light for night walking and looking for reptiles ?

[leps23]

Hello,

I just ran across this forum a few days ago and was amazed at all the different lights used here.
Just a quick background ...
During the summer months I spend a lot of time walking around in the mountains and deserts looking for reptiles and wildlife to photograpgh as a hobby.
I have used several lights over the years usually this method..
1. keep a small coast LED lensor in my pocket
2. walk with a PT apex pro
3. walk with a STUBY battery powered lantern (depending on how far I plan to go)

My question to you guys is this
I love the PT apex pro but am considering purchashing somthing a little brighter with a strong wide flood beam. I do not need to see 200 feet away but would love to get the brightest widest beam 20-40 feet ahead.
I have thought about the 5 watt brunton for a while but maybe there is somthing else out there that you guys could WOW me with...

thanks a bunch all info will be appreciated...

r.edwards

 

[Shorty66]

Consider a zebralight. The h60 is pretty bright on 190lm mode but the others should do aswell.

Didn`t Zebralight want to make an MC-E version of the H60, too?

 

[tnuckels]

:welcome: Leps23!

¿Cuántos dólares en su banco guarro?

Brunton is the State-side face of the Swedish company Silva, so the following headlamps are the same, just re-badged:

Silva Brunton
LX = L5
L1 = L3
L2 = L1

You can see side by side comparison, indoor and out beam-shots, at CPF user Szemhazai's website of many headlights, including several of the Silvas.

In preparation for buying my first mid-upper range headlamp I had asked questions about the Silva L1/Brunton L3, but the conversation touched on the LX/L5 as well. I ended up buying a Petzl MYO RXP because it compared favorably in Szemhazai's beam-shots to the Silva/Brunton's, was reasonably priced at ≈ $100, was programmable, and had an integrated (read: nothing else to carry & keep up with) diffuser that allows you to go from spot to flood beam easily and quickly. There's a detailed discussion of this light HERE, including some indoor beam-shots of my own.

Depending on how old your Apex is the RXP will be up to 2x brighter, and because it uses the same emitter LED for both spot and flood beams you get this benefit under both modes, unlike on the Apex.

The reason I ask the first question is because, as you will see at Szemhazai's website, there are a lot of headlamps out there that will blow the lights mentioned so far out of the water, but for a much higher price. Let your budget be your guide, but the beam you describe, "the brightest widest beam 20-40 feet ahead", could easily run several hundred dollars.

It's also quite interesting to have a UV light in the desert which will fluoresce scorpions very brightly, and you might be surprised, even taken aback a bit, at how many you've been walking so close to all these years. If you're interested I can provide a few links.

Good Luck!

 

[leps23]

Thanks for the info it is greatly appreciated..I would be willing to spend up to $200-$300 for an outstanding head lamp..that said I would not want to over pay for quality that I could get at a lower price.
I would prefer but not limit myself to one that will accept AA batterys...
My Apex, torent, coast LED Lensor, and both flashes for my canon DSLR use rechargable AA batterys. It would be nice to keep the same batterys, but this feature isn't a be all end all situation.

thanks for the bug story...I run across several while night hiking for rattlesnakes
what makes zebra lights so popular?

r.edwards

 

[YuccaPatrol]

What works best to see their eyes glowing at night is to put a very bright flashlight that has good spotlight beam right up to the side of your head next to one of your eyes.

Good headlamps do the same, but I've found that getting the light source as close to my eye as possible with a flashlight gives the best reflection off of their eyes.

When I was in Panama, I used this trick to see Caimans and Crocodiles in a mangrove swamp. Caiman eyes glow green, crocodiles glow orange. You'll also be amazed at how many spiders you see in the grass of your lawn (assuming you haven't killed them all with pesticides). I've spotted geckos and frogs and all sorts of critters that I would not have seen if I was holding the flashlight at waist level.

 

[drmaxx]

what makes zebra lights so popular?

Look at this post:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showpost.php?p=2820491&postcount=16
The zebralight (H50, AA) is the one on the right. It packs quite some light in a very small package. Additionally, it is all flood which is not very common for headlamps.

 

[hopkins]

hi leps23 - suspect you want to see no matter the cost,
Check out the Mila headlamps. They are for adults. Everything else is
so so. ...OK but weak compared to the Mila. Read the reviews then write the check. ha ha!
Good Luck.
hopkins

http://www.ultratune.net/pdfs/Ultratune-Mila_Headlamp.pdf

 

[tnuckels]

I don't own a Zebralight, as they seem to be a one trick pony (I can hear the rabble gathering their tar, feathers, pitchforks, and hot flaming torches now). What they do, however, they appear to do better than anyone else. Light weight, compact, waterproof, well built, excellent accessories, and reasonably priced, they provide an ambient sphere of artifact free light in which to work. Judging from the beamshots, it's as though daylight were restored within their reach. Zebras seem to be the perfect arms length work light, and with the H30 and now H60 the usable range is extended, but still I think falls short of your stated target.

Lights with diffusers provide a similar benefit, but are larger, heavier, provide a less "clean" light, and usually do so at a reduction as the original source light has to pass through an opaque diffuser. However, as the original beam was projected forward by use of a reflector or optic and then diffused, I think they tend to reach out in a more elliptical pattern than a Zebra type light. Plus you get the benefit of the spot beam, and can also achieve an in-between beam by partially employing the diffuser.

Are you interested in a spot beam at all, or just looking for a huge flood beam? A spot beam would seem quite useful in locating more distant animal targets by the glow off their retina, but it's your call.

I'm afraid your quest has outstripped my knowledge by moving into the high-end of headlamps. I can throw out some names to search for in the threads, but have no personal experience to help draw conclusions from. Search the HL section for "orienteering" and "geocaching" and you will find that the nighttime version of these activities have become popular sports with our friends in Europe. To accommodate this, quite a few European manufacturers have developed monster headlamps. Search for names like Silva, Petzl, Mila, Mammut, Lupine, Scurion … I'm sure there are others as well. Stateside manufacturers include FoxFury, Stenlight, NiteRider (bike/headlamp) … I must be forgetting some here as well.

I think you might pay more for some features that make a headlamp suitable for serious caving, where your butt is directly dependent on your equipment, but might be overkill for your intended use.

Lastly, even though you expressed a desire to stick with AA batteries to match your other equipment, you might want to consider a headlamp that has a remote battery pack. If you're lucky, you might find one that runs the lamp off a AAs in parallel (series adds voltage, parallel adds runtime), but more than likely will find that the external battery pack is either AAs in series, or for more runtime they provide a C or D cell series setup.

Good Luck and post some critter shots!

 

[leps23]

ahhhh now I am getting somewhere ....
all of you have provided usefull information and it is much appreciated.
I love internet forums but they usually go somthing like this....
hey I need a new camera what should I get?

response 1.
you need to run, no sprint to the store and pick a nikon D90 or D300 it is the only usefull camera on the market

response 2.
I use a canon 50D that I am very happy with!

response 3.
forget the canikonians and think about the new sony line...

response 4.
any camera you decide to pick up in this day and age will give you great images if you take the time to learn the photographic process and dedicate yourself to take better pictures!

as I type this I am waiting for knuckles to get suckerpunched about his zebralight remarks.....

anyways one thing is this I have a light that I am very happy with (PT apex pro) and the flashlight I keep in my backpack (the PT torrent) works amazingly well in my opinion. BUT I like a lot of light when I am looking for rattlesnakes like these at night.

not always the quickest thing to pick up on while walking around in the middle of no where....anyways

I bought both of the above mentioned lights based on availability at the time....I really needed a light by the weekend before a big herping trip.
What I want to do now is use the PT headlamp as a back-up or for my herping buddy who forgot his light at the house. The PT torrent does everything I need so that light will probably stay in use for another year or two.

I think I may go with a zebra light or somthing close, and a brunton L5 or petzyl ultra. This all depends on herping funds at the time....

How sharp is the zebra light brightness? Is the flood bright or verybright across the flood area. I do not need to extend the light area past 30 feet or so.

anybody here familiar with a stuby light? ...it is a wand light that runs off of a 12 volt battery source. I hands down love it!! but sometimes I do not like carrying the weight around. This is the type of flood I would wish out of a regular flashlight or headlamp....
anyways I also look for insects to photograph while herping...

thanks for the help guys....my mind is getting closer to a new light somution...
r.edwards