Looking at upgrading to led's
- Thread starter Timpy6
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JCD
Enlightened
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- Apr 12, 2010
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It depends on what you use the lights for. For some purposes, LEDs can be a huge upgrade. For some uses, it's more of a downgrade.
What do you use your lights for?
for general use. I have not used the dolphin for a long time. I use the maglite whenever i need a torch for something, around the house, working on the car etc. The main pain I find is batteries don't last long, so I was hoping leds would have monger battery life. What are the advantages and disadvantages of led's?
Bullzeyebill
Flashaholic
That is a huge question. Simple answer, LEDs don't break easily, and last longer. Longer answer is about a million words, Welcome to CPF where you can find answers just by researching for awhile. Some of our members will pipe up and give you some differences between incandescent lighting and LED lighting. Stay tuned. :)
Bill
Bill
JCD
Enlightened
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As Bill said, LEDs are more durable and more efficient. If improving battery life or bulb life are primary considerations, switching from incan bulbs to LED emitters is probably the way to go.
If rendering colors or subtle details is important, current consumer grade LED technology still lags behind incandescents (though it is improving). When working on a car, for example, it might be important to identify the kind of fluid you're seeing. An incan would be the best choice for that. Incandescents can be filtered to emit red or infrared light well, colors that can be challenging for LEDs to produce in similar quantities. (LEDs can produce cool colors like blue very well.) Incandescents are less susceptible to damage or failure from high temperatures, so less care needs to be taken with respect to heat sinking.
Assuming each is set up to allow for use of rechargeable cells, I would say that, for most uses, there isn't a big difference between LEDs and incans. That's because typical use doesn't last long enough to drain the cells of even an incan, and most everyday require a relatively small amount of light. Correct color rendering is also usually not as important as being able to see that something is there. For those tasks, let personal preference be your guide. After using both extensively (ideally, similar quality examples of each), most people will develop a preference for one or the other in cases when it really doesn't matter. No one can predict which one you will prefer.
From the description of your needs, it sounds like upgrading to rechargeable cells would provide the benefits you seek. (I'm not sure what the best way to economically convert a Maglite to use rechargeables is. It might be as simple as buying the appropriate number of low self discharge cells and maybe a bulb swap. Or it might be more involved. It may or may not be more economical than buying an LED light with build quality comparable to your Maglite.)
If rendering colors or subtle details is important, current consumer grade LED technology still lags behind incandescents (though it is improving). When working on a car, for example, it might be important to identify the kind of fluid you're seeing. An incan would be the best choice for that. Incandescents can be filtered to emit red or infrared light well, colors that can be challenging for LEDs to produce in similar quantities. (LEDs can produce cool colors like blue very well.) Incandescents are less susceptible to damage or failure from high temperatures, so less care needs to be taken with respect to heat sinking.
Assuming each is set up to allow for use of rechargeable cells, I would say that, for most uses, there isn't a big difference between LEDs and incans. That's because typical use doesn't last long enough to drain the cells of even an incan, and most everyday require a relatively small amount of light. Correct color rendering is also usually not as important as being able to see that something is there. For those tasks, let personal preference be your guide. After using both extensively (ideally, similar quality examples of each), most people will develop a preference for one or the other in cases when it really doesn't matter. No one can predict which one you will prefer.
From the description of your needs, it sounds like upgrading to rechargeable cells would provide the benefits you seek. (I'm not sure what the best way to economically convert a Maglite to use rechargeables is. It might be as simple as buying the appropriate number of low self discharge cells and maybe a bulb swap. Or it might be more involved. It may or may not be more economical than buying an LED light with build quality comparable to your Maglite.)
