What is the first LED light you ever bought ?

LED Flashlights – General Info
41

First LED light I ever bought?

  • First was a keychain light powered by 3 button cell batteries. Light source was a single 10mm red superbright LED. The light was plastic with a titanium sleeve around it. It also had a metal keychain mount made from stainless steel. Got it from Brookstone almost 30 years ago. I still have it and it still works, though I no longer use it.
  • First white LED light was purchased in early to mid 90s. It was made from translucent blue plastic and was powered by 3xAA. Light source was 2x 5mm white LEDs. It was the first light I’d ever seen powered by white LEDs. My friends and family members were ooing and aahing over it, because back then none of them had ever seen a white LED before and the cool tint made it appear much brighter than was expected from a light. The light wasn’t bright… it was actually very dim. My 2xAAA incan maglight was brighter.
42

Mine was a LED Maglite. Or one of those rechargeable shake lights. Not to be confused with a shake weight.

43

Mine was the Lightwave 3000. I think it put out about 20 lumens of blue tinted light. At the time I thought it was great. By today’s standards, it’s a complete POS. I threw it in the garbage years ago after I got a Fenix LD20 which I still own.

44

First LED purchase was the Streamlight Twin Task 3C. Had the Xenon bulb in the center surrounded by 6 LED’s. It now resides on a bakers rack and does occasional night time…“what was that” duty. :question:

My user name came from this light. :wink:

45

^
This one (Early model, with 5mm emitter and flat lens; later models had an optic that focused the beam but killed the output). Like flashination, shocked at the light from such a small source. Became my first-ever EDC flashlight. Eventually replaced the LED with a brighter Nichia. Bought an ebay 9x 5mm emitter light that ran off a single AA. Modded a couple of 3D mags. First ever purchased high-powered light was a DX 501b, with XR-E EZ900 R2 emitter.

46

My first led was a Romisen don’t remember what model it was. It was a 2xAA, brightness was 120 lumens I thought it was the brightest flashlight in the world

47

This one:

http://www.dx.com/p/ultrafire-a10-ha-iii-cree-q5-wc-ha-iii-220-lumen-led-flashlight-1-aa-1-14500-19187

Still use it :slight_smile:

48

I think first was this OR clone something:

…but it was too hard to keep “ON” for long time so cramped my hand and just forgot it somewhere…
Thought it was pretty bad after all.

After, I got one of those Shakin Lights :sunglasses:
Turned soon out to be utter crap….

Then:
Got almost similar to Lightwave 2000, different manufacturer, different material: 4LED, two AA…
…the LED´s lasted on average about 30min, then burned off, then the next one and the next one. So I got a new similar
for warranty and it ALSO turned out to be utter crap.

After those, I got as a gift Ledlenser P5 rechargeable which was a MONSTER of a light back then…
…as long as the tailclicky managed to work (maybe one winter). Needless to say I labelled it also as utter crap.

Afterward the Lenser faded away, I ordered probably from DX the TANK007 2x AAA.
Oh Boy! First proper LED light and it worked about 1min, then faded away.
*Surprisingly the batteries (rechargeable, New, first cycles) Turned out to be, you know.

TANK007 was pretty good.

BUT the first REAL LED Light I had was this:

It just worked.
Small, powerful, zoom if you needed it, rechargeable, cheap. It had it all!
It was in my use as long as I had it, sold it afterwards. Works still after many years at my friends use.

That Romisen really turned the tide after several really lousy efforts from LED lights.
After those, it has only got BETTER :sunglasses:

49

I used to enjoy going to Craig’s site. Do you remember his site’s name? :smiling_imp: I did the solitaire, 12V/LED mod too but with half the battery. lol. Ever built a joule thief? These youngbloods don’t know the hard days of cutting the head off of a 5mm LED and polishing it for use in a 2AA mag, either DD or with three 2/3 AA, NiMH.

50

Dexlight
I still own that light and is running flawless on 14500 :slight_smile:
Mike

51

Romisen RC-C3
Very bright for such a compact light but with only one mode it was eating CR123A way too fast !

52

Kickstarter Hexbright. That got the passion started. Great light, now passed on as a gift.

53

4 777's Quark Tactical AA(2)/Pro Head

54

Surefire E2L Outdoorsman

55

Mine was my trusty Gerber Firecracker. I still use it as an emergency flashlight, since its twist-on activation physically closes/opens the circuit so it doesn’t drain batteries while turned off.