Its still Incan for me!

kelmo

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Aug 27, 2004
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Sacramento
Whether at work or out recreating I still grab an incan 1st. Xenon is the next best thing to sliced bread. Sure you can argue that LEDs have longer regulated runtimes and the emitters are more robust. I just like the light quality much better. It used to be my LEDs were my workhorses and my incans are my backups. Now I've "seen the light" and my incans are my workhorses and my LEDs are my backups. My day to day activities don't put me in situations were I'll need a long running light for survival purposes. So my backpack sports an E2O and 9P with full spares carriers for each.

But I will admit if I'm out camping in the "Boonies" for an extended period or out on the trail where weight is a factor, I will pack a multi-level LED as my primary light.

LED flashlights weren't even concepts when I was growing up. I'm old school, I was raised with PR bulbs and "Never Ready" zinc carbide batteries.

Thanks for sharing.

kelmo
 

CLHC

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Dec 25, 2004
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PNW|WA|USA
That's why I carry both on my person and in the automobile with the incandescent getting the most useage for my lighting needs, then the LED. . .But I do admit that the EDC torch that I have on me at all times 10 times out of 10 is the 3[M]ini.Mag. I alternate on the incandescents.

Enjoy!
 

NAW

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May 18, 2006
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739
For me my favorite is HID, then comes LED and Incan.

I like HID as my favorite because it makes incan look ugly yellow and is more energy effeicent and it doesn't dim and become weak like regular incans.
(although HID do have there own disadvantages I still find them my favorite.)
 

ohiocopper

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Aug 29, 2006
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S.W. Ohio
I agree.

For work I carry a Stinger as my primary, as a secondary I have been carrying an LED, But I am growing quite fond of the SL twintask 2-123 that I just bought, it will be my new secondary.

I have a ton of shelf queens that I bought in hopes it would work out for my job, but to no avail, the majority of those lights were leds.

With my stinger for instance, I can light up the whole side of a house at a distance most leds could not touch.
I just wish that some incans could hit that pure white color rendition that some of my leds do.
 

ohiocopper

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Aug 29, 2006
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LawLight said:
Have I mentioned the A2?

Law

:grin2:

That is one fine light, lots of flat regulation, HAIII.
I wonder how beltable that clip is on my belt, or how sturdy that clip is?
Regardless of the clip I think that you have me looking at the Surefire for sure.
 

carrot

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Dec 6, 2005
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New York City
The A2 clip is not designed for belt use. I recommend getting a Surefire, Maxpedition, or John Willis holster instead.
 

Flea Bag

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Sep 7, 2005
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796
Although LEDs are superior to incandescents in many obvious ways, incandescents are actually superior (at the moment) to LEDs in many hidden but equally important areas.

Colour rendition and the nature of human vision have shown that incandescents are usually more eye-friendly or 'naturally suited' to humans than LEDs. This topic has been talked about to death already.

However, the upgrading costs of LED and incandescent lights are much less obvious and more seldom discussed among flashaholics. For the price of some LED conversion heads, you could purchase a number of incandescent bulbs/heads/bezels. By the time one uses up that number of incandescent bulbs, the LED light would still be working but eventually neglected because a newer, better LED technology would have rendered it obsolete or less desirable than it once was.

Not to mention that many Luxeon LEDs would probably have dimmed significantly not from usage only but even from heat-damage, an area which IMHO, many flashlight designers underestimate or neglect.

From these points of view, LEDs may not be so cost-effective and economical at the moment. However, when was the topic of economics and cost-effectiveness ever truely at the heart of a hardcore flashaholic? :lolsign:
 

wquiles

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Jan 10, 2005
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Texas, USA, Earth
For me, it depends. Indoors, the LED still rules - good/excellent color rendition, just the right amount of power/intensity, dimmable.

For outdoors, incandecent rules. Color rendition is awesome, specially with the regulated A2's beam or my regulated N2 - not too bright, but enough to be practical and usefull, while being "white" and pleasant ;)

Will
 

NikolaTesla

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Nov 15, 2003
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Illinois
A nice very white 100 watt MagLite will smoke LEd's and D2S powered HID's. Much whiter nicer color too.

DSCN3774.JPG


Its not small like an A2 but turns darkness into daylight.
Only a true Arc Lamp power light will shine much further.
grinser2.gif
 

Delvance

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Nov 26, 2005
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Sydney, Australia
Yep incan for me as well. Can't get enough of 'em. Sitting at uni atm and my current EDC is a G2 with WE D26 9V (talk about budget pocket rocket). They just punch much better through the dark than LEDs can (in a same sized reflector) and colour rendition is awesome. A little Orb Raw with 2 stage is hanging on my keychain however.
 

dyyys1

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May 29, 2006
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Atlanta, GA
A2 all the way. I was beginning to be converted by LED's, but the moment I saw the A2's beam, I was a believer. I don't know how I'll ever use an LED-only light again. The depth perception, throw, and color rendition are unmatched. Why don't flashlight-makers produce other regulated incans, when the beam quality is so far beyond LED's?
 

andrewwynn

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Apr 28, 2004
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regarding 'color rendition, depth perception'.. Ican can be matched by LED..

Image-D136CF9616DE11DA.jpg

Here is a 4-emitter LED light.. 1 emitter is amber to get the CCT balance to match incan.. it's a mere 300-400L but that will smoke all but the highest power incans available on the market including the A2.. it also is of course regulated as i don't bother with unregulated incandescent lights anymore.

regulated is absolutely the only way to go for incan lights.. the trade-off is either poor energy performance and bad color or risk of melting the filament every time you turn it on.. add a bit of regulation and now you can run the light much brighter, whiter and longer w/o risk of melting it.

The incan has ONE primary advantage.. lumen/area.. up to 100x the brightness per square milimeter.. means you can have a lot more spot.. if you don't need spot, but are ok with 7-10k lux performance, than LED tech has already come to match up with incan as shown with the picture above.

Image-D136A97916DE11DA.jpg

Here is a picture of a nearly identical powered LED light with only white leds, no amber.. you can see the pitfalls of LED 'at their worst'.. no depth, bad color rendition.

So.. LEDs are still coming to replace most incan lights.. there are few examples of an incan that will continue to best LED.. however.. those few kick some serious monkey butt... I have a 1.5D 'best ever made' LED mod.. about 400L.. runs 45/90/450 minutes.. but my 2D 'halostar IRC osram' light outputs 3500L.. nearly NINE TIMES the light! it's an absolute jaw-dropper.. which would i rather have at-the-ready for the bump-in-the-night? the incan mind-blower of course.. Which would i rather have for a task such as replacing a light switch in the dark with the power off.. the BAM! of course.. cool.. variable output to save batteries.. the rewards of LED far outweigh the risks of incan in most cases of practical uses.. especially when the LED has been color-corrected to eliminate the problems of a typical model.

Got a good laugh on the neveready.. very cute!

So.. like the old flashlight motto.. buy both!

-awr
 

marxs

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Jun 19, 2006
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Philippines
Thats what I was thinking before...or why arent more modders modding for a regulated incan? I guess LED is the trend nowadays, though I still edc my A2 everyday.
 

andrewwynn

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Apr 28, 2004
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Racine, WI USA
'more modders for regulated incan.. i'm all for that!'.. :-D

(there are about 200 hotdriver powered mods out there)..

I have designs for a minihotdriver that will put regulated hotwire into a minimag and the likes.. trying to get a solution for any host that is 2xCR123 size or 2xAA size.. won't obviously be 3500L but maybe 200 or so..

-awr
 
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