what was the first led flashlight you owned?

[Blooglo]

Photon microlight, then a few more Photons including the Ravin' Ribbon, then a modded Romison from Shining Beam. Still carry that one.

 

[lampeDépêche]

This website suggests that the first, non-premium Arcs put out around 5 lumens.

Arc Flashlight: Testimonials From Owners of Arc Flashlights

www.arcflashlight.com

 

[teslaguy]

I bought this Arc 20 years ago.

 

[lampeDépêche]

Teslaguy, that's a beaut! I had that same model, with the other two battery-tubes.
I lost it one Halloween in Chicago -- I provided flashlights to a whole block's worth of little kids, and did not get them all back. I was pained by the loss, but you can't blame a kid -- it was my fault for loaning out something I was not willing to lose.
Anyhow -- that was a landmark flashlight. The hue was an ugly pea-soup green, it probably maxed out at 50 lumens, and it would look pretty sad next to most lights nowadays. But 20 years ago, it was the coolest.

 

[parnass]

Gerber Infinity Ultra. It has to be one of the dimmest lights I ever bought, but it is built like a tank.

 

[Jean-Luc Descarte]

First LED light, period, was a cheap plastic 4-emitter one from one of those dime-a-dozen Chinese brand names (Eco Power in this case). It had a built-in plug for charging straight on the wall outlet, a 3-stage switch as a primitive Lo/Hi interface, and was surprisingly handy with acceptable runtime (even back then a full charge would run for way longer than I remember any incan torch I'd ever had) and throwy beam profile. Similar ones are still sold today on the flea market, they're very good for muggles.

My first quality LED torch was the Fenix E01, whose history speaks for itself. Then I got an E11 for primary use which I never really liked [too throwy TIR with no spill, stiff switch and no tailstanding] and is my mom's bedside light now even today. First quality li-ion light was a Thrunite TN12 2014 with "neutral" (more like neutral-warm, had to be at least 5B tint) white XM-L2.

 

[Dave D]

I had carried a Surefire G2 for several years as my duty light, when SF brought out the P60L I upgraded, not so much for the slight increase in lumens but the increase in runtime, as CR123's were expensive and didn't last long when running the incan P60.

 

[rwolfenstein]

I had carried a Surefire G2 for several years as my duty light, when SF brought out the P60L I upgraded, not so much for the slight increase in lumens but the increase in runtime, as CR123's were expensive and didn't last long when running the incan P60.

I did the exact same thing lol

 

[bykfixer]

My first LED light:

LED Lenser tri-max
A 3xN cell number with……

3 high powered 5mm LED's it puts out a massive beam mustering 12 blu-mens.

Things sure have come a long ways since that light was new.

 

[rwolfenstein]

My first LED light:
View attachment 26384
LED Lenser tri-max
A 3xN cell number with……

View attachment 26385
3 high powered 5mm LED's it puts out a massive beam mustering 12 blu-mens.

Things sure have come a long ways since that light was new.

I remember old LEDs used to have a really blue tint.

 

[bykfixer]

I remember old LEDs used to have a really blue tint.

My incan minimag was brighter.

 

[rwolfenstein]

My incan minimag was brighter.

I had an incan mini mag as a kid, great tool as a boy scout

 

[strideredc]

10 or 12 I think 🤔 but that might be the latter ones.... someone who knows more than me (won't be difficult) will chime in I am sure

 

[strideredc]

my first quality light was one of the first hds 60 lights Henery sold... I think you could get a 42 and a 60 lumens version and I got the 60? before that it was a single aa light like a bigger version of an arc aaa... can't remember the name of it for the life of me 😞 and a Q111, that was like a forerunner to a surefire backup (in looks and size)

 

[DRW]

Not sure which was first...

Inova with 5 leds, 2 cr123 batts.
or
Infinity red led, AA

Still have one Inova that I can find in a moments notice. Not sure where all my Infinity leds ended up, probably hanging on a branch where a tree stand used to be.

 

[lampeDépêche]

Gerber Infinity Ultra. It has to be one of the dimmest lights I ever bought, but it is built like a tank.
View attachment 26359

That's a fine light. I modded a few of those with Yuji Hi-Cri lights for even better light (they're easy to mod.) And I love how bomb-proof they are.
I also had one of the earlier Infinity lights, before Gerber bought it and changed the design. Even more bomb-proof design (two-piece body instead of 3-piece). I was sorry when the head on it died.

 

[IllumnNATE]

Early-model Zebralight… can't remember which one, exactly.

 

[pumps]

Probably an LED Minimag. I had carried a 2-D incan for one job for a few years and then an incan minimag for a long time. But of course if I dropped it it would break the bulb and I DID a lot of that . Always had extra of the little 2 pin suckers. One in the tail cap and more in the truck. When I heard LEDs wouldn't break if you dropped them I jumped right on the band wagon.

 

[RWT1405]

I believe my first LED flashlight was an Inova X5

At the time, I couldn't believe the run time it got!

It was a real "game changer", as I carried one, along with a SF 6P.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Photon microlight, then a few more Photons including the Ravin' Ribbon, then a modded Romison from Shining Beam. Still carry that one.

I bought one of those Ravin' Ribbon microlights also. I think it was one of the first commercial LED lights that had a built-in microcontroller for producing POV RGB patterns. I also bought their "covert" UV squeeze light with the plastic shroud around the LED.

Around that same time I also got a 395nm NUV microlight knock-off at a trade show. There was no power switch - it was just a coin cell, the LED and a piece of heat shrink holding it together. It ran continuously for about two days before it fizzled out.