caving light

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Anybody have any opinions on the HDS action light? How bright it is and the quality and special features, what i've read about it on the website, its the best light by far for caving. Just want some opinions or facts about it, and would like to hear from anybody who may own it, especially cavers. Thanks Keven

 

[cave dave]

I believe the Action light has been unavailable for over a year. The current best light on the market is probably this:

The Fx-ionscroll down this page with 7 or 14 LEDs and a halogen and a Li-ion rechargable battery

or this petzl Duo mod : web page

Both of these are too rich for my blood. I either use a regular Duo or a P.T. Solo halogen headlamp.
BTW I don't like the color of LED light, the harsh blue light gives me a headache. Also a pure LED light even with lots of LEDs just doesn't have any reach. That's why these combo lights might be your best bet.

 

[Luff]

Gotta concur on the combo-light option being best for general use ... especially when trying to determine the best route in a large room when you need an incandescent's throw. LEDs are great because they give you such even lighting and eliminate many harsh shadows.

There LOTS of information available about the HDS Action Light and other caving threads here ...

May I suggest using the forum's search function and look for "action light" or "headlamp"? More than you want to know is posted here, somewhere!

Mark

 

[papasan]

in the past i've used a lightwave illuminator, but it's really too little light even though the run-time kicks butt...maybe as a back-up...

now i have a single LS headlamp that i haven't ben able to test a whole bunch yet...it's deffinatly brighter, but only lasts about 3 hours on 2AAs...

for throw i carry my surge and/or lx...

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

these look interesting to me http://www.theledlight.com/frontaled.html
-- probably alot lighter than the HDS too, ...check out the sale; there's an Alpinist 10 LED Headlamp for $140...

 

[Potto]

Just for interest sake I've recently retrofitted an Oldham Cap Lamp with a LS/O module, using a 6V 4Ah Gel Cell(with a DC/DC step down converter

). The light output is quite impressive and reasonably comparable (I think) to the pictures provided on the HDS website.

Thermal control was a bit of an issue

, until I figured out I could use the whole Oldham frame to heatsink into, and 2 brightness settings provides the same versatility as the original Oldham (although without the same throwing of light from a halogen globe).

On the brighter setting the battery supplied 200mA enabling the unit to operate for about 20 hours

, on the dimmer setting 150mA = 25+ hours. For shorter runtimes I see no reason why a step up converter from a couple of AA, C, or D cells wouldn't work - could sure beat having a battery hanging off your waist.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Did you manage to find a luxeon star in Australia, or did you get it from the US? Postage from the US looks unreasonably expensive..

 

[Potto]

Importing from the US is the only way. And yes the shipping cost can only be described as excessive compared to local shipping in the US. To purchase 1 ARC-AAA and 2 LS/O modules cost somewhere in the order of AUD$140. This blew my LED budget out for 6 months, although I'm very happy with the ARC-AAA and both LS Modules operation.