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Extremeophile wrote:I don't have any "official" specifications. Below are the values for the Sten Premium (why even consider the regular S7?) that I received when I inquired in Nov '09.
When I received the lamp I charged the battery and ran in on "high" (level 3) and it went 20 hours before stepping down. A little over a year later I tried this again and got 25 hours. I'm not sure if the battery is holding more charge or if the circuitry is delivering fewer amps to the emitter (and therefore reduced lumen output). They claim that their lumen ratings are OTF and conservative and I tend to believe this based on comparisons to other lights. There are more efficient lights now with the Cree XP-G and XM-L LEDs, but manufacturers haven't put them into a lamp package that is as appealing to cavers as the Sten. The small, light weight aluminum head coupled to a Li-ion battery is hard to beat. That's why so many people own them.
Also, because of differences in beams it's always hard to make direct comparisons.
I have last years model CD1003 for my duo. It has an output listed at over 300 lumens . You have to use eneloops to achieve that. So far I have only used alkalines in it as I have a large supply and it appears to be about as bright as The HP-10. The Duo insert has two bulbs that run at one time, one is for flood and the other for spot.This is a very nice combination for caving .On the other side I have the old 14 insert that is outdated tech. but seems to be efficeint , has a nice spill but no spot. You can carry you "old" bulbs in your pack to change out in the cave in the rare event something happened to your bulbs. I still say if you already own the duo and are looking for a current generation light that I feel the Duo with the Custom Duo insert is the best way to go without spending 400 bucks or more. Sure, the light design is close to 20 years old but for about the same price as an HP-10 ( no spill) or Apex ( battery hog) you can put a current generation very efficient bulb in a light you already own that has proven to me to be cave worthy.I use the stuff you buy in the auto parts stores for car bulbs on the contacts in the battery case and never had the first problem in 18 years. I doubt if anyone will be able to get that kind of duration out of a Fennix or HP-10. I use my duo for horizontal and on a second ecrin I have the HP-10 for pit yo yos .Extremeophile wrote:Also, because of differences in beams it's always hard to make direct comparisons.
A lot of truth in this statement. The Scurion has identical LEDs, but one is for flood and one has a lens for spot. The levels for each LED are the same current draw and the same lumen output, but the spot, even on the lowest setting, is extremely bright (high lumens per square foot) compared to the flood. The Sten on turbo may look weaker than the Fenix HP-10 at 200 lumens, but the beam pattern is completely different. The Sten beam is much easier to cave with.
On a tangent... I recently bought the CustomDuo side module with the Cree XP-G LED for my old (original) Duo and like it very much. I got the cd703-xpg to replace the incandescent side of the Duo, which was virtually useless. This module puts out 260 lumens (high) for ~3 hours or 140 lumens (medium) for ~6 hours. I tested mine on a set of Eneloops and got 7 hours on the medium setting before it stepped down. I got the one with the "forward bias flood" optics and really like the beam pattern. I think it's exactly the right balance of spot and flood for general caving. It was only about $55 delivered. So many great lights to choose from these days.
rlboyce wrote:I must admit that if the Stens used current LED tech, as stingy as I am, I'd still buy one in a heart beat. Save for the output, they have the best of every world. As better LEDs don't seem to be in the manufacturer's plans for the near future, I'll personally be buying something with more lumens for much, much cheaper.
I didn't major in electronics... do any of you know if 980mA is going to EACH led or if it is divided among the two?? I assume each, given the large calculated numbers by Sten, and if so, then yes the larger estimates are quite possible.
LukeM wrote:Yes, it would have to be 980mA to each for the total draw to be 7 Watts. ~3.5V (typical voltage for LED at max current) x 980mA = ~3.5 Watts.
I agree with Yucca, From what what I remember the Hurricane was at a similar price as The Sten but was had a much higher lumen output on max than the The Sten. Bif is a caver and knows what type of light patterns cavers want. I am VERY impressed with the spread of light with the CD1003 insert. I too cannot wait for the Rude Nora.YuccaPatrol wrote:We've strayed a bit off topic now that this thread is discussing pros and cons o the sten light, but I did want to point out that the Sten is not the only upgradable/rebuildable/adaptable caving headlamp. The original single LED Little Monkey headlamp could be upgraded to the dual LED Hurricane version and several variations were available including the choice of LED tint (cool or neutral). I, myself, had my Little Monkey upgraded to a Hurricane. Considering how the manufacturer seems to like offering a wide range of possible configurations with his custom Petzl Duo upgrade modules, It's a pretty sure bet that the upcoming Rude Nora lamp is designed to have more than one possible configuration and could be upgraded/altered/modified at a later time after purchase.
Jon wrote:Warning.......still
But I do get ribbed from time to time when a Fenix person gets asked to light that up way over there.
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