grnamin
Enlightened
Talk about a lot of light when your eyes are adjusted to the dark. The Petzl Myo XP delivers just that. We won an online raffle held by Backpacker magazine for their Under the Stars program in the New York City area. We registered for an overnight camping experience in the Bronx and were treated to a campsite at Orchard Beach, a 2-mile night hike (round-trip) down the boardwalk, onto the beach to observe mating horseshoe crabs, then over to an owl preserve to see if we could spot some nocturnal winged predators. None cooperated so we settled for a peek at a red salamander in its natural habitat. Everyone was issued (lent really) a Led Lenser Triplex headlamp which proved no match for the Petzl Myo XP. The former's beam was quite weak and bluish compared to the latter's very strong and white beam. Even at economic mode, the XP still outshined the Triplex. The boost mode didn't make much of a difference when activated while the light was already operating at maximum capability, but was quite noticeable from either optimum or economic output. For close-up work, economic output was more than enough, especially inside a tent, where the diffuser flooded the whole 4-man sized interior with light to read by. I preferred to use the diffuser inside the tent while the light was in maximum mode. It was like having a fluorescent lamp in there. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif. There are only two things I find lacking in the Myo XP: 1) lack of regulation and 2) the design of the top strap seems like an afterthought. I can see the plastic loops that secure the strap onto the bulb head and battery pack breaking in very cold weather. I can't wait to go on another hiking/backpacking/camping trip so I can put the XP through its paces again.
