Stenlight S7 Dual Luxeon III Headlamp Review.

[jtice]

Hello,
I have been lurking here for quite a while.
There certainly is alot of excellent information and input here.
I thought I would contribute some information as well.




I was fortunate enough to be one of the first few to buy one of the new Stenlight headlamps, and I was the first to test the new Prototype Reflectors that are being made for the Stenlight, by close freind of mine, Jon Sidney Burlison, which is a Stenlight dealer also.
You can visit his website at http://www.jsburlysflashlights.com

You can read more about the Stenlight on its creators site.
http://www.stenlight.com

Jon not only has the best prices anywhere for the Stenlight,
he liked it so much, he has been doing his best to make sure all the hard core cavers knows about it.
He also wants to do his part to improve it, so he started work on the Reflectors to replace the stock optics in the Stenlight.
The Reflectors are also reviewed on my site, and I must say, they are quite an improvement.

Anyway, here is my review of the Stenlight, and the Prototype Reflectors.
http://www.jtice.com/review/lights/stenlight_s7/

Please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have.

~John

[driggs]

Hi John, welcome to the NSS forums.

You forgot to mention on your review that you didn't actually take the reflector underground.

You should also mention that the vendor that you're shamelessly plugging has made a public offer of a reduced price for posting "a mini review on a caving site."

There is a Speleo-Marketplace forum if you'd like to pimp goods. Please don't spill the marketing into other forums.

In trying to salvage this thread... I'd be interested in seeing a real side-by-side comparison of these reflectors vs. stock optics. I suggested to the vendor that he bring some to OTR, but I got the impression that he wasn't so much catering to cavers as he was just trying to sell stenlights.

[jtice]

Hello Dave,

Sorry you felt that way about my post.
I saw plenty of other posts about the Stenlight on here, and thought that some may want to see my review of it also,
mainly due to the new reflectors being develeoped.
I wanted to let people know that they were in the works.

I dont see how I couldnt mention Jon in the process, since he is having them made.
Plus the fact that he has been nothing but kind to me and everyone else he comes in contact with. and no, I dont mean that as just cheap prices.
Did I give him a plug? sure, why wouldnt I?
I gave David of Stenlight plenty of plugging after I first got my Stenlight also.
I think we all did, its been a great light.
If I recall, you were the first one to post on CPF about the Stenlight.

I dont do these reviews for money, I didnt even get my Stenlight from Jon.
He wasnt even a dealer when I first wrote the review.

No, I have not had the pleasure of trying out the new reflectors in a cave.
Timing on both out parts didnt allow it.
I do have a week long caving trip comming up on the 12th,
which I hope to be able to bring a set of reflectors along with me, if Jon has them ready by then.

While I wasnt able to do any in cave testing of the reflectors, I do use my Stenlight daily,
and was able to form an opinion of how they performed.
And I also did side by side comparisions in the photos on my review.
While they may not be in a cave, I think they do a fairly nice job of showing the difference.

Jon wanted to goto OTR, and a couple other events.
Unfortunately, he is simply not in the fanacial potision to do so.
There is another convention coming up that he planned to goto, but is now unable to.
He has poured money into his store, the reflectors, and another light that he is working on.

again, sorry if you saw my post as a total plug, it wasnt ment to be that way.
I always make a post when I do a new review.
I never got the origianl review posted here, as I was still lurking here.
Saw I figured after the update, I would make a post here.

~John

[driggs]

Sorry you felt that way about my post.

Sorry to come across so harshly, but your post stinks of advertising rather than information. As you said, there is already plenty of postings about the StenLight, including a large one (just a few postings down from this thread currently) which includes a link to your excellent original review - from almost an entire year ago.

Anyway...

When you review the production version, could you do beamshots comparing the reflectored-version vs. stock optics. It's apples/oranges to see it compared to your aftermarket optics when 99% of the StenLights out there probably have the originals installed. Does the relector sit underneath the optics, so that they're combined, or do you install either the optics or the reflector but not both? Does the reflector increase or decrease the distance that the light throws? Does it help with depth-perception in cave by making the light source less directional?

I want to see an improved StenLight switch that doesn't get all gritty with dirt!

[jtice]

Its ok Dave,

I figured my review was floating around here somewhere, but I never posted it directly.
I posted my review on here now due to the fact that I just added the reflector information to the bottom of that review.

Is there some advertising in my post? you bet
Though it wasnt my main intention, I did want to make ppl aware of this reflector project.
Jon needs input, ideas, opinions etc. on them, if they are to become something truely useful to us.
Such as your questions below, that I will address.
Jon also needs to get a better idea of if these are truely wanted,
hes pouring his own money into them, so he wants to make sure theres demand.

The reflectors will Replace the optics.
You simply take the front lens off, take out the optics, and drop in the reflectors.
There may be an additional spacer to help keep them centered and shimmed just right.

Sorry my review didnt have a direct comparison to the stock optics configuration,
I knew that issue was going to arise, and I will get beamshots of that when I can.
I did do the comparision though, just never got shots of it.
I personally think my optic combo is a bit better than stock, but thats all personal preference.
I also thought the reflectors were even better than my optics.

The reflectors seem to increase everything, due to them being more efficient.
The flood was much wider, and brighter. Thats a big plus, helps depth perception, and field of view.
They also throw further.
This is where personal opinion will vary.
Since they had goof flood, I liked the additional throw.
Really performed well in the woods, and open areas.
Some may find it just a bit too spotty for real close up work,
but the production run it supposed to be a bit wider spot, should be great.

I found the un-even beam of the optics to be more of a directional feeling,
even if I made them cast a larger spot.
Since the optics werent as smooth and even, I noticed that moving around more than the spot from the reflectors.

Yep, switch gets a bit gritty, not a whole lot that can prevent that,
I am just happy it cleans out well.
I just submerge mine, and switch it back and forth a few times.

As I said, I hope to have another set of reflectors to test on the week long trip.
Any specific shots you would like to see? Or specific questions you all would like answered?

~John