Posted: May 01, 2009

Colorado Cool Stuff: TerraLUX lights

Lighting up the world, one LED at a time

By Eric Peterson

Anthony Catalano started TerraLUX in 2003 after his wife bought a battery-powered Chinese lantern with a standard incandescent bulb that went dark after an hour. Catalano went to his garage and made an LED-based replacement bulb that lasted 10 times as long and delivered more light.

He connected with Carl Kalin, now vice president of marketing and sales, and began selling upgrade kits for Maglite flashlights that make the lights brighter and longer lasting. The most powerful one, Kalin says, makes a flashlight “equivalent to one of the headlights on your car. It lights up an entire room.”

TerraLUX has since branched into the architectural lighting and medical markets, marketing its LED-based “light engine” to different partners, and now also makes its own line of flashlights. The company has enjoyed a steep growth curve in a down economy, even closing on a round of venture capital in February.

“Our tagline is, ‘We’re lighting up the world, one LED at a time,’” Kalin says. Flashlights: $12 to $50 retail. Maglite upgrade kits: $5 to $100 retail.

TerraLUX Inc., Boulder, (866) 498-1564, www.terraluxcorp.com. A list of resellers is on the website.

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