Lights with 5 mm. LEDs don’t interest me anymore

I find that 5 mm. LEDs has inferior tint and beam quality compared to Luxeons, at least the ones I've seen. Why is the beam blue in the middle and more yellow at the edge? It must be because the phosphor layer isn't as good or evenly deposited as in Luxeons. I'm not so sure about the longevity of these emitters either, because they tend to burn of the phosphor, thus worsen the tint. This may not be the case for all 5 mm. LEDs, but the ones I've tried all got bluer as time passed. I have some of them running day and night (20 mA) in a fixture illuminating a small art piece in my living room. I have to change them every couple of month, to keep the light reasonably white.

I for one am not going to buy more lights with this type of emitter other than microlight or picolight style key chain lights, and with lights like JIL DD, Orb RAW, TnC N-cell and others, I don't understand why one would go for expensive lights fitted with 5 mm. LEDs (like Peak or Arc). OK they are a bit cheaper, but not by that much. Can the use of 5 mm. LEDs be justified by a higher efficiency? This would be a good reason to use them of course, but aren't Lux I as efficient at the same low current?

What are your thoughts?

Jan

Re: Lights with 5 mm. LEDs don't interest me anymo

I guess the advantage would be that they are cheap. But for premium lights I don't quite buy that, since a Lux1 would add just dollars to the cost of what is already a PREMIUM light.

Personally I'm no longer impressed by them or their light output ever since I started using variable-power lights, because the bigger Luxeons can be dialed down with almost no penalty.

Re: Lights with 5 mm. LEDs don't interest me anymo

I pretty much agree. Ever since I got my first Arc LS, it's hard to look at a 5mm light and not feel that it's inferior. I still carry an Arc AAA and have bought some 5mm lights as emergency long runtime lights, but for me the ideal light is a multi-level luxeon. I have one of andrewwynn's 3-level nanos on order and it should be just about perfect for me.

Re: Lights with 5 mm. LEDs don't interest me anymo

There is one advantage to the 5mms, which has already been noted - they're cheap, which means that you don't worry about damaging or losing them, or handing them to friends to use. Plus, they're very comptact, which makes carrying them quite easy.

I mean, I personally ALWAYS have two flashlights on me, but some people might forget to carry their Lux-equipped lights out, and when they're stuck in a dark stairwell or in the middle of nowhere with no flashlight to help them... well, a microlight's better than no light at all.

Re: Lights with 5 mm. LEDs don't interest me anymo

Agreed price is the main draw for me still. You dont worry about bashing up some cheap 5mm light. Yes agreed I wouldnt trade my Adjustable luxeon (Surefire L2) for any 5mm light but my Surefire cost me 145 but I can pick up a cheap good enough to walk in the dark woods multiple 5mm Led light for 8 to 12 bucks.There is no fear of lending it to a friend or a kid when your camping when it costs that little (although I must admit my Surefire feels so solid that I would probably quite easily trust almost anyone to borrow it)

All that being said I agree there really is only one place left for 5mm LEd's on more costly lights (the really small like an ARC AAA). If you are going to build a light with HA3 than cutting down on price by using 5mm LED's instead of a luxeon really doesnt make sense unless size is an issue.

Re: Lights with 5 mm. LEDs don't interest me anymo

I wouldn't quite say they don't interest me anymore, but I've been more and more interested in Luxeons over the last year or two. Especially since I got a couple lights with a Lux III. But for small lights and keychain lights, 5mm LEDs are still ok for me. Their efficiency is also a draw for me still. I have a couple Mag 4D flashlights with 20, and 32 5mm LED arrays, and they stay lit for the better part of a month continuously.

I think the previous posters have pretty well summed up the important points for 5mm LED's, and I agree with all of them.

EXCEPT that I LOVE EternaLights! No other flashlight with 5mm LED's has so many features or so much 'cool factor' as an EternaLight Elite Xray.

Still the very best camping and power failure light available today....and the technology is many years old; which is pretty amazing!

I've said before, and I'll repeat it: if I could only have one flashlight for the REST of my LIFE, it would be an EternaLight Elite Xray, or Elite Max.

Still can't beat them for what they can do! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

And, with the new higher output 5mm LED's, they can put out double the light, or more, at the same current draw! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Yeah I forgot to mention the EternaLight. By far the best 5mm LED light I own! It would be nice if they came out with a Luxeon version, or even replace 1 or 2 of the 5mm LEDs with a Luxeon LED.

Re: Lights with 5 mm. LEDs don't interest me anymo

I believe that EternaLights were the first ones to come out with a Micro Controllor based Multi LED .. high Output Lights.

Others followed ... like Photon's ... Arc... HDS... Lion Heart.. and the Lion Cubs.. and all the other as we know them today.

Cheers to EternaLights for their efforts.

Re: Lights with 5 mm. LEDs don’t interest me anymo

Sorry if I might seem ignorant, but I have the following curiosity: are there any single AA or AAA lights using a Luxeon emitter that have runtimes comparable to the 5 mm LED lights? Perhaps multiple level of brightness as well?

Re: Lights with 5 mm. LEDs don’t interest me

Just after Hurricane Isabel (power was out for 3 days) I got my first CMG AA task light and really wished I'd had it before, even though I was well prepared overall.

As much as I like my Q3 there doesn't seem to be any replacement yet for an Ultra-G (or other useful AA/AAA cell 5mm) during a power outage for long term use, close navigation, cooking and reading.