Moonshadow
Enlightened
Hi everyone !
This is my first post, although I've been reading the forums for a bit and very impressed with the wealth of knowledge on here, and the friendly atmosphere with people showing a lot of respect for each other's opinions.
Like a lot of you, I'd always had torches (as we call them here in the UK) as a kid. Recently, I've been doing a lot of astronomy (hence the username) and looking for good lighting solutions for working in the dark. Once you're nicely dark-adapted, a really low light or ideally a red beam is what you need - no need for ultimate lumens here. But I've always liked a good gadget so for me useability, handling and good design are probably more important than outright brightness.
For quite a while I'd made do with the usual brand-name and DIY store torches (yes, those ones !), with red cellophane over the end for astronomy use, or a red bicycle light. I'd tried a couple of the multi-LED torches in the past but was disappointed by the vague beam and purple glow of supposedly "white" LEDs.
Then a year or so ago I picked up a ten quid* single-AA nichia light (Cyba-Lite Auro) in a camping / outdoor store. For the first time, a single LED light with a decent optic and a good beam. OK, it was still a little blue around the edges but I was really impressed by the brightness and it just fitted neatly in a pocket - very easy to handle. One night we were in the pub when a swan flew into the power lines and blacked the whole place out. Bounced the beam from that little light off the ceiling and kept the room lit for a couple of hours. Clearly LED technology had moved on a lot !
Until then, I - like most people - would have baulked at spending much more than a few pounds on a light, but that got me started on LED lights and I now have a Gladius, several Fenixes, a couple of Photons and two or three others. Use them for walking, around the house, working on the car and of course astronomy.
I'm now wondering if it will stop with these, or if the urge to try out a few others will be too strong (kinda got my eyes on a D10 at the moment). Hey, at least it's got to be cheaper than collecting telescopes !
I'll keep this first post short for now but if anyone's interested, I'll be happy to post some thoughts on these lights a bit later.
Cheers,
MS
[* UK term for a pound - for all intents and purposes roughly equal to a dollar these days... ]
This is my first post, although I've been reading the forums for a bit and very impressed with the wealth of knowledge on here, and the friendly atmosphere with people showing a lot of respect for each other's opinions.
Like a lot of you, I'd always had torches (as we call them here in the UK) as a kid. Recently, I've been doing a lot of astronomy (hence the username) and looking for good lighting solutions for working in the dark. Once you're nicely dark-adapted, a really low light or ideally a red beam is what you need - no need for ultimate lumens here. But I've always liked a good gadget so for me useability, handling and good design are probably more important than outright brightness.
For quite a while I'd made do with the usual brand-name and DIY store torches (yes, those ones !), with red cellophane over the end for astronomy use, or a red bicycle light. I'd tried a couple of the multi-LED torches in the past but was disappointed by the vague beam and purple glow of supposedly "white" LEDs.
Then a year or so ago I picked up a ten quid* single-AA nichia light (Cyba-Lite Auro) in a camping / outdoor store. For the first time, a single LED light with a decent optic and a good beam. OK, it was still a little blue around the edges but I was really impressed by the brightness and it just fitted neatly in a pocket - very easy to handle. One night we were in the pub when a swan flew into the power lines and blacked the whole place out. Bounced the beam from that little light off the ceiling and kept the room lit for a couple of hours. Clearly LED technology had moved on a lot !
Until then, I - like most people - would have baulked at spending much more than a few pounds on a light, but that got me started on LED lights and I now have a Gladius, several Fenixes, a couple of Photons and two or three others. Use them for walking, around the house, working on the car and of course astronomy.
I'm now wondering if it will stop with these, or if the urge to try out a few others will be too strong (kinda got my eyes on a D10 at the moment). Hey, at least it's got to be cheaper than collecting telescopes !
I'll keep this first post short for now but if anyone's interested, I'll be happy to post some thoughts on these lights a bit later.
Cheers,
MS
[* UK term for a pound - for all intents and purposes roughly equal to a dollar these days... ]
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Enjoy your stay and I hope you stick around. We have a great bunch of people on here, just remember to hold on to your wallet!!
