Quote:
| Originally Posted by Guy Wallis I am using LEDs as they are tougher than HIDs and dont hammer the batteries. |
Not real sure about this statement. Low power LEDs draw less power than high power HiDs but that's not comparing apples with apples is it? A high power LED emitter may typically draw more power than the HiD equivalent and produce less light with it. High end LEDs suffer from heat dissipation issues and seem to be less efficient than HiD...
Take a 21W Salvo Rebel LED (I'm using that example because I don't know of any other manufacturer making a 21W LED light), with a 15.6ah battery it gives 6hrs of burn at full power (1100 lumens). My Rebel 15.6ah 21W HiD gives 8.5hrs burn at 1500 lumen.
An extra 400 lumen and 2.5hrs of burn time from the HiD using the same battery pack.
Are LED
lights more robust than HiDs? Maybe... The LED emitters are generally more robust (i.e damn near indestructible) but that doesn't tell the whole story as there are many things that can fail in a torch and LEDs often have more to go wrong than HiDs (from the electronics to the emitter coatings). Also whilst some HiD bulbs are fragile others are very robust so don't tar them all with the same brush.
I'm not saying that the LED isn't the better light for other reasons (smaller head, lighter for travel, variable power output etc). I'm just wary of us keep collectively repeating the same stuff about LED lights without actually stopping to consider the facts.