Why I hate LED Flashlights and Lights

[bykfixer]

Incan Alpha... Alpha Incan... either way it has a nice ring to it.

Just had the pleasure of being taxi'd home from a repair shop in a mint 1963 Pontiac Ventura with a 6 pack. No power anything except the gas pedal. Reminded me of this thread as there were (2) two of those "atomic" flashlights on the passenger seat when I got in. Dude says "$12, and geez are they bright". lol

 

[Jim Bonney]

I love reading your thread on resurrecting vintage lights. You have some of the coolest lights I've ever seen.

 

[bykfixer]

Well garsh!
I'm blushing.

I need to get back on those Eveready Soldier Boys and get them working proper. I can get them both to light, but neither switch on/off correctly.

So next rainy day I will set still long enough to finish the soldier boys and post the how to at the "restore" thread.

In the meantime my LED's and Incans coexist peacefully. I still find the 4C Mag with a 3 cell krypton one of my favorites. And the ML25's with a 4 cell bi-pin, fueled by 2 x 1850's is a goody too.


The 2C Eveready/Daylo Soldier Boys.
(Fore = enlisted version; Aft = officer version)

 

[iamlucky13]

Incan Alpha... Alpha Incan... either way it has a nice ring to it.

It would be a great idea to make a harness for mounting that light to a small llama, for navigating the treacherous footpaths of the Andes at night. I could imagine carrying ceremonial supplies to an ancient South American temple that way.

It would be an Incan alpaca with incan Alphas carrying aloe incense.

 

[Wattnot]

The OP should go to the TRADE section and make a deal with me for my 1000 lumen INCAN Hotwire light I've been trying to sell for almost a decade.

 

[LimeJellyBean]

I sympathize with the OP completely. I too hate LED and I'm beginning to hate the old friend Fluorescent.

I import all of mine off eBay from the UK where people are really picky about their bulbs. (I'm in Australia.)

I have incandescent halogen GLS all throughout the house.
for working areas I use 116w halogen GLS (such as a laundry, shed, carport, soldering station.)
for bedrooms I use 72w halogen GLS frosted
for my small personal bathroom I use 33w halogen GLS
for kitchens and the main bathroom I use 35w 12v halogen downlight

and something that you may be shocked to know, I use 4x 35 watt 12v halogen downlights with aluminium reflectors for my 2 foot aquarium

I find that the color rendition is perfect for my 40+ guppies and neon tetras and snails and for growing plants with CO2 injection.

Pics of my aquarium from beginning to current setup:
https://imgur.com/a/pklHj

The warm glow of the aquarium doesn't hurt my eyes anymore like it used to with the T5HO globes.
I spend a lot of time indoors because of a back injury so this is very important to me.

my mother has a 2 foot aquarium aswell and she uses my old 4x T5HO globes. 2x 6500k and 2x10,000k.

Needless to say I have no intention of ever moving away from incandescent lights. Mainly because it costs me nothing to run them because I have a 3kW solar power system installed on the roof but also because they are the best light source for any purpose. And 18650's ever increasing battery capacity makes it completely pointless to not use them for flashlights. I regularly use my three WF-501B's with 3.7v incan ebay retrofits all of the time. My only LED flashlight a Fenix E25UE sits unused because not only does it need two expensive Eneloop Pros it also needs regular charging recharging AND the light that it generates is too washed out and hurts my eyes even on its lowest setting. Because like every other human being on the planet my eyes are designed for the color spectrum output of the sun, and not a 'perfect' linear white light source.

I also find that it is much more difficult and takes longer to identify items in my pantry when I'm using a LED light source and the roof light thats in that room is a 116w halogen, I can see things perfectly fine with that. Plenty of warm white light.

I grew up on Incan and I'll die with incan light sources around me.

 

[Minimoog]

The biggest 'problem' with incan is the yellowing of the beam as the batteries fade. This is not a problem to me as I see it as a warning that the batteries are starting to fade, but it is the main reason why LED is much more popular - people don't want sick looking lights. Sadly, manufacturers never bothered regulating their lights but as ready built regulators are available for $1 now I add them to lights that will take them for a much better experience. Bulbs don't like the varying voltage from fresh to flat batteries as they are only being driven correctly for a few seconds per run - and this shortens their life - as does the hit to the cold filament from fresh batteries.

I prefer incan to LED but most production incan lights are pretty rubbish as stock.

 

[ssanasisredna]

Because like every other human being on the planet my eyes are designed for the color spectrum output of the sun, and not a 'perfect' linear white light source.

Now if only, at any point in the day, the sun (or moonlight) had a spectrum anything at all like a halogen light, perhaps this statement would bring weight to the rest of the argument. However, neither sunlight, nor moonlight, nor anything that regularly burns in nature, has a spectrum like a halogen bulb, so what evolutionary benefit is there to our eyes adapting to halogen??

 

[ssanasisredna]

for working areas I use 116w halogen GLS (such as a laundry, shed, carport, soldering station.

The lack of sufficient blue in the spectrum will not cause your pupils to close fully. This reduces your depth perception and generally makes for poorer focus.

 

[Bourbon City]

As part of my Continuing Education requirements, I took a class on Maintenance of Traffic during Highway/Bridge Construction. In that Class I learned that approximately every 18 years the amount of light the human eye perceives is cut in half. As I became older I think that statement is true. I find that I must have lights on in my home if I want to find something, that or use a torch.

I find myself using a torch many times during the day. I also find that I do not like black objects. They are extremely hard for me to find without a torch. I use my torches on low or medium depending on the torch I have at hand.

Almost all my torches are Cool White. I do have a couple of Natural White.