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PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 7:21 pm 
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Many people take streetlighting for granted and look upon it as merely providing light at night.

Members of this association clearly take a very different view - or perhaps I should say look at it in a very different light!

As someone whose association with the subject began in the golden days when concrete truly was king, I have always believed that in many respects the daytime aesthetic appearance of the installation is more important than the night time effect.

I have always believed there to be no excuse for having different columns and lanterns on a particular stretch of road, especially from new, but also when necessitated by knockdowns or lantern failures, and even more so when matching equipment is still in production.

Having said that, the market today is being taken over by a myriad of LED lanterns, many of which I regard as without style and epitomise ugliness.

So I pose the question - "Is there an LED lantern out there worthy of aesthetic appreciation?"

In respect of the question, the debate is restricted to those lanterns intended for horizontal use, either post mounted, or side entry on a bracket.

Post top and heritage type lanterns modified with LED arrays contained within are obviously excluded.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 7:41 pm 
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Well, there are obviously LED lanterns more noteworthy than others.

The Philips/Indal Luma is proving itself to be very successful. Whilst not the most innovative design, it has mass market appeal, has decent styling and is relatively well made.

The Phosco P850 is another that I quite like. It has good proportions and I like the fact that the LEDs are angled to direct the beam along the road rather than featuring LEDs behind butterfly lenses such as on the Stela, Luma, SpeedStar, Axia, Ampera, etc.

Perhaps my most favourite LED lanterns are the offerings from Innolumis. Not only do they employ the technology of angling the LEDs to direct the beams along the road, but they also use a mixture of red green and blue LEDs to produce white light (and more).

I don't know about the whole iconic status thing, but certainly there are some products out there that stand out amongst the rest. Sadly most products aren't all that innovative or great.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 9:29 pm 
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I'm a fan of any that resemble SOX lanterns when you squint your eyes; SpeedStars and P860s have helped visually SOX-ify trunk roads, even if this only applies to 'daytime aesthetic appearance'!

My least favourite of the LED variety are those that are too obvious e.g. a Stela. I much prefer the ones that are what Urbis would categorise as 'functional' rather than 'decorative'/'contemporary' - the Stela, to my mind, falls under the latter. I'm aware that the Stela has good optical performance, but I'm going purely on aesthetic appeal here. The Innolumis, as Steve mentions, is more in line with functional lanterns.

Overall, I prefer retrofitted LED products, but that is probably more of a conservative view rather than one based on optical performance, which I'm sure is something that the purpose-built LED lanterns are better at.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 9:48 pm 
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Arguably the Stela could be classed at "iconic". It took LED technology and combined it with it design of a lantern like nothing before both in terms of overall shape and optical principles.

Other manufacturers with designs such as the LED Iridium just stuffed a LED array  in a conventional lantern and then borrowed the optical principle of the Stela.

The Phosco LED lanterns use an optical principle decades old and their styling whilst different, is relatively conventional.

The Innolumis is unusual in terms of shape and how it creates its light - the approach couldn't be used with conventional discharge lamp principles. Unfortunately this quirky design hasn't really had the mass market success of the Stela.

The Luma is a well designed lantern but fairly "conventional", and is doing well in the market, however for me its the Stela as an iconic and contemporary design that epitomises LED.

It has almost a minimalistic design to its aesthetics unlike certain other less popular LED lanterns not mentioned here - some of which are truly appalling in the visual looks department!


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 20, 2015 7:18 pm 
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Alex wrote:
I'm a fan of any that resemble SOX lanterns when you squint your eyes; SpeedStars and P860s have helped visually SOX-ify trunk roads, even if this only applies to 'daytime aesthetic appearance'!

My least favourite of the LED variety are those that are too obvious e.g. a Stela. I much prefer the ones that are what Urbis would categorise as 'functional' rather than 'decorative'/'contemporary' - the Stela, to my mind, falls under the latter. I'm aware that the Stela has good optical performance, but I'm going purely on aesthetic appeal here. The Innolumis, as Steve mentions, is more in line with functional lanterns.

Overall, I prefer retrofitted LED products, but that is probably more of a conservative view rather than one based on optical performance, which I'm sure is something that the purpose-built LED lanterns are better at.


Personally I think the Stela is horrid. It looks like a roof slate on a pole, it's trying far too hard to be a snazzy modern design just because it's LED. The "looking like SOX lanterns" is also the reason I like an installation of LED Roadway SATs near me, they're full cutoff and look literally like a short SOX lantern without a bowl.


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 10:27 am 
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First lets not forget the ugly HID lanterns of years gone by, 3 examples are, Revos Silver Gold and Silver Blue, Metrovicks Trafford 1, and Mazda/BTHs series 700 `Mercrator`!

LED lanterns that are too wide look out of place, as mentioned above, their like roof slates glued onto outreach arms!
I like the `space age` looking lanterns!, as LED is a new age tech, the lanterns appearance should also look new age.

You may not agree with me on this, but one of the new lanterns popping up around here is CRTs SLX, which I really like the style of, but what do everyone think of it? SLX.


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 6:45 pm 
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NIGHTWATCH 50 wrote:
First lets not forget the ugly HID lanterns of years gone by, 3 examples are, Revos Silver Gold and Silver Blue, Metrovicks Trafford 1, and Mazda/BTHs series 700 `Mercrator`!

LED lanterns that are too wide look out of place, as mentioned above, their like roof slates glued onto outreach arms!
I like the `space age` looking lanterns!, as LED is a new age tech, the lanterns appearance should also look new age.

You may not agree with me on this, but one of the new lanterns popping up around here is CRTs SLX, which I really like the style of, but what do everyone think of it? SLX.



Interesting comments!

The Stela certainly divides opinion - and I suspect from your comment that you are not a lover! - having said that some may indeed look upon it as a space age lantern - so maybe I'm wrong!

It was however introduced when competition in the LED market was nowhere near as intense as it is now. Whether, if it were introduced today, it would prove to be so successful is a moot point. Having said that, the numbers in which it has sold do guarantee its place in history.

I can't say that I have seen the CRT SLX in situ. From the data sheet, it is certainly different in many respects! It looks as though the mini cell is mounted on the front end in the vertical plane, which in itself is very unusual.

Looking at where it is manufactured, I wonder if there is a link with Zodion? Strange that they should offer Zodion and Selc photocells, but not Royce Thompson!


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 7:06 pm 
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Well, the CRT SLX is never going to be iconic. I think the first many of us have heard of the company is through your link, let alone the product. To be iconic it has to have a degree of popularity, be award winning or held in high regard by enthusiasts.


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PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 9:46 am 
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I`ve not seen the Stela in use yet, the only LED lanterns within a 10 mile radius of me are Holophanes Factor large, (which I like the look of), and the above mentioned SLX?
I must admit, I had never heard of CRT either, I first saw one as a Beta 5 replacement last year, it was on the end of the original, short concrete outreach arm, the SLX lantern itself is about as small and compact as GECs Z9582, and I thought it looked quite smart in situ.

However it took me the best part of about 3 hours to hunt this lantern down on the internet (having no idea who made it, or what it was called)! I found it just by trawling through hundreds upon hundreds of pictures on Google images, until I came across it.

Within the last year though, more new columns were fitted, not too far away from me, with the lantern mounted post top, I have seen them at night, but not yet got a night shot of them.

I posted the same link, and question, on another lighting site, to which it was met with universal hatred of it!! :lol: , but I do like it.


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PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 7:13 pm 
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NIGHTWATCH 50 wrote:

You may not agree with me on this, but one of the new lanterns popping up around here is CRTs SLX, which I really like the style of, but what do everyone think of it? SLX.



Is it a local authority that has installed these - if so which one?

The more I look at the picture, the more I think that the most successful lighting salesman in the country would struggle to achieve any significant market penetration!


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