What makes a light cave worthy? And Helmet Question??

[Cody JW]

I stated in an earlier post that MOST lights are not made from the drawing board up for caving. The Duo was . Sten was and some others are starting to pop up but are over 300 bucks.Fennix HP-10 has a caver on its package but not sure if it was made for caving . HP-10 has been waterproof and is a great light for the money. There are lots of bright , reasonably priced lights out there made for coon hunting, night fishing , camping. Problem is cavers are such a small group light makers are not going to cater to our needs. Most people have no idea of what real caving is. We just need to keep that in mind when making a purchase.

[jsniffin]

My club was thinking of getting the HL20s as backup lights, most lights Fenix make seem to be bomber and I'd say this is especially the case for torches / headlamps where the batteries and head are in the same unit (as with the HL20) as you have less cable glands, seals, battery boxes etc to go wrong. If the light output and battery life are OK for your use I'd say go for it. It also has the nice benefit that all your batteries are AA's which are cheap, and means you can use the same spares for backups and main lights.

Oh make sure you can live with the spot type beam though the flip up diffusers fenix have are garbage, we've used scotch tape on our HP10s with good success so similar should work for the HL20 as well.

Zebralights could also be another waterproof tough option but I seem to remember reports of some of the zebralight not being as waterproof as they would like, it was a while ago so I may well be wrong on that, the zebralight uses a reflector-less LED so there's a wide flood light rather than a spot, again the zebralight H50 uses AA's but it doesn't get the runtimes or brightness of the Fenix theres also the H51 which is closer to the fenix in brightness and runtimes but it's not the floody beam anymore (I haven't found beamshots for it).

Your club was thinking of it? Did you guys not get them?
As far as the diffuser thing goes. I havent had a problem with it at all in fact I like it a lot so far. I haven't used it in an actual cave though. Just my dorm room with no light (by no light I mean I cant see my hand at the tip of my nose) And with tape on the HP10 how would that work if you needed a spot?

[paul]

For an example of maybe unworthy caving lights and an alternative view on helmets, have a look at http://derbyshirecro.org.uk/call_outs.html, Incident 284.

[fuzzy-hair-man]

Your club was thinking of it? Did you guys not get them?
As far as the diffuser thing goes. I havent had a problem with it at all in fact I like it a lot so far. I haven't used it in an actual cave though. Just my dorm room with no light (by no light I mean I cant see my hand at the tip of my nose) And with tape on the HP10 how would that work if you needed a spot?

We didn't get the HL20s, no, more because we thought the money was better spent elsewhere and we could get members to bring the usual torches and zip ties or whatever as spares or just throw some extra headlamps in a pack.

The diffusers haven't lasted on the HP10s, they are prone to cracking around the clamp, they flip open and closed the whole time and are generally annoying although I do think the hot spot on the HP10 is a bit bright but we put scotch tape over the lens then trimmed it back and it makes a nice beam which works well in a cave, I've only used a HP10 once in a cave though as I'm still waiting for my Apex to give up the ghost without me taking it swimming... (thinking I should just get a HP10). Oh the scotch tape means you give up on the spot but if you need distance you can just put it up to turbo, I much prefer the diffuse light than a spot so it's worth it for me.
Reliability ranks pretty highly on my list for a cave lamp so I'd pick that's bombproof over something that ticks all the boxes (the Apexes 4 x 5mm LEDs and spot beam are great but not if I can't count on it.)

[jsniffin]

For an example of maybe unworthy caving lights and an alternative view on helmets, have a look at http://derbyshirecro.org.uk/call_outs.html, Incident 284.

I was really considering a state of the art "stainless steel kitchen colander". Although I would probably find his plan for it and reinforce the "string chinstrap".

Just kidding.

[commanderzoom]

Personally when I buy a light that claims to be water proof, I fill a 5 gallon bucket with water, drop it in for a couple of days and see if it still works(for a start). Then I fling them around on my helmet in the yard for a while for impact testing. This may sounds a little nutty but everyone has their own standards. Those energizer lights are actually pretty reliable as long as they stay dry.( your not caving much if they do) Bottom line is you have to ask yourself is this a light I trust my life with?? Because thats exactly what your doing.

I've dropped my Energizer lights in water before with no problems but I could just be lucky. Mag Light's aren't supposed to be waterproof (they claim water resistant), either, but I dropped my mini-Mag in about 2 feet of cave water a year or two ago, couldn't find it, and had to go back and search for it the next day when I had more time. It worked the same as ever.

I like your testing method. I'm gonna have to start doing that whenever I buy new lights.

[soggy]

I have a TROGLITE, it's great for all types caves and has a long burn time, had mine for a couple of years now and it's never let me down.
Even had it bounce off the tarmac a few times after it accidently lept out of the tackle bag.
They (plusoneproducts) have just started selling a new ready made cavers helmet (the TROG-HAT) which I have just put an order in for. Dirt cheap and EN/ANSI certified ~ no modding required either.

[trogman]

We bought some of those very cheap keychain lights a few years ago. While exploring a very wet stream cave, one of us (either me or my wife) dropped one of them in the creek. About a week later, we came back through the passage and found it, lit up on the stream bottom! I don't know how long it had been lit, but apparently the water caused the switch to short-circuit and connect.
In addition to regular backup lights, I usually keep one of these keychain lights on me. They are amazingly bright and reliable.

Trogman

[jsniffin]

Oh make sure you can live with the spot type beam though the flip up diffusers fenix have are garbage, we've used scotch tape on our HP10s with good success so similar should work for the HL20 as well.

Thanks for the Idea. I have thrown some in my bag in case the diffusers break. I tested it out in my room and it seems to give you the same floodiness as the diffuser and the same brightness as the spot.

Off to finally test lights tomorrow that i've had for over a month now I hate being a poor college kid.

[ourdiscourse]

Has anyone ever used or do you use any Coach or Streamlight Headlamps?

[jsniffin]

post a link?

[rlboyce]

http://www.streamlight.com/product-selector.aspx?page=1&filters=1738
Do you mean "Coast"?
http://www.coastportland.com/thumbnails.php?catid=10&mastCat=1

[ourdiscourse]

http://www.streamlight.com/product-selector.aspx?page=1&filters=1738
Do you mean "Coast"?
http://www.coastportland.com/thumbnails.php?catid=10&mastCat=1

Haha, yes, sorry. My girlfriend had just talked to me about Coach purses, had it on the brain.

This is the COAST headlamp I was looking at getting. I can get it through work and finance it through work, well the Snap On truck.
http://www.coastportland.com/product.ph ... 1&catid=10

[commanderzoom]

I have one of these Coast lights around here somewhere:
http://www.coastportland.com/product.ph ... 1&catid=10

It sucks. Don't buy it.

A friend had this one:
http://www.coastportland.com/product.ph ... 1&catid=10

And said it was nowhere near 170 lumens as advertised but I didn't see it in action.

[ourdiscourse]

Did your friend happen to say if it was a decent light, other than the lumen factor? I can't afford to drop $65+ at the moment. This light as well as a handful of Streamlight headlamps are available for me to pay over time through my work. That's why I'm asking