I don't mean to troll or flame but honest question. What relevance do incan lights hol din the modern era? Are they sentimental, better CRI/tint, more (or less) resistant to EMP/EMI, something else? I have converted 99% of my old lights to LED, though I still have an off-brand 2xCR123 with a p60 style drop in. Gotta say, those are by far the brightest and most usable "65" lumens I have ever seen.
Relevance?
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the0dore3524
Flashlight Enthusiast
Aren't incans 100 CRI? I think that's the main allure for me.
They're incandecent.
Relevant to todays LED's? Well why have a campfire when we have LED laterns?
Relevant to todays LED's? Well why have a campfire when we have LED laterns?
InvisibleFrodo
Enlightened
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Very complex question. Yes to the higher CRI. In my opinion better tint too because I grew up with incandescent, and I find them so much more pleasant. Yes to the EMP as there is no driver, just a simple put power to it setup. And yes, greater throw by virtue of the light source putting out in a full 360 degrees with no tint shift. Not like the 120 degree output with severe tint shift like LEDs. The throw/lumen ratio is insane. It's not just CRI, incandescent lights, by virtue of how they operate, are full spectral emitters. They don't just put out visible light. They put out infrared and ultraviolet as well.
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archimedes
Flashaholic
Retro stuff is cool ?
I realize you posted this in the incan flashlights subforum, but it applies to bulbs in general as do things others already wrote which I agree with, especially CRI. As far as flashlights, I have plenty of rechargeable batteries and haven't gotten around to modding all of my incan flashlights to LED (have done some, enough to get by, but some are not really worth the bother), so I might as well have some batteries in the incan lights I have, scattered around various places in addition to the LED flashlights I'd always grab if one is closer... like in my pocket. 
As far as home/other building lighting, incan can go in lamps and housings you like too much to get rid of, that have sealed chambers and would get too hot for LED to have good life.
Incan heat is good outdoors in winter to melt off ice and snow, or in very hot climates. It's not that LED can't do hot climates but it's going to be a custom design with (otherwise) overkill heatsinking and more robust driver.
Incan is more power surge resistant.
Incan works well with existing old dimmer switches, where an incan bulb running at a small fraction of its full brightness will have a very long life and not consume as much power.
Incan is very old, mature tech so you usually get the lifespan you expect out of them. I've had about a half dozen major brand LED bulbs fail within about a year. They were GE BR30, but I've read similar reports of other bulb shapes and brands, that aren't achieving even 1/10th of their estimated running hours. I suppose there is consolation in that they did run long enough to make the energy saved, pay for their higher cost than an incan bulb, especially in the case of BR30 incandescent which are often pricey due to deposited silver for their reflector.
Heating. If the cost per BTU is similar from electrity as from gas, incan are useful for adding a little heat to rooms you're occupying (which is why the light is on), but of course that is a detriment in hot summer climates.
Nature's insect traps. Incan bulbs attract far more flying insects. More flying insects mean spiders build webs there, reducing nuisance insects like flies, moths, and mosquitoes.
Last but not least, darning socks! The round glass globe of an incan bulb is great to stuff in a sock, without the needle getting stuck in it like it would with a plastic globe while you sew the hole shut. Granted today everything is considered throwaway so you just buy new socks, but it is still less expensive and more sustainable to put 2 cents worth of thread into a repair instead of paying $x for a new pair of socks, and the same strategy can keep other clothing usable when you need something to wear doing rough or dirty work.
Incan is more recyclable and uses materials we have in abundance, are mostly silica and aluminum which are #2 and #3 of the most abundant elements in earth's crust.
Don't get me wrong, I like the power savings and heat reduction of LED, especially the power savings for portable applications. The only reason I would buy an incan flashlight today is if I were planning to mod it to LED, and in that case some older incan lights have a larger area in the head which makes them more moddable by putting a larger heatsink in, for example I can get 5W of LED light with a passive heatsink in an old Ryobi P704 flashlight (that takes a tool 18V Li-Ion battery) while their ready made modern LED equivalent P705 is only ~1.5W.
As far as home/other building lighting, incan can go in lamps and housings you like too much to get rid of, that have sealed chambers and would get too hot for LED to have good life.
Incan heat is good outdoors in winter to melt off ice and snow, or in very hot climates. It's not that LED can't do hot climates but it's going to be a custom design with (otherwise) overkill heatsinking and more robust driver.
Incan is more power surge resistant.
Incan works well with existing old dimmer switches, where an incan bulb running at a small fraction of its full brightness will have a very long life and not consume as much power.
Incan is very old, mature tech so you usually get the lifespan you expect out of them. I've had about a half dozen major brand LED bulbs fail within about a year. They were GE BR30, but I've read similar reports of other bulb shapes and brands, that aren't achieving even 1/10th of their estimated running hours. I suppose there is consolation in that they did run long enough to make the energy saved, pay for their higher cost than an incan bulb, especially in the case of BR30 incandescent which are often pricey due to deposited silver for their reflector.
Heating. If the cost per BTU is similar from electrity as from gas, incan are useful for adding a little heat to rooms you're occupying (which is why the light is on), but of course that is a detriment in hot summer climates.
Nature's insect traps. Incan bulbs attract far more flying insects. More flying insects mean spiders build webs there, reducing nuisance insects like flies, moths, and mosquitoes.
Last but not least, darning socks! The round glass globe of an incan bulb is great to stuff in a sock, without the needle getting stuck in it like it would with a plastic globe while you sew the hole shut. Granted today everything is considered throwaway so you just buy new socks, but it is still less expensive and more sustainable to put 2 cents worth of thread into a repair instead of paying $x for a new pair of socks, and the same strategy can keep other clothing usable when you need something to wear doing rough or dirty work.
Incan is more recyclable and uses materials we have in abundance, are mostly silica and aluminum which are #2 and #3 of the most abundant elements in earth's crust.
Don't get me wrong, I like the power savings and heat reduction of LED, especially the power savings for portable applications. The only reason I would buy an incan flashlight today is if I were planning to mod it to LED, and in that case some older incan lights have a larger area in the head which makes them more moddable by putting a larger heatsink in, for example I can get 5W of LED light with a passive heatsink in an old Ryobi P704 flashlight (that takes a tool 18V Li-Ion battery) while their ready made modern LED equivalent P705 is only ~1.5W.
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Why would a 1966 Mustang with a paultry 195 hp engine and 3 speed tranny that gets 12mpg in the city or highway, has no power steering, no ac, drum brakes, am radio - 8 track tape player from 2 kazoo speakers in the dashboard, no backup lights, nor even a good heater be relevant these days when a 2019 has power everything, ten speed automatic moving a 300+ hp engine, plush interior, super duper climate control, touch screen surround sound system and gets 25+ mpg on the highway?
Why would a 1956 Stratocaster be relevant when a video game guitar can play notes without the blisters?
Why would a Canon AE-1 film camera with a roll of 24 shots of black and white film be relevant when an iPhone can take thousands of photos in black and white?
Why would furniture sized Klipsch speakers playing a vinyl album be relevant when a laptop computer can play mp3's through satelite speakers?
Why is a bicycle relevant when a stationary bike is available?
Why is frying up potatoes and onions in a cast iron skillet relevant when there's non stick teflon?
Why is charcoal grilling relevant when there's gas grills?
Why is an inkpen still relevant while we have touch screen technology?
There's beauty to be found in old tech, while new tech makes our lives a lot more comfy. In real darkness in the real world like walking in the forest in the midst of nowhere, or along the edge of a river as a warm summer breeze causes a subtle splashing sound as the ripples hit the shore on a moonless night in the country, there aint nothing like an incandecent flashlight to provide that little extra warm n fuzzy feeling of an already warm n fuzzy feeling. Regardless what charts and graphs say there's no LED made that can duplicate with accuracy the incandecent light bulb.
Why would a 1956 Stratocaster be relevant when a video game guitar can play notes without the blisters?
Why would a Canon AE-1 film camera with a roll of 24 shots of black and white film be relevant when an iPhone can take thousands of photos in black and white?
Why would furniture sized Klipsch speakers playing a vinyl album be relevant when a laptop computer can play mp3's through satelite speakers?
Why is a bicycle relevant when a stationary bike is available?
Why is frying up potatoes and onions in a cast iron skillet relevant when there's non stick teflon?
Why is charcoal grilling relevant when there's gas grills?
Why is an inkpen still relevant while we have touch screen technology?
There's beauty to be found in old tech, while new tech makes our lives a lot more comfy. In real darkness in the real world like walking in the forest in the midst of nowhere, or along the edge of a river as a warm summer breeze causes a subtle splashing sound as the ripples hit the shore on a moonless night in the country, there aint nothing like an incandecent flashlight to provide that little extra warm n fuzzy feeling of an already warm n fuzzy feeling. Regardless what charts and graphs say there's no LED made that can duplicate with accuracy the incandecent light bulb.
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Well said! There's comfort in simplicity.
scout24
Flashaholic
Sometimes, design and asthetics reach a pinnacle that the future tries oh so hard to reach back and grasp. See all the "new" ponycars. Challenger, Mustang, Camaro. They were the apex of design back in the day, and despite almost 50 years of so-called progress, familiar shapes dot the automotive landscape. Sometimes, the old ways were good... For me, there are three incan lights that will always be relevant- SF's E2e, M6, and 6P. Peak design and function, right there. I can dress them up with modern cells and dropins or high powered bulbs from the modern era, but they're awfully hard to improve upon. Their continued popularity despite being long discontinued speaks volumes as to their relevance.
(Long -winded version of archimedes' post above... :nana: )
For me, there are three incan lights that will always be relevant- SF's E2e, M6, and 6P. Peak design and function, right there. I can dress them up with modern cells and dropins or high powered bulbs from the modern era, but they're awfully hard to improve upon. Their continued popularity despite being long discontinued speaks volumes as to their relevance.(Long -winded version of archimedes' post above... :nana: )
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In that same vein Scout24:
It's ironic how the more advanced LED formulations are attempting to achieve the appearance of a lightbulb output.
It's ironic how the more advanced LED formulations are attempting to achieve the appearance of a lightbulb output.
archimedes
Flashaholic
And my posts are not usually known for their brevity, lol
It takes a lot more work to make stuff as good as it used to be :devil:
Once the tire was invented all that was left was to make it roll smoother.
thermal guy
Flashaholic
The only reason I still have incandescent lights is because I started off with them. Runtime is horrible, battery cost is horrible kinda Fragile etc etc. but there retro and old school and remind me of when I was young that's it. Nothing more
While I have switched almost entirely to 1x rcr123 lights with 9080 cri level for their combination of size and daytime color quality, I still think that there is nothing more pleasant at night that a well focused 3400k xenon bulb.
Also with the help of regulated switches like miser, aw, etc, I can get much warmer and fainer beams for my deep night needs.
But again, if I need to trust my light, it would be an LED, even at night.
And I will never switch to anything from incand bulbs in my home. I have stashed hundreds of them, especially 90+ watts, just in case they are discontinued.
So the hotwires are very far from extinction in my life.
Also with the help of regulated switches like miser, aw, etc, I can get much warmer and fainer beams for my deep night needs.
But again, if I need to trust my light, it would be an LED, even at night.
And I will never switch to anything from incand bulbs in my home. I have stashed hundreds of them, especially 90+ watts, just in case they are discontinued.
So the hotwires are very far from extinction in my life.
I stocked up on PR13's and 4 cell Maglite bulbs for use in 2C lights with 2x18500 LifePo4 cells for outdoor solar lights. A sleeve of 3/4" schedule 80 gas pipe makes a right sporty gap filler and the lights put out like an overdriven 5 cell number in a nice little package. The bulbs and batteries are cheap and readily available.
Maglite PR xenons are getting scarce but Rayovac K13's are easy enough to find.
Heat is not a problem as most older flashlights were made with the same parts for two cells or as many as seven without issues.
Maglite PR xenons are getting scarce but Rayovac K13's are easy enough to find.
Heat is not a problem as most older flashlights were made with the same parts for two cells or as many as seven without issues.
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Came here for this!! My wife and co-workers hate me because I use a car analogy for everything.
OP, that's your answer. No real purpose other than nostalgia. It's far less expensive and much easier to tinker with than other nostalgic hobbies though.
