Light conversation

Papa Bear_Left · Post by **Papa Bear_Left** » 31 August 06 2:55 pm

I don't want to torch-er anyone with another "list" topic, but I'm interested in what people use for illumination when night caching.

We have matching Eveready headlamps with 1 red LED or 2 white LEDs (switchable) and they're fine for finding our way around, but not for long-range visibility (finding a route up a hill, say) or serious searching.
We also carry multi-LED torches in the backpack, which are two or three times brighter than the headlamps.

For serious night work, there's (Austrian accent) The Illuminator; my million candlepower spotlight, but it has a fairly short life on its rechargeable battery and it's too bulky to carry as standard kit. Handy for crisping greenery back to shrivelled brown-ness and for finding caches; just shine it under bushes until you smell melting plastic! (OK, I'm exaggerating a little; it's bright but not _that_ bright...)

I've just added a standard 2xD-cell Krypton bulb torch as a half-way option, but I haven't had a chance to use it yet.

smerrall · Post by **smerrall** » 31 August 06 3:26 pm

Petzl MYO XP headlamp for wandering around. 3W Led with 3 power levels and wide angle diffuser allows you to set it up quite well. For looking under things I always carry a 1.5W LED 2xAA torch. The 2 combined seem to cover all eventualities - even Dark Side of the Moon.

fehrgo · Post by **fehrgo** » 31 August 06 3:36 pm

Personally I'm using a 3D cell Mag Light (Krypton bulb), however this can be overkill when going into a neighbourhood at night and not wanting to disturb the neighbours or draw unnecessary attention. A 2 AA cell mag light is nice while finding my way to the cache, but really chews through the batteries, so I tend for overkill instead.

I've tried a few LED based torches, including my hand crank one for emergency situations, but ended up walking through too many spider webs. I really need to pick up a decent headlamp & hiking pole. The nice thing about LED based torches is their inherent drop-proofness, although my larger Mag Light has survived some remarkable falls onto ceramic tile, with the bulb cold, without breaking the filament. I think I just got lucky.

ian-and-penny · Post by **ian-and-penny** » 31 August 06 4:31 pm

The couple of times we have been caught out after dark I tend to rely on natural light (my night vision is quite good) while Penny uses a 4 LED headlamp to see where she puts her feet.

maccamob · Post by **maccamob** » 31 August 06 4:33 pm

fehrgo wrote:I've tried a few LED based torches, including my hand crank one for emergency situations, but ended up walking through too many spider webs. I really need to pick up a decent headlamp & hiking pole. The nice thing about LED based torches is their inherent drop-proofness, although my larger Mag Light has survived some remarkable falls onto ceramic tile, with the bulb cold, without breaking the filament. I think I just got lucky.

If you want the advantages of an LED light in a maglite body, you could try the terralux conversions. I carry my AA minimaglite around in my camera bag all the time now. It has been fitted with the Terralux TLE-5 Ministar, which uses a 1 watt luxeon LED. Great! Much brighter than the standard maglite yet the batteries last longer too. There is a small loss in focus, but it's not a problem. Best of both worlds. There are conversions for the AAA and the larger ones as well. They are available in Australia too from Cutter Electronics (a small specialist operating from a house in Melbourne's outer east). I also have a 2W conversion in my 2D Maglite. They aren't exactly cheap, but the Aus mark-up wasn't too much when I bought mine.

talook · Post by **talook** » 31 August 06 4:50 pm

I use the light from my magellen explorist my god its great at night, apart from that I use a small led torch with a laser light, picks out plastic like you would not believe.
I have a led torch on my mountain bike when go bushing and people see it for miles, so yeah I am careful using such a bright light when hunting down a cache at night.

zactyl · Post by **zactyl** » 31 August 06 4:54 pm

The glow from a mobile phone, with camera and flash for backup...

D Cell Maglight for rough neighbourhoods, bottom of the range AA torch when I'm not likely to be mugged.

rhinogeo · Post by **rhinogeo** » 31 August 06 5:09 pm

maccamob wrote:
fehrgo wrote:I've tried a few LED based torches, including my hand crank one for emergency situations, but ended up walking through too many spider webs. I really need to pick up a decent headlamp & hiking pole. The nice thing about LED based torches is their inherent drop-proofness, although my larger Mag Light has survived some remarkable falls onto ceramic tile, with the bulb cold, without breaking the filament. I think I just got lucky.
If you want the advantages of an LED light in a maglite body, you could try the terralux conversions. I carry my AA minimaglite around in my camera bag all the time now. It has been fitted with the Terralux TLE-5 Ministar, which uses a 1 watt luxeon LED. Great! Much brighter than the standard maglite yet the batteries last longer too. There is a small loss in focus, but it's not a problem. Best of both worlds. There are conversions for the AAA and the larger ones as well. They are available in Australia too from Cutter Electronics (a small specialist operating from a house in Melbourne's outer east). I also have a 2W conversion in my 2D Maglite. They aren't exactly cheap, but the Aus mark-up wasn't too much when I bought mine.

A cheaper (though prob not quite as bright option) is a Nite Ize LED replacement kit available in Oz from GoGoGear here for only $14.95 and postage is free if you spend more than $20. You lose the focussing ability of the mini-mag, but the brightness more than compensates

talook · Post by **talook** » 31 August 06 5:10 pm

And a night light in the bedroom incase of boogie men hahaha!

embi · Post by **embi** » 31 August 06 6:06 pm

I use a 5W luxeon Torch......awesome power and small size

The Garner Family · Post by **The Garner Family** » 31 August 06 6:20 pm

I'm awaiting delivery of my <a href="http://www.flashlightreviews.com/review ... htm">Inova T4</a>... it should be here any day now, I can hardly wait.

embi · Post by **embi** » 31 August 06 6:23 pm

they dont mention the wattage of the Luxeon???

The Garner Family · Post by **The Garner Family** » 31 August 06 6:33 pm

embi wrote:they dont mention the wattage of the Luxeon???

The Inova T4? If thats what you're referring to, its a 4W.

Aushiker · Post by **Aushiker** » 31 August 06 7:29 pm

Hi

For geocaching my old Princeton Tec Aurora and for bushwalking a Petzl Tikka XP.

Regards
Andrew

swampgecko · Post by **swampgecko** » 31 August 06 8:49 pm

I had, in the past, used a Generation 1 light intensifer device, one that was used for testing the light compatibility of the flight deck lighting for Night vision goggles on aircraft, no need for torches....

I never got the chance to try the good gear out caching as the military frowned on that stuff being lent out. Since my access to that type of equipment has been terminated, I have to now rely on a torch.... not sure how mant leds in the sucker but was a barging at $20 from repco, also a 8led head lamp that I was given for fishing and caching, with selection between 2, 4 or 8 leds in use, 2 is good for walking the tracks, 8 for that added illumination for poking in dark damp hides. As a backup I have a 2 cell AA Maglite.