A week in the woods with the tri-v

fasteddie

Enlightened
Joined
Jun 13, 2002
Messages
637
Location
Austin, TX
Just returned from a week of helping lead a boy scout troop at summer camp. Although I took an Aeon for backup/"rough use" and a mcgizmo al mule for a tent light, I ended up using the Tri-V the entire week, and the others got almost no use. Here's my review of the Tri-V:

We were in the pine woods in northeast Texas. Temperatures were high 80s to high 90s. Humidity was very high. No breeze, mostly due to the tall pines. In short, a brutal climate. It was virtually impossible to get dry but for a few hours in the middle of the night, laying on a cot with a fan going. I travelled at night with the Tri-V in a mountainsmith pouch. Size was perfect, and the belt attachment could be undone to move it from a backpack strap to belt. The pouch has a zipper and a velcro flap. The velco messed up the Tri-V wrist strap pretty badly. Dave, if you're reading this, I could use a couple replacements. I had one of the ti beads on the wrist strap but I never needed to use it. I did find myself wishing for the plastic lens cap to protect the asphere and flood during the daytime.

The heat, humidity, occasional bumping and wet hands had no effect on the light. It worked perfectly every night. I did find that I kept the light on the settings I started the week with. I had a printout of the instructions, but I didnt have time or energy to mess with the settings.

I started with the original set of surefire batteries that came with the light, and never had to replace them. I used the light periodically over the course of 6 nights. It was a 25 minute walk round trip to the campsite and to the showers, so the light was on for roughly 2 hours a night. When I tested the batteries on my ZTS after returning home, they were almost dead. The light was working fine on those dead batteries.

Settings: I used a configuration similar to the stock config:

P1. All emitters lit up very dim. Good to use as a finder or for showing off.
P2. Dim flood - useful as a tent light in the middle of the night. I used it hung from a cord in the top/center of the tent.
P3. XPG on low. Used this setting for night hiking to conserve batteries and night vision
P4. XPG on med to high. Great for walking and looking around the camp site. I was very impressed with the XPG.. beam eveness, reach, flood. I really do like everything about it. Amazing how such a small reflector can provide such great light. I'd be all for a small light based on the XPG and that reflector.
P5. Bright flood. We had some Coleman lanters going in the campsite and everyone was amazed at how close the flood came to the lantern. Much as I liked this setting, it wasnt all that useful. It was fun to play with though. I found it hard to find a position for the light that allowed me to use this setting. Laying it down on its side cut off too much of the beam, standing it on end projected the beam up rather than on the task. I just never found the right way to get the most out of this setting.
P6. Asphereical on factory setting. AWESOME!! I never stopped being amazed by this setting. It was like having a searchlight. If I heard something or saw someone approaching, I flipped over to P6 and really lit them up. I could sit outside my tent and scan the entire campsite. The only improvement that crossed my mind is that it would be nice to have a very bright red beam to have some good coverage while preserving night vision.

Heat was never an issue. My son had a SF 6P and it got too hot to touch on night hikes while the Tri-V stayed relatively cool. When I was walking with other folks, they normally turned off their lights and followed the Tri-V.

I will come up with a better config for camping. It would be nice to group the XPG and floods better I think, and have 3 XPG settings instead of wasting one setting on a locator beam. Thats what tritium is for. I'll come up with something that has low lantern, high lantern, L/M/H XPG, Asphere.

In short, I never found myself wishing for anything else from the light. It did everything I needed in one light and I didnt have to make any compromises.

Looks like I'll be buying a backup. After using it for a week outdoors, I cant imagine being without a Tri-V.
 
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Great to hear about you adventures. Mine will be used for similar activities when it arrives.
I am thinking the rail adaptor will help with the flood light, and one of those small Monster tripods.
 
Awesome real-world review. Where was this when my son was doing Boy Scout summer camp???:poke: :D Might have to see if one ever comes up on BST, but these look fantastic!
 
Awesome real-world review. Where was this when my son was doing Boy Scout summer camp???:poke: :D Might have to see if one ever comes up on BST, but these look fantastic!


Oh my!

Scout24...."Ok son now be very careful with this light. It's $2,000 and I may not be able to replace it even if you have $2,000 in your piggy bank".

I've go a 17 year old daugher who is very responsible. She goes where whe says she is going, comes home when she is told, gets good grades, has 2 jobs and pays her own car insurance. BUT, she won't ever be allowed to take my Tri-V or SPY007 anywhere.

Krystl...."Dad can I use the Tri-V to check my car for that missing nickel?

Jslappa..."hell no!"

Krystl..."Dad, can I use the Tri-V to....

Jslappa..."Hell no!"
 
Try prying this from my hands at the lake. Similar story line.
Sitting by the fire, someone needs to head back to the cabin.
Launch - Let me light the way for you..
Guest - Holy Shttt, can I borrow that?
Launch - NO
Guest - Come on, I need to see in the cabin...
Launch - No, Grab the Mag on the stairs, but hands off my Tri V
 
jslappa- No, No, no... I used to go with him for a day or two out of the week... He has an EO1, a Microstream, and uses my H501 headlamp for camping. I have found that he adopts one of my P7 Mags when I am not looking, but he was never allowed to use any of my Spy's out of my arm's reach when I had them... May have to rectify that whole past tense thing...:D
 
I'd never loan anyone a light or a knife. "Nothing gets abused more than a borrowed knife." I doubt anyone would show a borrowed tri-v the care and respect it deserves. I didn't baby it last week, but didnt abuse it either. My sons have my oldest SF lights, a 6P and a 6Z converted to LED. They still outshine most of the other kids lights. One of them loaned their light a few years ago, and it came back hours later with dead batteries. He learned the hard way not to loan a light.
 
P3. XPG on low. Used this setting for night hiking to conserve batteries and night vision
P4. XPG on med to high. Great for walking and looking around the camp site. I was very impressed with the XPG.. beam eveness, reach, flood. I really do like everything about it. Amazing how such a small reflector can provide such great light. I'd be all for a small light based on the XPG and that reflector.
+1 Single cell elegance. :twothumbs
 
Hello Fasteddie,
Very good use result this will let more people know and use the Tri - V your experiences show that Tri - V is not only a beautiful work of art masterpiece, is a masterly craft manufacturing portable tools EDC thank you very much for your provide this travel experience and valuable use of knowledge
 
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