The Maglite Battery Test: LED vs Krypton Bulb November 22, 2007
Posted by Speaking Sustainability in Flashlights, Products.Tags: consumer reviews, Flashlights, LED, LED flashlights, led lights, Maglite, Replacement bulbs, solid state lights
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Product: Mini-Maglite, AA battery model
Brand: Maglite, with Duracell AA batteries
Summary
One of the advantages of LEDs is that they consume far less energy. How much less? You’ll see from this test: enough less to last at least 25% longer.
Detailed Review
Here’s the methodology: I took two identical Mini-Maglites, one with the standard incandescent Krypton bulb, the other I put in the replacement 3-LED assembly. I bought a pack of fresh Duracell Copper Top AA batteries and inserted two in each flashlight. Then I turned both on, put a clock in the background and let them shine. Each hour, I took a picture. Here’s the starting picture:
I’ll spare you the hour-by hour comparison, until hour 6 1/2. I checked in on the test to see the Krypton bulb fading, but but the time I got the camera set, it was dead:
It wasn’t until hour 8 that the LED bulbs began to fade a bit. By that time, I was a bit bored with the whole thing and decided to call it a day.
Even so, the LED had some juice left. I still have the same batteries in the flashlight and it still puts out a decent amount of light.
The Winner: LED by a several lengths!
hmm, would you reccomend an LED maglite over a xenon one?
I definitely would recommend the LED. The light is brighter and as this test shows, the batteries last far longer. I’m seeing more and more new Maglites come with the LED bulb and the LED replacement is pretty widely available. On the other hand, the Krypton bulbs rarely burn out and many Maglites include an extra bulb. So converting to LED is not a matter of necessity, but one of curiousity and a way to build demand for this new technology.
The light of an led is also more artificial, while its easy to see with the krypton bulb as its more natural looking light.
i was looking at the maglites yesterday and saw the krypton for 14.99gbp but the led was 40.00gbp.i decided to google the results and here we are.thank you soo much for this comparison,i like the photos too.this has made my mind up for me.thanks for your time and effort
Personally, I prefer the light from a standard bulb over the ‘blue white’ light of the LED. If I was using a flashlight for professional use, though, I would probably go for the LED.
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We’ve known for some time that LED landscape lights outperform regular lights, but really neat to see it spelled out in this fashion. There’s really no debating the superior light source in every fashion.