What's your favorite thing about incandescent lights?

knightrider

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My favorite thing about incandescent's is how simple they are. And easily repaired.

If you are anywhere and your flashlight dies you can fix it. First you check your batteries, then the bulb. Make sure you have another bulb and extra batteries with you. Replace the lamp and you're good to go. Pretty simple. A switch on your incan could go bad, so there is one weak link, but twisty switches seem pretty robust if you stick with them.

I'm just fascinated by the ability to rebuild a flashlight, get it going again no matter what. Complete serviceability. Just thought about this recently and how cool it really is. :cool:

What's your favorite thing about incandescent lights?
 

kramer5150

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I'm just now getting into ROPs.

High CRI and cheap USA made hosts:twothumbs

I am sure I will find more as I get further into it.
 

leukos

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My favorite thing about incandescent's is how simple they are.

I'm not sure Edison would have agreed with this statement....:eek:


I've added regulation circuits, soft starts and multiple level outputs to a lot of my incans, so they are not so simple anymore. Plus, some of the batteries that power my incans have protection circuits that are complex and can fail. I do still have a few KISS setups on primaries, but I like the added features and safety that circuits can provide. But, even with all that, my incans have been much more reliable than most of my LED lights. I have much higher failure rates with LED lights.
 

flashfan

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I like the way incan light just seems to saturate/penetrate an area...as opposed to LED light, which makes things appear "flat"...to my old eyes anyway. Doesn't mean I don't like LEDs though--each type of light suits different purposes/situations.
 

knightrider

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I'm not sure Edison would have agreed with this statement....:eek:

Pretty funny! Sorry Edison, your invention rules! ;)

I forgot that there are some pretty sophisticated and complex incandescent setups too. I don't have anything like that, only simple SFs like the C2 and M3.
 

Dioni

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I'm Fascinated how it burns! :devil:

I also like the range of the beam, the throw, just because I have lights with 700 lumens wich lighting a target 100 yards away and I can't define what it is, unlike my incan of 300 lm.

I love incans! :grin2:
 

My3kidsfather

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Edmonton, Alberta.
I can tell you one thing about my incans that I like... I like the way my incans can show up dog poop on the lawn in the dark despite fallen leaves, debri, and loose ground cover bark. My best led's do not show browns in the dark well- leds tend to wash out brown objects, which can lead to you stepping in it.
 

sed6

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Tornado Alley
I can tell you one thing about my incans that I like... I like the way my incans can show up dog poop on the lawn in the dark despite fallen leaves, debri, and loose ground cover bark. My best led's do not show browns in the dark well- leds tend to wash out brown objects, which can lead to you stepping in it.

My experience is the opposite. I count on my LED lights to find dog poop. Under any of my LED lights the poop in my yard stands out light hunter orange in the forest. In fact I ONLY clean up dog poop at night, it's that effective!

Back to the OP, my favorite thing about incandescent lights is that they can all be replaced by brighter, more efficient, longer lasting, smaller, LED's :twothumbs Seriously any incans I have just collect dusk.
 

bigchelis

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I have had Mag builds that were LED based from 200~1700 plus confirmed OTF lumens. Yet, none absolutely none could ever compete with color and throw of even the least powerfull Incan Mag I have: the 3854L of course.:D

Incan to me = nice color and tons of throw.:hitit:

I just got back from the indoor shooting range which is dark and without my ROP High I could barely see the target. It did go through 4 IMR 18650's over a 1.5hour period, but it is the price you pay for perfection.
 
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Kaamos

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Suomi, Finland
How can you replace the film noir indoor urban night atmosphere without underdriven clear glass incan bulbs at the end of a rotten wire hanging from the roof of a dusty warehouse? Out on the streets there are of course the flickering neon tubes, but indoors you just NEED the incans and overloaded grid at the brink of brownout. You can almost feel the color temperature even in black and white.

About flashlights? For me, it's leds nowadays. Maybe because I've never had a real high-end incan. Just off the shelf Maglites and some older Pelis. There are warm feelings about some of those old, very low quality flashlights made of thin sheet metal that I had as a little boy. But useful portable light is leds now, for me.

Oh, well... Just thinking about it, maybe, just maybe, one day I'll make one of those Mag conversions with a REAL powerful halogen bulb. Need a lot more experience with flashlight mods than I have now, though.
 

Billy Ram

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Plain old hot wires are something I can relate to. I can take my multimeter, see what's going on and keep them burning:twothumbs I also like the usefull beam and instant on. They can keep them HIDs:thumbsdow
Billy
 

NeonLights

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My favorite thing about incandescent's is how simple they are. And easily repaired.
Same here. Doesn't get much simpler than a tube, bulb, batteries, and switch. The tube seldom fails, batteries are cheap to replace, as are bulbs most of the time, easy to use, easy to repair. I've had several LED lights fail. Most of the time this requires either sending it back in for warranty work or chucking it in the trash.
 

Mjolnir

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If some type of EMP knocks out all electronics, unregulated incans will still work.
 

Kiessling

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I like the fact that they are stable. No bin and LED of the day, no unnerving tint discussions, not a new light any 37 minutes.

In our modern times, this is something relaxing and easy on the stress level.
 

computernut

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Canada, eh?
I prefer my E2E and A2 for outdoors work, it's nicer for walks through the forest. Even my fiancee is starting to prefer an incan over a LED when we're walking the dog at night.
 

RobertM

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Two things I love most about incans:

1. Color rendition. I EDC LED lights pretty much everyday due to their compactness and runtime (both incans and LEDs have their place), but outdoors, an LED still can't touch a quality incan!

2. No tint lottery. When I pick up a new incan, I don't have to worry about getting one that's unusually cool or has a mutant green tint.

-Robert
 

kelmo

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Sacramento
I'm sad to admit this but I am old enough that incans were the only game in town back then.

I grew up with ringy beams, crappy discharge curves, fragile bulbs, and batteries that you knew would bleed out on you. So carrying extra lamps and batteries is comforting because it reminds me of my youth.

When I look back at my EDCs now and then, E2e vs an Eveready AA penlight, I realize how far I have come!

Incans are me 35 years ago!
 
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