Lightweight LED for reading or typing?

I will be going camping soon, I plan to do a little writing on a portable keyboard (QuickPad Pro...100 hr. battery life). The screen is not backlit so I'll want some kind of light to use while I read or type.

The Zipka looks nice for this although...
1. The thin line looks like it could be uncomfortable around the head
2. Its $40+...kinda pricey
3. I already have a Photon II and an ARC AAA

Has anyone come up with a clever solution to reading with a light weight LED (other than the Zipka or similar headlight...or holding the ARC in the mouth)?

I've tried my Infinity clipped to a ballcap...hard to position right.
I've also tried a dot of velcro on the Photon and on the ball cap...also hard to position.
I wear eye glasses...so I've tried to think of a clever way to attach the ARC or Photon to the frames in a way that is easy to position.

Got any good experience here?

Thanks in advance!!

If this is one of the newer Quickpads with a USB port, I would recommend the Kensington Flylight for typing. It's a single LED gooseneck lamp that plugs into the USB port for power.

I bought one of the first ones made and have used it while traveling with my laptop with good success. Very low drainage also.

FlyLight

tej

I found a couple of web pages by searching Google for "USB battery pack" (exact phrase). Someone's taken a 4-AA box and put a USB socket into it. A Hong Kong site had a pack with a Kensington Flylite; a UK site had one with a different looking USB light on a white flex cable. Both packs also had USB plugs attached to several different phone recharger jack shapes.

WONDERING -- has anyone checked the ultraviolet output on the blue-white LEDs? I am sitting with my eyes about 4" from the bright end of a Kensington flylight just now, and I put a soft black plastic cover to keep the light out of my eyes.

And I looked closely at the various things being illuminated -- and pulled out my Arc AAA ultraviolet to compare -- and I'm sure this particular Kensington has a fair amount of ultraviolet.

If anyone knows where I can buy the USB socket part (the local store in Berkeley, Al Lasher's, doesn't have them) -- please post it, I want to build myself a battery box for something like the Flylight.

Ideally -- someone reading this with the time and gear to make a battery box with a voltage regulator will be interested or have a pointer to parts.

But I'm a little concerned about the UV. I've already had one cataract cut out and the plastic replacement is okay but not as good as a real lens. Adding ANY more ultraviolet close to my eyes is a bad idea. Anyone able to measure or know about this?
I want the reading/camping light too.

ONE other possibility -- the little clip on mini book lights use incandescent bulbs but I've seen replacement LEDs for them at LEDTRONICS -- that might be good for camping use.

And unlike the headlamps, there's a shade on them and less light in your eyes. I'm thinking particularly of the cheap copies of brand name lamps (do the manufacturers just make them forever and sell the excess cheap once the official manufacturer's lot is out the door?) -- as a worry both about poorer quality LEDs and about ultraviolet, for uses like camping and headlamps and computer use.

Nite-ize makes a product that goes around your head and holds a flashlight. I've used this camping, and hiking and like it a lot. When hiking I put my ARC-LS in there with the 123 battery pack. When reading at night I put my ARC-LE in and it works great. There's enough play in the holder part that you can position the light for easy reading/typing.
Thinking about it I should use my CPF edition for reading as it has a wider beam than the LE. But the LE has been fine and so light you don't even know it's there.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by WaltH:
Nite-ize makes a product that goes around your head and holds a flashlight. ... There's enough play in the holder part that you can position the light for easy reading/typing. ...wider beam <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I actually have the Nite-ize (got it at Walmart)..I had forgotten that I had it!

Although, I see now (again) why I never used it. The light points straight forward from your head and no amount of angling the strap or light will get the beam down low enough for reading (get's close though...). I've tried it with both my Infinity and my ARC. Maybe the fact that I have bifocals means I have to hold the reading material lower than most people (to catch the reading part of the lens).

It also holds the light so that it shoots right thru the corner of my glasses frame (casting a shadow on my reading surface).

Your comment reveals another aspect of this...the width of the beam. Most of my LED lights don't really have a wide enough beam to comfortably cover the reading area without moving my head back and forth to move the light across the pages (not so comfortable for the long haul).

I've thought about creating some kind of clamp for a Photon II to attach it to the bridge of my glasses...but that won't really address the beam width issue (not to mention the expensive batteries).

The other posts about using a USB powered light seem somewhat promising.

Anyone got experience using the new PT Aurora LED headlamp for reading? It has an angle-able head although I'm not sure about the beam width issue (seems like with 3 LEDs it might be pretty good!). Plus, the adjustable brightness looks promising.

my $.02

velcro it to a clothespin. You can clip it to your screen, and the velcro gives you some positioning flexibility.

Aloha

Edited to add: this idea is for the photon.

The Zipka is well worth the money. Very comfortable, reasonably secure, and great light. I plan on giving one to everyone in the family this Christmas!

Another option that might work is to just hang a photon around your neck on short chain. I wear a white photon II this way and use it to wander around the house at night. Works better than you might think.

Hmmm. Hearing that the headlamps can shine light into your eyes got me thinking!

How about a light source down by your chin?

That got me to try my Energizer Folding LED lantern. I have it on a lanyard with an easy to adjust clip to control how low it hangs from your neck. Just the thing for walking at night with your hands free. It gives a decent, smooth, WIDE pool of light from the two white LEDs.

So...I just cinched up that lanyard so the light is just under my chin...Presto! Nice, low source of smooth, wide angle light that will run 100 hours on 4 AAs (my preferred battery!). I tried this with reading a book and it works really great.

Check out the Princeton Tec Aurora. Very light weight, 3 levels of brightness, and very adjustable.

I bought this light just to see what it was like, but I really like this light. I think it would be perfect for reading. As the angle is very adjustable, via a pivoting hinge.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ikendu:
I actually have the Nite-ize (got it at Walmart)..I had forgotten that I had it!

Although, I see now (again) why I never used it. The light points straight forward from your head and no amount of angling the strap or light will get the beam down low enough for reading (get's close though...). I've tried it with both my Infinity and my ARC. Maybe the fact that I have bifocals means I have to hold the reading material lower than most people (to catch the reading part of the lens).

It also holds the light so that it shoots right thru the corner of my glasses frame (casting a shadow on my reading surface).

Your comment reveals another aspect of this...the width of the beam. Most of my LED lights don't really have a wide enough beam to comfortably cover the reading area without moving my head back and forth to move the light across the pages (not so comfortable for the long haul).

I've thought about creating some kind of clamp for a Photon II to attach it to the bridge of my glasses...but that won't really address the beam width issue (not to mention the expensive batteries).

The other posts about using a USB powered light seem somewhat promising.

Anyone got experience using the new PT Aurora LED headlamp for reading? It has an angle-able head although I'm not sure about the beam width issue (seems like with 3 LEDs it might be pretty good!). Plus, the adjustable brightness looks promising.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


You've hit it on the head why most people use headlamps instead of flashlights on straps.

Also, I've used the Aurora for reading. The brightness is fine, but the light spills onto your glasses. The Moonlight is a better light for this.

Hey Guyz,

I have a Zippka and I would highly recommend it. The light is good and the thin cord is comfortable. I actually fell asleep with it on my head the first night. If your reading definately get some kind of headlamp, even though it isn't an LED a Petzl Micro is really good for small tasks like the one that you mentioned and its cheap.

TornAdo

Got it! From www.compgeeks.com, for $9.95:

USB Travel Pack, Snake Light-Cell Phone Charger
Part Number 880006. I'd found similar things for sale in Europe and Taiwan but this is a California source I've found reliable in the past. Cheap and surplus, but not bad overall.

Made in Taiwan. Four AA battery pack, a tiny switch, a tiny green LED 'on' light, and a USB port. Package says "stable output voltage at 5V. My meter's probes are too big to fit into the LED socket to check, but maybe there's a regulator?

Compgeeks was offering a second one for a dollar less to purchasers of a single one.

Box says "six LED colors" but the two I got have LEDs that make a blue-white spot maybe four inches across, not all that bright with a yellowish green ring. About right for reading a paperback book with the LED a foot from the page.

For comparison my Kensington Flylight makes a much bigger bright spot (about right for a sheet of typing paper at that distance) and the light from the Flylight is markedly more violet giving the paper a real purplish glow.

Got to go traveling for a few weeks and won't be reading often; hope this or something better suits you.