jayflash
Flashlight Enthusiast
Flashaholic NY\'s Eve!!!
Whoopie, the flashlight spirits were shining upon us tonight.
My ten year old daughter, my wife and I went out for a later fish lunch. That's a Friday night tradition in the fishing town of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, near Rawley Point on Lake Michigan's west coast.
Rather than fish 'n beer we had cream soda, old fashionds, and BLIND Russians - NOT all blended together, mind you. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif I had the blind Russians to hasten the onset of night vision for the walk in the woods that was to follow. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif Whoopie!!
We stopped back home to get our 100lb. beast of a dog, bundle up for the 23F weather, and most importantly, load up on lights.
A five mile drive brought us to a secluded parking place where one of the "unofficial" trails leads into Point Beach State Park. This is where the fun started.
The snow on the ground reflected enough light that my wife's Ultra G and daughter's 3 LED/1AA Dorcy was plenty of light. That didn't stop me from donning my new Yukon HL and switching it between the 3 LEDs for flood and the Lambertian Lux for testing throw. Oh what fun - I was a child again.
Since getting the Dorcy for Christmas, my daughter seems to be showing small signs of flashlight appreciation. Earlier in the evening she was reading by Dorcy light. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif She and our dog led (3LED's) the way through the very dark woods. Suddenly, several surprisingly loud, body shaking, deep KABOOMS startled us all. More followed and the sky faintly flashed. "Daddy I'm scared!" We were all amazed at the intensity of the deep, low frequency, retorts. A small ,village a few miles away, had a very BIG fireworks display. We couldn't see anything but the sky flashing but the noise was impressive and, temporarily, scary.
I had earlier been contemplating returning my new Yukon due to the VERY stiff switch but it works so well, otherwise, that I'll suffer with that deficiency and enjoy the HL's good performance. Unlike a Petzl Myo, for example, the 3 Nichia's are in the main reflector and provide superb flood waaay out in front, instead of closer to one's feet. The flood of the HL was surprising and explains why the Nichias draw the same, or more, current than the Lux. Without that overdrive there is no way the immence flood would have been bright enough. I'll accept the high battery drain for the good flood those three 5mm LED's provide - I just wish the ad writers were in sync with the engineers.
The Labertian Luxeon gave good throw with enough spill that unless you needed to see well to the sides, it was a good trail light. My daughter noticed the Lux was green compared to the Nichias. "I prefer the blue, Dad". Getting picky, aren't we?
After a 45 minute walk we arrived at the beach just as the moon was rising, dark orange, out of the lake, the stars shown brilliantly, my family was enjoying their lights, I
felt truly blessed.
After sitting on a high sand dune, mesmerised by the rising moon and star filled sky, we took out the "throwers". This was a good place to compare my Christmas present of this year, the KBS 4AA Responder, to last Christmas's TL-3. The Responder is a great value and throws far for an enexpensive light but, of course, the TL-3 put 2 - 3 times the amount of light into a spot further away.
Back home, we lit the Christmas tree, many candles and listened to Christmas jazz and then Steely Dan at elevated volume to ring in the NY.
I can't imagine a more perfect end to 2004.
Peace to you all.
Whoopie, the flashlight spirits were shining upon us tonight.
My ten year old daughter, my wife and I went out for a later fish lunch. That's a Friday night tradition in the fishing town of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, near Rawley Point on Lake Michigan's west coast.
Rather than fish 'n beer we had cream soda, old fashionds, and BLIND Russians - NOT all blended together, mind you. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif I had the blind Russians to hasten the onset of night vision for the walk in the woods that was to follow. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif Whoopie!!
We stopped back home to get our 100lb. beast of a dog, bundle up for the 23F weather, and most importantly, load up on lights.
A five mile drive brought us to a secluded parking place where one of the "unofficial" trails leads into Point Beach State Park. This is where the fun started.
The snow on the ground reflected enough light that my wife's Ultra G and daughter's 3 LED/1AA Dorcy was plenty of light. That didn't stop me from donning my new Yukon HL and switching it between the 3 LEDs for flood and the Lambertian Lux for testing throw. Oh what fun - I was a child again.
Since getting the Dorcy for Christmas, my daughter seems to be showing small signs of flashlight appreciation. Earlier in the evening she was reading by Dorcy light. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif She and our dog led (3LED's) the way through the very dark woods. Suddenly, several surprisingly loud, body shaking, deep KABOOMS startled us all. More followed and the sky faintly flashed. "Daddy I'm scared!" We were all amazed at the intensity of the deep, low frequency, retorts. A small ,village a few miles away, had a very BIG fireworks display. We couldn't see anything but the sky flashing but the noise was impressive and, temporarily, scary.
I had earlier been contemplating returning my new Yukon due to the VERY stiff switch but it works so well, otherwise, that I'll suffer with that deficiency and enjoy the HL's good performance. Unlike a Petzl Myo, for example, the 3 Nichia's are in the main reflector and provide superb flood waaay out in front, instead of closer to one's feet. The flood of the HL was surprising and explains why the Nichias draw the same, or more, current than the Lux. Without that overdrive there is no way the immence flood would have been bright enough. I'll accept the high battery drain for the good flood those three 5mm LED's provide - I just wish the ad writers were in sync with the engineers.
The Labertian Luxeon gave good throw with enough spill that unless you needed to see well to the sides, it was a good trail light. My daughter noticed the Lux was green compared to the Nichias. "I prefer the blue, Dad". Getting picky, aren't we?
After a 45 minute walk we arrived at the beach just as the moon was rising, dark orange, out of the lake, the stars shown brilliantly, my family was enjoying their lights, I
felt truly blessed.
After sitting on a high sand dune, mesmerised by the rising moon and star filled sky, we took out the "throwers". This was a good place to compare my Christmas present of this year, the KBS 4AA Responder, to last Christmas's TL-3. The Responder is a great value and throws far for an enexpensive light but, of course, the TL-3 put 2 - 3 times the amount of light into a spot further away.
Back home, we lit the Christmas tree, many candles and listened to Christmas jazz and then Steely Dan at elevated volume to ring in the NY.
I can't imagine a more perfect end to 2004.
Peace to you all.
