A light for my father(doctor)

My father is a doctor and needs a flashlight for his profession, usually to check tonsils/throat. He also uses it at night if he has to go to patients outside the cities (no street lights, they come with the ambulance car but need to walk a few meters in dark).
He has been using a super cheap block-battery flashlight, it uses a 4.5V battery and is a very simple design, costs arround $2 . (picture1, picture2). The flashlight eats up the batteries pretty fast, the light dims rapidly and it's quite bulky. He needs finally a new light.

I showed him my Fenix L1D CE, he was pretty impressed - he likes the size and the brightness (and the regulated output), but he doesn't want to spend so much money on flashlight (he might loose it, and it's a big step from a $2 flashlight to a $50+ flashlight). A more simple interface would be better (maybe just low and medium). I think he would be using alkalines mainly, so I need something that would have good regulation and runtime on alkalines (1xAA). It doesn't need to have a high output, 15/50 lumens would be more than good. He wouldn't like to spend more than $25 for such a light.

Any recommendations? Maybe something from dealextreme.com? I was looking at the JetBeam C-LE but the interface is far too complicated for him.

Thanks.

Energizer 2AA penlight.

Not too bright and zero sidespill.

Hello,

This seems like a classic case where one would opt for the Peak Fujiyama in stainless steel.

http://www.peakledsolutions.net/Products/Fujiyama_SS_1LED.html
http://www.peakledsolutions.net/Products/Fujiyama_SS_3LED.html
Look no further, no other light has as much style...
Your father needs one :thumbsup:

Kind regards,
Joris

PS: also look at the Peak corner for information on price reductions for the holidays.

I would take a "cheap" Fenix light as at example the P1, or an L1t or other.

This is a time when a good incan might be better than LED. If the white LED isn't a really good white, you can color shift what you are looking at and he needs good color rendition. I think white LEDs still have kind of a spotty spectrum compared to the bell curve output of a hot wire light. I could be wrong there, but that used to ne true anyway.

I used a Welch-Allyn penlight when I was an active Paramedic - really good light output and pretty white. Also pretty expensive. I tried using a Streamlight Stylus for a while, and output and battery life was OK. Color wasn't. I'd go to Brightguy and take a look at some of the Xenon lights he's selling. Pelican seems to have a good selection, as does Streamlight.

Thanks for the replies.
MikeLip, I was concerned about the color rendition too - because it's a critical factor for a doctor, so he can see if the tonsils aren't too red and things like that.
I think I'll borrow him the L1D CE for testing, so he can find out if the color rendition with a Cree LED is sufficient for his work.

You seriously want a doctor to point a Cree in someone's face?

C'mon, this is a job for a 2.33v 220mA lens-tip bulb with zinc-carbon batteries.

A well-made penlight is what is called for. Truly.

Inova X1 would be ideal. single AA widely available, cheap and cheerful.

i think your dad should carry 2 lights. 1 no side spill light for the patient, the other floody light for walking in the dark.

that mean spending more $$... :green:

Yes, I was thinking about the same thing...
About the light-intensity, I know it's not good to shine in someone's face with a Turbo mode Cree light, but if it had a low mode - I think it would be OK. He is not doing field surgery with the light , he is a general practitioner and sets the diagnosis (he works in his office, but one day in a week he has to go with the ambulance car to the patients - that's the time where he needs a light at night).

Maybe I can convince him for a 2 flashlight setup, one 1-2AAA penlight and one AA flashlight? I'll give him my L1D CE for now, so he can report back about this light.

Thanks

oh, ideally get both lights that uses 1 type of batts. he's not flashaholic, the simplier the better.

eg;
. light 1 w/ batt installed
. light 2 w/ batt installed
. jus an additional set (1AA / 2AA) to carry along, not 2 sets.

hopefully he does not need to deal with extra bulbs...

The general finding your way around light could easily be a LED. I think the exam light should be a good incan. No reason they couldn't share battery type though!

I would just get a few Lumens factory penlights for the physical exams.

http://www.lumensfactory.com/cart.php?cat_id=4&PHPSESSID=d071a0ec9dc02d56725766f95a7037ef

About the same size as a ballpoint pen, clickie, 2xAAA battery, relatively bright for an incandescent penlight (much brighter/better beam than the other penlights that I've seen), only $2.99 so no worries if it is lost. With the money left over, I'd get a nice LED light for navigation/around hospital work.

I'm a medical student and I've tried using some of my LED lights to examine patients...the color rendition just isn't there. It is MUCH easier for me to distinguish things with the warmer white incandescent than with even my "whitest" LEDs. I carry around the LF penlight to do physical exam as well as a LED EDC (surefire, mcgizmo, fenix, etc.) for anything else.

I do hear those Welch-Allyn penlights are very nice, but costly.

Cryhavok, wow - thanks, that seems like a good deal :thumbsup: and might be just what my dad needs. I hope the shipping isn't going to be too high for this small penlight. After I order this penlight, I'll search for a good EDC light for him .
(I couldn't check-out because Slovakia wasn't in the list of countries, just Slovenia - which is a totally different country, but most people don't know that :huh:. So I sent them an email, I'll have to wait...)

Thanks.

I gave my mom (also a doctor) one of the Lumens Factory lights and she loves it. Besides getting them as a freebie on the LF website, you can buy them from LightHound.

cryhavok said:

I'm a medical student and I've tried using some of my LED lights to examine patients...the color rendition just isn't there. It is MUCH easier for me to distinguish things with the warmer white incandescent than with even my "whitest" LEDs. I carry around the LF penlight to do physical exam as well as a LED EDC (surefire, mcgizmo, fenix, etc.) for anything else.

I do hear those Welch-Allyn penlights are very nice, but costly.

Click to expand...

That was my experience as well. Kinda hard to tell what that stuff is that's leaking with a LED. I went back to incan for that. Most drug companies give exam penlights away - I lived off those for a long time until I borrowed an ER docs Welch/Allyn and wandered off with it. I went back a week later and he told me to keep it.

doctors led light?

sorry if this has been covered already. Do not remember any tread, nor did the search give any hint ...

a coworker here asked me, if I know a good, small light he could give to his uncle - who is a med. and seems to use some kind of cheap D-cell light.
Should be AA, if possible. Rechargeable being a plus.

now, of course, I handed him over my L1D to check if this is ok, but: for a doc?
Even when I like white led light, at this application, the colors should be as natural as possible, imho.

So, is there any light built for this task? (we re checking medical supplies by now, but what is offered there is )

Possibly I think of a light using several 5mm leds, but with different colors, like 2 white, one red, one green.
I am ordering a rebel star to mod an Elly with it, and possibly will also try some kind of a Matterhorn-lookalike or an Inova "X" model, modded with those 5 mm leds,
but if there is a ready made light availble, this would save time and efford.

MM and such is no option, because of the high chance of ed bulbs
(in my experience one bulb lasts 1.5 sets of batts. That, together with turning itself on in the pocket, skips it)

Re: doctors led light?

yellow said:

sorry if this has been covered already. Do not remember any tread, nor did the search give any hint ...

a coworker here asked me, if I know a good, small light he could give to his uncle - who is a med. and seems to use some kind of cheap D-cell light.
Should be AA, if possible. Rechargeable being a plus.

now, of course, I handed him over my L1D to check if this is ok, but: for a doc?
Even when I like white led light, at this application, the colors should be as natural as possible, imho.

So, is there any light built for this task? (we re checking medical supplies by now, but what is offered there is )

Possibly I think of a light using several 5mm leds, but with different colors, like 2 white, one red, one green.
I am ordering a rebel star to mod an Elly with it, and possibly will also try some kind of a Matterhorn-lookalike or an Inova "X" model, modded with those 5 mm leds,
but if there is a ready made light availble, this would save time and efford.

MM and such is no option, because of the high chance of ed bulbs
(in my experience one bulb lasts 1.5 sets of batts. That, together with turning itself on in the pocket, skips it)

Click to expand...

Just to clarify, would this be used in the process of checking out patients and performing examinations or treatment? You don't want to use anything non-disposable in the presence of infectious substances and bodily fluids IMHO. Sorry to say, the cheapo penlights he probably already has access to are a good bet just because you wouldn't want to leave anything valuable at the office, but you wouldn't want to take home anything that could potentially have infectious substances on it. Just throwing that out there.

Re: doctors led light?

A GP I know got a S.L. stylus and was content with it.

Re: doctors led light?

Most doctors that I have seen are using very dim and really cheap penlights. The Energize LED penlight is probably a bit better but still "don't care what happens to it" option. The single cell Rayovac one is probably a little too small but that would be up to him. I don't think you would want one that is too bright a tint is a factor.

I thought there was a thread on this topic within the past year but maybe a bit longer ago. Ah Ha! Found it! For an old fart I have a pretty good memo... what were we talking about?

(Moderator note: threads merged & inactive link removed - THANKS!)