Headtorches - next generation

[Fellhound]

OK, it's that time of year again... Headtorch geeks, start your engines...

My trusty Petzl Duo14 is showing signs of cracking on the battery box after xx years of dependable use so I started looking at the market and even joined the candlepower forums (oh, the shame!)

I first spotted the Fenix H20, available on eBay for £70-80 and giving a light output of 230 Lumens. It looks like a quality piece of kit and 230 Lumens sounds nice and bright compared to the Duo or a Myo XP. I was tempted, but then noticed...

The Magicshine... designed as a bike light but available with a head harness etc and available as a full package (head harness lamp, battery and charger) from the American eBay for 96 dollars. This one gives - wait for it - 900 Lumens and there is also a 1400 Lumens version! Hope Vision 4 eat your heart out...

Has anyone any experience of these lamps?

[skennaugh]

That would sort the full beam drivers out!

[Gravymuncher]

Magicshine is too heavy to put on your head and run with, it'll be all over the place. If you want one, get it from www.dealextreme.com, they're about £50. I've got one of the 900 lumen ones, the ratings are listed as theoretical maximum, not actual output. Actual output measurements are hard to compare because they depend on beam spread. Hope 4 is far brighter than the 900 lumen one, the 1400 is probably about the same, but the beam spread on the the Hope will be better.

HTH.

[Skids]

Disagree re running with the "900" lumen Magicshine - OK it is a little on the heavy side, but I find it's fine to run with, and actually moves around less than my relatively featherweight Zebralight H501. I think you'll find the Fenix HP20 will have too narrow a beam by itself for running. My top tip would be to get a headtorch with a decent throw for seeing what's up ahead, and a Zebralight (the H501w would be ideal) mounted on a waist belt to give a lovely floody beam illuminating the ground for a few metre ahead of your feet.

[stumpy]

150 Lumen head-torch for £15 ! Go on someone, buy one and tell us what they're like! I'm thinking the build quality and comfort might be a bit dodgy for this price, but could be wrong....

http://www.lumenjunkies.co.uk/Cree%20Q5%20Headlamp

candle power forum rates the Magicshine at around 500 lumens.

[IanDarkpeak]

150 Lumen head-torch for £15 ! Go on someone, buy one and tell us what they're like! I'm thinking the build quality and comfort might be a bit dodgy for this price, but could be wrong....

http://www.lumenjunkies.co.uk/Cree%20Q5%20Headlamp

.

but with a battery life of 2-4 hours it's a waste of money, It wouldn't even last one setion of the BG, it may be ok as a back up but couldn't rely on that as my main torch

[Fellhound]

...too heavy to put on your head and run with
HTH.

People say this all the time about the Petzl Duo I've been running with for the last few winters but I don't find it any problem at all.

As far as beam pattern goes, this is a crucial one for fellrunning I reckon. The Duo's 14 LEDs are not the brightest thing ever and the beam length is pathetic compared to some of the much vaunted lamps that have come out more recently but they give a very nice 'flood' at your feet, which is exactly what you want. It's much better than (for example) my Myo XP 2008 in this respect.

Hmm... more research is obviously needed.

[Fellhound]

...Actual output measurements are hard to compare because they depend on beam spread.

I don't think that's quite true... Lumens ought to be a simple measure of the light output (illuminance). Once you take the beam spread into account you are into measuring Lux... (I think).

eg 1000 Lumens falling on a surface 1m square = 1000 Lux but 1000 Lumens falling on a surface 10m square is only 100 Lux.

I think the point you are making is that the more you spread the beam the less bright it will seem (ie less Lux), but surely 900 Lumens is 900 Lumens, unless I've misunderstood the theory somewhere.

I have a Lux meter so I may do a few tests with my current headtorches. Under strictly controlled scientific conditions of course

[Derby Tup]

I have a Lux meter so I may do a few tests with my current headtorches. Under strictly controlled scientific conditions of course

In the cupboard under the stairs, with a half-flat battery and after a couple of beers is my usual set of strictly controlled scientific conditions

[ifor]

You can easaly measure the Lux with your lux meter. Mesureing the Lumens is far harder, done properly you use an Integrating shere. You could have a go at guestimating by taking lots of lux readings to see the falloff and then doing a load of maths. For comparison of lights you phisicaly have where most of the light gose basicaly forward then a cieling bounce test works fairly well. Point the light and your lux meter at the center of the cieling and take a reading repeat for your different lights. Just need a good white matt finished cieling.