as a novelty because the switch would sometimes activate itself and drain the battery. Then I think the next "serious" led was the L1 from Fenix. I still find use for that puppy.

 

[rtt]

Mini mag with Nite-ez drop in. Still my most used light.

 

[Seth]

First LED light?

Back in the mid-to-late 80´s I had a bullet-shaped keychain-flashlight, red LED and very tiny button-cells in a chromed housing.

Very dim by today´s standards, but the batteries lasted a full decade. And I played almost every day with the darned thing

My first "real" flashlight was an orange Photon II. Had to replace batteries once in over 8 years, and I still play with he little critter almost daily.

Seth

 

[cave dave]

1st LED light: LRI Photon I Yellow - This was before white LEDs and P2 model were available.

1st White LED light: CMG Infinity - First run White (backwards battery)

 

[Gryloc]

I cannot remember what exactly sparked my interest in LEDs, but I remember drooling over the new white 5mm LEDs in a Hosfelt magazine back in the late 90's or early this decade. I eventually bought a few and crudely taped and hooked them up to a battery pack. I think I made a couple flimsy 1 and 3 LED contraptions that I used so much that they literally fell apart on me.

Then, I heard the news about the Luxeon Stars a little after they were released. I think that is the time when I first heard of the CPF, however, I barely trolled because I never realized how great a flashlight forum could be. I remember screwing down my first power LED, the good 'ol Luxeon Star/O, to a old Pentium I heatsink and hooked it to 3 or 4 AA cells. This light was taped and roughly wired together (I actually soldered joints this time). It was bright enough to impress me and everyone else I showed it to (in terms of brightness, and not at all in terms of beauty). I had no idea how important current was to these, and, unfortunately, the LEDs only lasted through about 5 sets of batteries. I may have killed it by hooking too many batteries in series though. :ironic: I killed a bunch of those expensive things before I learned how important current was to them, and how to properly regulate current. I guess that I was one of those crazy LED overdrivers early in the day, and I never realized it . Once I powered them at closer to 1W, I saw that they were so much dimmer and became displeased. Luckily new the Luxeon V then Luxeon III helped my fix by this time.

I guess that my first (and real) manufactured LED flashlight was the Photon I, followed by the Princeton Tec Attitude. Finally, it took the Streamlight 3AA Tasklight Luxeon (1W Batwing I think -its long been customized) to get me fully hooked on nice aluminum LED flashlights. Thanks to these lights, I am going to die either a lonely flashaholic, or just a broke one... :shakehead

-Tony

 

[ReP0]

Mine was an energizer hardcase LED flashlight (2xAA) that could run for 24 hours straight which I thought was cool at the time. I bought it maybe 2-3 years ago. Wish I knew about this place back then and saved some money because unfortunately the beam on it was pretty hopeless imho. Efficiency at the expense of light :mecry:

Getting a SSC AAA keychain led flashlight next to replace my failing solitaire. It's on back order but eta for shipping says next week but we'll see if that's true. Looking forward to some decent lighting (for the package size).

I'm not really an enthusiast like some of you are. If I get maybe one more flashlight (bigger handheld one) it'll do me.

 

[senna94]

Eddie Bauer 3 led stainless steel finish POS from Target. It looked really cool but the switch quit working after a couple of weeks.

 

[Pistolero]

+1 for the ASP Sapphire. I think I got one for me and my wife when we got married in 2001. I also bought a 4D Maglight because I always wanted one. It made sense to my wife also since we were buying fire extinguishers and nitelights.

Little did she know, we were feeding a budding addiction.

Eddie Bauer 3 led stainless steel finish POS from Target. It looked really cool but the switch quit working after a couple of weeks.

Aren't those rebranded Coasts? Will they honor the warranty?

 

[matrixshaman]

I'm not going to count the red LED's since I don't really think of those as a useable flashlight - at least not in the sense of traditional flashlights up to that point - I remember when the very first white LED's started coming out and were available in a large electronics supply store in California. Shortly after they came out someone jerry rigged one 5mm white LED into a plastic case that held 3 AA batteries. You turned it on by twisting the front plastic head down (which contained the integrated lens). So it was 2 pieces of plastic with one 5mm LED and shortly after that they came out with a 3 LED version. I bought one of each. They were very rough on battery tips but worked and I've still got them. The plastic cases were actually fairly rugged and thick and probably about the size of a AA MiniMag but maybe 1/3 longer due to the extra battery. I don't remember the year but everyone working in that store was making a big deal of letting people know about the NEW white LED (which of course was quite bluish tinted).

 

[L.E.D.]

1999 ish, Brinkmann Long Life LED, 2AA side by side config.

 

[DrunkenDonut]

My first ever LED light:
[FONT=arial,sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Photon Sapphire Blue L.E.D. Light[/SIZE][/FONT]

I thought it was amazing.

Yes! I had one of those too! Except mine was black bodied. My dad had a red one. The rubber button eventually disintegrated though - It got all gooey. :sick2: I'm not sure what brand it was under, and I guess it doesn't really matter. It's the same design anyway.

 

[TomBrown]

'Twas the unbelievably-bright Streamlight ProPolymer 4AA Luxeon. :thumbsup:

+1

I was showing my Dad and he really ooohed and aaaaahed over it so I gave it to him. He still uses it and still thinks it's the best light going.

 

[jnj1033]

Inova Microlight - Blue LED - summer of 2002. The thing stayed on my keychain for a while, but it had a tendency to come on in my pocket and run the batteries down. After moving five times since then, I think it's still somewhere in my apartment.

My first decent LED light was the Nite-Ize Minimag drop-in. Christmas of 2004 I think. I still have a few of those, although they don't get much use these days. My Liteflux LF2 is my go-to light now, and my P2D is my "Wow!" light.

 

[drillbit]

My first was a CMG Infinity Ultra, which still sits on my nightstand(along with several others, of course).

Karl

 

[DoubleDutch]

Somewhere around 2001, a Zweibrüder single led keychain light with three LR44 button cells. It impressed many people, then. Brightness was about one third of an Fenix E0. Runtime till 50% maybe an hour. And it was absolutely useless in wet conditions; water would just pour in at the front. The easiest light to mod, though.

My first higher quality light after that was an PT Attitude. Still own it, and it sees some use in very bad weather or under water.

Kees

 

[frosty]

Fenix L1P. Nice light.