Light for day tour in caves at Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

Hi guys,

I need your advise on a decent light for cave touring at Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. I do not think it is going to be awfully dark but I would still like to have a good light with lots of throw ready if needed. I have a LF2X as an EDC. This tiny monster has quite a lot of throw. Is this enough? Or can I get a cheap one from DX that costs less than $20? Preferably using AA batts or CR123s. I saw some pretty bright lights but do not know whether the runtimes are good or not. I would expect maybe 1.5hrs on high mode. Can anyone advise on the runtime for this model http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13269
or maybe recommend me one within my budget and that has good runtime? Thanks in advance

If I were you, I would choose a flashight with AA batteries, Im not sure how easy is to find 123s in Vietnam...


Pablo

I vote for get the AA light.

The DX light you are thinking of probably is a good bit less than 220 lumens. The throw will not be super due the the small head.

The AA Olights have good throw and may be worth considering but they are expensive.

The Romisen RC-N3 is a great light available from DX. It can run off 2xAAs or one CR123A battery. The runtime is great (3 1/2+hours on good NIMH cells), it works on well on alkalines, and it throws well. The Q5 version is available from shiningbeam.com and is a little brighter. It only has one mode though.

See bessiebennies budget light review (sticky) thread on the top of the LED forum.

Have a good back up light (or two) of course.

Have fun caving!

Take the best and brightest light you can afford, and as many spare cells as you can carry.

Whatever light you choose will be far better than anyone else's, including the tour guide, who will probably have a Mag running on depleted alkalines and giving maybe 10 lumens at best.

Most people here on CPF have forgotten just how hopeless non-CPFers are about lights. You are about to find that out, in the best and most rewarding way!

You will be the hero of the party with your bright light. Everyone else will be crowding around you, especially the girls, lol. Have fun!

TONY M said:

The DX light you are thinking of probably is a good bit less than 220 lumens. The throw will not be super due the the small head.

The AA Olights have good throw and may be worth considering but they are expensive.

The Romisen RC-N3 is a great light available from DX. It can run off 2xAAs or one CR123A battery. The runtime is great (3 1/2+hours on good NIMH cells), it works on well on alkalines, and it throws well. The Q5 version is available from shiningbeam.com and is a little brighter. It only has one mode though.

See bessiebennies budget light review (sticky) thread on the top of the LED forum.

Have a good back up light (or two) of course.

Have fun caving!

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Hi Tony,
While I was searching for the RC-N3, I saw this RC-X5. How do they compare to each other? I noticed from the pictures in DX seems like RC-X5 is a lot dimmer than RC-N3. And also about the 3.5 hr runtime, I assume it is on 2 good AAs? How about runtime on a CR123? Thanks

BTW, I won't be in the cave for long as the tour guide will most probably usher us to another spot ASAP to finish the itinerary :shakehead:

Almost every time I recommend the Fenix L2D Q5. For caves it would be perfect.

DM51 said:

You will be the hero of the party with your bright light. Everyone else will be crowding around you, especially the girls, lol. Have fun!

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True, just don't start telling them the in depth specifications or how it works in detail!

ruriimasu said:

Hi Tony,
While I was searching for the RC-N3, I saw this RC-X5. How do they compare to each other? I noticed from the pictures in DX seems like RC-X5 is a lot dimmer than RC-N3. And also about the 3.5 hr runtime, I assume it is on 2 good AAs? How about runtime on a CR123? Thanks

BTW, I won't be in the cave for long as the tour guide will most probably usher us to another spot ASAP to finish the itinerary :shakehead:

Click to expand...

I'm not sure how the RC-X5 compares to the RC-N3. It is very long though, and will be a little harder to pocket than the the RC-N3 which is still long for a 2xAA.
The pics on DX may not be accurate so don't take them too seriously.

As LED-holic says a Fenix L2D is a superb light. I have had two of them and the only bad point is that they are slippery due to lack of aggressive knurling. The standard version is on sale now at fenix-store. The similar Olights (T25) have better throw as the reflector is larger. Either light is impressively bright for 2xAA.

will this be a guided tour situation of a specific duration, or will you be on your own roaming around with the potential to get lost or spend more time than you plan for. In the second scenario I'd be much more concerned with run-time, back-ups, extra cells, etc.

LOL, very true. You'll go from hero to nerd the moment you start talking about the different modes, lumens rating, battery, runtime, etc.

TONY M said:

True, just don't start telling them the in depth specifications or how it works in detail!

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In my opinion for any trip in such an atmospheric location it just has to be incandescant - (With lots of spare batteries).
I would take a SF E2E but another great recommendation came from Mdocod which is a 2 X 18650 Leefbody combined with a LF ES-9 giving about 2.5 hours of good light on each set of batteries.
I think that bulb in a SF G3 with sets of AWs 17500s would also be great.
I know these ideas are blowing your budget apart but should give you food for thought.

I toured Vietnam (including the caves of Ha Long) in 2006. I had a Surefire E2E and an M4 with me. The caves were so crowded, and fairly well-lit, that I felt sort of self-consious about firing up the M4. So I used the E2E, and it was plenty. They do having lighting inside the caves - garish multicolored lighting that is! I didn't want to ruin the "light show" for everyone else with the M4, which it easily would have.

If your tour includes seeing the Ch'am ruins - BRING YOUR BIGGEST LIGHT! I took this portion of the tour in broad daylight, so I figured, what do I need a light for? My family gave me endless grief about that when we went inside a completely darkened Ch'am pyramid and all my lights were left on the bus. It wasn't a huge Egyptian-style pyramid, but it was totally dark inside, and some European backpacker had an AA Minimag on him. I was completely mortified hahaha.

If you are doing the Cu Chi tunnels go ahead and unleash the flashaholic... the tour guides there got a kick out of the M4. The only thing they had for flashlights were plastic D-cell crook-necks that put off as much light as an orange cat. The tunnels are long and dark if you decide to go through them all. Only about 900 feet of tunnel are open to the public, and if you're too large they won't let you in. I'm 5'9", 165 lbs. and had difficulty getting through a few portions because they were so narrow. I thrashed my shirt by squeezing my shoulders through about 20' of tunnel, which was carved out of what felt like sandstone (which of course was muddy that day).

The M4 saw most use on this trip, and mostly for long-range walking navigation at night. Some of the hotels I stayed at were bungalow style, and the hotel campus was rather huge, so I could easily spot my bungalow from a distance in the dark with the M4. Plus it was fun "spotting" down the beach at night, spotting the Perfume River in Hue and so on.

My dad borrowed the M4 when taking my mom out at night to use as a lead pipe if necessary, even though we all knew the street crime rate there is relatively low, but figured it's better to be safe than sorry.

I was harassed once when I was alone on a darkened street, by some kids on a motor scooter that did a close and fast "fly by," ostensibly to scare the heck out of me, but that's it.

GPB said:

will this be a guided tour situation of a specific duration, or will you be on your own roaming around with the potential to get lost or spend more time than you plan for. In the second scenario I'd be much more concerned with run-time, back-ups, extra cells, etc.

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i dunno.. i guess it is a guided tour. at most we will stay in the caves for an hour or so. there won't be any potential to get lost. but i really don't want a light that runs less than an hour on high.

I hope you will have a good time in Ha Long Bay (I'm from Vietnam, but never been to Ha Long Bay, maybe some day... hehe). For battery type, I will choose AA because CR123 might be expensive and hard to find (maybe some photography store or the supermarket will have them, I don't know). I have the Romisen RC-N3 Q5 version and very happy with it. And I don't know how many times you've been in Vietnam but my suggestion is watch out for pocket-picker (sad... but it's very common in Vietnam). You don't want your precious flashlight get stolen

Headlight is the best option for caves, assuming you are actually allowed to use your own illumination.

scott.cr is right, there is more than enough light in any of the normal tour caves. I had an L4 that was fun to light up dark corners and shine down holes but there was really no need for it at all, and just kinda ruins the atmosphere anyways. The main caves are so big that I would have needed my 10x just to make a dent.

Any good light with decent runtime will be fine if TSHTF but it's not like you will need a light just to play tourist.

Oh yeah, always carry a good light no matter the time of day! Never assume...

Dennis.

gokusay99 said:

I hope you will have a good time in Ha Long Bay (I'm from Vietnam, but never been to Ha Long Bay, maybe some day... hehe). For battery type, I will choose AA because CR123 might be expensive and hard to find (maybe some photography store or the supermarket will have them, I don't know). I have the Romisen RC-N3 Q5 version and very happy with it. And I don't know how many times you've been in Vietnam but my suggestion is watch out for pocket-picker (sad... but it's very common in Vietnam). You don't want your precious flashlight get stolen

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i don't really mind if my light gets picked... as i will be travelling there alone, i am more concerned about my travel documents and money

btw, are u a vietnamese or a foreigner working there?

xcel730 said:

LOL, very true. You'll go from hero to nerd the moment you start talking about the different modes, lumens rating, battery, runtime, etc.

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Also very true...but some gals like nerds :naughty:

Now you tell me ! ! !


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