—The biggest change is the move to LED emitters—
It’s made ALL lightbulb flashlights obsolete. When I see them even being offered for sale it cracks me up.
I used to use a $150 6v headlight system for my bicycle. 25W bulb and a very heavy battery that looks like a water bottle and slops into your water bottle holder. Now, I use one of the lights from the 200 lumen three flashlight set at Costco ($19.99). It is brighter, is five inches long, made of machined aluminum and takes 3 AAA batteries. 3 watts.
Frankly, I’m seriously thinking of getting two of these three packs and using the six as auxiliary lights for my car. that’s 18 watts vs the normal 70-210 watts and much more brightness. And three per side is about 1.5” x 4.5” of frontal area.
I’m thinking of turning my 2001 300M into a Rat Rod with a really nice interior. These lights would be really cool instead of the old big ones. Hmmm.
Not so fast there, CL. Where LEDs still lag behind is the CRI (Color Rendition Index). One of the main reasons LEDs are still 'not there yet' in residential lighting applications. Overall brightness is a good thing but if that bright light does not allow you to discern colors (that unnatural look), a less bright light with a better CRI (i.e. the incandescent light) may be better suited.