ifor powell
Enlightened
Found a New Black Diamond Ion wandering around Snow and Rock in the UK. As the old Ion is the light I generaly always have as a spair when out in the dark I could not resist getting the new one at only £13
The lights the same basic saze and shape as the old Ion but with a 0.5w power led as opposed to 2 5mm leds. It's a very small unit using a quirky 6V Silver oxide battery. It comes in at < 30g with the battery. I used the old one as my mountain marathoin light where as long as I ran to form it would just be needed for aroiund camp. It also served as my emergancy backup when out night Orienteering or mountain biking with another light, when not doing these jobs it lived with my light weight first aid kit so tended to get carried around all the time when walking or biking.
The new light has two levels compared to the old ones single level the new low is similar to the old level and the high is a big step up. With the old light you could walk your way home but you would not want to try navigating too precisly with it. With the new high you realy could navigate well as the beams good for at least 20m on a fresh battery.
The lights advertised as storm proof and has no real seals but that never stoped the old light in some fairly bad weather.
The light come apart easaly. the battery fits behind the driver board which has the led mounted to it. The low level is done with PWM which I know some people don't like but I have never had any problems with it on my Spot. The chip also is setup so that on and off take a 1 second press of the button and then a quick click just switches from high to low and back. The button itself is bigger than on the old Ion and has the case moulded around it to try and help prevent acidental presses which was a problem with the old light. I would expect the new light to be far easier to use with gloves on than the old.
Old Ion
New Ion on Low
New Ion on High
All in all a nice improvment and I will happily carry the new light as I did the old.
There are some more pictures here
Ifor
The lights the same basic saze and shape as the old Ion but with a 0.5w power led as opposed to 2 5mm leds. It's a very small unit using a quirky 6V Silver oxide battery. It comes in at < 30g with the battery. I used the old one as my mountain marathoin light where as long as I ran to form it would just be needed for aroiund camp. It also served as my emergancy backup when out night Orienteering or mountain biking with another light, when not doing these jobs it lived with my light weight first aid kit so tended to get carried around all the time when walking or biking.
The new light has two levels compared to the old ones single level the new low is similar to the old level and the high is a big step up. With the old light you could walk your way home but you would not want to try navigating too precisly with it. With the new high you realy could navigate well as the beams good for at least 20m on a fresh battery.
The lights advertised as storm proof and has no real seals but that never stoped the old light in some fairly bad weather.
The light come apart easaly. the battery fits behind the driver board which has the led mounted to it. The low level is done with PWM which I know some people don't like but I have never had any problems with it on my Spot. The chip also is setup so that on and off take a 1 second press of the button and then a quick click just switches from high to low and back. The button itself is bigger than on the old Ion and has the case moulded around it to try and help prevent acidental presses which was a problem with the old light. I would expect the new light to be far easier to use with gloves on than the old.
Old Ion
New Ion on Low
New Ion on High
All in all a nice improvment and I will happily carry the new light as I did the old.
There are some more pictures here
Ifor
