El Speleo Light

[Jeff Bartlett]

There are advantages to buying domestic.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is a breakdown of the cave-specific "boutique" lights currently available:

Stenlight (US)
Scurion (international)
Rude Nora / CustomDUO (international)
El Speleo (international)
Kavelight (US)

Most or all of these international options have US distributors, but all would have to go across the pond when repairs are necessary, correct? In my experience, no lights are truly caveproof, and every headlamp listed here has stories from users requiring a repair (except potentially those that are brand new to market).

[Amazingracer]

There are advantages to buying domestic.

Most or all of these international options have US distributors, but all would have to go across the pond when repairs are necessary, correct?

Yep. I almost had to send my Scruion back across the pond because I thought I killed. However what Im guessing Derek is referring to is his Scurion went out through no fault of his own and had to send it back to get fixed, but then was Scurion-less for a while. Where as domestic (a la Sten) means a quicker turn around time.

[NZcaver]

I also had to pay shipping and customs to get it over to Switzerland even though it was a manufacturing problem.

So the customs people in Switzerland charged import duties for your used defective headlamp to be returned to the manufacturer for repair? Wow. That sucks.

[Extremeophile]

I also had to pay shipping and customs to get it over to Switzerland even though it was a manufacturing problem.

So the customs people in Switzerland charged import duties for your used defective headlamp to be returned to the manufacturer for repair? Wow. That sucks.

It didn't seem right to me either, but both Scurion and the USPS confirmed that there was a customs fee due. The problem had something to do with insulation on the wires in the switch mechanism. Scurion claimed they knew of the problem before the units were shipped, but they didn't know which units had the problem and which didn't. Seemed to me they were letting customers do the quality control testing and mine happened to fail. At least they were honest about the root cause, but it sounded like a preventable problem.

The Kavelight is very nice, probably the highest lumen output of any lamp, and I think all those who have bought one would attest to top-notch customer service.

[nekid]

This light is brighter than Rude Nora and Sten.

And only three times the size of the latter! :)

Sorry for delayed reply, Rud Nora and Sten toghether

[nekid]

Great discount on website www.elspeleo.com

[Dat5un]

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Mine has been working wonderfully, and the guys from El Speleo have been great about getting back to me regarding questions very promptly! My only complaint is the adjustment screws on the light bracket. Same complaint as most everyone else. I replaced the thumb screws with one with larger heads. This has helped a little. I plan on adding some rubber washers into the mix tomorrow so it wont be metal on metal and I'll let you guys know how that works out. I also added some blue anodized screws just for fun:)

[kevinm]

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Mine has been working wonderfully, and the guys from El Speleo have been great about getting back to me regarding questions very promptly! My only complaint is the adjustment screws on the light bracket. Same complaint as most everyone else. I replaced the thumb screws with one with larger heads. This has helped a little. I plan on adding some rubber washers into the mix tomorrow so it wont be metal on metal and I'll let you guys know how that works out. I also added some blue anodized screws just for fun:)

Rubber is probably not what you want. Get the nylon ones. I use them on my light (different brand), and I have not had to tighten the screws for a year now.

Kevin