Next Generation LED Flashlights: TerraLUX Lightstar 220

Since I've been riding around on my electric scooter and driving a pedicab downtown at night, I've taken an interest in bicycle lights and flashlights. Getting a small, light weight, bicycle light that is bright enough to been seen at night was relatively easy. But getting a light bright enough to see out night was always tough. The bicycle lights have been heavy (battery the size of a water bottle), expensive, and/or had short run times.

But I have discovered that the new generation of LED flashlights are far superior to the old flashlights we are use to. They are small, lightweight, relatively inexpensive (less than $50), and throw off a beam that is orders of a magnitude brighter than your typical household flashlight or even something like a Mag flashlight, which I thought were never that impressive to begin with. Most of the new LED flashlights are built around a CREE lamp. Most of them are regulated which means the maintain consistence brightness with varying battery voltages. They are sold under brand names you probably never heard of like Fenix, TerraLUX, ITP, EagleTac, and others. They are built with anodized aluminum instead of the cheap plastics that most flashlights and bicycle lights (i.e. Cateye) are made out of.

They are powered either by lithium cells or the more common AA/AAA batteries. The ones powered by lithium seem to offer better performance. Either they are smaller or lighter or they are bright and/or last longer in a given size. However, AA/AAA cells are much easier to find (in virtually every store) when the batteries do die.

The flashlight I have here is a TerraLUX Lightstar 220. It has a claimed brightness of 220 lumens. It is the brightest flashlight I have ever owned. It is powered by just 2 AA batteries and will last about 2 hours at the high setting on a set of AA Energizer 2500 NiMH rechargeable batteries. It claims to have a 6 hour run time on the low setting. It's pretty easy to carry an extra set of AA batteries in your pocket or find a set if the run times aren't long enough.

It's bright enough for cycling at night with a flashlight handlebar mount and will easily light up 50 yards in front of you. If you want more light, it would not be hard to mount two of these on a bicycle handlebar because they are small enough. It seems to be sturdy built out of anodized aluminum. There are 2 settings high and low. The low setting seems to be about half as bright and is useful since the high setting may be too bright for close up work.

It comes with a wrist strap and pouch. I got a $2 flashlight handlebar mount from MeritLine.com that seems to work well enough. Assuming this flashlight proves to be durable enough, I recommend it as a cycling headlight (any taillight usually works fine) or as a general purpose flashlight. If you've never seen one of these, you'll be amazed to how small and bright they are. The lithium powered versions are probably smaller, lighter, brighter, and/or last longer, but I like using AA cells as I know I can get them anywhere.