Gatsby
Enlightened
So I went with my son to another YGUides longhouse and took an assortment of lights to put through some real use paces. The lights in question were:
Lumapower LM301 - my son's light.
Jil JCR2 IT - worn on a lanyard
Liteflux LF5 - pocket primary light
Dereelight CLH1 v3 - 2 stage Q5, smooth reflector
Mag85
Not surprisingly, the Mag85 is not a very practical light. Big and heavy, and of course super bright - it was, however, a lot of fun impressing the other dads and kids who were, well, a bit overwhelmed by it. And if you really needed to see something across the field, well, this could do it. The weather conditions were rainy and drizzly through the night so a bit of the throw was reduced, but man it looked like one heck of a light saber!
The Dereelight was on an 18650 and used almost exclusively on low. It was nice to have a high option, just in case you needed it and I like the twist bezel to activate it. But even on low, in low light conditions, it was a bit too bright for real task use. Part of that is the smooth reflector and I'm definitely going to invest in an orange peel reflector for this light. With the Mag85 available I really didn't need as much throw as it puts out and closer up it doesn't do much for illuminating a trail or walkway. I like having one high power light available and obviously the Dereelight is a good bit more portable than the Mag85 and would have been more than enough light for any situation.
The LF5 on 14500s was a real workhorse. I have the low set to maybe 10% and it was about perfect for most tasks inside the cabin after the kids went to bed. Wish I'd brought the diffuser for some nighttime reading - that is not an often used accessory for me but it would have been very useful in this setting, and on the LF5 you dont have to remove the lens and bezel to fit it on. I'll have to remember that next trip. I have high set to maybe 40% or so and that was perfect for navigating around in the dark outside - with a fairly easy to access very bright high a nice backup option, but I never used that setting. I do wish at times it had a light orange peel reflector like the LF2... I could have used my LF2 instead but like the battery compatability with my sons LM301 and the Everready lantern.
The Jil - well - I keep thinking about replacing it with a CR2 Ion but the Jil remains a really small and really well made light with useful features. This particular one has an SSC P4 installed and that combination with the McR17 reflector puts out a really useful, smooth beam. I use it almost exclusively in the three stage and have it set to a very - level 2 in the 10 stage flupic, level 6 next and then wide open. On level 2 it was the perfect neck light - easy to access for a quick shot at something without digging through my pocket - decent runtime on that setting - and some other options at hand. I only hit level 3 once just to see the glow - it gets pretty warm on RCR2s with the P4 so I don't run it very much at that setting, but level 6 is still a whole lot of light and a very useful beam. But for runtime considerations I could probably do with the Jil and not use the LF5 at all, but I like having the longer runtime of the 14500 light - I could get a CAB for the Jil but I actually prefer the twist interface of the LF5 for one handed use. The Jil is a little bit of a nuisance to operate one handed if you want to switch levels.
The Lumapower is a great light for my son - who is 6yo. It is nearly indestructible, it is easy to function with the clickie low>high>off sequence, and it is sufficiently bright for him to play flashlight tag - small enough to handle - uses NiMH cells nicely for "free" power - and puts out a nice useful beam - and it was relatively inexpensive! A winner no question.
I also had an Everready 2LED 2 stage folding lantern and that, on low and put on top of the lockers in the cabin, was the perfect night light with a cabin full of 6yo going to the bathroom all night. Plenty of usable light and tons of runtime on 4 NiMh cells.
After reflecting - I wish I'd had a headlamp but in a cabin you don't really need one - but can see the value of having one when we do our next camping trip - moving up the scale to a tent, car camping adventure. For the cabin use a diffuser on the LF5 would have been fine to read after the kids were asleep.
And the biggest conclusion is one we all know, but I easily forget at times, which is that when you're in real darkness, a good, clean white beam with an even transition from spot to flood at a very low level is a lot more useful than a laser beam of sunlight! (but as flashaholics that laser beam is a lot of fun..)
Lumapower LM301 - my son's light.
Jil JCR2 IT - worn on a lanyard
Liteflux LF5 - pocket primary light
Dereelight CLH1 v3 - 2 stage Q5, smooth reflector
Mag85
Not surprisingly, the Mag85 is not a very practical light. Big and heavy, and of course super bright - it was, however, a lot of fun impressing the other dads and kids who were, well, a bit overwhelmed by it. And if you really needed to see something across the field, well, this could do it. The weather conditions were rainy and drizzly through the night so a bit of the throw was reduced, but man it looked like one heck of a light saber!
The Dereelight was on an 18650 and used almost exclusively on low. It was nice to have a high option, just in case you needed it and I like the twist bezel to activate it. But even on low, in low light conditions, it was a bit too bright for real task use. Part of that is the smooth reflector and I'm definitely going to invest in an orange peel reflector for this light. With the Mag85 available I really didn't need as much throw as it puts out and closer up it doesn't do much for illuminating a trail or walkway. I like having one high power light available and obviously the Dereelight is a good bit more portable than the Mag85 and would have been more than enough light for any situation.
The LF5 on 14500s was a real workhorse. I have the low set to maybe 10% and it was about perfect for most tasks inside the cabin after the kids went to bed. Wish I'd brought the diffuser for some nighttime reading - that is not an often used accessory for me but it would have been very useful in this setting, and on the LF5 you dont have to remove the lens and bezel to fit it on. I'll have to remember that next trip. I have high set to maybe 40% or so and that was perfect for navigating around in the dark outside - with a fairly easy to access very bright high a nice backup option, but I never used that setting. I do wish at times it had a light orange peel reflector like the LF2... I could have used my LF2 instead but like the battery compatability with my sons LM301 and the Everready lantern.
The Jil - well - I keep thinking about replacing it with a CR2 Ion but the Jil remains a really small and really well made light with useful features. This particular one has an SSC P4 installed and that combination with the McR17 reflector puts out a really useful, smooth beam. I use it almost exclusively in the three stage and have it set to a very - level 2 in the 10 stage flupic, level 6 next and then wide open. On level 2 it was the perfect neck light - easy to access for a quick shot at something without digging through my pocket - decent runtime on that setting - and some other options at hand. I only hit level 3 once just to see the glow - it gets pretty warm on RCR2s with the P4 so I don't run it very much at that setting, but level 6 is still a whole lot of light and a very useful beam. But for runtime considerations I could probably do with the Jil and not use the LF5 at all, but I like having the longer runtime of the 14500 light - I could get a CAB for the Jil but I actually prefer the twist interface of the LF5 for one handed use. The Jil is a little bit of a nuisance to operate one handed if you want to switch levels.
The Lumapower is a great light for my son - who is 6yo. It is nearly indestructible, it is easy to function with the clickie low>high>off sequence, and it is sufficiently bright for him to play flashlight tag - small enough to handle - uses NiMH cells nicely for "free" power - and puts out a nice useful beam - and it was relatively inexpensive! A winner no question.
I also had an Everready 2LED 2 stage folding lantern and that, on low and put on top of the lockers in the cabin, was the perfect night light with a cabin full of 6yo going to the bathroom all night. Plenty of usable light and tons of runtime on 4 NiMh cells.
After reflecting - I wish I'd had a headlamp but in a cabin you don't really need one - but can see the value of having one when we do our next camping trip - moving up the scale to a tent, car camping adventure. For the cabin use a diffuser on the LF5 would have been fine to read after the kids were asleep.
And the biggest conclusion is one we all know, but I easily forget at times, which is that when you're in real darkness, a good, clean white beam with an even transition from spot to flood at a very low level is a lot more useful than a laser beam of sunlight! (but as flashaholics that laser beam is a lot of fun..)
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