gcbryan
Flashlight Enthusiast
I went on a night hike here in town but it was almost like a night hike in the mountains in that there was a change in elevation (bluff down to the Sound) and most of it was in the woods.
Weight wasn't a major concern so I also took a single 18650 light using a XR-E R2 that I modified with an aspheric lens. I kept this in my pocket and only pulled it out when we located some wildlife to try to identify. The point of the hike was both to test out the headlamps and to see if we could view more wildlife at night than in the daytime.
My friend had at Petzl Tikka XP 2 and I had the BD Storm. I noticed several things. As long as it's not a hardcore hike where every ounce counts it's nice to have a small "thrower" as mentioned for wildlife spotting. Regardless of which headlamp was pointed in the direction of wildlife generally only their reflective eyes could be seem.
By then pointing the "thrower" in the direction of those eyes we could identify the animal easily (except in one case where I just don't know what kind of animal it was!).
The XP 2 was better than I thought it would be. I've played around with one on several other occasions. I still don't like the clear body. You can push the unit higher up on your forehead to reduce the glare effect but my opinion on that aspect didn't change.
All other aspects were favorable however. The beam is nice and "throwy" and the diffuser allows for a bright diffused beam. It's not as pleasing as my true flood but it's much brighter. The red LED is much brighter as well. We could use it to hike with sometimes. That's not possible with mine.
There is another issue with mine that I'll just put in the category of "more is also more complex"
I have a spot beam as well as a true flood beam and I also have infinitely adjustable brightness through ramping. These are features but they also have their downside.
I would turn my light on in spot mode and then press the button waiting for the ramping to get to the best illumination level. Generally my angle adjustment is at the second position. This meant that when I was pressing on the button it was at a bit of an angle as well. Sometimes it would ramp and sometimes it would think I clicked it to turn it off. I would turn it back on but now it would be in flood mode. I would turn it off (and on) again to get back in spot mode which would now be in high of course and I would start over with the ramping.
This can happen only because I have the "feature" of ramping and because I have the choice of spot and flood. The XP 2 doesn't have those choices but it also doesn't have the downside that I've just described.
I have a PT EOS coming by next Monday so it will be interesting to see how it performs on my next night hike which will actually be in the mountains just outside of town. It won't have the option of flood mode or a red LED mode but it also can't unintentionally bounce from one mode to the other.
On the other hand my light (on high) was brighter than the XP 2 and the flood was more pleasing. When moving around in flood mode their is no apparent movement of the light beam (due to the greater angle). The XP 2 diffused beam is a directional beam rather than true flood.
I do really like the lock-out mode and battery indicator on the Storm.
I'll probably have to add the XP 2 to my headlamp "collection" one day but I don't like the clear body. I'm hoping an upgrade for the XP 2 comes out soon and is a true upgrade. If I find a good price on it I may have to buy it anyway.
I've checked out Brightguy but with a shipping fee of $8.95 I can generally do better elsewhere. Amazon is good but they are based in my town so taxes apply. Usually I can just buy from one of their partners who aren't in my state and then taxes don't apply. That's how I got the PT Eos for $35 shipped.
So I think I've learned to carry a small thrower when practical and to consider the headlamps with the least features as long as they have the necessary features
By the way, I know some prefer to use a flood beam for hiking and a flashlight for throw but that's not my preference. For general hiking (and not animal spotting) I don't need to carry a flashlight. If it weren't for the aspheric (extreme throw in a small package) I'd have no need for a separate flashlight. On a more hardcore hike/climb I wouldn't be animal spotting and wouldn't carry the aspheric either.
Weight wasn't a major concern so I also took a single 18650 light using a XR-E R2 that I modified with an aspheric lens. I kept this in my pocket and only pulled it out when we located some wildlife to try to identify. The point of the hike was both to test out the headlamps and to see if we could view more wildlife at night than in the daytime.
My friend had at Petzl Tikka XP 2 and I had the BD Storm. I noticed several things. As long as it's not a hardcore hike where every ounce counts it's nice to have a small "thrower" as mentioned for wildlife spotting. Regardless of which headlamp was pointed in the direction of wildlife generally only their reflective eyes could be seem.
By then pointing the "thrower" in the direction of those eyes we could identify the animal easily (except in one case where I just don't know what kind of animal it was!).
The XP 2 was better than I thought it would be. I've played around with one on several other occasions. I still don't like the clear body. You can push the unit higher up on your forehead to reduce the glare effect but my opinion on that aspect didn't change.
All other aspects were favorable however. The beam is nice and "throwy" and the diffuser allows for a bright diffused beam. It's not as pleasing as my true flood but it's much brighter. The red LED is much brighter as well. We could use it to hike with sometimes. That's not possible with mine.
There is another issue with mine that I'll just put in the category of "more is also more complex"
I have a spot beam as well as a true flood beam and I also have infinitely adjustable brightness through ramping. These are features but they also have their downside.
I would turn my light on in spot mode and then press the button waiting for the ramping to get to the best illumination level. Generally my angle adjustment is at the second position. This meant that when I was pressing on the button it was at a bit of an angle as well. Sometimes it would ramp and sometimes it would think I clicked it to turn it off. I would turn it back on but now it would be in flood mode. I would turn it off (and on) again to get back in spot mode which would now be in high of course and I would start over with the ramping.
This can happen only because I have the "feature" of ramping and because I have the choice of spot and flood. The XP 2 doesn't have those choices but it also doesn't have the downside that I've just described.
I have a PT EOS coming by next Monday so it will be interesting to see how it performs on my next night hike which will actually be in the mountains just outside of town. It won't have the option of flood mode or a red LED mode but it also can't unintentionally bounce from one mode to the other.
On the other hand my light (on high) was brighter than the XP 2 and the flood was more pleasing. When moving around in flood mode their is no apparent movement of the light beam (due to the greater angle). The XP 2 diffused beam is a directional beam rather than true flood.
I do really like the lock-out mode and battery indicator on the Storm.
I'll probably have to add the XP 2 to my headlamp "collection" one day but I don't like the clear body. I'm hoping an upgrade for the XP 2 comes out soon and is a true upgrade. If I find a good price on it I may have to buy it anyway.
I've checked out Brightguy but with a shipping fee of $8.95 I can generally do better elsewhere. Amazon is good but they are based in my town so taxes apply. Usually I can just buy from one of their partners who aren't in my state and then taxes don't apply. That's how I got the PT Eos for $35 shipped.
So I think I've learned to carry a small thrower when practical and to consider the headlamps with the least features as long as they have the necessary features
By the way, I know some prefer to use a flood beam for hiking and a flashlight for throw but that's not my preference. For general hiking (and not animal spotting) I don't need to carry a flashlight. If it weren't for the aspheric (extreme throw in a small package) I'd have no need for a separate flashlight. On a more hardcore hike/climb I wouldn't be animal spotting and wouldn't carry the aspheric either.
