Flashlight technology sure has improved over the years

[Jeep guy]

This week, I pulled out an older Rayovac LED flashlight to look at something outside. The flashlight was quite dim so I thought it needed new batteries. But even with the new batteries it was still pretty dim. I looked up the specs on it and it is only a 40 lumen flashlight. I then looked up the specs on my old Maglite 2 AA incandescent flashlight and it only has a light output of 14 lumens, quite pathetic by today's standards. In the early 90's, I thought that little 2 AA Maglite was great. I can remember in the mid 90's when I first saw an LED flashlight. I bought one for backpacking because the battery lasted much longer and it was just slightly brighter than the Maglite. Now, I recently bought a Nebo, Wuben, and Ryobi flashlights and the light output is tremendously brighter. The little Wuben X4 is 1400 lumens. The new lights just blow the older lights away. I now have 10 year old flashlights that I never use anymore because the technology has improved so much and lights have gotten so much brighter.

 

[orbital]

+

Personally feel battery advancements, especially in 21700 constant high current flow*,
has allowed manufacturers to make drivers to power lights never really thought possible.

The Amutorch XT60 NB90.16 makes an astounding amount of light from a large single die emitter on Turbo,, yes there is a Low mode
This is only possible with a High Amp, very High quality 21700

I own a few different Amutorch including XT60 NB90.16 ^^

*Amps

 

[lampeDépêche]

....The new lights just blow the older lights away. I now have 10 year old flashlights that I never use anymore because the technology has improved so much and lights have gotten so much brighter....

This is the main reason for my obsession with LED lights. They can do things now that would have seemed like miracles when I was a kid. And they still seem miraculous to me!

 

[1936jdb]

Growing up we had a tree in the back yard. It was probably 50yds from the back door. Back then, any light that you could see that the tree was even there was a GOOD light. And any light that gave you enough light to actually see details of the tree was a DARN GOOD light. Most of the LEDs I have now will do that on the lowest setting..
We don't have flying cars, or Rosie the robot maid yet, but technology has given us a few good things.

 

[Burgess]

In my (nearly) SEVEN DECADES as a Flashaholic,

I have seen so many Wonderful things !

 

[greatscoot]

 

[greatscoot]

A wonderful light I just received from very generous member.

 

[greatscoot]

Here is the business end.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

When I think about the reason they were originally called flashlights, it seems even more amazing.

When they were first invented, battery and lamp technologies were so crude that you could only afford to turn them on for a few seconds at a time without depleting the battery. Now we can illuminate things over long distances for long periods of time.

 

[Jean-Luc Descarte]

I remember the times of dim inefficient incandescent bulbs and expensive non-rechargeable batteries, back when I was a wee squirt. Even worse because alkaleaks were always sort of "mid tier" around here and zinc-carbon batteries worse in every single way are still the norm.

A flashlight back then was a "DO NOT TOUCH UNLESS IT'S AN EMERGENCY" type of item, and I suppose it's this status that made me so fascinated with them. Maybe if I was a zoomer and younger than reliable and portable white LED technology, now that we can sling hundreds of lumens like it's no big deal, I wouldn't be so impressed.

 

[IMA SOL MAN]

Well, I'm a Boomer, and flashlights went with me on camp-outs when I was a young Boy Scout, here in the heartland of the USA. This was back in the late 1960's, 1970's and 1980's when I was a young adult Scout Leader. Flashlights were dim by today's standards, but to dark adjusted eyes, you don't really need a lot of lumens to look around in a tent or a backpack. If you were out of the tent, there was the campfire light, and maybe a Coleman gas lantern to light the area. If we had the batteries of today, even without LED's, we could have had some very bright hotwire flashlights, as members of this community have put together in years past. Yes, LED's have given longer run times with lower power consumption, but in my opinion, it is the advanced batteries that have really been the big "game changer". Who knows? Maybe 2026 will bring a new battery technology breakthrough, and we will have an even greater leap in flashlight technology/capability!

 

[1936jdb]

We were pretty poor. I liked to camp, but couldn't afford enough batteries for a trip, so I bought an old kerosene lantern. Nothing quite so fun at 12 y/o than blowing out your light, waiting for it to cool, wiping out the soot, and relighting at 2am when your sure the boogyman in circling your camp..

 

[PhotonWrangler]

We were pretty poor. I liked to camp, but couldn't afford enough batteries for a trip, so I bought an old kerosene lantern. Nothing quite so fun at 12 y/o than blowing out your light, waiting for it to cool, wiping out the soot, and relighting at 2am when your sure the boogyman in circling your camp..

We didn't have much money either when I was young, so we only kept a few zinc-carbon batteries around the house and used them sparingly. One day I learned a trick that could squeak a bit more life out of a dead z-c cell. Drilling a couple of small holes near the bottom of the cell, then putting it in a shallow bowl of water for a bit to allow the dried out electrolyte to re-hydrate. That's when I learned that "dry cells" were technically damp cells,

 

[1936jdb]

Dad had an old chrome 12v with the halogen sealed beam on one end, and the flashing red on the other. I think he tossed it after I left it on and he got sick of buying those big batteries. One of his jobs issued him a AA mini mag light about 1982. I think I ran it down too. I've always "had a thing" for flashlights..

 

[IMA SOL MAN]

Dad had an old chrome 12v with the halogen sealed beam on one end, and the flashing red on the other. I think he tossed it after I left it on and he got sick of buying those big batteries. One of his jobs issued him a AA mini mag light about 1982. I think I ran it down too. I've always "had a thing" for flashlights..

My dad had one of those lanterns, too! I may still have it around here, somewhere. Now I have to look for it...be back to you guys in a few years...

 

[ghostguy6]

This thread is making me feel old. I remember going out on patrol with a 2 D cell that might push 14 lumen with a new bulb and a fresh set of batteries. If you had a 27 lumen Maglite you were " THEE man" Now my EDC light does that on low mode for a week with one 14500 cell....

 

[TPA]

My mother said even as a baby, I was always fascinated with lights. Some things haven't changed.

I didn't have any quality lights back then, just the usual 2-D cell plastic flashlight. I did come across some unusual non-flashlight portable lamps though. We had one of the Safari Lite fluorescent lanterns, although I never found a battery for it.

As with everyone else's experience, batteries were expensive, so flashlights were usually used sparingly, often only to be used to locate and light candles, then the flashlights would be extinguished. We had a ton of power failures back then, so the candles were used often. In thunderstorm season we'd just leave them out since they were used so frequently. Usually chunky pillar candles, set in harvest gold, orange, and avocado green ceramic candleholders my mother made in a pottery class.

The efficiencies of modern lighting is truly impressive. Those old 2D flashlights were good for about 2-4 hours. The GE power failure nightlights I use get 250 hours out of 3x AA batteries, with much better brightness and color rendering.

Electronics efficiencies have gotten impressive overall. This laptop I'm using idles at 3-5w with the screen on and programs going. My cell phone uses about the same amount of power at idle, screen on.

 

[PaladinNO]

TL;DR:
Flashlights are starting to get to where they used to be, with both good CRI and good runtime, AND with more output power. Albeit at a much higher price.

One thing has changed for the worse though: thermals. Yes, the flashlights have undeniably gotten much, MUCH more powerful, but the marketing and the whole narrative has changed.

As many of us still own of these ancient 14 Lumen flashlights, they gave 14 Lumen until the battery got drained or the bulb broke. Today, you can get the labeled 20.000 Lumen...for 30 seconds before it drops to 1000 Lumen or less - that is not a 20.000 Lumen flashlight in my book, that is a 1000 Lumen light.

Also, those old incandescent light bulbs gave 99 CRI before CRI even was a thing. Even now, the CRI bulbs that was everywhere, in every household, is now a rarity for regular lamp bulbs, and still often comes with a premium for flashlights or at the expense of some other feature.

The build quality feels about the same. Just more features - like auxiliary RGB LEDs, washing machines with bluetooth, and refrigerators with WiFi (and anything AI just makes it worse) - isn't something that is strictly needed, yet adds to the price of the product, whether you want it or not. I have yet to throw a flashlight away because anything about it broke. But then I don't bring my more pricy lights into situations I judge them not capable of handling.

Batteries have gotten better though. And as already stated, batteries were expensive back then! In the 90s, when I first had access to a flashlight, those 4,5V cells weren't something I could just buy willy-nilly. Its use had to be carefully considered, and most times I didn't bring or use it, even when I perhaps should have. Today, I gladly, and even prefer to, get spare cells in case I need more than, say, 6 hours of illumination.

My biggest issue with most lights today is how overcomplicated they are made. Why 9 modes or more on a single button? And an OLED-screen to show remaining battery charge, mode selection and whatever else? That's just an unneccesary and overpriced accessory that will only get scratched up when the light is jostled around in a pocket, together with a key chain, and maybe some coins and a long forgotten paper clip.

On the upside, there now are flashlights for every single possible desire. Output power, build material, features, LED-choices, price - anything!

Strobe needs to go though. Fenix, are you listening? Get the strobe away, or give it a separate button! Your TK76 had 5 buttons, and the PD35 had 2 - why does everything now have to be on one button, with On / Off on a 0.5 second hold, and Strobe on 1,2 second hold?

 

[russprechtl]

My mother said even as a baby, I was always fascinated with lights. Some things haven't changed.

I didn't have any quality lights back then, just the usual 2-D cell plastic flashlight. I did come across some unusual non-flashlight portable lamps though. We had one of the Safari Lite fluorescent lanterns, although I never found a battery for it.

As with everyone else's experience, batteries were expensive, so flashlights were usually used sparingly, often only to be used to locate and light candles, then the flashlights would be extinguished. We had a ton of power failures back then, so the candles were used often. In thunderstorm season we'd just leave them out since they were used so frequently. Usually chunky pillar candles, set in harvest gold, orange, and avocado green ceramic candleholders my mother made in a pottery class.

The efficiencies of modern lighting is truly impressive. Those old 2D flashlights were good for about 2-4 hours. The GE power failure nightlights I use get 250 hours out of 3x AA batteries, with much better brightness and color rendering.

Electronics efficiencies have gotten impressive overall. This laptop I'm using idles at 3-5w with the screen on and programs going. My cell phone uses about the same amount of power at idle, screen on.

The colors of the candleholders help to nail in the particular time in history. I remember that era well. Good times, even though the batteries were expensive. The power did seem to go out a lot then.

 

[ghostguy6]

TL;DR:

Strobe needs to go though. Fenix, are you listening? Get the strobe away, or give it a separate button! Your TK76 had 5 buttons, and the PD35 had 2 - why does everything now have to be on one button, with On / Off on a 0.5 second hold, and Strobe on 1,2 second hold?

I agree for the most part, tactical strobe needs to go. There a few light that use a slow strobe ( like 1 or 2 flashes per second) that are actually useful when directing traffic. I can see potential uses for beacon mode but they are few and far between.