LED versus Xenon ? What is better?

Flymo

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I have a Pentagonlight L2 HAIII and I love this light for his perfect white tint and smoothly spilbeam and that is IMHO a correct flashlight.
Many (China) Cree flashlights has a explicit hotspot with less spilbeam.
I just ordered a Pentagonlight X2.
Does somebody has experience with this light? and are LED flashlight better than Xenon, besides bulblife and durability?

What is the advantage of LED versus Xenon flashlights ?

Thanks everybody!:twothumbs
 

yellow

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THE controversal discussion ;)

in the class up to a current draw of 2 Amps, the Led is way brighter than the Xenon

in higher class, there is simply no comparison present and the hotwire guys still insist on their ROPs being brighter than a single Led,
(no wonder with bulbs eating ten times or more the current)

imho such a light (the 2nd one, w. 7 emitters) might stand the challenge,
maybe not at the most extreme throw, but on medium to far distance illumination (its the equivalent to a 25-30 W ROP):
tile(86x100)-projectm-trans-animated.gif

gif stolen from his site
 
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qip

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decision i had to go through either a rop or multi led set up ...i decided with :) multi led , main reason i dont have to worry about burning out and replacing bulbs and a bonus is, at first i thought this stunner would get 1 hour runtime but someone did a runtime test on a stunner and it resulted in 4hrs high output :eek:

and yes its bright :thumbsup:
 

Andrew Nik

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Incandescent light have a more "natural" spectrum, and provide better color rendition.
Although your eyes (or camera) will fully adapt for white balance of LED light, some colors (red/brown/grey-brown) will seems worse than incan light can provide.

See samples here:
(WB was set for each lights manually)
http://talks.guns.ru/forummessage/109/214621.html

Make a point of pencil and orange color.
 
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Learjet

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Can you start fires with the multi LED or do you need the IR of Incan for that?

Yeah I know, matches are for lighting fires, but doing it with a torch is more fun. :devil:
 

RustyKnee

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Can you start fires with the multi LED or do you need the IR of Incan for that?

Yeah I know, matches are for lighting fires, but doing it with a torch is more fun. :devil:

nah thats high power incan territory. only IR leds emit much IR....not sure if a multi IR led would ligt a fire though lol.,,,invisible too so eye melting perhaps hehe

Stu
 

wrathothebunny

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I prefer Xenon incan to LED for color rendering. This might not seem like a big deal, but be aware that the inferior color rendering of LEDs have practical consequences. For instance, depth, 3-dimensionality, and contrast are all affected, and for target acquisition - or even detailed rendering of one's environment, these are very important areas. Incans simply render the target area under the light better. Also, incans cut through fog far better than LEDs do. I use an incan for bump-in-the-night and emergency instances, and I use LEDs for everyday use when runtime and low battery replacement frequency are more important.
 
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PlayboyJoeShmoe

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I like LED because in 1xAA or 1x123 (or CR2) size lights NO incandescent bulb stands a chance!

And I like them in larger lights, because Alkaline cells will pull 'em and last a LOOOOOONG time doing it!
 

drew2001

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hello,

I have to agree 100% with wotb. I use LED lights everyday in my work as an auto tech. LED and it's running time is my much needed mechanical 'cold light'. My 49 yr old eyes transition between a couple of Black Diamond headlight models, and a couple hand held inspection lights. I do use my Streamlight incans too, but most indepth repairs/services end up under LED.

Incan is my choice for an organic sight, non-metal outdoors or people, where earthy stuff needs to be comprehended in reality, as in a 'warm light.' Where acquisition and or color rendition is important.

wrath's quote sums it up to me. For me there is a definite need for both beam types.

I prefer Xenon incan to LED for color rendering. This might not seem like a big deal, but be aware that the inferior color rendering of LEDs have practical consequences. For instance, depth, 3-dimensionality, and contrast are all affected, and for target acquisition - or even detailed rendering of one's environment, these are very important areas. Incans simply render the target area under the light better. Also, incans cut through fog far better than LEDs do. I use an incan for bump-in-the-night and emergency instances, and I use LEDs for everyday use when runtime and low battery replacement frequency are more important.
 

Flymo

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Ok, thanks everybody.

So, (I think) they are both usefull and when I received the Pentagonlight X2, I post my experience here.
But does has someone experience with the Pentagonlight X2 HAIII ? :wave:
 

2xTrinity

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nah thats high power incan territory. only IR leds emit much IR....not sure if a multi IR led would ligt a fire though lol.,,,invisible too so eye melting perhaps hehe
Even an IR LED isn't going to be setting fires anytime soon. Really, the color/wavelength is irrelevant as far as setting fire is concerned -- if the object you're trying to burn is black, or completely absorbs the color you're shining on it (ie, popping a red balloon with a green laser), the only relevant figure is the intensity of the beam in watts/square meter.

With incandescent, it's easy to get high power -- just buy a high wattage bulb, and it will radiate with almost 100% efficiency (most of that radiation is invisible, but that doesn't matter if all you need is a heat lamp)

LEDs, (and even HID lamps) don't radiate their excess waste heat however, they build up the heat internally -- usually requiring a separate heatsink. They're also limited to fairly low overall power, the only way to get high overall power would be with a large array, which would be almost impossible to concentrate enough to be able set anything on fire.

I prefer Xenon incan to LED for color rendering. This might not seem like a big deal, but be aware that the inferior color rendering of LEDs have practical consequences. For instance, depth, 3-dimensionality, and contrast are all affected, and for target acquisition - or even detailed rendering of one's environment, these are very important areas. Incans simply render the target area under the light better. Also, incans cut through fog far better than LEDs do. I use an incan for bump-in-the-night and emergency instances, and I use LEDs for everyday use when runtime and low battery replacement frequency are more important.
This is certainly the problem with the current LEDs, which are all blue emitters which convert a portion of that to green light. Red is almost completely absent, which is what causes most of the problem you've listed above (poor color rendering, depth perception etc). One trick that I have used in multi-emitter arrays with some success is to augment white LEDs, which tend to look "greenish", with separate red LEDs. I have found that dramatically improves color rendering/depth perception -- the beam itself looks a lot uglier, but the target being lit up looks better.

Also, in the case of fog, the shorter the wavelength (the more bluish) the more the light will get reflected back into your face -- I find if I hold the light as far away from my face as possible, their usability in fog improves. If I set the light down somewhere, and view my target from a different angle, the problem almost completely goes away (of course, that's hardly practical...)

IMHO some sort of RGB array has the potential to be the best -- the user could cut off blue completeley to produce amber light (for fog) or to have red light only (for night vision), or have white light of any color temperature, depending on the application. The only problem there is that green LEDs are FAR less efficient than red or blue -- which is why white is usually done using blue + a phosphor.
 

Bertrik

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The higher reflection of blueish light from LEDs in fog sounds nice in theory, but has anyone ever actually measured the amount of light reflected back by fog between an incan and a LED light?
 

mdocod

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in the end, it wouldn't matter if it could be measured or not, if your eyes say incan works better then that's what matters.

like home audio gear, in reality, if you actually measured a bose system for flat output, you'd be startled to learn that bose systems are terrible at accurate reproduction of audio, but to the human ear, they are (unfortunately) rather pleasing, which is why people part with large sums of money for complete garbage.
 

PlayboyJoeShmoe

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My P1 sure as heck came in handy today! I don't need no stinkin' Incan for my Job!!!

I COULD use a nice TOUGH floody headlight...

A Streamlight Clipmate got busted by the other stuff in the door of my truck. I need something ROBUST!
 

Outdoors Fanatic

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decision i had to go through either a rop or multi led set up ...i decided with :) multi led , main reason i dont have to worry about burning out and replacing bulbs and a bonus is, at first i thought this stunner would get 1 hour runtime but someone did a runtime test on a stunner and it resulted in 4hrs high output :eek:

and yes its bright :thumbsup:
Therer are other things beyond ROP VS Multi-LED in the world of flashlights...
 

ringzero

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I COULD use a nice TOUGH floody headlight...A Streamlight Clipmate got busted by the other stuff in the door of my truck. I need something ROBUST!


Headlamps, in general, just aren't anywhere near as TOUGH as decent handheld lights. The angle adjustment mechanism on most headlamps is an obvious weak point.

Few headlamps will survive long term bouncing around with heavy tools inside a toolbox as reliably as a decent handheld. Most headlamps won't survive as well as handhelds when stepped on, slammed against rock, etc.

You can get ROBUST headlamps, but you're looking at 200 to 300 bucks for Stenlight, FoxFury, or similar.


.
 
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