Headlamps?

[KayakDan]

LED's are the best thing to happen to winter camping lately. Black Diamond Ion is a neat little light to hang around your neck for around the campsite-2 LED's. The only thing that tweaks me is the ridiculous price of the BD batteries.
The Priceton Tec Aurora has a flashing mode,and other than a Coast Guard distress signal(for those of us who are whacko night kayakers) what possible use would this be???

 

[Warren]

The Priceton Tec Aurora has a flashing mode,and other than a Coast Guard distress signal(for those of us who are whacko night kayakers) what possible use would this be???

I guess you don't have raves up in Maine, do you?

 

[Neil]

I bought a 3 LED headlamp at Walmart and since that time it has done numerous 2 nighters, a 13 nighter, and was used for over 6 hours of night hiking. The original set of batteries just went dead last week. It takes 3 AAA's and swivels, with 3 power settings. Nifty gizmo, and at about $8.00, I don't think you can beat it.

That just about does it for me, I'm going to Wallmart.

 

[Quietman]

I did find the package for the one I bought. It's an "LED Head Beam" by Energizer. LED Headlight

I also picked up one of these about 12 months ago for $9-$10(also at Wmart). The compact flourescent bulb is a good area light for a small tent and I just use the 4 AA batteries from my camera if I need it.Compact Flourescent Light

These are the two lights I will carry from now on.
Who'd have thunk it, WalMart an official supplier for VFTT!

 

[spencer]

Who'd have thunk it, WalMart an official supplier for VFTT!

That's disapointing for a group who frequently discusses how important things like customer service are. We talk about how nice it is to stop in and see Steve Smith at his small, local book shop. We talk about how wonderful IME's basement is. We talk about EMS making the switch back from corporate monster to legit gear shop.

We need to support these institutions if we want them to stick around.

okay, my Walmart rant is over. Don't let Walmart ruin your neighborhood.

spencer

 

[hilldog]

The Priceton Tec Aurora has a flashing mode,and other than a Coast Guard distress signal(for those of us who are whacko night kayakers) what possible use would this be???

If I'm running on the country roads near home in the late afternoon or early evenings I'll use my Petzl Tikka Plus w/the strobe function just to be more visable to drivers. For some reason a flashing light will draw a drivers eye more so than a solid light, making you more visable and safer....hopefully anyway.

 

[shadowcat]

Headlamps

I got the Tikka Plus when it first came out; which has 4 leds. it's nice and lite.
But i have awful night vision so i wanted to try something that might give me more light so last yr i picked up the petzl myo 5; which has a 100 m xenon halogen & 5 leds; with 3 settings and tilts. i got the head mounted one (they also have one where you wear the battery pack in a pocket). it's def brighter than the tikka; albeit heavier, but not that uncomfortable, it doesn't bother me.
i really like them both but the tikka runs around $30-ish vs the myo 5 which is $75-ish. if i didn't need better lite i would have been happy with the tikka plus.

 

[Quietman]

I completely agree with Spencer and support them all I can and as I said in my 1st reply, I hate Walmart. I just happened to be in the store for an oil filter and saw the light and needed it. Notice that I posted the link to Energizer's site and not Walmart's . Maybe EMS and IME should consider stocking lower cost options to Petzl and Priceton for hikers that can't justify $30 for a light(like me). Don't worry in my case, with the anchor EMS store 3 miles from my house, I hit their bargain corner every weekend

 

[TomEske]

Well Spencer, I hear your rant, and I truly empathize. I too patronize the stores that cater to our needs best and have been buying at REI, EMS, and the smaller local hiking shops for over 30 years. You have often seen my posts bragging on my favorite bootfitter, located in the middle of nowhere. Her shop is smaller than my living room, but boy, talk about first class service!
Having said that, I absolutely refuse to be taken in by flashy advertising on overpriced junk. I work in manufacturing, and have worked in recreational retail for a whille. I know what this stuff should cost to make, and have a rough idea what the markup is. If I can pick up an equivilant piece of gear for 30% of the price at Walmart, I will. Maybe then these overblown prices will come down.
Take Nalgene bottles for instance. Everyone charges about $9.00 for a lexan bottle. How come walmart has them for $3.99. Now I see that REI is also carrying the $3.99 bottles. Maybe they are getting wise? I dunno.
I spend the big bucks on the critical gear, and if I can get something at the dollar store that works just as well, I do. (Car shammies make great pack towels, so why is the genuine pack towel $29.00?)
I can see you have a thing with Walmart, and I don't know what it is, but I would probably share your point of view against the mega stores. On the other hand, I hate being taken for a ride by the gear manufacturers.
Happy Hiking,
Tom

 

[Jay H]

Who needs Nalgene bottles, when I use those free plastic bike bottles I get from all the cycling events I do.

I admit though I just bought a metal SIGG bottle from STP that was like $13 but I figure since I commute, I am constantly dealing with icky-bottle syndrone... or IBS. The metal is supposedly taste neutral (much like lexan) and should be easier to clean.

I have only been inside a Walmart like twice and only bought one thing once. There isn't a Walmart near me though they are building one soon... Ugh. I have been by one in Delaware where my father has a house.

Errh, before this becomes a discussion on walmart,

My tikka's switch is getting hard to turn on, anybody else have this problem? Might have to see if I can lube it or something, wasn't like this when it was new..


Jay

 

[Rick]

That energizer light from walmart looks suspiciously like a princeton tec aurora....

 

[Warren]

My tikka's switch is getting hard to turn on, anybody else have this problem? Might have to see if I can lube it or something, wasn't like this when it was new..
Jay

Yeah, my zipka (or whatever it's called) has an increasingly difficult switch.

 

[Mark Driscoll]

Hi to all,

I have a question for the people that do a lot of winter hiking / camping how do the batteries hold up in the extreme cold? I have an old headlamp (heavy) that uses a lithium battery since they do not lose much power in the extreme cold. Can you use AA and AAA batteries lamps in the winter?

Mark

 

[Warren]

I use the Li AA's in a battery pack insert in a petzl artic, though if I'm doing a long nightime hike I'll use the heavy funky duracell long lasting batery sold for these lamps.

In general I use Li AA'a year round.

I've been hearing rumors of Li AAA's but I haven't confirmed a source yet.

 

[Oldsmores]

...Can you use AA and AAA batteries lamps in the winter?

Mark

Mark-
You can if you can keep them warm. The battery pack on my new headlamp will stay under my hat, so I think they'll work just fine. I will also keep the headlamp in my sleeping bag at night.

 

[ripple]

Warren,

Lithium AAA are at:


http://store.batteryspecialists.com/l92bp4.html


Free shipping !!!

 

[Mark Driscoll]

Thanks for the info.

Mark

 

[bobmak]

Lithiums are good but pricey. I have a set of 12 rechargeable NiMH batteries that are 2000 MaH each that I use for everything: flashlight, headlamp, CD player, digital camera, etc. They seem to work pretty good in the cold, but work better if you keep them warm. It's a pretty easy mod to change any headlamp over to a remote battery pack or to even change the type of battery pack; you can get what you need on-line or at radio shack. When we have skiiable snow in my area I go out after work in the local woods using the halogen bulb in my Petzl Arctic. To increase the burn time of the lamp I added a waterproof connector in-line between the lamp and battery connection. I just bought 2 battery holders and wired them together in parallel; that gave me over 5 hours of super bright halogen light as long as I kept the batteries warm.

 

[Bushwacked]

FWIW, I have three in order of preference:
1) Petzl Tikka Plus: Great lamp, enough light for night hiking if you generally know the trail, bunch of power settings, 3 AAAs
2) Princeton Tec halogen of some sort. Good when you need to cast a long beam, heavy though
3) BD Ion. Junk except for reading in you tent. Brought on my last solo hike to save weight. Crap. Expensive batteries too. Did I say it was junk?