How I saw the light

By now, everyone either owns an LED lamp, has used one, or has lost one. Manufacturers are putting these bright little low-energy lights on key chains, on the nose piece of safety glasses, and even integrating them into drills. But the new Bil-Lite is the only LED light I actually keep on me and use (well, with one exception).

Despite the light emitting diodes' prevalence, discovering the Bil-Lite actually got me excited about them again. It clips to the brim of a baseball cap, pivoting 360 degrees in a ball-and-socket joint to disperse light over your work. The lens magnifies the beam evenly (rather than giving an intense hot spot in the center surrounded by weaker light) and the substantially wide clip can also work as a foot, allowing the lamp to stand alone on a table. I like it's robotic styling, and so do our soldiers in Iraq—I recently saw a Bil-Lite clipped to the side of a soldier's helmet, looking like a mini security camera as part of his full high-tech regalia.