LED

[resqdan]

While i was deployed to Iraq i carried a 2 AA mag lite and found it reliable but it went through alot of bulbs.. i carried it on my hip all day every day and i would say in a year i used 6-8 bulbs which probaly doesnt sound like much but it seemed like alot at the time, since the lights themselves were only used in short bursts when the dark had caught up with me from being out on a mission later than was expected or if everyone in the tent was already sleeping when i would return from patroling. They were never used for more than 10 mins at a time. so when you think about it that way, as often as they burned out was alot.

I have switched to mostly LED because they last longer and seem brighter although you have to get a good one to get any distance out of an LED. The drawback of getting a really bright one that gets the distance is that the batteries dont seem to last, so its a trade-off, if your using it for just looking at things close up or rummaging through your bags at night than almost any flashlight will work, but if your trying to see who is sneaking through the bushes than you want a better one.

But as with all the things i am prepareing i do not put all my eggs in one basket. I have more than one caliber of gun because i dont know what type of ammo i may be able to trade or trade for, and the same goes for flashlights.. the regular cheap flashlight bulbs and flashlights are inexpensive so it doesnt take alot of money to have alot on hand. which i dont have to tell you could be traded away or used depending on the situation. I have turned my mag light into an LED, not sure of the quality it was just what they had at the sporting goods store, and that was three years ago and still going. The one trick i did use though, although it was more so i dont lose it than anything else, but it worked out as to prevent it from dropping, was to secure it to a belt loop with a piece of 550 cord with a caribiner on the belt loop end, the cord was long enough to move all around me but not long enough to hit the ground if it fell out, plus the caribiner made for a quick disconnect if it was needed in a different manner.

[Ed Harris]

It has also been my experience that the tiny grain-of-wheat bulbs in the Mini Maglites would fail if the light was dropped onto a hard surface, and some time ago I obtained LED conversions for all of my multiple Mini-Maglites, both AA and AAA sizes.

Not all of these are created equal and some are better than others. While you can get LED conversions having good light output, some which are greater than the original bulb, there are tradeoffs in burn time. If you can get by with a modest power level which compared to a 2D flashlight with conventional PR type incandescent bulb, actual measured output of about 20 lumens, a 1 watt LED in a 2AA flashlight will give about 12 hours of burn time. A 3 watt LED will give an actual 25+ lumens, but burn time is reduced to about 4-5 hrs., which won't go through the night shift without a battery change out.

The catalog lumen ratings of most LED lights are pure fantasy! Some manufacturer's claim 50 lumens for a 1 watt LED, but the math doesn't hold up. No LED units are THAT efficient. If you don't believe me check their actual output against a calibrated standard using fresh batteries and a photographic foot-candle meter. The military labs do.

The LED conversions for AA flashlights are great to have more durable spares for redundancy stashed in your kit. I don't use them as primary light, I carry one of the larger Surefire LED lights for that.

Of the Mini-Maglite AA LED conversions I have tired, the Maglite Company's own and the Terralux were the best. I recommend the 1 watt size for the best balance of light output and burn time. If you need a brighter light than a 1 watt provides, you then need a light which has at least 4 AAs to have enough burn time to get through a 12-hour shift. Always put in fresh batteries at the shift change and never go out on the street with used batteries. Bad karma!

http://www.maglite.com/AA_Cell_LED.asp

http://www.led-replacement.com/2aa_mini-mag.html

The Nite Ize is "acceptable"

http://www.backpackgeartest.org/reviews ... w%20Mytys/

[bobd42]

Just picked up a Coleman 115 lumen light and a Black & Decker 87 lumen light . The B & D comes with three filters
Red , Blue, Green that fit in the scabbard flap ( neat ) had it for over a month , no lost filters ! Both very affordable .