Petzl MYO RXP or Surefire Saint

[johnny0000]

Hello,

I'm in kinda of a dilemma. I need to find a gift for a family member in search and resuce. I want to get him a headlamp. I'm learning towards either a Petzl Myo RXP or a Surefire Saint. Is there anyone with hands-on experience with both? I've had the old Petzl Myo XP, but the RXP has that 140 lumen boost mode. Also, are the Surefire lumen ratings underrated for this headlamp? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Stevie]

For search and rescue then IMHO reliability will be above all else. Myo RXP is not dunkable in water and is only rain resistant. I had the old Myo which has the same battery pack and it wasn't up to much when coming off the hills in the driving rain. The Surefire is dunkable and has the advantage that both CR123's and AA sized batteries can be used if only one type is available to hand.

However, the beam on the Surefire is floody, designed to light up the user's immediate area and is not really suited to S&R IMHO (unless the user also has a handheld thrower for picking out casualties at distance).

If he is just going to have a headlamp, then perhaps one with a bit more throw would be better.

Fenix HP10 or Fenix HP20 would be good, check 'em out!

 

[pulstar]

I have SF Saint Minimus and can give you only positive feedback about it. It is reliable, easy to use (i love twisty U.I.) and one battery seems to run forever. Even on "medium" (The "potenciometer" knob has a small detent that you know when you hit around 10 lumens mark) it's plenty bright but on high really lights up an area! It throws around 40 meters and has very nice beam (kind of wide-screen TV ).

I don't have a similar light to compare with, but i still think it puts out more than 100 lumens. I just did a quick ceiling-bounce comparison and it's just a tad dimmer than my Nitecore Extreme R2. You can see the difference, but hardly. Compared to LX2 (240 otf lumens) the difference is a bit bigger, but still not overwhelming, as you may think when reading specifications of these three lights (100 Saint vs. 220 NEX and 200 LX2 lumens)
It looks more than a 100 lumens, that's for sure.

I use mine for running and it's very comfortable and stays stil on my head.

I highly recommend it!
**Basicaly, SF Saint Minimus is the same light as Saint, but without battery pack...

 

[johnny0000]

Thanks for all the feedback...I appreciate it! Now, it looks like I want to pick up a Minimus or Saint for myself.

 

[yowzer]

SAR volunteer here. If you're related to me, I'd like a Saint. :nana:

Depending on where in the county this is at, throw may not be all that important -- when you're in thick woods or brush, you can only effectively see so far, after all. My experience has been that a headlamp with moderate throw for lighting up a ways down a trail or mountainside, and enough flood to light up the area when you're working on a subject, with a low enough low that it's not going to blind people when you're on the litter in an evac is ideal. I don't have one, but I suspect the Saint will fit this to a T, based on things like pulstar's assessment of its range.

SF's better construction and waterproofing are definite points in its favor, as is being able to take AA batteries as well as CR123 (If he's not a flashlight or camera person, he's probably going to balk at paying retail store prices for the batteries.)

Either way it's probably going to be better than anybody else in his unit has.