Mark620
Enlightened
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2006
- Messages
- 326
This thread has degraded enough that I may not be able to offer much useful information but here goes. . .
I cave a lot in big borehole passages where maximum output lets me see the whole cave. People with 60 lumen lights don't see anything but their immediate surroundings.
Your Zebralight is great for close up flood, but you need something to throw some lumens into the distance to really enjoy the caves.
Since you have a $300 budget or so, go with one of the cave-specific custom lamps. None of the plastic mainstream lights will compare with something truly built for the extreme environments found in caves.
Of course, plenty of my friends do very well with modified Apex's and similar 100+ lumen lights, especially when they have a supplemental hand held flashlight to throw some light where needed.
As far as I am concerned, I would rather strap two Rebel based MINI-Mags to either side of my helmet and get performance similar to some of the high end lights for 1/10 the cost and still have lights that are rather durable compared to the plastic lamps.
My custom light (Serv-Light 1.0 with 1 MC-E, 1 P7, and 1 P4) puts out about 450 lumens on high with a very clean combo of flood and throw that makes even the big borehole passages very well illuminated. For all the money I spend on gas driving to the caves, the least I can do is have the best light source I can get.
Hey Yucca,
Come up to TN with all your lights and I will see about getting a trip to Crashing Spire...