Short Description:

The EverLED is an LED replacement bulb for incandescent flashlights. It can be purchased at LED Supply.

The EverLED is a Luxeon I side emitter LED along with a driver/regulator circuit all crammed into a PR style bulb base. This means that you can replace the incandescent bulb in anything from a 1 to 6 cell flashlight with an EverLED bulb and gain the benefits of a semi-regulated LED light source. The bulbs are available in versions that produce white, blue, teal, green, yellow, or red light.

The casing of the LED is brass and the LED/circuit is sealed inside the body to prevent damage from moisture. Installation is simple: remove your old bulb and replace it with the EverLED. It can be used in lights up to 9 Volts. The newer version (has a dot after the name on the side of the bulb) has reverse polarity protection so even if you put it in a light that is wired backwards it won't damage the bulb.

Detailed Information:

The EverLED can be used to turn almost any common flashlight into a very effective LED flashlight. The benefits of using the EverLED over a traditional incandescent bulb include: LEDs are impervious to impact, so you can drop your flashlight without worrying about the bulb breaking; The regulator circuit will draw down the batteries as far as they can go while still supplying good light; As the batteries weaken the light from the EverLED doesn't turn yellow like that from an incandescent bulb, but instead stays white while it dims.

When you receive the EverLED you'll find it in a little plastic jewelbox for protection. I thought it was kind of funny, but considering the price for the bulb, the extra protection in shipping was appreciated. Essentially the EverLED is the best "half" (more like 3/4) of a good LED flashlight all in a tiny package that you can add to almost any flashlight body you wish.

The body of the EverLED is nothing more than a brass casing made in the shape of a PR base flashlight bulb with the driver circuit stuffed inside and the Luxeon emitter lens perched on top. Simply remove your old bulb and drop this one in. Do not touch or strike the emitter lens, which is hourglass shaped and protrudes well above the top of the bulb body. Because of the properties of the Luxeon I side emitter LED, it uses your current reflector the same way your previous bulb did and focusable flashlights stay focusable.

The EverLED will run on flashlights that take from 1 to 6 alkaline cells as a result of what they call "Luxdrive" circuitry that lets the bulb adapt to anything from 1.5 to 9 Volts. It can also be used with rechargeable batteries. The company claims 5 times the battery life of an incandescent bulb in the same light due to the use of "Powersqueeze" regulator circuitry and the efficiency of the LED. As the batteries get very worn down, past the point where "Powersqueeze" works, the EverLED will slowly dim so that you have plenty of light left available to find your way to a new set of batteries.

Runtime Plot: This is with a 3-D Maglight - after 12 hours I shut down the test - great performance!

Runtime completed with Rayovac batteries. More information on runtime plots is available HERE.

The EverLed does have reverse polarity protection which means that installing it in flashlights or lanterns that do not have the bottom tip of the bulb as the positive contact will not harm the unit. This was a problem with earlier models. Current models have an engraved dot on the side just after the name to indicate reverse polarity protection. If you have a flashlight with reverse polarity that you really want to put an EverLED into, you can get the "diamond" version (it has a diamond shape instead of a dot on the side) which is wired for these reversed lights.

So how about some comparisons!

First let me introduce you to the host light I had chosen for the primary comparison:

This is a Ray-O-Vac Home Pro Industrial 2-D. Why did choose a cheap 2-D $5 flashlight? Well, first of all it uses a faceted reflector which means that I'll get a smooth beam. Second, it's not focusable so when I compare incandescent vs. EverLED there's no error due to manual focusing.

The results?

Take a close look at those numbers! Same reflector, same light, same batteries, same distance, same everything except the bulb. Not only did the EverLED throw almost 30% farther than the original incandescent bulb in the same light, but my Lightbox Apparatus measured almost 3 times the total light output. That's a serious improvement. Add in the regulation and the non-yellowing beam as the batteries wear down and you've just turned a mediocre 2-D incandescent into a high performing LED flashlight.

Note too, that at 1740 total output this EverLED enhanced flashlight measured higher overall output than a previously reviewed 3-C cell 14 LED light made by another manufacturer. Now THAT'S an improvement and at a great price to boot!

When tested with a 3-D cell faceted reflector light, overall output was 2350 (23.50 standardized). This is just about the same as previously measured overall output of a 3-D Mag (2300, 23.00 standardized).

Adding one more D cell to the circuit (4-D cells) gave an overall output of 2440 (24.40 standardized), so you get just slightly more output than with 3-D cells. This falls quite short of the previously measured overall output of a 4-D Mag (3800, 38.00 standardized). However, as a result of the "Powersqueeze" circuitry you should get much longer runtime out of the EverLED.

Quick Reference Comparison Table: Overall Output, standardized values

* EverLED and incandescent host the same.
** EverLED host: 3-D faceted reflector body. Comparison incandescent 3-D MagLite, numbers from previous testing.
*** EverLED host: 3-D faceted reflector body with 1 extra D cell added. Comparison incandescent: 4-D MagLite, numbers from previous testing.
Please see this page for description of how Overall Ouptut numbers are obtained by this Reviewer.

What I Liked: Tough/impact resistant, Regulated/long battery life, Bright, Easy install, Reverse polarity protection, Uses current reflector in host flashlight.

What I Didn't Like: Exposed lens of the Luxeon LED. I think a plastic dome could be incorporated into the design to protect the Luxeon lens if it were dropped during install/removal. Just be careful when installing/removing so as not to drop it.

Other Things I Noticed: Nothing significant.

Conclusions: One of the best products you can buy to change a regular, under-performing flashlight into a bright, efficient LED flashlight. Based on numbers comparing overall output to other lights I have tested you'll get the biggest improvement out of 2 cell lights. 3 cell lights should give about the same output as with an incandescent bulb and 4+ cell lights will generally give longer runtimes but less overall output than an incandescent bulb. Excellent price for the output relative to other regulated and non-regulated LED lights at the time of this writing. Top marks!

Quick Facts Table: