Is xenon dead?

[LuxLuthor]

I'm sure Mr. Luthor must be working on something that utilizes Krypton...

First, let's be clear that besides being the home of some lame dude who flies around in blue and red stretch leotards, Krypton is a Noble gas....not some two bit halogen.

I'm working on a deadly torch combining Krypton and Ununoctium. The lame flying dude won't know what hit him. If I can just get this phone apart.

​

 

[ampdude]

Yep.

I bought three Lumens Factory SR-9 P60/D26 drop-ins in the Marketplace last week.

And I would have bought them if you hadn't! Luckily you got there first.

 

[LEDninja]

Xenon still beats LED in the fog. Unless you have a pure amber LED.

 

[Phaserburn]

And I would have bought them if you hadn't! Luckily you got there first.

I thought the exact same thing!!

 

[rx78gp02]

my two edc is a mod'd SF L6 and a back up G2L
but when it comes to searching, emergency, or outdoors stuff, i bring my SF M6-R around.

in the words of my mechanics teacher "displacement, is displacement, there is no substitution"

 

[john10001]

Xenon is so last week. The next big thing is Radon bulbs.

Man alive! I'm still on freaking krypton! I love my mini-mag triple A light!

I agree I don't think its dead. Actually I prefer the light colour more. I don't know why but I think it looks more natural.

I think the reason LED is big is because the emitter lasts a whole lot longer and you don't have to mess around replacing bulbs.

I would love an alternative though that also lasts a long time before bulb burn out. I'm not technical and don't know how it works in flashlights, but there must have been something that caused the old style non-led flashlights to burn out quicker.

Here in Britain I have a regular lamp in my room. I absolutely hate energy saving ligh bulbs because of the dim light they give out so I have always used regular incandescent bulbs in natural daylight colour. They always kept blowing until I realised the reason why. Voltage here in the UK is 220-260volts 50hz with the voltage usually being between 230 and 240. My voltage in my house when I tested was around 255 volts. The bulbs I had were rated at 240 volts as most bulbs are rated at that voltage. No surprise they were blowing a lot more often. I had trouble sourcing bulbs rated to 250 or higher so instead I bought a dimmer switch for my lamp. I have dimmed it by only a small fraction <10% and I've now had the same three bulbs in the lamp for 2 years plus and not one of them has blown whereas previous to that they blew every three or four months yikes! Being quite cynical I tend to believe that the electric company did a deal with the bulb manufacturers so the bulbs would blow on purpose and people keep buying more and more of them. Now they have brought out energy saving bulbs that cost more and people have to pay more. They win either way unless you figure out why the bulbs are blowing and prevent it.

Sorry, mini-rant there now over :sick2:

Will have to investigate radon bulbs, never heard of this type before.

John

 

[andromeda.73]

Just wondering what peoples views are towards xenon bulbs these days. Seems to me LEDs have taken over but but i'm a flashlight lightfoot so i'm interested in anyones opinions? is anyone still buying xenon?

LF

I do not think that LEDs have taken the upper hand, but depending on users or applications that you are requesting. In principle I prefer Xenon or HID lamps to yield the most 'faithful of sunlight. Led ones because they last longer both in terms of duration of consumption of lamp!

 

[RichS]

Until LEDs can truly mimic the light delivered from a xenon bulb, then no. There are too many like me whose eyes do much better with the lighting of an incan vs. an LED.

In regards to warm tint, that definitely makes LEDs more usabile IMO, but they are not offered as a standard in the market yet. Many manufacturers still only offer cold tint LEDs to keep the lumens high for marketing reasons. Does SureFire offer any warm-tint LED lights yet? Not that I'm aware of.

So for now, if you want a SureFire it's either a xenon light that looks like this:

or an LED light that looks like this:

 

[ampdude]

my two edc is a mod'd SF L6 and a back up G2L
but when it comes to searching, emergency, or outdoors stuff, i bring my SF M6-R around.

in the words of my mechanics teacher "displacement, is displacement, there is no substitution"

I believe the phrase you're looking for is, "there's no replacement for displacement."

Nice job on the picture RichS.

 

[Black Rose]

And I would have bought them if you hadn't! Luckily you got there first.

I thought the exact same thing!!

The funny thing was that I was at the Lumens Factory site looking at those exact drop-ins not 10 minutes before I found them for sale in the Marketplace.

 

[ampdude]

I was doing the same thing, I was planning on ordering an SR-9 for my Surefire C3 because the EO-9 is a little hard on the 17500 cells. Then I looked in the Marketplace, oh damn, three for the price of one and free shipping and I missed out!!! :laughing:

 

[hyperloop]

i dont think that xenon (if by xenon you mean incands) is dead, i was a die hard fan of LEDs since 2006 when i got my first one but the light i have in my work bag is my SF G2 with HO-9 as the big-gun go to light. In my pockets are my EX10 R2 and Mini123 neutral.

got my A2 coming in for a combination of both LED and incand yay, my 1st higher end surefire.

 

[Swedpat]

oh... I just "updated" my MiniMag to the MagLite Xenon bulb.

Xenon bulb to MiniMaglite? Do you have a link?

Regards, Patric

 

[rookiedaddy]

Hello Patric,
I bought mine from Ace Hardware, photo of the package:

 

[Black Rose]

Xenon bulb to MiniMaglite? Do you have a link?

Here is a thread about the Xenon bulbs for the Minimag.

 

[ZMZ67]

I still go to incans for throw and the best color rendition.Those lights mostly have Xenon lamps.Overall output is much better from LEDs but there seem to be few LED lights that can provide throw anywhere near as good as incans.I also appreciate the better contrast offered by the warmer tint at longer distances.

 

[jimbo@stn23]

Much prefer incan light to the harsh, artificicial lighting from my LED's, but like not packing around spare bulbs for the LED's. Ideally I have one of each with me. Each have their applications.

 

[ampdude]

Well I can safely say that xenon is MOST DEFINITELY NOT dead. I just got my IMR-E2 from Lumens Factory today and it completely STOMPS any of my LED's in its size class.

I almost couldn't believe it when I put it into my E2e and turned it on. And it's not even dark out! Not to mention the better tint/3D/color.

I love my new tactical/EDC light,

 

[Phaserburn]

Lumens Factory lamps make great fog cutters due to their greater focus in the hotspot and weaker spill beam.

 

[Cataract]

As long as flashaholics rule the market, Xenon or other incand type gases will stay alive. I'm still waiting for my P90 assembly so I can drop it into my first GOOD incandescent flashlight (p60 to be upgraded for RCR123's). The only thing incands are too scarce about is multiple modes and impressive 2000 lumens for a reasonnable buck and battery run-time