Look out LED here comes Plasma.

Will we be replacing all of our LED flashlights with Plasma lights that are twice as bright per watt?

They produce 140 lumens per watt
Have a color rendering index (CRI) of 91 (I'm assuming this is % at Noon Sun)
Are estimated to have a life of 20,000 hours
Can produce up to 30,000+ lumens

Read more about the Luxim LiFi, and see a cnet video on the bulb.

That's neato, but i'm gonna go out on a limb and say these will be far outside the average ETSer's budget for some time. Also, i doubt they'd even consider putting something that produces 140 lumens, and reaches 6000K at the core into a flashlight.

They've been playing with these plasma flashlights for a few years now, and they are still struggling with stability at temp. Cold conditions affect the plasma just like fluorescent bulbs. Great if it's 80 degrees out, not so good if it's 40 or lower. The exciter voltage needed really strains the supply system in cold weather.

Also, don't expect plasma to hold up mechanically nearly as well as LEDs can. Plasma is better than incandescent, but I am spoiled on being able to drop my flashlight 4 feet to the concrete floor and still have it go.

Plasma does have it's prospects though. If they can get the price to something reasonable I might have to get one some day.
I do see the next generation of LED flashlights is at 100+ lumens finally. I doubt plasma will be able to compete economically with that for a long time, even if they can cut the power consumption by more than half.

How much power does the plasma light consume compared to a LED?

MTE SSC P7 900-Lumen 5-Mode Super LED Flashlight (18650) $44.52

i have one on order but they are out of stock atm soldout in less than an hour.

with a single 18650 runtime should be about 1 hour on high. on high heat will be an issue but i can live with that.

maybe afew years before plasma becomes viable and LED is making leaps in lumin's it's self

Looks like plasma are running a little over half the power needed for mainstream LEDs. Underdriving LEDS get more efficient quick, so for a slight rolloff on lumens you can get them running close.

Overdriving LEDs does have a debtrimental effect on their durability, with the expected life inversely proportional to the power used. I would be more concerned about what is happening to the power source, except that the lithiums being used were designed to power inefficient incandescents, so they are probably not going to be hurt much.

LEDS actually work better at lower temps, heat dissipation being a consideration.

off of a P4 P60 module using a 18650 lo-ion protected cell i get over 4 hours at 90-100 lumins runs nice and cool. same setup using 2 x rcr123 cells charged to 3.7v nom (4.2v fresh off the charger) so 7.2v i get approx 150 lumins and 60 minute runtime, but it runs very hot even thou the module is rated to max of 18v.

for me led is the way to go, one note of caution for everyday use cheap beater lights are fine but if your life depends on the light get a good quiality one and spend the extra money.

Which is why my first suggestion was Surefire.

Surefire make good lights main drawback for them is there use of cr123 lithum cells.for a short term emergency cr123 is fine, for a longer one i am non to sure. i live in the UK and finding a supply of good quality cr123 cells is difficult at best.

rechargable rcr123's i have to get from china quote capacities are iffy at best 880mah cells normally test out to around 500-550 mah. the cells also become old quickly depending on how they are stored and used. generally requiring replacement after 18-24 months as they can no longer hold there charge. not to mention hazzards like catching fire while charging if using unprotected cells especially. newer chemistry cells remove the fire hazzard but have half the capacity.

for my emergency lights i have gone for AA type with eneloops rechargables and 8 lithium aa cells per light.

Personally I consider a product poorly designed and not for me if it doesn't use AA batteries because I just can't carry 4 different sizes of spares. AA are the most common cell out there IMO.

The only exception I make are my Petzl E+Lite which is backup in itself and my MSR MIOX pen which is really just novelty and not required.