by Tubo Longo » Nov 3, 2007 1:18 pm
The Petzl generator was born with some problems: to my knowledge they have been mostly solved, but meantime it got stuck with some sort of bad name. Also is considered, at least in Italy, an odd generator, because the amount of water it carry is quite small and so you need to refill water way often to burn out all the carbide it carry.
Since the amount of water in the water tank is important to keep up the system under pressure and so to have a brighter light, this means it gives the visual sensation of not making enough light, or worse a poor light.
The Stella (which is the same lamp than the Repetto, just a different marketing name) as well as the MTDE (the same lamp made in aluminum) and the Alp Design (made in plastic) have instead a water tank of the same size of the carbide tank, so somehow easing the problem of the pressure. True is that if you're getting 6 to 10 hrs of light out of the very same charge of carbide (very possible in my own experience), then you'll need anyway to refill the water.
Consider also that the Repetto/Stella is definitely the heaviest at 600gr empty: on the other side, it carry 1/3 more carbide than the MTDE and the Alp Design (350gr vs 270 gr) and 50gr more than the Petzl.
PS the flares up may be given by the thick sponge used in the Petzl: it take some time to soak and then you get an huge release of gas at once.
Last edited by
Tubo Longo on Nov 4, 2007 8:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.