Winter light

[cmoulder]

Cmoulder you must be a runner... or have a very slippery dome?

LOL, that's not me, just borrowed from the linked website.

Personally, I have very rarely had a problem with my headlamps in their usual location on my noggin (good point from AK about fog, though), and the little I hike at night I am not bothered by the shadows, or lack of same. But I know many are as this topic also comes up frequently on BPL. Maybe if I actually did run at night the problem would more apparent to me.

[RockDoc]

For Winter I would take two, a headlamp and a good tactical LED torch. Prefer torches that I can hold in my mouth...

[cmoulder]

.... Prefer torches that I can hold in my mouth...

OK, I'll bite... Why?

[sethd513]

I guess my problem is I feel like every time I turn on my headlamp it's got less juice then before. Even 30 minutes I feel there is a slight difference. I'm going to put either lithium or rechargeable batteries in my storm and I picked up the reactik+ so I'm planning to be able to recharge more items on the trail. I'm aware nothing last forever but I'm very easy on all my gear and the only thing I seem to find finicky are my lights.


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[cmoulder]

Super battery shoot-out here with charts. If you scroll down there is a chart that graphs alkaline and lithium discharge curves. Bottom line, there's no comparison... lithium wins, hands down.

Also, almost never should a headlamp be set to full power. Obviously, longest battery life when the minimum amount of light necessary to get the job done. Once our eyes adjust, 30 lumens at night will often work fine... don't need a 200 lumen kleiglight for hiking. The nice part about the Storm (and Spot) is the ability to easily fine-tune the output from high to low, with the quick tap for full power if you need maximum light momentarily, and then back to your lower power setting.

[colorado_rob]

Those lithiums are the way to go, and occasionally one can find them on sale for less than 6 bucks for a 4-pack, normally over 10 bucks. Still darn expensive, but worth it. I swing by the battery stand every grocery trip, and when on sale, I stock up. As a bonus, they are just slightly over half the weight of alkalines. I splurge and carry them on long hikes, even in warmer weather.

Thanks for sharing that link and graph, cmoulder.

By the way: last night was our earliest sunset of the year.... from now on until early July, we have more and more afternoon/evening daylight! Woohoo! This is the single most important astronomical event for me, as I love the daylight (and morning daylight is of less importance).

[theinfamousj]

OK, I'll bite... Why?

Thanks for the chuckle.

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[Leo L.]

...
In severe cold I would wear the headlamp under the hood of the jacket thus the batteries not having the full freezing temps, as well as they will keep some reasonable temps inside the pack.
Interestingly, I'll do a full night hike next thursday in freezing cold (forecast is -5°C) and we'll see how the Alkalines will hold.

Had this night hike happen, of the 12hrs hike there was some moonlight for 2-3hrs, enough to hike with headlamp off, the rest was pitchblack dark in the forests, and some roadwalks, where I kept the lamp on for security. All in all there had been about 9hrs of constant use.
The temps were in the -5°C range.
The old Alkalines had had about 1.2xV at the beginning, and dropped to 1.07V at the end. The lamp still gave some light good enough for hiking on easy ground.
I carried spare Alkalines in the pack, they didn't get used and didn't drop voltage.

OK, -5°C is not terribly cold, but under this conditions I think its safe to use Alkalines, and with a lamp like most Petzl (and other high-end brands) having a decent voltage regulation you can save some money by using used Alkalines from other electronic devices that would work on new batteries only.

[orthofingers]

I've got the Petzel with the reactive light technology. Is that the XRP? I first thought that reactive thing was a gimmick but I think it is helpful when you're looking down at the trail so that the reflected light doesn't blind you but then, can glance upward and the light brightens automatically to see what's in the distance. Also I like the neoprene(?) adjustable strap much better than the simple elastic fabric straps on most headlamps. It's rechargeable from a (very short) USB cable. I'll never go online to program its brightness steps or whatever that's about. Downside is it was expensive, it's a bit bulky and I don't have the weight handy but I'm sure there are lighter lights out there.

After saying that, my son just bought the newest version of the black diamond Spot. I've played with that a bit but haven't had it on the trail. Like my Petzel, it's plenty bright with a spot and a flood LED, has a red LED for night vision preservation but the light is infinitely adjustable on any of the LEDs but also has a tap feature where you can instantly get a bright burst of light by tapping it if you need the light. It's waterproof to one meter so it should be ok in the rain or if it gets splashed but probably not for SCUBA diving. Best of all, I think it was something like $34. I don't know the weight but, once again I'm sure there are lighter lights.

[sethd513]

I've got the Petzel with the reactive light technology. Is that the XRP? I first thought that reactive thing was a gimmick but I think it is helpful when you're looking down at the trail so that the reflected light doesn't blind you but then, can glance upward and the light brightens automatically to see what's in the distance. Also I like the neoprene(?) adjustable strap much better than the simple elastic fabric straps on most headlamps. It's rechargeable from a (very short) USB cable. I'll never go online to program its brightness steps or whatever that's about. Downside is it was expensive, it's a bit bulky and I don't have the weight handy but I'm sure there are lighter lights out there.

After saying that, my son just bought the newest version of the black diamond Spot. I've played with that a bit but haven't had it on the trail. Like my Petzel, it's plenty bright with a spot and a flood LED, has a red LED for night vision preservation but the light is infinitely adjustable on any of the LEDs but also has a tap feature where you can instantly get a bright burst of light by tapping it if you need the light. It's waterproof to one meter so it should be ok in the rain or if it gets splashed but probably not for SCUBA diving. Best of all, I think it was something like $34. I don't know the weight but, once again I'm sure there are lighter lights.

Yea I'm about 2 hours into figuring out the petzl reactik+ and I just finally figured out the steps and thought behind the programming through Bluetooth. I'd say the bd storm is a solid light and would go head to head with this petzl but the petzl has 5 or 6 different beam patterns and the reactive lighting so once I get my head wrapped around the program and user buttons it's going to be a great lamp. The only reason I got it was a 50$ off coupon


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[Alex Blain-Laider]

Lithium-Ion and NiMH would be a better comparison.