How to Self-Educate re Flashlights?

Hello, I am seeking enlightenment. Other than keeping eyes on the CPF, are there reading assignments you could recommend, to help me achieve enlightenment, faster? On CPF I'm running into a lot of conversations I don't understand and I don't know how to get there, from here. I'm looking for the basics that YOU all know, but which are still a mystery to me. After reading such material, I would expect to be able to answer my own questions, such as:

How does an LED actually make light? Why are D-cells not an ideal cell and why do so many use CR123s? Why is 'regulated' important? What are the various components of modern 'lights and what do they do? How did Cree, Seoul, and Rebel basically double LED output recently? Why do people swear by incans even tho many are much dimmer? What are 'beginner mods' that I might try? What are the flashlights that everybody needs to own?

See what I'm getting at...basic information that you'd get from a well-informed mentor. I'll keep reading CPF, but I need a fast-working supplement!

There are plenty of books on light and how it works. A good casual read for me is the Eyewitness book on Light. I think it was written for children, but the pictures are awesome. As for some of your questions:
D cells are an ideal cell if they're used correctly. They have a lot of energy capacity to them. The main problem with alkaline D cells is the poor voltage to size ratio and the fact that they don't perform well under heavy loads. I think 3v lithiums are going through a bit of a trend right now. They have advantages, but they're not the be all and end all of batteries.
Regulation is important because people got tired of incandescent lights fading over time. I like a light that stays at a constant brightness for a while. On the other hand, direct drive lights like the Inova X5 are very useful.
Since LEDs are like every other type of consumer electronic, so a huge jump in performance from time to time is expected.
Incandescent lights still have their use because of the great full spectrum they put out. And at this time, there's still no single LED that can do 1200-1300 lumens like a Mag Mod can.
I'm not a modder (yet), so I'll tell you to look at the hommade/modified subforum.
The flashlight everybody needs to own is based entirely on what they need from a flashlight.

You can start with some light Wiki reading and follow many links within them. =)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashlight
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-emitting_diode

There used to be a CPF wiki and it may come back sometime.

Start at the Welcome Mat, beginner's FAQ

In this section of FlashlightReviews you can find a lot of useful info:

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/qa.htm


:wave:

Every question you asked, the answer can be found online. Check out sites like howstuffworks.com, wikipedia, flashlight manufactors, flashlightreviews.com, ect. You will find most of the information you need.

bessiebenny said:

You can start with some light Wiki reading and follow many links within them. =)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashlight
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-emitting_diode

Click to expand...

Wikipedia is a great way to go when you start learning. +1 on Wikipedia

Didn't know of that Welcome Mat. That's an excellent thread full of info which targets people who come here. Great stuff.

+1 on Flashlight Reviews. Doug is not reviewing any more, but the wealth of information there is still very relavant and helpful. From the explanations, to the reviews themselves one can find a lot of helpful insight into what makes a good light for many different uses.

i think this is the cpf wiki that paul r was refering to http://www.wiki.tjtech.org/index.php/Main_Page

to Bolster --


Oh, and welcome to CandlePowerForums !


:welcome:

_

Thanks man! These are really great resources and the LEARNING has done BEGUN.

Bolster --> Bolstermaniac? If so, nice to see you over here!

All of my knowlege is just from reading everything I can and then doing my own research on things I didn't know or understand. For research, Wikipedia tends to be a good place to start, but some of the flashlight-related articles are quite lacking. A lot of the topics you are asking about have been covered time and time again so you should definitely check them out. A Google site search on CPF for "incan vs. led" should bring up a lot of results, for instance.

Hello Carrot! Yes, it is I, aka Bolstermanic. Since that frequently gets shortened to "BM," I thought I'd pick a less, uh, scatological handle for this forum.

To all: Carrot has been bringing flashlight enlightenment to many of us on another tool-related forum, and thanks to him, and other multi-interest flashaholics, I caught the disease and am now spending a fair amount of time over here, trying to get up to speed.

The resources listed above were EXAC-TICLY what I was looking for. I'll be ready to take the bonehead exams shortly. I am studying under the light of my newly acquired L2D with Eneloops...however it is washing out my computer screen somewhat. :duh2: