Ultralight (under 30g) headlamp

[Orion]

I've been looking for something a bit lighter than my old school Petzl Tikka. It weighs 70g with 3 AAA alkaline batteries. I don't usually walk in the dark but sometimes I do. So a "camp light" wouldn't be enough. I'm not looking for a light for climbing or scrambling or difficult terrain; just walking on decent tracks in the dark.

I bought one of those toy LEDs recently, the kind that people put on their keychains. Its single LED is very bright. In high mode it's actually brighter than my Tikka. It is so small it would be easy to lose. The two coin sized lithium batteries are rated to last only 2 hours in high mode and 9 hours in low mode 9 hours in high mode and 64 hours in low mode, something I have yet to test myself. Carrying spare batteries would be reasonable.

But I can't help but think that there are better options for ultralight lighting. The Petzl e-lite looks somewhat promising but got poor reviews on BPL (very short period of brightness). I looked at some of the single AA lights but they were all considerably heavier.

Do any of you ever go bushwalking with an LED that is powered by coin lithium batteries?

[Giddy_up]

Hi Orion,

I have three of these for my kids and they love them. The batteries do last a long time, or seem to but I have never done a burn time test.

They have a few settings, flashing, high, and low etc and they were only $25 from memory and probably worth a look.

http://silva.se/product-family/siju

[Orion]

Nice, it comes in pink!

But alas, they are 5g heavier than my arbitrary limit of 30g. They use the exact same batteries and output the same number of lumens as the little keychain light I have (which weighs one third as much). Interesting that they claim a longer burn time of 24 hours in high mode versus 9 hours for my light. How does that work? Does it mean the little LED in my light is 1/3 as efficient?

[Giddy_up]

I'm not sure Orion, they do go for a long time. A weeks camping on the beach with the kids turning them on early as they do and using them as night lights will easily last the full week.

[undercling-mike]

The headband would account for a fair bit of the weight, I'd personally like to see a good light weight 1xAAA headlamp with a thin elastic headband but none of the models I have seen have the right combo of design, beam pattern and weight. Given the improvements in LED efficiency we could have a 1xAAA light with as good or better output and runtime as the old 3xAAA lights from several years ago that we used to make do with.

The other thing is that 24h on high with a constant output of 16 lumens isn't possible with 2xCR2032 batteries. There isn't enough energy in the batteries to do that with the most efficient LEDs available assuming a 100% efficient driving circuit. So what happens is the light dims and draws less power as the batteries drain allowing it to output light for longer and the manufacturer specifies the runtime down to some low (often unspecified) level of output. Probably they're using a different cutoff level.

*Edit* I meant to say this light might meet your requirements: http://www.sunreegear.com/english/produ ... asp?id=571
I've seen the same light re-branded for sale at Anaconda for $20 I think. I have a different Sunree headlamp and the build quality is surprisingly good.

[Orion]

Like you I was hoping to find a simple, minimal, no frills LED that used a single AAA battery.

The headlamp you suggest is oh so close in weight. The specification says 24g without the CR2032 batteries, each of which weigh 3.0g. I think I'd need to put it on a scale accurate to a tenth of a gram to know if it is indeed under 30g.

I tried to measure the intensity loss of my keychain LED using my point and shoot camera. I took a photo of a white screen illuminated with the LED (fixed distance, ASA, F-stop) and noted the shutter speed my camera automatically selected. Then after the LED was on for an hour I repeated this. By this very crude measure it lost roughly half its intensity after that hour of being on (high beam). It also appeared to my eye to be noticeably dimmer. After a short rest of 10 minutes it recovered somewhat both to my eye and the reported shutter speed but not to its original level. I'm not sure how much I trust what my camera setup is saying though.

[undercling-mike]

Well that light has a clip attached for use on the brim of a cap so if you remove the clip it should drop the weight enough to be under 30g.

[Mark F]

I've been using this for summer walking since I forgot to take my headlamp last time I went to the Pyrenees. Enough light for in the tent, cooking and the midnight excursion.
2 leds, 24 grams, no battery issues as it has both solar and windup. I stored it in the top mesh pocket on my Macpac Amp 40 with the solar panel facing up and it remained bright and fully usable for 5 weeks. I need to make a small headband for it and add a small mesh top pocket to my Laufbursche pack - my current favourite - before next summer..

light

P1000550.JPG (48.26 KiB) Viewed 27639 times

The winding handle folds neatly away. The amount of light seems similar to my ancient BD Ion (it had 2 small leds rather than 1 1/2 watt led)

[Orion]

That's cute. And they're really cheap too. The reviews I've read are mixed, however, with some people reporting a pretty dim light now matter how much they cranked. Still, for $7 I might just buy one to find out for myself next time I have a $35 order with Amazon.

If you just let it charge during the day via the solar panel how long does the light last? Any idea?

[GPSGuided]

Gadget galore when it comes to these.

Orion, there's this for around $8 shipped.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hand-Cra ... 81530.html

Then there's a bunch of USB powered bulbs that can be combined with our USB power source in the pack.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Ultra-sm ... 38792.html
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Mini-com ... 26233.html

[Orion]

Gadget galore when it comes to these.

Orion, there's this for around $8 shipped.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hand-Cra ... 81530.html

Then there's a bunch of USB powered bulbs that can be combined with our USB power source in the pack.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Ultra-sm ... 38792.html
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Mini-com ... 26233.html

Under 30 grams? I don't think so.

[Travis22]

This things pretty lightweight but the run time seems really poor.

Never looked for such a thing before but just stumbled onto this item while browsing eBay.

8grams.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/330873228213

[Tony]

But I can't help but think that there are better options for ultralight lighting. The Petzl e-lite looks somewhat promising but got poor reviews on BPL (very short period of brightness). I looked at some of the single AA lights but they were all considerably heavier.

Do any of you ever go bushwalking with an LED that is powered by coin lithium batteries?

Hi Orion,

I have used an Petzl e-lite for many years now and have had no problems,though I mainly use it for around camp I have used it twice to walk at night, I always carry some spare button batteries, they do not weigh much.

Tony

[Orion]

This things pretty lightweight but the run time seems really poor.

Never looked for such a thing before but just stumbled onto this item while browsing eBay.

8grams.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/330873228213

Not all coin lithium batteries are the same. That tiny light uses two CR1616 batteries which have less than one fourth the capacity of the CR2032 batteries that the Petzl e+Lite uses.

For comparison:

2.2g, 110 mAh --- 2 x CR1616
6.0g, 480 mAh --- 2 x CR2032
7.6g, 1200 mAh --- 1 x AAA lithium

[Orion]

I have used an Petzl e-lite for many years now and have had no problems,though I mainly use it for around camp I have used it twice to walk at night, I always carry some spare button batteries, they do not weigh much.

Tony, thanks for the feedback. By "no problems", what do you mean? The issue I've read about in reviews (and Petzl details in their documentation) is that the light dims rather quickly. Petzl shows this as a drop of more than 50% of its initial brightness (as measured by distance the beam illuminates) after only 30 minutes of use. Probably all bright LEDs using these batteries would suffer this to some extent or another. But the initial brightness of the Petzl is considerably greater than my tiny keychain light so I wonder if it decays faster. Do you know if anyone on BPL has bought a bunch of these micro-LED lights and tested them?

[Mark F]

That little torch pictured earlier in this thread most probably has about a 30 - 40 minute run time before needing to be cranked. It proved fine for long summer days but I wouldn't take it if I knew I would be trying to cook and read with it every day. The solar kept it topped up for almost 5 weeks by placing the unit in the mesh top pocket of the pack and I have yet to use the crank in anger. I think with these cheap torches the quality is highly variable and I lucked out getting a good one. I also have a Petzl eLite and an ancient BD Ion with two small leds (purchased in 2004) both have performed well.

[Orion]

Thanks, 30-40 minutes isn't bad. That's good to know.

I used the little keychain light on a trip recently and it was great around camp. But it has no attachment (yet) and when I needed two hands I had it my mouth, which led to slobbering a little bit. It reminded me of the old days before we used headlamps. Everybody I knew had a mini flashlight with teeth marks and missing paint on the end. I'm sure I ate my share of paint. At some point an entrepreneur began selling a rubber bite piece that slipped onto the end of a small flashlight. It seems so funny now.

[dancier]

I had a quick look in Kathmandu for a few things today and notice they had a kids head torch with three LED's, weight was 28 grams with two CR2032 batteries and the price was 14.99.

[Strider]

This one looks to be even brighter and with longer runtime than the one dancier mentioned.

http://m.kathmandu.com.au/accessories/l ... -aqua.html

[johnrs]

Sad to say it but its hard to beat the Kathmandu 1 watt LEDs,
quite durable, good around camp but not bright enough to walk with.
John

[Son of a Beach]

I been using Black Diamond Ion for several years now. Trouble is, they're so small, I keep losing them. I'm on my third one now, and I've also bought them for each of my kids (they LOVE them!).

Weight is 28g. Brightness is plenty for cooking and around camp. I've done a little walking with it, but it's only barely enough for actual walking. Black Diamond say 22m visibility range.

See: http://eu.blackdiamondequipment.com/en/ ... 0ALL1.html

[lachlanhug]

Looks like Black Diamond has come out with a new version of the Ion. 31g without batteries. 46 with 2 x AAA batteries.

The IPX8 rating is probably worth the extra few grams it has on the old version. Not a huge fan of the buttonless idea though...

Some Oz shops already have them apparently.

http://www.globetrekker.com.au/lighting ... -46-grams/

http://www.urbanoutback.com.au/p/black- ... 0615-White

[Strider]

Damn. Still 1g too heavy for Orion!

[Mark F]

I do hate the marketing spin.

smallest, lightest and most compact fully functional headlamp on the market.

Does that mean the previous Ion or the Petzl eLite which were lighter and possibly more compact and smaller (how is this different from most compact) were not fully functional?

[Strider]

I do hate the marketing spin.

smallest, lightest and most compact fully functional headlamp on the market.

Does that mean the previous Ion or the Petzl eLite which were lighter and possibly more compact and smaller (how is this different from most compact) were not fully functional?

No. It means they are no longer on the market.

[Mark F]

Petzl eLite is still available and there are the even lighter Photon style lamps.

[Orion]

The Petzl is still on the shelf in our local store.

I just returned from a 9 day walk. It's mid-summer here in California and I had no plans for night time walking. So I took my little 11.5 gram key chain light. To add functionality I taped a paperclip to it which brought it up to 12.8 grams, a very manageable weight. It is dangerously small, easy to lose if being careless. It was also quite bright and I mainly used it in its lower intensity mode. I could have easily walked with it at night for some period of time, not sure exactly how long, although the 4 minute auto-off feature would have been kind of annoying.

I'm sold on the concept of a tiny light, at least for this sort of mid summer trip.

[Eljimberino]

Not sure if its been mentioned, but I just noticed a brim lit light on wild earth. Nite ize is the brand.