Uses for Streamlilght 4AAx7LED

I'm new to the forum, and recently purchased one of Streamlight's 7 LED flashlights after reading some of the posts on the forum. The idea was that the Streamlight would make a good general purpose light for home or auto. Frankly, I'm disappointed in the performance - OK I guess for lighting a room or a path within 10-15 feet. Other than long battery life, I can't think of a single advantage it has over a conventional flashlight. Am I missing something here?

SOME ADVANTAGES INCLUDE:
1) Never having to change a bulb.
2) The light does'nt yellow as batteries run down.

May I suggest you let you eyes become adjusted to the dark and with fresh alkalines , then report how bright you precieve it to be!

It's a very even, white, wide beam. Best light I've used for close up work on delicate/complicated things. An incandescent light usually has weird rings or dark or light spots that are distracting for close work

Yes, I do like the clear white light as opposed to the yellowish hue given off by conventional flashlights. Thanks for the tips!

HerbG,

I'm a real fan of the SL4AA7LED and the SL3C10LED. I'm also a fan of the Luxeon Star lights.

I have four Luxon Star lights. I have three SL4AA7LED and five SL3C10LED.

They serve a great purpose, but they don't do everything.

Long life, good color rendering, smooth & even beam, and a wide beam are characteristics of the multi-LED lights. The Luxeons don't have quite as good color rendering, are more variable, are smooth and even and do throw farther. There is no LED flashlight (other perhaps than some custom mods) that throws like an incandescent.

For example, in my tool kit I now have a SL4AA7LED and an Underwater Kinetics 4AA incandescent. The UK for throw and the SL for closeup work. I also have a Luxeon (Lambda Illuminator) that keep in there as a smaller, close-in light.

My other two 4AAs are in the bathrooms. We use them for checking the boys' throats when they might be having a cold or something (it's amazing how much more stuff the LED shows up).

The 3Cs are: Kitchen, wife's bedside, garage, and one in each car. A little brighter than the 4AAs, and last even longer.

I keep a 1-LED 1-AAA light on my keychain and a Luxeon 1-123cell on my keychain (the two Arc products). I use them a lot, but in the other pocket, I have a bright, 60-lumen incandescent (Surefire E2e).

Everything has its purpose. Maybe the SL isn't for you, but don't expect any light to do everything! I wouldn't use my Vector 137 CO 100,000cp (actually measured) spotlight to look at my kids' throat <smile>. In fact the 4AAs are there to be less threatening than the 3C would be in that application.

I just gave my brother-in-law the SL4AA7LED and the UK4AA incandescent--and he was going to put one in his car, and I said no and gave him a Brinkmann LX for the car--this is a lithium-powered incandescent. He lives in Toronto and needs the lithium for the cold...again everything has a purpose...why the heck do I have 70 lights otherwise? Addicted? nah... <smile>.

Cheers,

Richard

Rhess said---I wouldn't use my Vector 137 CO 100,000cp (actually measured) spotlight to look at my kids' throat <smile>. In fact the 4AAs are there to be less threatening than the 3C would be in that application---
It isn't less threatening but you can use the spotlight by shining it on the outside of their neck and looking down their throat. Plenty of light to see in there

Hmmm...can I use a Maxa-Beam or whatever won the shootout?

Originally posted by rlhess:
...The UK for throw and the SL for closeup work...

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">This idea of having two (or more! ) lights has proven to be a great way to use LEDs.

I carry a PT Attitude for the smooth, white, RELIABLE flood characteristics of the LED and the UK 4AA AS2 for the bright, long throw of an incandescent.

The one that gets used the most is the Attitude (on NiMH)...by far!

The LEDs don't impress like an incandescent can. I guess we all want the magical power of carrying a *SUN* in our pocket. My Brinkmann LX is really impressive in this manner; small, light, beautiful aluminum body and REALLY BRIGHT (but, expensive to operate and honestly, that bright hot spot is not really what I need or want for a lot of the work I need a flashlight for).

But the bottom line is that my LED lights are the ones I use all the time.

My wife loves her Infinity Ultra and I see her use it many times.

We take daily walks (in the dark this time of year) on a country road and a lot of times...we even turn off the Infinity or the Attitude and just enjoy walking by moonlight or even starlight. I've got a compact LED in my pocket or on a lanyard around my neck if I want it and a compact bright light in my pocket (like the UK 4AA or the PT Rage) if I want something really bright.

So...the LEDs don't "impress" but, at least at my house, they get used the most.

I get better performance, IMHO, out of my SL 4AA than regular 2D lights. It gives you just as much if not more brightness, but in a flood that is a lot whiter than an incand. light. You are just not going to get alot of throw thats all. This seems to be something that lots of people don't understand, being so used to the normally available 2 cell bulb lights. The thing about LEDs is much longer runtimes, less battery changes, handles more abuse, and nice flood effect. They are like guns or tools, no one type will do it all.

Originally posted by HerbG:
I'm new to the forum, and recently purchased one of Streamlight's 7 LED flashlights after reading some of the posts on the forum. The idea was that the Streamlight would make a good general purpose light for home or auto. Frankly, I'm disappointed in the performance - OK I guess for lighting a room or a path within 10-15 feet. Other than long battery life, I can't think of a single advantage it has over a conventional flashlight. Am I missing something here?

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Herb G,

Is this your first LED light? It sounds like it is. If it isn't please forgive my comments.

I am 41 Years old. I remember some of my earliest memories (3 or 4 years old) of flashlights was to see how far the flashlight would shine. At their current state, LED's will never win this catagory. Incandecents will win this every time (for two great incandecent lights at moderate prices, check out the Princeton Tec Surge (26.00 at www.brightguy.com), and the Brinkmann Legend LX (20.00 at Wal-Mart)

However, at closer ranges, say walking in the dark, or being in a room, even a large room, say like a 3 or 4 car garage, the LED's are a much better choice, as they put out a very WHITE (not yellow) light, and a very WIDE field of light (not a pencil thin beam), and a very EVEN spread of light (no shadows or rings, or hot spots).

Also, LED's I am pretty sure, do not attract bugs like incandecents do, and LED's also help you keep your "night vision" more than incandecents.

I often walk my dog with my Mr. Bulk LGI (my brightest LED light), and my friend brings her Streamlight Stinger HP (40,000 CP rechargable beautiful very bright, white incandecent light). My LGI puts out this incredible amount of light, for an LED, almost my entire range of view is lit up, but when my friend turns on her Stinger HP, my light seems to "dissapear" because her light is soo bright and concentrated, tha I loose my "night vision".

Also, you have the "almost never fail" led's with no moving parts and an average life of 100,000 hours you will almost never have a light go out on you.

Plus, the Streamlights battery life of 155 hours, wow! Now there is a hidden benefit here. While the light will loose it's intensity as the batteries run down, the color of the light will remain the same beautiful white that it was when the batteries were new. No yellow light. So, you can run the light for 20-50 hours per battery set and then put in fresh batteries (hint - use rayovac maximum plus - great batteries and great value!) What incandecent do you know that will give maximum brightness for 20-50 hours on 4 AA batteries?

In short, there are some things that incandecnts do well, and some things that LED'd do well. They compliment each other very nicely.

It took me a while to appreciate the type of light that an LED light puts out, but now I actually prefer to use LED for most uses 0-150 feet