Anyone else wish...

Greetings!

Does anyone else here wish that manufacturers adopting CREE LED technology would use it to improve battery life, instead of squeezing every last possible lumen out of it?

I like bright lights as much as the next guy, but there reaches a point (at least for me...) where it's bright enough for 99% of the tasks I use a light for. In my opinion, around 50-75 lumens is MORE than enough for me, I wish they'd take the improved efficiency and come out with lights that get better runtime from the batteries instead of improved brightness. Surefire's new L1 design is a notable case... why not make it the same or just SLIGHTLY brighter in low mode, allowing for 150+ hour runtime, then boost the bright end maybe 50% so that it's still in the 50-ish lumen range, but gets better battery life? Instead, they go with a low level that's 5x as bright, and sucks batteries over twice as fast. Why?

I'm really beginning to hate the lumen specsmanship that's taking over this industry, everyone is comparing their lights to Fenix and badmouthing everything that isn't 120+ lumens. Lame!

Best wishes,
Bawko

I agree that a lot of people usually do not need 100+ lumens regularly, but it is nice to have the option to have it. I like lights that have a pretty low low, a medium around 50-60 lumens, and then an option to pump out as much light as possbile. There is just a very unique feeling of pleasure when lighting up a room with something smaller than your thumb, for me at least.

I like lights which have both, one example is the Fenix L2D/L1D CE,
Turbo mode bright but squeezes every bit of power, Short runtime.
Low and medium modes much longer runtime with less brightness.

Well SureFire also has Cree LEDs in the upcoming E1L & E2L that are supposed to run at 30 lumens for 17 hours & 45 lumens for 18 hours respectively. Plus the low modes on the Fenix LxD CE lights run for a good long while.

…says who is holder of 5 (or more) A2's…:duck:
I agree with you chicken, completely. Much more useful for me to have a longer runtime than a bright light. Hence me looking at pentagon L3(not anymore, don't like the feel of 'em). Anywho…
Have a good one,
Flash

it'll be good to see. Because we're on top of it as CPR'ers, it just takes longer for others to come along. I'm sure in time we'll see a mix of just about everything as we did with the lux,

I miss the SMJLED PR2 bulbs with 4-die. They gave plenty of light for two weeks on a pair of D cells and drained batteries till there was less than .01 volts per cell. That's efficiency!!!

yes.gc.

A_C: I agree with everything you said. To me, the advantage of the Cree LEDs is improved runtime only. I'm experiencing this improvement with my CR2 Ion, which I've had since last fall, use every day, and have changed the battery twice.

remember, this is candlePOWER forums

Greetings!

DJ Q said:

remember, this is candlePOWER forums

Click to expand...

I never forgot that. Tell me... just how much POWER does a flashlight with dead batteries have?

Best wishes,
Bawko

I get the impression some ppl must have missed the upcoming of the actual multilevel lights :thinking:
but I agree there is no 10-30-mA-draw-light around these

dont forget that, except from sheer output AND better runtime, there is also MUCH LESS HEAT as a bonus from Cree/SSC.
Decreases construction complexity and improves lifetime of the emitter (as most makers, especially in the budget area, feature crappy heatsinking)

Tell me if I'm wrong, but if we swap a Cree or Seoul LED for a Luxeon, aren't we going to have a better runtime anyway?? I haven't tested mine thoroughly yet, but it seems like they're lasting longer than they did before on the same batteries..

multi-mode output lights, if you don't mind that, can get you all that you say you want! (and all from one light)

Lumapower F1 is a single output, but is set at about 70 lumens using the SSC P4. So what you need is easily available in nice packaging!

Even in very expensive lights (McGizmo's), you are given the option between choosing a light which emphasizes top gun power, and one which is in "miser" mode (half the output on top power). And both of these have a very low power low mode which gets hours and hours and hours of runtime.

+1 Chicken!

I think you will like the new HDS/Novatac lights whenever they hit the market.

Precisely the reason why I just bought a current L1 before they put the Cree in it. 90 hrs runtime on low makes for a good emergency flashlight.

Chris

Agreed, i'd prefer the new Cree/Seoul lights to be optomized for runtime, yes the Retina-Melting highs are fun, especially for amazing the Unenlightened, but for my purposes, a long runtime at the expense of brightness is far more practical

besides, once you're dark-adapted, it's amazing how little light is actually needed

I really like brightness. Sometimes it really is fun to have a torch that blows out people's retinas. I'm betting most of us came to this hobby looking for brighter lights than your everyday Maglite.

But given a choice, I'll take runtime, thank you. Current lights seem to be bright enough for most tasks, so greater runtime would benefit us all more. I am pretty excited about those Novatac lights, leukos.

+1 Atomic_Chicken.

I'm still looking for my ideal emergency light with low light and super run time. I thought I had found it in the Inova X5. But it was too bright and too big and not enough run time. An Inova X1 was closer to my ideal. It just needs better threads, end cap and seal, to be made of stainless steel, and be in deep ruby red 690nm. With stronger thicker lens too. *cough* *cough* does a light like that exist?

Atomic_Chicken said:

Does anyone else here wish that manufacturers adopting CREE LED technology would use it to improve battery life, instead of squeezing every last possible lumen out of it?

Surefire's new L1 design is a notable case... why not make it the same or just SLIGHTLY brighter in low mode, allowing for 150+ hour runtime, then boost the bright end maybe 50% so that it's still in the 50-ish lumen range, but gets better battery life? Instead, they go with a low level that's 5x as bright, and sucks batteries over twice as fast.

Click to expand...

Agreed. The Surefire L1 is a fine light. If they improved it, as you describe, it would become an excellent light. The current low beam is very usefu. Increasing it to 10 lumen may make it too bright for closeup work.