The other suggestions of Spark and Surefire models are very good too (although I feel the Spark SX5 is a bit bulky for mountaineering). It's very lightweight and is sufficiently waterproof as long as you aren't planning to do any swimming with it. When he returned it he said that the runtime and brightness were perfect - he had to keep it dimmed to half output or less to avoid glare off the snow when traveling at night, and after two weeks he still hadn't replaced the lithium primary (disposable) batteries he had put in it. A buddy of mine recently borrowed one from my roommate for a fifteen day long trip deep into the Olympic Mountains (he had concluded that his Apex Pro was too heavy and wanted to carry something much smaller and lighter). I second florinache's suggestion of the BD Storm. Spark just put out a headlamp that allows you to keep the battery pack inside your jacket (the SX5) and it is pretty inexpensive for what you get. Asval's correct - you should be considering lithium primaries due to the cold. If I were in your shoes, I'd give a long thought to a SureFire Minimus (using lithium based CR123) or one of the Spark headlamps that could take a lithium primary, as the Sparks seem well-sealed and robust to me. Or, alternately, buy one of your two choices as a stop-gap as you shop for an ideal light. My "professional" (LOL) opinion is that you need to be thinking more generally about your needs and choices before you converge on the two particular lights you've mentioned. Have a look at what the popular lights are (see link in my sig) and also what choices are the important ones to be made when choosing (ditto). AAA batteries have very little advantage weight-wise and a big penalty capacity-wise. Few would think IPX4 was sufficient for mountaineering in rain and snow. I know it's frustrating when people question your premise rather than answer your question, but like asval I think you have some premises to examine before you buy. It is slightly brighter, but at the expense of shorter burn times, and is IPX7.Ĭould anyone offer advice on what would be best to go for? I don't know much at all about all the circuits, LEDs and so on, I just want something reliable with a way to stop itself turning on in my bag. Instead of locking the button, it seems you can just flip the unit so that the button is guarded, which sounds good. The Ninox is harder to find reviews on, but those that I can find are largely positive. It seems to have better burn times than the Ninox. The Black Diamond was my original choice BD have a mountaineering background, the button has a lock feature activated by holding it down, and IPX4 should be fine for my use. The two options that I have come up with are the Black Diamond Spot and the Silva Ninox. Taking apart battery cases to take tape off the cells in a blizzard is not fun. One feature that I would definitely like is a 'lock' on the on-button so that it can be stuffed into my rucksack without worrying about draining the batteries. It doesn't have to be silly bright (the Alpkit's 70ish lumens was fine), but something that works with a climbing helmet, can be used with gloves, is pretty rugged for use in rain and snow, and isn't overly heavy would be good. I'm going to email Alpkit as I think they are generally quite good about these things, but this may be the time to fork out for something a bit more expensive and, hopefully, reliable.īasically I'm looking for a headtorch suitable for mountaineering. Long story short, it is intermittently turning on and off, and when its on it flickers and jumps from full bright to dim. Today I took my Alpkit Gamma out of my bag to check it before tomorrows day on the hill, and discovered all was not well. Hey, first post on here, lurked a few times through the reviews but now I have a question of my own.
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