Silva 478 vs Alpha 6?

Hi,

My partner does a lot of work outdoors at night. Currently he has a petzl headtorch which is fine for most things but doesnt give a very long beam. He does a lot of fell walking too. I wanted to get him a better model for christmas and was looking at either the silva 478 or the alpha 6.

Would really appreciate your feedback on which of those is most practical and best value for money.

Cheers
Mags

Assuming your partners petzl is not the Ultra then either will be a revelation brightness wise for him. Between the two the Alpha wins hands down it's the new technology and will be a lot brighter then the 478. It is more efficent and has 3 brightness levels with a longer runtimes for the weight than the 478.

There are 3 models of the Alpha with different battery sizes the 6 has the bigest battery. Which one is best for your partner may not be obviouse the 6 will have the bigest runtime but the battery is considerably heavier (less than the 478 battery though) then the 2 with the 4 in the middle. If he is not running or biking with it then the low level will probobly still be far more light than he is used to and be good for most fell walking. You still get 8 hours of runtime on low with the 2 so unless your partner is into doing all night walks then the 2 may be preferable for him rather than the 6.

I guess the best way to deside may be based on how interested he is in the weight of his walking kit, if he wants the lightest of everything then he will apreciate the 2. If he sets off with a big bag and weight means nothing and he is out for a long time then the 6. If in between then the 4.