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Well the st6 finally arrived and it's very nice. I paired it with it's cousin the sd6 for a great lightweight combo. I'm surprised how much smaller the st is than the sd. Here are some pics.
I got the lights for $89 ea. Not bad.
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w226 ... 65b3d8.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w226 ... ad8d64.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w226 ... 667ee7.jpg

Like a freaking boss!

Lots o light!

do you carry any other lights besides the 3 on your helmet?

^yea I have two mAmmut headlamps, one of which I keep in the pack for backup. Also a fenix e05 for emergency.

Chads93GT wrote:do you carry any other lights besides the 3 on your helmet?

With three LED lights on his helmet, does he need any more? Spare batteries might be enough until his helmet gets knocked off of his head.

Exactly, one could lose his helmet entirely. The e05 can go around my neck although I usually keep it in a pocket. Id like to replace the Mammut with something more waterproof.

To the spark users, how many extra 18650's do u carry? I currently have 1 extra per light but just ordered two more so I'll have 3 total per light

polrbear wrote:

Chads93GT wrote:do you carry any other lights besides the 3 on your helmet?

With three LED lights on his helmet, does he need any more? Spare batteries might be enough until his helmet gets knocked off of his head.

And that is exactly my point. I was involved in a self rescue late last year where 2 guys lost their helmets and sten lights and their backups were a joke. Trust me, you dont wnat to ever be in that situation, no helmet and no backups worth a damn.

Caver John wrote:To the spark users, how many extra 18650's do u carry? I currently have 1 extra per light but just ordered two more so I'll have 3 total per light

depends on the trip. i have 14 rechargable 18650's, so i usually carry 6 spares, they take up no room compared to 6 sets of spare AA's. lol

6 Spares?! Do you run your light on high the entire time?

I usually run mine on the 2nd of 4 settings for most of my time in cave. I believe it is called Med 1. In any case it supposedly lasts somewhere around 40-50 lumens for 28 hours. I have found it gets around that, even with the frequent flip to high/turbo to check something out. I use AW 2600 mAh protected cells. So usually 1-2 spares.

High settings mostly. Bought them so I could see. If I want dim lights I'd stick with Petzl tikkas. 6 spares is nothing. Ever find yourself in a self rescue you will wish you had more than 1 backup battery.
Just my opinion from my experiences

I carry 3 18650 style lights btw

Chads93GT wrote:

polrbear wrote:

Chads93GT wrote:do you carry any other lights besides the 3 on your helmet?

With three LED lights on his helmet, does he need any more? Spare batteries might be enough until his helmet gets knocked off of his head.

And that is exactly my point. I was involved in a self rescue late last year where 2 guys lost their helmets and sten lights and their backups were a joke. Trust me, you dont wnat to ever be in that situation, no helmet and no backups worth a damn.

I always carry backups on the Ecrin and in the pack and a small light on a lanyard as well. But, I will have to say in 31 years of caving I never had to exit on a back up. The fact that I have used a Duo for the last 18 is one reason. I suspect I am lucky but I will be prepared if I need one. Love the Spark and Zebra , Chad has a nice set up.

So I decided to test the runtimes of these lights. First off, I though the st had higher lumen settings/less runtime than the sd but I guess thats a newer version. Both my sd and st have the following stated runtimes:

Super mode: 500lm/1.8 hours
Max mode: 220lm/3.5 hours
Med2 mode: 80lm/12 hours
Med1 mode: 12lm/120 hours
Low mode: 0.5lm/90 days

After testing both on max setting with fully charged Tenergy 2600mah 18650's:
Sd6-500cw 3hr23min
St6-500cw 3hr45min

I kinda wish my st had the newer lumen/runtime settings which gives 320lm/2.5hr rather than 220lm/3.5hr on max but I guess the longer runtime is good and the fact that both lights will run out around the same time is good for predictability.