Opinions on Black Diamond Soliras

I am looking for opinions on the Black Diamond Soliras light as I have little knowledge of their positives and negatives. Such as, but not limited to, the following:

How does the xenon bulb compare to a 1 or 3 watt LED?

How effective are the 2 LED's for area lighting? Is it like a Tikka Plus on
low,or better?

Are the 2 LED's even effective on the low setting?

Is the Lithium - Ion battery worth the extra cost?

The use of the light would be for a primary caving light for up to 10 hour trips. The caves are primarily dry, with occasional mud. Additionally, it would be used for hiking between vehicle and cave entrances at night with hikes up to 1 hour. Basically, is this light worth the money or would another light be better, keeping cost in mind. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Don't have any first-hand experience with the Soliras. However, look for jtice's thread on the StenLight (or is it StenLite?).

Welcome to CPF!

I am leery of a 1 amp bulb with the small reflector.

I have several headlamps of the same basic design and have yet to find any utility in even the 0.7 amp bulb. The glare is just too much for any real route finding. The 0.5 amp bulb works just as well, oddly enough. For caving, you don't want more than that anyways.

As far as your other questions go, I don't really know. I take the 5mm LEDs out of my BD lights and put in a Luxeon. The LEDs that BD puts in their lights are too tightly focused for my liking.

My only experience was handling the light in a gear shop a few years ago. The battery pack is pretty big, so I doubt the weight savings will amount to anything (not that headlamp weight is a huge concern for cavers). If the caves you go in are really cold, perhaps the Li-ion chemistry will have some big advantage over Ni-mh aa's. Realize that the regulator is a fairly large circuit board that goes in the battery compartment, so it will be a little on the thick side.

If it were me, I would consider the Vectra IQ. I don't know how the faceted reflector comapres to the the orange peel design on the Soliras. It costs a lot less, has a larger reflector and has 4 LEDs. You might also consider a Space Shot or Supernova. I absolutely love my Supernova. All of these have regulators for the incadescent bulbs.

I have a Soliras bulb in my Vectra IQ and run it in current regulation by using nimh cells. It's running at 3.7W, so it's pretty bright for a headlamp, but not as bright as some incan lights like a 2 123 cell w/fresh batts. I use writeright on the lens and it smoothes the incan and led beams quite nicely.

Phaserburn said:

I have a Soliras bulb in my Vectra IQ and run it in current regulation by using nimh cells.

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That's how I plan to do it once I get my Vectra IQ. Have you noticed any thermal issues with the reflector and the Soliras bulb?

greenLED said:

That's how I plan to do it once I get my Vectra IQ. Have you noticed any thermal issues with the reflector and the Soliras bulb?

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I haven't, no, and I've done several longer burns. But again, remember this bulb is only 3.7W. I think it's misleading to a degree when you see stuff like, "searchlight strength", etc. It's bright; for a headlamp. My understanding is that you need to get up past 8W for plastic melting issues. A 6D Mag is putting out around 5W and has a plastic reflector.

Phaserburn said:

It's bright; for a headlamp.

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Thank you for putting it into perspective. I think I was misled by the marketing hype. I think it's still a headlamp setup I'd like to get; I like the regulation option.

Phaserburn said:

My understanding is that you need to get up past 8W for plastic melting issues. A 6D Mag is putting out around 5W and has a plastic reflector.

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I used a 5W lamp in my Petzl Zoom (with a separate battery-pack) and it held up nicely when used during winter. But when I used it this spring it melted the reflector closest to the bulb. It might be that using it unfocused like I did at the time (car-repair) contributed to the melting. The bulb and reflector are almost in contact when unfocused.

Sverre

Fair enough; it would make sense that all lights are not created equal, and that the proximity of bulb to plastic plays a large role.

NoFair said:

I used a 5W lamp in my Petzl Zoom (with a separate battery-pack) and it held up nicely when used during winter. But when I used it this spring it melted the reflector closest to the bulb. It might be that using it unfocused like I did at the time (car-repair) contributed to the melting. The bulb and reflector are almost in contact when unfocused.

Sverre

Click to expand...

Phaserburn said:

I haven't, no, and I've done several longer burns. But again, remember this bulb is only 3.7W. I think it's misleading to a degree when you see stuff like, "searchlight strength", etc. It's bright; for a headlamp. My understanding is that you need to get up past 8W for plastic melting issues. A 6D Mag is putting out around 5W and has a plastic reflector.

Click to expand...

I believe the Vectra IQ is designed for the 1 amp bulb.

Realize that "plastic" is a word used to describe many materials which will have a wide range of melting temperatures.

I put a Streamlight Stinger bulb (1.5 amp at about 4.5 V) in my Space Shot and melted the reflector in about 5 minutes. I suspect that the 1 amp bulb would melt the normal BD reflectors if used for longer periods of time.

I put the same bulb in a modified Zoom, and it took about 45 minutes before the reflector started to melt.

I put oxy-alkaline batteries in my Petzl Myo and it even got a little melted spot on the reflector with the factory bulb! I hate to think what Lithiums would do.

Take it for what its worth.

NoFair said:

I used a 5W lamp in my Petzl Zoom (with a separate battery-pack) and it held up nicely when used during winter. But when I used it this spring it melted the reflector closest to the bulb. It might be that using it unfocused like I did at the time (car-repair) contributed to the melting. The bulb and reflector are almost in contact when unfocused.

Sverre

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Did you find a LED that worked well in the Petzl Zoom without melting the reflector, or is there a retrofit reflector. I use it presently for a lot of jobs under the house or under the car when I need both hads free. I like my Zoom but it does go through batteries. A good LED conversion is what it needs.

I'm sorry if i wasn't clear on this. I used a 5W incan halogen bulb instead of the shock bulb. I think I have the version of the Zoom that is called arctic or something like it; it has a batterypack that is supposed to be worn underneath ones clothes in order to keep the batteries warm.

I don't think there are any worthwhile led upgrades for this light. A good Luxeon V is about $40 which is more than this light is worth, if you add in the cost of a new reflector and so on it get even worse...

Conserning battery consumption; I use 4 NiMH (AA or C-cells) with mine and get 2+ hours per charge.
If I were you I'd get a bulb that goes well with NiMH and use rechargeables exclusively.

Sverre

Mine is the type with the 4.5 volt pack on the back of the headband. I was hoping you had a better solution than the $40.00 Luxeon. Way more than the light is worth.

And I should apoligize for helping hi-jack this thread.

Just a note: the Soliras bulb is an authorized BD replacement for the Vectra IQ, so I should think there wouldn't be any heat or melting issues using it.

Trouthead said:

Mine is the type with the 4.5 volt pack on the back of the headband. I was hoping you had a better solution than the $40.00 Luxeon. Way more than the light is worth.

And I should apoligize for helping hi-jack this thread.

Click to expand...

I think you could fit 4 AA NiMH in the pack, I think my father ran that set-up before he switched to a Li-polymer battery-pack. (my father is a battery scientist.. and my brother is a RC freak )

I'd also like to apologise for this hi-jacking

Sverre