Head Torches

[Taurë-rana]

Yes must do the same, however must empty my sack first - err..(I'm playing Santa tonight)

Well you know what they say about Santa...

[geoskid]

Well you know what they say about Santa...

No ....What do they say Elf Lady

[Taurë-rana]

Um, well, if you don't know watch one of the more recent James Bond movies where Pierce Brosnan will enlighten you at the end of the movie. (Actually I thought the comment was totally out of place in that particular movie, but that's only my opinion.)

[tasadam]

I thought I might resurrect this topic, as I have had a few failures with my head torches.
As mentioned I use the Princeton Tec Corona, which I purchased from Paddy Pallin in Launceston.
The first one had a failure with the cable after a few years, it would go out and fiddling with the cable then turning it on again fixed it, until it hardly worked at all.
Paddy Pallin did a great job at replacing it without charge.

The same thing happened to the second one of these (my wife's), and again it was replaced without question by Paddy Pallin in Launceston for which I am very grateful. 2 head torches, both needing replaced...
Now the battery door clip on my unit (fairly new as it was replaced) has broken. Again, Paddy's got me a replacement clip without charge.
Also the switch sometimes doubles up when pressing it, so when you want to press it say twice to get 5 LED's on, it might cycle the switch 4 times which turns it off.

So I am thinking it might be time to move on to something better. Yes, a head torch better than ~$100...
Criteria -
Must be AA battery. No more than 3 batteries max.
Must be LED for the sake of economy of batteries.
Must be lighter in weight than the 228 grams the Corona is rated at.
Must be reliable. I am happy(ish) to pay good money for good gear, and I expect it to do what it's supposed to.

Any ideas?

[Nuts]

Petzl?
Ive had the various models, all reliable, some a bit quirky

[Macca81]

out of curiosity, why AA as opposed to AAA batteries? i have found that reasonably similer devices using the 2 different battery types had much the same power usage, with AAA being much lighter... but thats only been my very non-scientific casual observations.

[Macca81]

ok, just spotted your comment regarding keeping all devices the same in the battery temp thread...

[Ent]

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[tasadam]

I have not come across any better.

That's what I am afraid of... Lets push the boundaries and see what really is the best of the best out there...

[Jellybean]

I'm a Petzl fan too. On my third one. Great quality, very reliable.

I currently have a Tikka Plus 2 (http://www.petzl.com/en/outdoor/tikka-z ... tikka-plus)- does a great job and only 83g incl batteries. Meets all except one of your criteria, takes AAA or lithium batteries (for longer life, colder conditions).

[north-north-west]

I also have a Petzl Tikka. Love it. Small, light, very low power usage. Pity about the AAAs, but you can't win them all.

[Robatman]

I'm pretty much a flashaholic and the best headtorches I have are from Zebralight.
http://www.zebralight.com/Headlamp_c_7.html
They cost more than most of those mentioned (but still less than $100) but are built very nicely and get an amazing output from a single battery. I'm just waiting for them to update their 18650 (a type of battery) version to the latest XP-G emitter.

They cost alot, (but like all our hobbies the more we get into them the more we think something is cheap for what you get!), but they are so small and have great output- from reading to general night walking.

One thing i have noticed on the few night walks is that when it gets really cold- less than 10'C the fog from your breath creates a huge cloud that the beam just illuminates and blinds you- much like high beam on a car in the fog!

Anyone else here got a Zebralight?

Robert

ps check out this forum for all things torches- http://www.candlepowerforums.com

[Liamy77]

I have one of the cheapo energisers too.... but i also have a handcrank rechargeable LED lantern type if I am goin with the kids or want a bit more comfort with company as it lights up about 2-3m over about 270 degree angle it cost $8 from a cheapo disposal type shop... its about the size of a condensed milk tin - nowhere near as heavy though.

[sailfish]

Led Lenser H7 140 lumens dimmer focusing LED. Spot or flood. Dim battery saving or super bright.
Great for finding my way back from fishing at night. Picks up the tent reflection tapes at over 100 m.

http://www.ledlenser.com.au/2009/ENG/pr ... .php?id=h7

Regards,
Ken

[Nuts]

They look good!

A curious thing. I was laying back reading the other night, wearing a petzl zipka plus. Without warning the loudest bang came from the headtorch. Stunned and shaking I took the still sizzling torch off. Checked through the various settings and no problem. Opened the casing and all looked fine aside from moisture in the battery compartment. Have no idea what happened...? Worked fine for the next seven days...

[sailfish]

I wonder if you had a moisture short flash to stream. If using rechargables, this would be more severe due to the cells much lower internal resistance. You wouldn't want that to happen with LiPo cells!!!!


Regards,
Ken

[Son of a Beach]

One thing i have noticed on the few night walks is that when it gets really cold- less than 10'C the fog from your breath creates a huge cloud that the beam just illuminates and blinds you- much like high beam on a car in the fog!

I've had this problem too. I guess the same solution as used on cars would work. Ie, have the fog lights lower down so the beam goes below most of the fog, and use a yellower colour.

So you could strap your head torches to your knees and see if it helps. I haven't tried this myself, as I only have one head torch.

[Nuts]

I wonder if you had a moisture short flash to stream. If using rechargables, this would be more severe due to the cells much lower internal resistance. You wouldn't want that to happen with LiPo cells!!!!
Regards,
Ken

Thats interesting. Not exactly sure what you mean but yer, some sort of short circuit and yer using rechargables. The bang, more a loud crack was pretty impressive! Not sure how the moisture got in, perhaps didnt close the case properly, perhaps condensation.

[tasadam]

It might need a service, or a pull apart & check. It sounds to me like maybe a capacitor has failed, and maybe there is some redundancy in the circuit, hence it still working.
Also, how many batteries? Have you checked the condition of each individual cell since? Maybe one died spectacularly and shorted, and the others have had enough power to keep it going.

My take on the "big bang" theory.

[Mickeymoo]

I tend to like headlamps with long burn time and good spot light beams so they tend to be a bit heavier my two current ones are a Princeton Tec one which I think has been superseded buy the Yukon HL (but with 3 AA batteries instead of AAA like in the current one) which is nice and solid and weather proof with a good long burning LED long range beam, and the Led Lenser H7 (if you want a bright headlamp this is fantastic!) fairly lightweight and runs on 3 AAAs and has a focusing system so you can adjust anywhere between full spot and flood light to suit as well as a dimming function from low to bright on the battery case at the back, the only downside is that I don't think it is very weather proof.

[Jellybean]

One thing i have noticed on the few night walks is that when it gets really cold- less than 10'C the fog from your breath creates a huge cloud that the beam just illuminates and blinds you- much like high beam on a car in the fog!

I've had this problem too. I guess the same solution as used on cars would work. Ie, have the fog lights lower down so the beam goes below most of the fog, and use a yellower colour.

So you could strap your head torches to your knees and see if it helps. I haven't tried this myself, as I only have one head torch.

I find that adjusting the angle of the beam overcomes that to a fair extent. I'm not sure if all head torches have it (and it's a while since I used my other Petzl's) but the Tikka Plus 2 has a swivel adjustment on the torch that allows you to adjust the angle of the beam.

[Liamy77]

the army disposal store near(ish) to me here has AA penlights that shine at a right-angle and could be clipped to webbing or shoulder straps for foggy conditions? pretty solid looking but i didnt buy one as it wasn't LED...

[sailfish]

I wonder if you had a moisture short flash to stream. If using rechargables, this would be more severe due to the cells much lower internal resistance. You wouldn't want that to happen with LiPo cells!!!!
Regards,
Ken

Thats interesting. Not exactly sure what you mean but yer, some sort of short circuit and yer using rechargables. The bang, more a loud crack was pretty impressive! Not sure how the moisture got in, perhaps didnt close the case properly, perhaps condensation.

I mean that moisture can allow current to track across where it shouldn't, with little or no load, a short circuit. Given enough current, this can flash the moisture to steam but is more typical of higher voltage applications.
Current is a product of voltage and resistance. If voltage is high or resistance low, more current will flow. In a short, resistance through the circuit is practically zero so the only effective resistance is that or your batteries. This determines the batteries upper limit to deliver current. NiCad or NiMh cells have lower much lower internal resistance and can deliver very much higher current despite their lower voltage (1.2 v). For example, I used to have CL model planes with glow plug engines (1970s). Started with a huge telephone battery then a motor bike cell to light the plug. I once tried a bank of many (6 or more in parallel) ordinary D cells but still failed to light the plug as I could never get enough current from them. However it takes just 1 AA NiCad or NiMh to deliver the necessary 2 amps and light the plug.

The reference to LiPo cells something I regret on reflection. They are used in flying models and toys because of their extremely high energy for size and weight and ability to deliver extreme current. Like some of the motors draw 70 Amps. Their energy density makes them extremely dangerous. They require special handling, charging etc. A short on a LiPo is likely to result in an explosion spraying the burning contents all over. They have been known to start house fires. In a tent, you would be BBQ.


Regards,
Ken

[optdyl]

I'm using an LED Lenser Duplex Headlamp, it has dual LEDs, which are somewhat adjustable. One is a focused beam (good for walking at night), while the other is a lower intensity broad beam (great for around camp); It uses 3xAAAs, weighs 180g (reported, not checked) and the burn time is listed as 120h but I'm not sure of the accuracy of this as I've never gone through a set of batteries (I prefer replacing them after a walk and using them for something around the house so I don't have to carry spares while walking).

I managed to pick mine up for $40 on Catch of the Day.

Dyl