Camping Headlight

[Ratso]

I need an adjustable brightness LED headlight and was looking at a few:

Septor
Trident
Photon Fusion
BD Moolite

I am a bit confused, how come the SL Clipmate can get 80 hrs of run time on 3 AAAs but the Septor claims 40? Is the 40 a more accurate run time at near full brightness and then it burns more dimly till 80 hrs? The Trident claims 150 hrs on 1 LED and the Septor 120hrs! Streamlight has got all their claims contradicting each other! Now I just saw the ProPoly 4 AA and it says 155 hrs on (i think) 7 LEDs! Does a AA battery have that much more capacity??!!

Now the Black Diamond can get 70 on 4 LEDS, and I heard somewhere that you can switch to 2 LEDs for double runtime. But, the website and no retail sites say you can switch. I have seen one of the older models (before the two mode switch?)

Lastly, the Photon looks very impressive with its ton of modes and features but I can't find any runtimes listed, and it is a bit costly.

How bright are the LEDs in each one compared to the rest? I have heard the SL LEDs are slightly overdriven so they are brighter?

 

[Plinko]

Ratso,

THe runtime discrepancies could be due to different resistor values being used in the respective lights. In any event, their runtime claims are slightly inflated, and you'll surely want to change the batteries out much sooner than the stated claims.

The original Black Diamond design called for a swichable unit, 2 or 4 LED's, but manufacturing cost and simplicity of use helped persuade BD to go with a simple on/off switch.

The Photon Fusion runtimes will vary greatly depending on which of the seven modes you use. Photon provides the following information:

"Hyper-Bright": When you really need the most light you can get, just press the Hyper-Bright button. This gives you even more light, but at the cost of a reduced battery life. We figure a fresh set of batteries will run for about 6 hours in Hyper-Bright.

High bright - at this level we estimate approximately a 12 hour battery life

Medium bright - the high bright setting can often be more light than you really need. The medium setting still provides plenty of light but will nearly double the battery life.

Low bright- great for reading or situations where you don't really need a lot of light, this mode will give you an even longer battery life.

All the lights will dim quite a bit as you use them, except for the Fusion, which is fully regulated (so the light output won't dim as the batteries wear down, but rather it will continue on at full brightness as long as the batteries will allow).

It looks like each of these lights have positive features respectivly, so it comes down to what features you want most (cost vs brightness vs runtime).

Cheers!

 

[ikendu]

My daughter has the Aurora and really likes it!

3 white LEDS
3 brightness settings
3 AAAs
Light and comfortable.
Adjustable angle on the light!
Modestly priced...$25

 

[Chuen]

Forget about those runtime figures, runtime figures for any unregulated LED flashlight can be very misleading. I've done some runtime test with my moonlight. It drops to 1/4 of the orginal brightness after 11 hour. At 20th hour it puts out about 10% of the orginal output. Yes, it still gives out some light after 60 hours in my test, but it's not usefull for illuminating things. I personally would consider the useful runtime to be about 10hr.

 

[Quickbeam]

Chuen is absolutely correct. The runtimes on the unregulated lights are absolutely rediculous in most cases.

As a general rule of thumb, most of the time I have found that you will have good, bright, usable light for around 20% to 30% of the runtime claimed by the manufacturer for unregulated lights.

e.g. the Photon 2 White - Runtime claims 12 hours, but after about 3 hours (25%) you'll want to change the batteries...

Of course, fully regulated lights like the Opalec should have regulated runtimes very close to the manufacturer's claims.

For more information on the Streamlight Trident (if you're interested in going that route) check here:

http://thelightsite.cruxial.com/reviews/streamlight_trident.htm

 

[Blikbok]

I second ikendu's recommendation. The Aurora is lightweight and a great bargain. I may get a Trident next.

 

[jtivat]

The Trident is very nice I like mine even with the dark rings in the spot. I was a Cabala's last week and noticed the new ones have a dimpled reflector. Has anyone used seen one of these in action?

 

[Ratso]

Thanks for the help guys!

I think the Septor is what I have in mind right now, basically just a Trident with 4 extra LEDS. Maybe I'll put in some NiMhs which will give a steady brightness.

I looked at Brock's (great) site and noticed the Stylus (1 LED) is ranked pretty high in relative brightness. Assuming that the Septor is at the same brightness, how bright would you rate the Photon's Hyper and High bright settings, and also the Moonlight?

 

[Slick]

Get the PT Aurora. 3 LED's, 3 AA's, 3 settings, 30 bucks. This light is worth it.