Lights!!

Yes I was refering to a personal upgrade. You do not need much skill with a soldering ion to do it and it makes a very nice differance.

Yes I meant the Ion not the icon. The new one is quite respectable and is a very good backup light to keep in your first aid kit and a good MM light so long as you don't expect to be out in the dark. If I was expecting to be out in the dark for a MM then the Spot is very nice, I have mountain biked with it and on fresh batteries its remarkably good. I see there being quite a few different catagories you can split based on weight eg <50g <100g < 200g. Once my MCE's come I am going to try and make somthing < 200g with one. it should be possible so long as you dant expect full power when your standing still.

Ifor

I'm gonna go for the BD ICON.....I could go bonkers with the range and compromises! does anyone know if you can put the battery pack onto waist bag/backsac??

Maybe Ifor has ideas??
Cheers for advice etc

BB, I've not seen that option. But I don't find the 'back of the head' battery pack any trouble at all. My previous h/t was an original Lucido Coolight 7, where the 3xAA battery pack was on your forhead, with the lamp head attached to the battery pack. the Icon feels a lot more balanced.:D If you are a 'handy lad' then cutting and extending the lead should be well within scope. In 7 or 8 years time, when my Icon is very bruised and battered, I might well explore that option. Whilst it is brand spankers, I just intend enjoying it in its pristine original condition.

As Petzl realised a long time ago, if you put the battery pack on the back of the head and the light unit on the front (obvious really :D) then you end up with a good balance.

My Duo is probably at the heavier end of the scale with its robust build and 4x AA cells but once the thing is on your head you really don't notice the weight of the battery pack at all.

I think the long wires and batteries in a pocket or - even worse - on a belt are an unneccessary complication until you get to the seriously weighty battery pack of the Silva 480 or similar.