CCFL Sidelights in flashlights

Has anyone expierience with the flashlights that had a ccfl tube as a sidelight?

I remember them being a thing right at the transition time between incandescent and leds, with my local hardware store having some, that had an incandescent bulb as the “high output” emitter, 2 leds as the energy efficient mode and a smal ccfl tube as an area / side light. Since i was still a child at that time and money wasn’t abundant, I didn’t manage to talk my parents into getting one, and now I can’t find them any more.

Has someone here experience with them? How was the runtime and usefullness?
I’d be happy if someone could post some images of them for old times sake.

1 Thank

I have CFL bulbs at home that have lasted ten or more years, and LED bulbs are now the current big thing. The latter consume less electricity, so I assume CFL bulbs in torches, flashlights, would be inefficient i.e. somewhere between incandescent and LED.

1 Thank

I faintly remember having heard that the batteries didn’t last long in those lights.

1 Thank

Compared to LEDs, a CFL takes more space/electricity and is more prone to breakage, so there is no reason to really use them in portable lighting nowadays.

1 Thank

I fully agree, for me it’s more about nostalgia and a piece of flashliht history.

1 Thank

No combo lights, but I got a bunch of those black-lights with the ~6in black-light bulb. You know, the eggplant-purple colored tubes.

4 AAs, I think? Never ran one down so no idea how long runtime per set.

1 Thank