Water proof, Bright, almighty, long lasting light

I live in Texas and participate in an annual 270 mile canoe race know as the Texas Water Safari. We paddle through the night and lights/battery weight becomes a major issue. Everyone has their idea of the "better mouse trap."

I was wondering does anyone ahve any ideas on a light/lights that provide a good balance of efficiency, luminosity and battery weight/life.



Any information or direction anyone may have would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks,
Jason

-Houston

A good place to start your research would be here:
Brightguy
The LED Museum
Flashlight Reviews.com

Brock's LED Links, both manufacturers and dealers
Brocks Regular Flashlight Page

I would look at Princeton Tec, Pelican and Streamlight headlamps, esp the newer 1 watt LED lamps.

Re: Water proof, Bright, almighty, long lasting li

I am assuming that you do not want something hand-held (gotta hold that paddle).

Do you want something that will mount to the thwart (like a bicycle handlebar light), or do you want a head lamp, or did you have something else entirely different in mind?

**edited for spellin **

Take a look at this. While not the brightest in the world, it is waterproof and floats! Among it's many features is it is adjustaable for brightness, strobes, flashes and sends SOS. I'd tie it to your floatation device.

i nominate the Princeton Tec Yukon HL!

waterproof
extremely tough - luxeon/LED (and the luxeon is actually brighter than the incan version of the Yukon)
press once for LED's, again for off, again for luxeon, again for off
25 hours of runtime with main beam (luxeon)
120 hours of runtime on the LED's
3AA's (included)

I vote for Elektrolumen's Elektrostar! Not sure if you can find anymore around, but post in B/S/T, and you might get lucky. 1W LS running on 4AAs in an el-cheapo but water-resistant plastic headlamp, absolutely great throw with a some sidespill. Runs approx 8-10 hrs...

I second the idea of the eternalight; I don't have one personnaly but I got one for a friend some time ago and I've only heard of good things about it. It's bright enough to be usefull, put l91 lithium cells in it and it won't weight a thing and floats...
You can also select brightness/runtime for your needs.

Hello Jason,

The safest way would be to add navigation lights to your canoe. This would also make you "legal."

I would suggest a bow light like this from Innovative Lighting. They also offer LED replacements for the bulb that will enhance battery run time. The clamp on the light is junk and I am not sure the suction cup is much better. The light is very simple and you should be able to come up with a way to mount it.

Instead of a stern light, I would suggest the rear paddler put this in his hat as a marker light. It has a very useful clip and a velcro band that allows you to clip it or make a hat band to attach it. This will put the light at a higher elevation off the water and you have a better chance of being seen.

Now you need a main powerful light to read channel markers etc. I would suggest you look into some of the lights used for bicycles. They offer a weather resistant/proof halogen lamp with a rechargeable battery pack that can last quite a long time if you choose a lower powered lamp. Go for a spot beam rather than the flood beam. A recommendation would be something like the TurboCat S32 with NiMh battery pack. View the S32 here This would give you a little over 3 hours on low (12 watts) or a little over 1 hour on high (32 watts). You might need to pick up an additional battery pack to last you through the whole race. Please note that this light would only be turned on when you have to find something in the dark. It would not be on all of the time. Also, you would have to come up with a way to mount the light on your boat.

Another alternitive would be the Underwater Kinetics SL6 or a Princeton Tech Surge. These are hand held lights.

That has the spot light requirement covered.

As for general lighting to check a map or to find the dropped candy bar, go with a headlamp like the Petzel Tikka + or similar.

Tom

hey, thanks everyone for the suggestions. ill have enough to keep me testing for a while.