The first group locate the bulb, usually at the tip of the blade but sometimes in the base of the blade (See Shucman™ II fibre-optic blade range). If the bulb is located at the tip of the blade then this is described as a warm bulb blade system. The handle only contains a battery power source and links to the blade via an electrical contact.

 

The second group locate the bulb in the handle and then have to use a fibre-optic or acrylic plastic light guide to convey this light from the handle to the tip of the blade. Removing the bulb from the blade tip allows use of much stronger bulbs but on the other hand a lot of the illumination is lost in the transfer from the handle to the fibre-optic bundle and along its length. This is particularly noticeable if much less expensive acrylic or some other plastic fibre material is used for the light guide.