It is amazing how much lighting has improved just during my lifetime, let alone since WWII. The best commonly available flashlight you could buy when I was a kid was a D cell maglight, with an incandescent bulb. Those were considered very bright back then. Compare one now to even a cheapo $5 LED flashlight from Walmart and there isn’t even a competition in lumens output. Sure, the maglight is still better made and has other features that make it nice, but the output from lights and their relative size has improved 1000% from when I was a kid. In my 20’s my friend had this massive pistol grip flashlight for off-roading that plugged into his cigarette lighter. The thing must have weighed 5 pounds. I have a little Rovyvon flashlight on my keychain now that weighs less than an ounce and it puts out more light than that pistol grip light did back then. Progress, baby!
It is amazing how much lighting has improved just during my lifetime, let alone since WWII. The best commonly available flashlight you could buy when I was a kid was a D cell maglight, with an incandescent bulb. Those were considered very bright back then. Compare one now to even a cheapo $5 LED flashlight from Walmart and there isn’t even a competition in lumens output. Sure, the maglight is still better made and has other features that make it nice, but the output from lights and their relative size has improved 1000% from when I was a kid. In my 20’s my friend had this massive pistol grip flashlight for off-roading that plugged into his cigarette lighter. The thing must have weighed 5 pounds. I have a little Rovyvon flashlight on my keychain now that weighs less than an ounce and it puts out more light than that pistol grip light did back then. Progress, baby!
LEDs really made that jump possible. Any other alternatives to incandescent were either bulky, fragile or power hungry.
If you really want to see something cool, watch the history of how blue LEDs were invented which was the ultimate game changer.