recomm on house led light for <50$ ?? newbie !

BillG

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just becoming aware of led lights...looking at turtlelite 2, lightwave 3000, and streamlite propoly 4AA. what do you think of these as general house lights? any other recommendations under $50?

thanks from a newbie
 

FluffyGrunt

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Feb 5, 2002
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I don't know about the Turtlelite but the lightwave 3000 or the 4aa streamlight would probably do well as a general light. You also might want to check out an EverLed about 40 dollars and you can drop it into most flashlights that take a standard pr base bulb, as long as it has correct polarity. Streamlight also has a 3AA luxeon light for around 30-35 dollars. Personally I'd go for a luxeon light over a multi Nichia light, luxeons are just too much brighter and have good battery life.
 

DougNel

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[ QUOTE ]
BillG said:
just becoming aware of led lights...looking at turtlelite 2, lightwave 3000, and streamlite propoly 4AA. what do you think of these as general house lights? any other recommendations under $50?

thanks from a newbie

[/ QUOTE ]

$50 can get you a good "house" light, but you should know that there are trade offs involved in chosing, such as size, weight, battery type, brightness level, and run time. For a "general" light I like the propoly 4AA (which I have). It is the brightest of the bunch, is not too large or heavy, uses common AA alkaline batteries, and costs only about $24. The downside is that it will only last about 6 hours until 50% brightness (although will still produce light for a long time after that). Now that would be very good performance for an incandescent light, but is sort of middling for LED's. The lightwave 3000 (which I also have) is not as bright as the propoly, and is larger and heavier. However, because it uses "C" batteries it goes about 15 hours to 50% brightness and 40 hours to 30%.

Have you considered one of the new Hybrid LED/Incandescent lights (called "Twintasks") also made by Streamlight? The TwinTask 3C, for example, has 6 LED's and uses the same 3 "C" cells as the Lightwave 3000 but also includes a Xenon bulb for times when you need a lot of throw. You can choose between 3 LED's, 6 LED's, or the Xenon depending on the task at hand. Run times for the LED's should be the same or better than the LW3000, although slightly less bright. BUt then you have the Xenon for that. Cost is about $30.

Of course, you could just do what we all do in this circumstance and get them both!!
 

shankus

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What kinds of things will you be using it for?

For all the normal household stuff, the Streamlight 4AA LED will work great.
Very robust, common AA cells, you can use rechargeables in it, waterproof & lifetime warranty.
You could pick a lot worse than it for you first LED light.

I have one, and I recommend it.



What I use around the house the most, and carry everyday, is a MadMax+ in a Mini-Mag.
It is quite a bit brighter than the Streamlight 4AA & casts it's light farther. It is a 1 watt luxeon LED kit. You can put it in a Mini-Mag or Brinkmann Legend.

At $33, plus <$3 shipping, you won't be disappointed.
 

lightnix

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I have the European version of the Lightwave 3000 (which is identical in every way)and would highly recommend it for household use, mainly due to it's very long battery life of 350 hours - two weeks of continuous light from a fresh set of alkalineS !

It's true that there are brighter flashlights around, but the output from the Lightwave is by no means dim. It's drop resistant, the waterproofing is pretty good and it feels great in the hand.
 

justjim

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Regarding the Madmax+, does anyone know the runtime (at full brightness)? Thanks.

-jim
 

Overamp

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Streamlight 3aa Tasklight. 1 watt direct drive luxeon in a heavy aluminum case. Could be used as a weapon. Pretty good luxeon quality, about 35 dollars.
 

Bill.H

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Maine USA
I used to use a 5D Mag that was always in the pantry. Big and heavy but since it never left the house it didn't matter. Was also good in candle mode for lighting a room during power failures. That got retired and replaced with a Blaster II, which is better in every respect and goes 24 hours at full brightness on 3D. A bit over 50, however.

Got an old mag laying around? Throw an EverLed in it. Otherwise, just pick the SL Twin-task of the size you want.

Oh, and that old 5D mag - I just put a 5W LS in it. Awesome, but not really any more throw than my Blaster. That will become the in-house light so I can take my Blaster back.
 

wualta

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May 28, 2003
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I second Overamp's and PJShmoe's opinions.

If you can swallow spending $35 for a flashlight, I think the Streamlight Luxeon Task Light (uses 3 AA cells) is currently the most bang for the buck for a newbie not yet ready to futz with modified flashlight parts. It's reasonably small and very bright, runs on cheap AA cells, can be bought from wellknown merchants such as Amazon.com, can be hung by its lanyard or stood on its tail for ice storm duty, works well on rechargeables, and overall needs no excuses for its performance in any respect except possibly for its initial cost. It's a "real" flashlight.

The Brinkmann Rebel 2D is only $20 but it's huge-- it makes you think it ought to be positively thermonuclear-bright, but of course it isn't. It's just a good household flashlight with hours and hours of run time and a tightly focused beam which is not as bright as the Streamlight's. The Brinkmann will stand on its tail, something I think any household flashlight ought to be able to do.
Available at the WalMart down the street.

Walt Brand
 
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