Inova vs Photon Freedom Microlights - Super Bright LEDs on Keychain Flashlights - Lightzombies.com

Inova and Photon freedom microlights create incredible effects for light shows, but which ones should I get? Many of you have probably seen them and other microlights on a couple different light shows. For this hub I will take a look at only the two mentioned above, and weigh the pros and the cons.

Inovas - Basic : The inovas are relatively cheap microlights. Single color inova microlights can be attained for under $5 if you search around. The stock inovas create three effects. The first mode (press the button once) creates a solid stream of light when moved. The second mode (press the button twice) is low-powered, or dots mode. This mode will create dots of color when moved randomly. This mode is pictured in the top picture. The 3rd mode is strobe mode (press the button 3 times). In this mode the light flashes once every second or so. The batteries are easy to change, you just have to pull off the case.

The pictures above show a single color inova on low power mode (dots) and a tri color strobe (custom color) inova.

Inovas - Pros :

1. Incredibly Easy to Modify : You just have to pull off the back, and pull out the bulb. If you can work well with small objects this is no problem. This means that you can buy LED bulbs to experiment with your inova. The bottom picture shown above is an inova with a PWG strobe bulb. When it is still it looks solid white, but when it moves it has a tridot effect (color 1, color 2, color 3, repeat).

2. Thinner than the photon freedom : Inovas are thinner than the photons, but a bit longer.

3. Easy to operate, quick mode change.

Inovas Cons :

The only real con with inovas (other than the inability to set a dimness level) is that they turn off after 4 minutes on full power mode (to save battery). You can work around this in a light show, but it is kind of annoying.

Photon Freedom - Basics : The photon freedoms are a bit more expensive than inovas. The cheapest I've found them is $8.50 on CFR lights (that's a rare price). They're usually above $10. Photons freedoms have many different effects that can be created by them. Pressing the button once initiates full power mode. The light comes on at its full intensity (they're BRIGHT, much brighter than inovas). Holding the light down from full power will slowly dim the light. You can release the button at any time to stop the dimming, or hold the button down from a dimmed level to dim the light even more. This dimmer the lights, the smaller the dots will be when moving them. You can also power the lights on by holding them down initially. This will slowly turn the power up. If you hold the light down past the lowest/highest luminosity (depending on which way you're going) they will enter strobe mode. They have 3 strobes, ranging from very slow, to very fast, and a quick blinking strobe.

Photon Freedom Pros:

1. Incredibly bright and flexible. These lights are easy to change the effect on, allowing you to switch from small dots to larger dots, or a solid line.  The two pictures above were taken with the SAME two photon freedom micro lights.

2. Slightly smaller than the inova, although a little bit thicker.

3. Easy to operate, although modes must be set initially.

Cons:

1. Can't really turn a photon on during a light show. The full brightness mode is too bright, and will probably cause eye damage if too close.

2. Harder to modify then inovas. Many of the bulbs that work very well for inovas don't work so well with the photon freedoms. I'm going to test this out more in the future (I've got a bulb on route to my house right now).

I'd say the inovas are better for glove shows, because they're easy to switch on and off, and not too bright. The customizable lights are also perfect for gloves. For orbits, I would go with the photon freedoms (because they don't turn off and have cool dot effects).

If you have any more questions, please post them in the comments below and I will respond & edit this hub.