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If the lights go out tonight, or if you're suddenly stuck on a dark highway,
you will want to have a reliable flashlight handy. The limitation you
have with most standard flashlights is they use a filament bulb and
the batteries just don't last very long. The light from a filament
bulb is created by heating that tiny wire you see inside the glass
globe. The electrical current passing through the wire gives off some
energy in the form of light, and the rest in the form of heat. That
technology has served people well for years, but, there's only so much
heating and cooling that little wire can take. Eventually it just wears
out and it's time to get a new bulb - and because it doesn't use energy
very efficiently, standard flashlights use up a lot of batteries. Not
to mention the little wire becomes very brittle and breaks with the
slightest bump or even from the vibration of riding in the car. For
me, this has happened just at the time I needed the light most.
LEDs, on the other hand, last thousands of hours because they don't give
off heat in order to make light. LED stands for Light Emitting Diode.
A diode is a semiconductor that conducts an electric current in just
one direction.
One of the most impressive things about LEDs is that they give you ten
times the battery life of a regular bulb. That means ten times fewer
batteries. That's good news for your wallet, the environment, and your
peace of mind.
The light produced by white LEDs is a clear, soft light. There are several
benefits to this kind of light, especially in really dark conditions.
The soft light of a white LED doesn't bleach out whatever it is you
are trying to look at. Many filament-type bulbs, burn so bright that
they actually make it hard to see what we're illuminating - and they
also create too much contrast between the light and the darkness around
it. I think that's what makes them feel so spooky in the woods.
The soft, cool light of an LED flashlight mimics the effects of daylight.
You get a bluish-white light that's easy on the eyes, and that helps
you look into the dark without such a stark contrast between the beam
of light, and what's around it. Some spelunkers have even described
the unusual way in which the beam of a white LED flashlight actually
seems to wrap around objects in a cave, making spelunking safer and
more enjoyable.
The durability of white LED bulbs is by far one of the most impressive
improvements to lighting technology to date. LED bulbs are naturally
vibration and shock resistant, which means they'll still work, even
if you drop them down the stairs or off the side of a mountain. Finally,
our white LED flashlights are water resistant, and some of them are
even dive rated to 1000 ft. What more could you ask for from a flashlight?
C. Crane has the most practical LED flashlights to choose from - ranging
from the ultra-rugged CC Trek series
to the compact style of the
Photon X-Light.
A complete listing of C. Crane's LED lights is available in the
Light section of our Web site.
To view our past articles, please visit our What's in the News Archives.
As always, please contact us with any comments or
article suggestions you might have.
If you are interested in using C. Crane's articles on your own Web site,
please let me know. I'd be happy to take a look at your Web site and
see what we can do. Good-bye for now, Carlos. About
the author
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