Scout - LED upgrade

[jonnythan]

No worries - not being a native English speaker (not sure if Americans would qualify for this label either ) I am used to (at least) occasionally picking the wrong terms and being corrected for it.

'Torch' is a British English term for a flashlight.. in America, a 'torch' is generally a piece of wood or metal with something burning at the other end.. the kind of thing you'd see in a cave or movie set in the 18th century.

 

[detroit diver]

The Scout isn't focusable.. I don't see why the LED upgrade would be different. If you're thinking it's a normal flood-type LED, that's almost certainly wrong... it is doubtless a single high-power, side emitting LED with a reflector very similar to the regular Scout.

I own one of those, and the light output is worthless. It is VERY bright, but there is no "beam" to speak of. As soon as the light leaves the lighthead, it mushrooms out and becomes a flood light. The backscatter is aweful, and you can't see much beyond 4 or 5 feet with any sediment in the water.

It's a great camping light though.

 

[jonnythan]

I own one of those, and the light output is worthless. It is VERY bright, but there is no "beam" to speak of. As soon as the light leaves the lighthead, it mushrooms out and becomes a flood light. The backscatter is aweful, and you can't see much beyond 4 or 5 feet with any sediment in the water.

It's a great camping light though.

What light do you have? Camping lights aren't meant to give a nice narrow beam of light. The Princeton Tec Yukon, for example, has a high power 1 watt LED, and is clearly designed to light up a wide area in front of you. The Impact II, by comparison, gives a very tight beam [clarification: the Impact II uses a single conventional LED, but it is very focused and gives a tight beam]

It's possible to get a nice tight beam from a high-power LED, and it doesn't need to be "focusable," it just needs to be "focused." Ask C8 eLED users how "worthless" their light is with the 5 watt LED in it.

You obviously haven't seen the product in question. Neither have I, but I know that the high power LED's are promising and the light can obviously be focused into a beam. I doubt of Halcyon would release a backup light with an unfocused beam. I'm not saying the light will be great, obviously I haven't seen them.. but I'm not discounting them out of hand without knowing anything about them.

 

[kidspot]

I wonder if it's similar to this technology? http://ccrane.com/expedition-star-led-flashlight.aspx

10 degree beam isn't really tight, but it is a focused beam. I use one and am quite happy so far - though bad vis over here is any time it gets under 30ft. . . Much brighter than the LED's that were out even 18 months ago. (it is similar in output to a 3D cell maglight, but not as focused)

Tim

 

[jonnythan]

I wonder if it's similar to this technology? http://ccrane.com/expedition-star-led-flashlight.aspx

10 degree beam isn't really tight, but it is a focused beam. I use one and am quite happy so far - though bad vis over here is any time it gets under 30ft. . . Much brighter than the LED's that were out even 18 months ago. (it is similar in output to a 3D cell maglight, but not as focused)

Tim

Yup, same idea. Those types of LEDs can be found anywhere from 1 to I think 6 watts now. UK's eLED lights use them.. and the 5-watt LED in the C8 is as bright as, and whiter than (but not blue at all), the 13.2 watt halogen in the regular C8. Very promising technology. I can't wait til someone produces a 10 watt version.. would be a great, tougher, and cheaper alternative to HID, I think.

 

[kidspot]

I'm not sure what type of bulb the scout takes, but you can get a variety of LED "replacement" bulbs now, including the new ones - http://ccrane.com/led-replacement-bulbs.aspx $44.95 for the 3cell Luxeon White bulbs.

Don't know how many watts they are though - but they are rated at 3-9 volts

Tim

 

[detroit diver]

I didn't say it was a camping light-I'm just using it as one now because it's worthless as a dive light. It's a Princeton Tec DIVE LIGHT, but I'm not sure which model. 3 LED's. Terrible.

edit: Correction- it's CC Crane DIVE light, not Princeton TEC.

What light do you have? Camping lights aren't meant to give a nice narrow beam of light. The Princeton Tec Yukon, for example, has a high power 1 watt LED, and is clearly designed to light up a wide area in front of you. The Impact II, by comparison, gives a very tight beam [clarification: the Impact II uses a single conventional LED, but it is very focused and gives a tight beam]

It's possible to get a nice tight beam from a high-power LED, and it doesn't need to be "focusable," it just needs to be "focused." Ask C8 eLED users how "worthless" their light is with the 5 watt LED in it.

You obviously haven't seen the product in question. Neither have I, but I know that the high power LED's are promising and the light can obviously be focused into a beam. I doubt of Halcyon would release a backup light with an unfocused beam. I'm not saying the light will be great, obviously I haven't seen them.. but I'm not discounting them out of hand without knowing anything about them.

 

[jonnythan]

I didn't say it was a camping light-I'm just using it as one now because it's worthless as a dive light. It's a Princeton Tec DIVE LIGHT, but I'm not sure which model. 3 LED's. Terrible.

*Completely* different technology. Do not base any assessment of high power LED's to that light (which was probably a Princeton Tec Attitude... I have a couple as caving backup lights).

 

[divad]

I'm not sure what type of bulb the scout takes

It takes an Uk sl4. The only LED replacement I have found is from MAL Lighting (they call it an HLD). They're 80 bucks from tech-blue.com .

 

[detroit diver]

*Completely* different technology. Do not base any assessment of high power LED's to that light (which was probably a Princeton Tec Attitude... I have a couple as caving backup lights).

See my edit above. It was a CC Crane light.