Winter is coming. AND, we lose power regularly. Been checking the old four D cell lantern lights. And loading them with new expensive batteries. Not real familiar with LED flashlights. I have the one below that uses two AA batteries, throws out great light. I basically got it for free with a rebate Anyway hate to throw out "good" flashlights, but is it smarter to just go all LED? Probably need a half dozen to be safe.
Key word: 'Safe.' Old flashlights are 'good' - but not in an emergency. All Hallows' Eve (a Christian holiday..... ) will be here before you know it. Give the 'old school incandescent flashlights to some of the neighborhood kids who are out banging on doors for candy next month. JUST make sure that they have an LED backup if you like them at all.....
LED flashlights are cheap, but I prefer headlamps/head-torches. They're much more useful and keep your hands free, so you can reset circuit breakers or use them camping, fishing, hunting. I keep them in shoe-box in an easily accessible location with the batteries removed. I've already lost a few of them where the battery leaked, making them unreliable. I keep about 4 of these laying around the house, so I can get to my headlamps, in the dark. You can get them free or half price whenever they are on sale. Same AAA batteries as your headlamps. Another benefit to LED's, they take a beating and stay ON longer - less likely to blow a bulb. I've only replaced LED torches because of battery leaks. I've replaced all the bulbs in my Maglites at least once - but to be fair, I'm pretty hard on them. If the conversion kit wasn't so expensive - I'd switch them to LED too. 144 Lumen Ultra-Bright Portable LED Worklight/Flashlight
i love my ryobi 18v one+ flashlights. lots of batteries and chargers for the many tols we have, and the battery stays charged on the flashlight almost forever. not led, but idk about the new ones.
I don't have one of these but I have other lights by this company, Very good ones. I do have something similar to this by another comapny and it is great for power outages (they don't make the ones I have anymore). Obulb Wireless Light Bulb for Outdoor & Camping - Olight Store
Old style (incandescent) light bulbs generate heat. The light is just a side effect of heating the filament. LEDs generate light with a different process which is much more efficient. Incandescent light bulbs in flashlights are going the same way as incandescent light bulbs for houses and for the same reason. The money you'll spend on all those D sized batteries will buy you a bunch of brighter, longer-lasting AA-powered flashlights and bulbs in the end.
Can't you wait till one of the bulbs in 6 you have fail and then salvage the batteries for the next time you need them in a on another flashlight. That way you buy one LED flashlight at a time. I keep one by my bedside and so does she. Fortunately we don't use them much. Biggest problem is batteries that corrode with non-use. Check them in anything that sits idle. I even have a battery started gas fireplace as a backup in winter with instructions printed in 36 point stored where I would insert the batteries.
Strange, but in all my years never had a bulb burn out in a flashlight that I recall....switches break ...corrosion...lost. I do have a spare pack of bulbs. Never opened. I do have a couple of LED headlamps I sort of forgot about...keep one in each vehicle and have one I use as an all purpose light for repair jobs and power outages. Great illumination and I love the fact I can focus in the beam. Have had for at least four years and it gets used all the time.
Before you go to bed tonight, give thanks to a kind and loving God that you do not live in a harsher environment, or are forced to work much where the physical (or electrical!) world will cause filaments to fail. Really! This is 2024. We may not have a George Jetson inspired personal flying conveyance or servants inspired by Susan Calvin's ' U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men' but this does not mean that we have to use fire to create light. We also do not have to use glass jars and acid to create electricity. Talk to a firefighter, or an ambulance operator and use what they use. I lean towards ambulance drivers myself, because they are more often than not private entities that have to operate within a fixed budget that is less politically influenced than those that constrain firefighters - and nobody has ever called for them to be 'cancelled.' Most likely they will not have a single incandescent bulb on the truck at all or even know what one is. Their batteries will be user replaceable and have 'lithium' somewhere in the name.
