[rjp]

Is anyone else sick of blue LEDs being used on just about everything? More specifically, piercingly bright, light-a-dark-room blue LEDs, or, for that matter, black-on-deep-blue-background or deep-blue-on-black-background displays?

A few manufacturers have at least acquired a semblance of clue - my recent Shuttle box and my ViewSonic LCD, while still afflicted with blue power indicators, are at least toned down enough to not be distracting. On the other hand, my folks have Samsung LCD panels, and they have a blindingly bright blue LED behind the power switch that shines through a small gap between the switch and the monitor housing. A computer case I use for a MythTV box has what would be a nice temperature readout, but I had to tape over it because of the #^%#$! evil blue background. A Tripp-Lite UPS has a blue-on-black voltmeter, but at least they were merciful enough to provide a brightness control. Then there's the bright blue ring on my Sansa - needless to say, I've told Rockbox to shut the damn light off immediately.

The real problem is that the eye doesn't focus well on deep blue light - or violet, for that matter, so the light or display appears fuzzy from a distance, even with otherwise perfect vision (corrected or not).

Builders - choose a better color, especially for displays that are meant to be read. If you MUST use a blue power indicator, at least tone it down so it doesn't light the room.

 

[panda]

blue is nerdy and hurts my eyes, any gear that ive had that had them i covered up with tape. i like green the best, but red is ok also.

 

[xnothingpoetic]

My TV has a bright blue led on the front that stays on when you watch TV- and is shines right in your eyes. . . yeah, I put black tape over it.

 

[kjpmkjp]

I guess I'm not dealing with these apparently bright blue LEDs. My monitor, external HDD, mouse and wireless adapter all glow with blue LEDs, but they are all very faint and fairly unobtrusive. The brightest would have to be the mouse, but my hand is generally over/on it.

Now, if you want to talk about obnoxiously bright...let's discuss the iPod. Granted, it's amusing to use it as a flashlight, but damn does it hurt my eyes. I have the brightness in the bottom 10%...

 

[PiccoloNamek]

My M-Audio monitors have very bright blue LEDs on them. Since the monitors are pointed at my face, this can be extremely annoying. So, I put yellow electrical tape over the LEDs to block the light.

 

[Yikes]

[size=small]For several years high end audio equipment that utilized blue L.E.D.’s tended to sound better than those that did not. I doubt that it is true any longer. The truth is that the blue L.E.D.’s don’t actually make it sound any better. The reality is that better quality parts are usually more expensive and everything else being equal usually sound better. For a long time blue L.E.D.’s were significantly more expensive than red or green L.E.D.’s. So having blue L.E.D.’s was at least an indication that the manufacturer didn’t skimp on parts expense.[/size]
[size=small]Personally I much prefer blue L.E.D.’s to either red or green.[/size]

 

[Seaside]

I do not think any blue LED will make things look worse, but EXCESSIVELY BRIGHT LED will, no matter what the color is.

Any lighting including LED has it's own purpose. Some used for accent, some used for blending, some used for just simple lighting. Those lightings will look beautiful when they serves well for their purpose.

I think those LED's in many electonics are simple indicator in most cases. But they put excessively bright LED to accentuate their logo or something like that, and they become of eye sore rather than eye candy.

 

[xnothingpoetic]

I agree with the above poster. I like blue LEDs, as long as they are well implemented and aren't overly bright to where it becomes an annoyance, then they can enhance the look of the product.

Now if it is a monitor/TV, or you have to continually look at it, then no LEDs is best imo.

 

[Fuzzy OneThree]

My Dell computer's power button is annoyingly bright and blue. It lights up my room when I leave it on overnight.

 

[Spareribs]

IMO, a blue LCD light on a silver color amp looks great. Much better than a red one. If the chasis is black, I like a red LCD. On my tube amp, which is silver, the blue LCD looks fabulous though.

 

[pichonCalavera]

My active subwoofer emits a annoying blue LED light, and it iluminates all the room, so I put a yellow tape on top of it.

 

[Rednamalas1]

on a bit of different topic, is blue easier on the eyes compared to red or white?

For example, I seen cars' speedometer etc with blue background light and red backlight - which hurts your eyes more?

sorry for being OT, but anyone have a quick answer for this?

 

[Uncle Erik]

Blue LEDs are way, way, way too trendy these days. They were difficult to manufacture at one time, then became simply expensive. Now they're overdone.

For LEDs, I prefer old-school soft red and green ones.

But when I build projects, I only use light bulbs.

 

[RockCity]

The PSU in my computer has this annoying feature. There is no reason to implement a flashlight in a power supply.

 

[LostOne.TR]

I've got a lot of stuff in blue led/some sort of blue light. Just sort of happened.

I think some of the brightest has some from fans I got at costco/sam's club. When you turn on that ion (something) feature that keeps the air cleaner. It just lights up a good part of the room, and is annoying when the fan faces you when you attempt to sleep. Aside from that, I think my (now defunct) m-audio monitors used to have a pretty bright blue LED.

The blue LEDs on my presonus central station (many of em), M3, razer mouse, and HP laptop have all been manageable. I've not once had to cover them up like I did the fan/monitors.

*On another note. I loved it the moment I took those LED fans out of my computer. I did not like the look of that LED glow, to me it cheapened the look. But then, I for one do not even care for the clear side panel I have, I prefer the metal ones which don't let you look inside.