Discussion of LED lights pt 1

Over the past year I have bought about a half dozen LED lights of various types. Flashlightss, "head"lamps, a lantern, and a reading light. Most I am very satisfied with, as they are more efficient than fluorescent and supposed to have a longer life expectancy.

The longer life is key to their economy in most cases because of the cost of the items themselves. In most cases, LED based lights will cost 2 or 3 times as much as their counterparts. While this initial cost is getting better, there is a long ways to go before LED's will become "mainstream."

In cases where the lights are powered by batteries, the LED's are making fast inroads, and all but one of my purchases have been battery powered items.

It should be noted that none of the LED lights I have bought are considered "cutting edge," even though some of them have only been around for 2 or 3 years. (LED's of fairly high intensity have been around for several years, but only recently came down to a price people were willing to pay.) There has been new generation of superbright LED's coming out over the past several months, but I have only gotten one recently.

Out of all of the LED lights I have bought, only one has failed, and that wasn't the LED assembly - but its internal power supply.

In future articles I will discuss the individual items I have tested, their good points and bad points.

TRex