Where can I find a "Swirl Finder Light"

[SkeeterJD]

Can anyone tell me where I can find one of those swirl finder lights?

I am not quite sure exactly what they are used for, but if it is for finding swirls as opposed to pulling your car out of your garage and into some natural light.....I WANT ONE!

Or if anyone has any alternatives, I would consider them too.

Thanks

[Djmigs]

Hi Skeeter Jd,

Do a search and type in Xenon...that should lead you to what your looking for...

[Superior Shine]

It is a dual xenon light made by brinkmann. Lowes HAD them as well as target.

[rusty bumper]

Would a person not be able to buy a xenon bulb and put it in a quality flashlight?

Rayovac Industrial flashlights have special reflectors that really focus the light beam.

[gb387]

Originally posted by Rusty Bumper
Would a person not be able to buy a xenon bulb and put it in a quality flashlight?

Rayovac Industrial flashlights have special reflectors that really focus the light beam.

I have a 3-cell Maglite with a xenon bulb now, I will give it a try when I wash my truck tonight.

[SkeeterJD]

Thanks for the replies. I checked my local Lowe's and Target, and they dont seem to carry the Brinkmanns Dual Xenon.

Is it the Xenon bulb that shows the swirls or will any high intensity bulb work. What about LED flashlights....would those work? Those little suckers are expensive, but they say they are extremely bright and can run continuously for 1 month on the same batteries.

Thanks guys

[the other pc]

It's my guess (and it's purely a guess) that the Brinkmann flashlight works well because of its optical design. It features what appears to be an integrating (dimpled) parabolic reflector that provides a parallel beam with a uniform spot pattern.

To the human eye light output from a Xenon bulb isn't going to look different than light from any other Tungsten filament bulb, Argon, Krypton, Halogen or whatever, running at the same filament temperature.


PC.

[Murr1525]

Cabellas has some nice LED flashlights.. I picked up one.. I guess it was $30, maybe $39.99.. perhaps considered expensive, perhaps not. Not sure how it does on swirls, but sure does light up a dark room well. Has like 2 stages as well.. one with 3 LEDS lit, and one with all 8 or so lit.

[Alex7938]

if this makes sense, this is why you'll want a xenon.
a guy on the UK forum posted it in reply to a question about xenon and halogen lamps:

I spent 3 weeks looking for one of these xenon torches, just about to give up and you posted your link.

I hate my 500 watt halogens, I can never get the light 'just' where I want it in respect to the car. Last time I used them, I had to wait an age at the end of the job, for them to cool so I could put them away. Either that or they are blinding me.

IIRC All the diiferent types of electric lamps have a luminar / watt factor. (Luminar being candle power) Filament lights having the worst score, through flourescent, halogen, led etc. Xenon being the daddy. That's why energy saving bulbs are flourescent?

The wavelength/colour of light being similar to that of the sun as well. Think HID headlights over normal halogens?

Plus you can put the torch in your pocket, as you work.

[the other pc]

Originally posted by SkeeterJD
... What about LED flashlights....would those work?

Originally posted by Murr1525
Cabellas has some nice LED flashlights.. I picked up one.. ... Not sure how it does on swirls, but sure does light up a dark room well. ...

LED flashlights are great. I'll have to play with some to see how they do with swirls but as general purpose flashlights they're wonderful.

They last waaaaay longer on a set of batteries, the better ones are brighter and whiter than their incandescent counterparts and their bulbs don't break when you drop them on a hard floor. (Those would be good characteristics to have if you ever find yourself lying on your back wedged underneath your truck in some parking lot in the middle of the night trying unsuccessfully to coax a homeless kitten off your transfer case and then have to squeeze your arms between the frame rails to gently grab her while she claws through your skin and you inch your dirty, squished torso sideways across the pavement to extricate the two of you and hand her over to her new family. Don't ask how I know that.)

I now keep Princeton-Tec Impact XL LED flashlights in my cars. They use AA batteries so I can load them with Lithium cells without spending a fortune.


PC.

[rusty bumper]

Originally posted by the other pc
It's my guess (and it's purely a guess) that the Brinkmann flashlight works well because of its optical design. It features what appears to be an integrating (dimpled) parabolic reflector that provides a parallel beam with a uniform spot pattern.

PC.

The Rayovac Industrial flashlight that I mentioned earlier has a reflector design similar to that.

[Ranger72]

I got my Brinkman xenon at target. I didnt realize however that is was no a dual xenon but instead and led/ xenon. there is a selector as to what light you want. Still works great! Go to target, look in the home lighting isle. Not the camping isle. Dont ask me how many trips to target it took me to figure that out!

[Alex7938]

how did you guys get on with your torches?
have you used them in anger yet?

[Teak]

Re: Where can I find a "Swirl Finder Light"

Originally posted by SkeeterJD
Can anyone tell me where I can find one of those swirl finder lights?

Brinkmanns.net 29.99

Eric

[Superior Shine]