flashlight

A flashlight or torch is a hand-held portable electric spotlight. It is known as a flashlight mainly in the United States and Canada and as a torch or electric torch in most Commonwealth countries. Recently, flashlights which use light-emitting diodes (LEDs) instead of conventional light bulbs have become available. LEDs have existed for decades, mainly as low-power indicator lights. In 1999, Lumileds Corporation of San Jose, CA, introduced the Luxeon LED, a high-power white-light emitter. For the first time this made possible LED flashlights with power and running time better than some incandescent lights. The first Luxeon LED flashlight was the Arc LS in 2001. LEDs can be significantly more efficient at lower power levels, hence use less battery energy than normal light bulbs. Such flashlights have longer battery lifetimes, in some cases hundreds of hours, although the LED efficiency advantage diminishes at higher power levels. LEDs also survive sharp blows that often break conventional light bulbs.