future of lights

[russ257]

i would like to make a prediction about where headlights are going. I belive the future of headlights is LED. I am a scuba diver and high performance flashlights are a big deal in our community. When i say high performance i mean a 700 dollar flashlight with a 4.5 amphour nickle metal hidride batter a pushing a 10 watt HID bulb. The newest innovation in our field is led lights they provide the same brightness as a HID buld but since they are solid state they have no expensive buld burnouts or ballasts breaking. I feel eventually headlights will head this way as well http://www.sartek.com there is the website with the flashlights if you care

[blake31]

i've seen a few high-end cars already use LEDs for daytime running lights and tail lights.

[Mr. Poopypants]

I like led. It is a very clean (and bright) look. I hope you are right.

[Stang2Vibe]

They're going to have to find a way to make them much cheaper, though or I don't think they will catch on. Auto manufacturers will have a real hard time passing on that kind of cost to midrange and lower-range car buyers.

[ebslopp]

If it does happen, it will probably be an option to select when you buy the car. I'm a little sceptical that large manufactures would start producing these, as they last virtually forever. This would greatly reduce there bulb sales. So if they are going to be availlable, they will be expensive.

[frostyGT]

I read an article on LEDs awhile ago. It said that LEDs were 10x more efficient, lasted 10x longer and cost 10x more than a regular light bulb. They also produce virtually no heat. Definitely the way of the future.

[kgenthe]

We must be talking some serious LED's because you can buy a little 5mm bulb for 49 cents...

[Altus]

Well - there's tons of variables and configurations of LED's - but suffice to say that we're not talking about yer average off-the-shelf 50cent bulb here.Bulbs useable for lights have to put out white light, and at an extemely bright level -- plus you have to consider the viewing angle of the light produced.Most high-brightness LED's have a very narrow angle, and wide angle viewable tend to be not as bright -- so trying to find the happy medium for headlight use is the problem.Larger, high-output LED's are expensive -- here's an example:Luxeon Star series are probably the best option at this point - they're Indium Gallium Nitride bulbs, and EXTREMELY bright -- to the order of 180 candelas (that's about 100x brighter than the average LED), with a viewing angle of 120 degrees.However, they're also $30 per LED.