It might seem the wrong time of year for this! But with BG & PB support duties on the horizon, plus the fact that I have not updated my headtorch for 7 years, hands up who owns or has used one of the new Petzl Ultra h/t's - paticularly the 4Ah Belt model?
On paper, it looks like what I've been hanging back for.... what's your experience, please?
Go for an Alpkit Gamma WD and save loads of money!!
Looking at the alpkit gamma spec compared to the Petzl Ultra they are totaly different lights. I would use somthing speced like the gamma as a backup light (although you can get considerably lighter) where the Ultra was my main light. Of course for most uses you don't need anything as powerfull at the Ultra and the Gamma is undoubtedly perfectly aceptable. If I was supporting a BG I would have the brightest light I could and the Ultra is an option. In the past I have always done support with a 20W Silva.
I have not used an Ultra but I have seen one in the dark and been able to do a quick comparison to a 20W silva and my home made Led headlight. To be honest it was better than I was expecting, considerably brighter than the Silva on 20W and closer to my home made light then I expected. The beam has a good mix of throw and spill with a nice even transition. It looked very good for Night Orientearing which if you look at the web site was clearly the design critiria.
The only real problem with the Ultra is the cost, my home made light was not cheap in parts but they were well under 25% of the price of an ultra and I get 1000+ Lumen.
Ifor
Now can I justify spending £250 and getting a new headtorch
Now then ifor, nice bit of info that, but you can't just mention your home-made light and leave it at that.... 1000+ lumens? Wow.
Tell us more... can you make them to order?
You mean another £250 on all top of all the other headtorches Hopey ????Originally Posted by hopey
Now can I justify spending £250 and getting a new headtorch
I've already been told no more headtorches
Trundler, click the link on Ifor's post - you get the works!
Kev, I'm not knocking the Gamma and might be quite tempted to have one just because I'm a bit of a h/t geek! For the past 7 years I have been using what was the very first l.e.d. h/t on offer in the UK - a Lucido Coolight 7 whose output on new batteries will be just a bit less than the Gamma; and I've undertaken some pretty extreme outings with it including going off course on Cross Fell in the depths of winter (hand-in-front of your face clag and horizontal stair-rods rain) and making a successful re-location! Plus some genuine night orienteering, where I was at a distinct disadvantage against the Silva 480's. Now I'm looking to step-up a league.
Ifor, I fully appreciate the D-I-Y angle - you only need to look at my modified and bodged Lucido to understand that - but it is difficult to obtain some of the user friendly aspects of a commercial model; e.g. the lower settings on the Ultra allow for a 40m beam for 33+ hours, or an 80m beam for 9+ hours. It's a genuine 'all night' light, I can see the HPM contenders going for it in a big way. Plus, it should be good for fast downhill on & off road on the cyclo-cross bike - one light for all occasions.
Yes, it is 'at a price' but I've been saving Christmas and birthday money for a few years, against this occasion. I know a lot of people who have been tempted to buy every upgraded h/t that's been released and must have spent £300 or more, over the years, on a collection of h/t's that don't cut the 'Ultra' mustard
D'oh.. how did I miss seeing the link?
Home made is the way to go if you have the time and the inclination, but it is dangerously adictive, especialy when your running has gone to pot and you can not train and race like you used to. There is lots of information on the CandlePower website, I found the bike light section the most usfull for doing a headlight.
My lights all use taskled drivers that give me five levels for an all night runtime capabilities. I did a 9 houre all night mountain bike ride a mounth back around all the man made trails at Afan Argod, mostly using the middle three light level. Testing the battery afterwards I had only used up half the capacity... The aukward thing doing a diy job is getting all the bits together. I got drivers from the USA, Optics from Holland, Leds from Germany and batteries from Hong Kong. I have also had Leds from Australia...
Ifor
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