Okay... here's my trip report:
I was on a trip to Suicide Cave in Indiana with ~10 other folks. I deliberately hung back behind the group, firstly in order to serve as a "sweeper" in case some of the folks up front encountered trouble (had several first-timers on the trip), and secondly in order to play around with the lamp.
Suicide Cave has a decent diversity of passage types and rooms. Nothing huge... but several decent rooms, some formation areas, and plenty of opportunities to scramble, squirm, climb, traverse, etc. There was some crawling, too, and we also negotiated a nice slithery narrow cut-down canyon on the trip out. Excellent cave. On this trip, I was running the clear lens (though I did have the diffuser with me, I didn't bother to put it on).
As a general rule, unless I'm going into some honking Camps Gulf-sized cave with no crawling, if I must choose stealthy profile vs. light output, I choose stealth. This light makes you not have to choose, because it delivers BOTH. I found the lowest power setting on the ST-6 to be perfectly adequate for 90% of my light needs... well suited to most passages, while not overpowering in the tight spots. Just keep in mind that I've been running a 50-lumen lamp for a little while now, so this ST-6 is a
BIG step up. Also, I'm a perpetual adjuster, so I'm always adjusting the angle of the light (sometimes I tip my helmet back on my head a little when I get hot, or I like a slightly different angle of attack for a climb vs. crawl, etc.). Given the previous comments about asymmetric weight on the helmet, this light is small and very light, which I think makes the asymmetry a complete non-issue to all but the most sensitive noggins. The brighter settings came in quite handy at times like traversing around pits and step-over canyons... and the overdrive setting was a
beast in formation areas. I was feeling very spoiled.
I did fumble a little with the button sequences at times, double-clicking when I shouldn't or vice-versa, but I assume this will improve as I use the light more. The unit did respond well to muddy gloves, unlike some other switches I've used... and the unit was easy to clean and decon.
It might sound a little self-serving, given that I've already sprung for this light, but in my best effort at objective assessment, I'd give the ST-6 an "A" grade. The only way I think such a stealthy and well-designed light could be improved is if there were ~
maybe~
more mounting options. Don't get me wrong, the mount it comes with is great. But I do hope the rubber on the mounting "bracket" doesn't stretch or get brittle with age. If it does, we'll cross that bridge when we get there... right now, it's beautiful. Other than that, I was super stoked about performance,
especially in such a stealthy package.
As it came to pass, I
also had the good fortune to have two cavers on the trip wearing Fenix lights. Not sure if they were the HP-11s or not. But these were brand new rigs, so I'm thinking they were. From my perspective, I think the Fenix looked like a decent rig, too. Maybe even great--these two folks sure weren't complaining. One thing I noticed was the Fenix had the diffuser lens was permanently mounted to the housing with a hinge, so you could swivel it on or off at will. Not a bad idea, but I was worried about the durability of having that diffuser hanging "out in the wind" like that, susceptible to either impact or jamming from debris in the hinge. Other than that, and the battery pack being mounted on the rear of the helmet, performance seemed fairly similar to mine, with the high-power edge going to the ST-6.
I don't think you could go wrong with either light. But coming out of the cave, I had that sort of blissful feeling one gets at the start of a beautiful relationship.
The ST-6 is a
damn good light... and I think it will hold its own against much more expensive lights.
Hope this helps,
-Dean