Well, a while ago, I went on one of my first canoeing trips. I brought along my trusty minimag and was content with it. Then I realized that all of my friends had LED headlamps. For a week I struggled holding the light as I tied knots, prepared meals, dealed with maps, checked and grabbed equipment, fooled with a broken zipper, etc. Meanwhile All of my friends were surrounding by a bright blue glow and had no problem at all. So I thought about this, and for the next trip, I purchased a Minimag, headband, just something that the torch slips into giving you essentially a headlamp. Well, quite confidently, I went on another trip and was again hugely dissapointed. I didn't realize it at first since I was accostemed to holding the torch right next to my work, but it wasn't even close to as powerful as the LED's.
I had to get my face right into what I was doing to see, which after a while is quite a pain. Not to mention that while walking on unfamiliar trails and such, it didn't illuminate cracks and tricky roots that I could have hurt an ankle on way out in the middle of nowhere.
Even though the mini mag might have comparable throw at full battery (not saying it does, just that it's posible), the batteries go real fast, as opposed to LED headlamps which last FOREVER.
You HAVE to visit this site.... I mean what could be more perfect?
http://en.petzl.com/petzl/LampesGammes?Gamme=54
That is Petzl's selection of caving headlamps. Most of them have LED's for normal travel plus an incandescent for Throw. For a serious spelunker, I'd look no further.
However, I imagine that these are quite pricey. If you're just going casually, I highly recommend the petzl Tikka plus (4LED), which you can get fairly cheap (certainly a worthy investment anyway). I own one.
If you want to talk about long burn times, On the low setting it lasts 150h, medium is 120 and high is 100h. The best part is that it uses three AAA's, so batteries are cheap. You could pack along a few sets of rechargeables no problem. For throw and information about all that, check out
http://en.petzl.com/petzl/LampesProduits?Produit=463.
I haven't really done any spelunking, but with your eyes well adjusted to the dark, and moist walls, I'm fairly sure that this would provide an excellent light for crawling around. If someone would like a beamshot just let me know.
Of course, for real throw, you'll need a good torch. Hey, if you don't have any other gear to carry, you could bring along a big Maglite. I don't really know much about them, but I'm assuming that the big LED's would give a decent throw right? Also, I hear that they last FOREVER, and that since you'd only being using it in short intervals, loss of efficiency due to heat wouldn't be too big of a deal.
All in all, my list would be:
Headlamp, Probably the Tikka Plus, if more is needed, then so be it.
Surefire, Streamlight, (Pelican?) Incandescent for throw.
INOVA X5 or Streamlight Twin Task 2L as a backup.
Small, LED light that you shake to start, I got my hands on one (temporarily), and they are surprisingly sturdy. Just shake for a little bit and you have enough light to apply your first aid, or cut yourself lose from something.
To anyone who hasn't purchased a headlamp: DO IT. I thought they were a bit funny at first, but I haven't even thought of looking back since then.
P.S. Thoughts on this advice please? Partly for the sake of the visitor who may decide to follow it, partly for me
