Beam Me Up: Mount this light by the helm and use it to spotlight into the boat slip or pick your way through weeds, timber or other obstacles.

When looking for a spotlight for your boat, review your priorities. On smaller, familiar waters, you likely won’t need a blinding pencil beam and would benefit from a wider beam to find gear in the boat or dropped overboard. If your light will double as a camping or hunting light, a pencil beam can be helpful and so is a trouble light. We found the built-in light stands extremely useful, and not having one would be a deal breaker for all but standard flashlight designs.

The acronym LED stands for "light-emitting diode," although some people have jokingly changed it to mean "light for every day" to distinguish it from laser light. LEDs emit normal light, namely, incoherent light. It is exactly like light emitted from the Sun, a candle, or a flashlight, except it consists of only one wavelength of light. If you point an LED in one direction, the light will spread out as it moves away from the source.

Best Case: This light is compact and powerful, ideal for spotting targets at long range, and it has a broad enough beam at close range to offer some peripheral illumination. We liked its heft.

20211224 — Vintage Light Meter: Sekonic L-398A. When I ... To compensate for this, there's a small HIGH slide that's stored in the back of the meter.

High powerLEDSpotlightoutdoor

Fourth, we secured the boat 1.2 miles away from an Intracoastal Waterway marker and hit it with all the lights, one at a time. All of them produced a reflection of that marker, an attribute we thought made each a useful navigation tool. But—and this is an interesting but—some of our lights illuminated the marker post, and did so clearly. And it wasn’t always those with the most registered lumens.

LEDs are rapidly taking over all lighting tasks in the modern world and are expanding into new uses that were impossible to achieve using previous forms of lighting (light-up wallpaper, for example). Tiny, energy-efficient lights are being incorporated into all kinds of devices.

Third, we took the lights out on Charlotte Harbor in Florida and illuminated the inlet markers at Punta Gorda’s Ponce de Leon Park inlet. All the lights produced a bright reflection from the farthest marker more than one-quarter mile away.

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In an LED PIN diode, the intrinsic region is wide with a large, open surface area surrounding the gap between the P and N layers. As the excited electrons release their energy inside the intrinsic region, it easily escapes out through the wide gap and into the surrounding area, creating light. LED devices use reflectors outside of the diode to bounce the emitted light in the desired direction.

First, we illuminated the CM/3 light sensor on our meter. Every light, whether 1,000 or 3,000 lumens, overpowered the meter.

Light is electromagnetic radiation and it travels around in waves. Different types of light are distinguished by their wavelength, which is the distance from the peak of one wave to the next wave. Human eyes evolved to detect light of certain wavelengths emitted by the Sun (visible light) and our eyes are capable of distinguishing among wavelengths of that light. We experience different wavelengths of light as different colors. Light with a longer wavelength is perceived as red, while a shorter wavelength looks blue.

Streamlight and Goodsmann brought the best lights to our test. Streamlight has been a workman’s and sportsman’s brand for decades, and has proven reliable for all those years. Goodsmann manufactures all types of lighting for decor, landscaping and security, as well as a number of spotlights.

All the listed spotlights are rechargeable, and all include charging equipment. All but one of the selected lights floated. Though all are advertised as waterproof, we found one that was not.

Worst: It’s water-resistant, not waterproof. However, the battery door and switches appear waterproof. A longer battery life on high would be appreciated, but the low level still lit the waterway for safer navigation. This light doesnot float.

Light Shaping Diffusers are micro-structures pseudo-randomly embedded on a substrate (such as film) which perform optical diffusion.

Each LED emits an amount of light measured in lumens. You’d think 3,000 lumens would be brighter than 1,000 lumens and would illuminate more at a greater distance. Our tests proved that hypothesis wrong. Lumens matter, but the geometry of the light bezel and dome matter equally. We found that a lower-lumen light could illuminate a target farther away than a higher-lumen light—it was all in the geometry of the bezel and reflector.

REED Instruments offers a broad selection of digital light meters. REED light meters are used every day in various applications ...

Devices that produce light from a PIN diode are small and compact, use very little energy, and waste very little of that energy in the form of heat. Since the electrons are capable of undergoing an infinite number of excitation/light emission cycles, the diode never uses up its raw materials and it can continue emitting light indefinitely as long as the electricity keeps flowing.

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Best: It’s bright, lightweight and can float. Its pencil beam lets users focus on distant objects. The phone charge port is great, making it a good buy at the price. A trouble light on the side is useful for service work.

The wave of LED technology innovations has just gotten started. Energy-efficient LED technology has transformed lighting applications, entertainment, and a wide range of consumer products. Creative new uses of LEDs seem to pop up almost daily. In the field of laser diodes, the recent development of extremely high-powered lasers that can be produced from small, compact devices may lead to as yet unimagined tools, weapons, and toys.

The Waypoint is rugged and feels that way the second you touch it. It’s got an IPX8 rating for shock and is waterproof and floats. High-, medium- and low-light settings conserve batteries when maximum illumination isn’t needed. It is the second-largest light on our roster, which is not surprising considering the shock-resisting capability. $140.67; amazon.com; streamlight.com

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The AMP® Silhouette is an estate-size luminaire that projects light through scrollwork, producing patterns of light and shadow and becoming a fascinating ...

This high-lumen light is designed with a durable, compact, portable aluminum body. Though it is among the highest-lumen lights we tested, its reflector is designed for a broad flood of white light rather than an extremely long beam. It barely reflected from our 1.2-mile target, but its lighting is impressive inside of 100 to 200 yards, and on high it provided ample light to illuminate a half-mile series of navigation reflectors. It fits comfortably in the hand. It has high, medium and low settings. $159; amazon.com; Cabelas.com

Worst: That annoying trigger toggle-through setting to get through high, medium and low to turn it off slows down operation.

Best: Its rechargeable batteries are removable and replaceable, extending its useful life. We loved the rock-solid wall-mountable charger holder.

Best Case: We liked it for running the inlet with a straight row of markers and for finding distant markers by scanning the horizon from side to side. Frog giggers (you know who you are) will like this light.

LEDs can be much more powerful than LEDs and produce a brighter beam of light. However, they are not necessarily more powerful; for example, the laser in a laser pointer is not very powerful, producing less than 5 milliwatts of energy. In comparison, a laser scalpel can emit up to 80,000 watts focused at a single point.

When an electric current is fed into the P-N junction of a PIN diode, it transfers energy to the electrons in the P layer. These excited electrons then move into the intrinsic layer and combine with the electron holes from the N layer. However, the electrons cannot remain excited for very long and they quickly release their energy in the form of light. They then return to their normal state until they receive some more electricity.

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Its Amazon-advertised 160,000 lumens is disputed by package specifications listing 800 lumens. However, it did illuminate our distant target almost as well as the Streamlight. A near-blinding floodlight beam on the side is handy for camping and emergencies, and an included tripod makes it easy to use. There are separate triggers for the spotlight and floodlight. A green LED charge indicator on the back below the silicone door to the charge input port is a cool 5-volt charge output port for phones. $36; amazon.com

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Laser diodes are more of a niche product; if an LED can do the task, they are preferred due to their lower costs and increased durability. Lasers have, however, firmly established themselves in many fields as essential tools.

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Normal light travels around in a disorganized fashion (technically, it is called incoherent). When you point a flashlight in one direction, the light spreads out the further it moves away from the source because of its random, disorganized movement.

Beam Me Up: Its design advantage is an extremely bright and impressively wide beam that illuminates an arc of roughly 150 degrees, but it doesn’t have the long reach of the Streamlight. While it didn’t illuminate the post at 1.2 miles, it did illuminate the reflective channel marker on it.

An average LED light consuming 100 watts of input power will emit around 40 watts of energy in the form of light and 60% in the form of heat. A key point to keep in mind is that since the energy output of an LED is not focused in a laser beam, it spreads out and diffuses as it moves away from the diode. Thus, even a strong LED light's power output rapidly diminishes as it moves away from the source, unlike a laser.

LEDs are much more durable and have a longer lifespan than laser diodes. The tiny, mirrored PIN in a laser diode is not as robust as the PIN in an LED.

Best: A watertight cap (secured with a small lanyard) twists off on the back, revealing the charge port. Its battery life is impressive.

Infrared light lies between the visible and microwave portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Infrared light has a range of wavelengths.

Best: It has a trigger lock, so it won’t turn on accidentally, avoiding wasted batteries at best or fire from heat buildup at worst. None of our other test lights could boast such a feature. We liked the phone charger.

This light is rugged, watertight and floats. We selected this model for its high-lumen rating. Because it looks suspiciously like West Marine’s 3,000-lumen rechargeable light, and the specs align, we felt we could knock off two reviews in one product. It has high, medium and low settings, along with an SOS function. It is made of rugged plastic, with rubber armor on the aluminum bezel and handles to protect the device. There are three LED chips to make the total 3,000 lumens. Each is in its own reflective bezel, which creates a wide, bright beam. $79.99; amazon.com

Best Case: We liked it for navigating tricky waters with rocks and bars because the wide beam can pick up obstacles outside the periphery of other lights. It’s capable as an underwater dive light. Bully netters will like its wide beam.

This key difference in the intrinsic region between laser diodes and LEDs profoundly affects the nature of the light emitted, changing it from normal light into laser light.

Engineers can precisely modulate what wavelength of light a PIN diode emits by controlling the structure and ions of the semiconducting material. A PIN diode can be designed to emit light in any desired wavelength. However, since the color it emits is controlled by its structural characteristics, each PIN diode can only emit light in one wavelength.

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In PINs used to create lasers, the intrinsic region is very narrow and the edges of the gap, rather than being open, are coated with a reflective material. As the excited electrons emit their energy, it bounces off the reflective material back into the intrinsic region to re-excite the electrons, over and over. This intense stimulation causes population inversion to occur, turning the light into a coherent laser beam that can only escape from the intrinsic region through one tiny point that is not coated with a reflective material.

Unlike normal light, lasers emit light that is coherent and unidirectional: the wavelengths are all lined up and traveling together in a tight, directed beam instead of wandering off in all directions. When you point a laser in one direction, the light remains tightly confined in a beam no matter how far it moves away from the source.

A diode is a type of semiconductor. A semiconductor is a material that can conduct electricity, but only sort of and sometimes. Metal wires are conductors: they easily conduct electricity. We wrap metal wires in plastic, an insulator, which does not conduct electricity, to keep the electricity inside the wire. Semiconductors are called "semi" because they are in between conductors and insulators in their capacity to conduct electricity. This ability to sort of and sometimes conduct electricity makes semiconductors very useful in electronics because it allows us to control when and how well they conduct electric currents.

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A diode used to make light is more technically called a PIN diode. It is called a PIN diode because it has a P-N junction made out of two layers (the P and N layers) separated by a space. The P stands for positive: this part of the material has electrons. The N stands for negative: it has electron holes, an absence of electrons. The I stands for intrinsic and it is the empty layer between the P and N layers.

Each PIN diode produces light with only a specific wavelength. LED devices that can change color or produce different colors use multiple PIN diodes that get turned off or on in different proportions to produce the desired color effect. All colors visible to the human eye can be produced by mixing red, green, and blue together (the RGB color system). Devices that use LEDs to produce realistic images use just red, green, and blue LEDs to produce their colors, including white light. Lasers can be used similarly to generate different colors, although their higher cost to construct and other characteristics generally preclude their use as just color- and light-emitting devices.

Beam Me Up: Lumens don’t tell the whole story. This one lit the marker post from 1.2 miles away in spite of its middling lumens rating. However, it is a pencil beam and required a spot-on aim to illuminate a dock or marker.

Bestspotlightfor long distance

Worst: Its ABS plastic bezel rim is unarmored and could be fragile. Touted to be waterproof to 1 meter, but ours took on water immediately. Toggling through high, medium and low to shut it off is annoying. The same goes for the trouble light on the side.

This light is built tough, with an armored lens bezel and an aluminum bezel mount for durability, longevity and heat dissipation. It’s waterproof and floats. Removing the screw-on base cap at the back of the light requires a strong grip, but it gives access to the recharging port and a USB output port for device charging. We liked its compact, stout feel in the hand. The built-in stand on top folds out for road-hazard work or to prop it up at a campsite. A lanyard is available. It lit our target at 1.2 miles, but not as distinctly as the Streamlight Waypoint. $60; amazon.com; goodsmanngroup.com

The modern world seems to be awash in light-emitting devices. Consumers are presented with LED light bulbs, LED panels, and LED screens; laser data storage systems, laser pointers, and laser facelifts; and lights so small they can be embedded in jewelry. Most people are not quite sure what these things are or how they work. Clearly, they involve light. But are LEDs and lasers the same thing? What does LED stand for? How do they make light bulbs that small? We answer these pressing questions and others in this comprehensive guide.

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May 22, 2023 — A ring light is a lighting tool that consists of a circular arrangement of LED bulbs or fluorescent tubes.

Best: This light had an efficient selector lever to choose high, medium or low illumination without toggling through those settings with the trigger. All the others required the user to toggle through high, medium and low to shut off the light. Also, a stainless-steel ring at the back allows it to hang with a downward-facing beam. A ring at the top allows it to hang as a trouble light, and an adjustable foldout bracket makes it a useful hands-free light for service work.