I wanna buy a light...

[nickwilliams]

Thanks for all the replies, but I'm still no closer to making a decision!

Duncan Price is offering you an FX5 + charger for 65 notes - I'd bite his arm off if I were you! The only downside is that the battery is big and heavy, but it's no worse than an Oldham, and as a deal, it meets all your other criteria.

Nick.

 

[Walrus]

Thought about the FX5... (thanks for the offer btw) but I'm not sure... from what I've read elsewhere people like the light and the robustiness but eventually curse the battery size and limited light duration on maximum.

Sooo... my top three choices so far are Nova 3, FX3 (but still not sure about that battery pack) or petzl 14LED.

I'm trying to put the Stenlight out of my mind... unless someone has one and they dont like it and they want to sell it cheap 

 

[Stupot]

Look into my eyes, look into my eyes, the eyes, the eyes, not around the eyes, don't look around the eyes, look into my eyes.............. You're under!

You will not purchace an FX3 or a Petzl 14LED but a Speleotechnics NOVA 3.

3, 2, 1 You are back in the room.  :blink:

Stu. 

 

[graham]

Very happy with mine, had the old version (Duo belt) that came before LED's and then upgraded to the 8 LED when that came. The battery case cracked badly after a while and had to be fixed with tape, this worked fine but when the case got squashed in a tight crawl etc the light could turn itself off. This easter, caving in the dales the switch became dodgy in the halogen position so i took it back to the norwegian importer and they gave me a new 14 LED belt version, waterproof to 5m. Have been vey happy with it sofar.

Last week i upgraded the halogen bulb to a 1W luxeon LED from here. The light became brighter and much whiter (even whiter than the standard petzl LED's in the other half of the light). The beam also seems to focus better with less distortion.

I wonder what this light is like compared with Andy's after i upgraded it.

Francis

Tsk tsk tsk

see - always get this type of comment on these topics.

It always starts with - "my petzl/spealo is ace etc" and is nearly always qualifyed with - but the battery case leaked/broke/has dodgy connections/isnt waterproof etc etc.

That says to me "Petzl duo = not tough enough for caving" and is therefore struck off the list.

Ask me if my oldham has ever broken or packed up or flickered annoyingly. No it hasnt, because its tough as old boots. Its been designed for use underground and is reliable.

And surely - if you ask you self what THE most important attribute of a caving lamp is - then its reliablitly. To be reliable it has to be TOUGH.

Andys lamps look tough. (and Im not just pluggin andys lamp cause I know him) I genuinely think it looks like it'll do the job, and do it well. Plus its blindingly bright, and it comes pretty cheap (including a charger).

My only concern is the lifetime of the battery as they've not been around for that long. How many years you would get out of a battery at say weekly use remains to be seen. (But given cost of the whole package - a replacement battery cant be too much)

Hmm, well I've known quite a few Oldhams break over the years. That's when they weren't leaking acid all over people's SRT kit, that is.

 

[SamT]

Well, mine didn't come from Andy, but it's the same thing, and I've trashed the battery case in less than ten trips. As I said in another thread, I dropped it less than a meter onto the concrete floor of my garage and the top of the battery case just snapped off. From the damage, it was obvious that it was already cracked before I dropped it.

Nick.

Thats interesting to hear. (mustn't have seen the other topic).

 

[Duncan Price]

Thanks for all the replies, but I'm still no closer to making a decision!

Duncan Price is offering you an FX5 + charger for 65 notes - I'd bite his arm off if I were you! The only downside is that the battery is big and heavy, but it's no worse than an Oldham, and as a deal, it meets all your other criteria.

Nick.

The FX5 is sold.  I have another complete set - newer cell, same spec's on the headset, bulbs, reflectors etc.  The charger has been converted to dual voltage (240/110 V) via a switch on the back of the unit and comes with a kettle type socket so that you can swop between UK/Euro/US mains leads (will include the complete set).

The discharge curve for the battery pack on the 2.4W bulb is attached.

Offers?

 

[graham]

I agree with Nick, Duncan's deal sound a good one provided that you are young and fit enough to lug that battery around (though only for a couple of hours at a time if you are going to use the decent power bulb ).

 

[nickwilliams]

... (though only for a couple of hours at a time if you are going to use the decent power bulb ).

Look, if we're getting into a 'mine is brighter than yours' argument, my 24V 1000W helicopter search light wins, OK?

I will admit it makes the front of my helmet a bit heavy though.

N.

 

[graham]

Not my point, mate. I am willing to bet that all your mates are really happy when you cave with that thing, but your chiropractor gives you serious shit afterwards. 

 

[darkplaces]

Look into my eyes, look into my eyes, the eyes, the eyes, not around the eyes, don't look around the eyes, look into my eyes.............. You're under!

You will not purchace an FX3 or a Petzl 14LED but a Speleotechnics NOVA 3.

3, 2, 1 You are back in the room.  :blink:

Stu. 

Nova 3 - beats all the rest, even, bright light. I'v even rigged up a connector to use my Nova3 with an FX3 battery for long duration.  The FX5 being a filament will give you rings but at 10watts, it lasts about 4.5hrs and the rings are burnt out. With carefull managment, switching to pilot for long passage walks/resting etc, the FX5 10/6watt combination works well. For longer duration pop the 6watt in the main and its still brighter then anything else and gives you 7hrs. You can buy a 3watt and also a 1.5watt LED only really usefull as a pilot as its not side emitting. The FX5 battery is lighter then an oldham. INFACT the FX5 is the only other lamp that actually got the JAGMAN approval, impressive. However the FX5 is 6volts and you dont get many upgrade options and its lack of burn time is not usefull when you go away for a few days. You can stick a RETRO2 in the FX5.

 

[Peter Burgess]

I'm still using Whale Oil in my lamp. Can anyone give me a good reason why I should use this untried novelty called paraffin?

 

[paul]

Thought about the FX5... (thanks for the offer btw) but I'm not sure... from what I've read elsewhere people like the light and the robustiness but eventually curse the battery size and limited light duration on maximum.

Sooo... my top three choices so far are Nova 3, FX3 (but still not sure about that battery pack) or petzl 14LED.

I'm trying to put the Stenlight out of my mind... unless someone has one and they dont like it and they want to sell it cheap 

I have a Stenlight I bought while in the US and my partner bought a Nova 3 recently. I would say that the Nova 3 is not that much less bright on the "high" setting" and is a lot cheaper. They are also both adjustable with regards to tilting position which is very useful.

Personally I would opt for the Nova 3 with helmet-mounting spade fitting from Bernies for about £78. The box includes the Speleotechniques helmet-mounted battery-box which can take a "flat-cell" Duracell or AA's with an adaptor. Later, you can get a re-chargable alternative, if you wish, also helmet-mounted either using the same battery box with re-chargables or changing to a complete helmet-mounted re-chargable battery suck as the FX-Ion - of course then you will also need a charger.

Forget about FX3/FX5. The helmet-mounted choice will give you a much more-than adequate run-time and once you've got used to not having a waist-mounted battery with trailing lead you will realise just how much of a pain it is to have them.

Forget about the 14 LED setup as well. The cheapest way to get this is to get a second-hand Oldham headset and buy the 14 LED reflector unit - and that costs about £70 alone. In my opinion the Nova 3 is much better because it is brighter and, more usefully, has two settings which the 14 LED hasn't. The tungtsen bulb is of no use as each time you use it you cut down the running time for LEDS and the Nova 3 is brighter anyway.

 

[Duncan Price]

I agree with Nick, Duncan's deal sound a good one provided that you are young and fit enough to lug that battery around (though only for a couple of hours at a time if you are going to use the decent power bulb ).

You can of course remove the battery and sit on it when having a rest to keep your bum warm.

I've built my own 24 LED array for an Oldham headset.  Nice light but the LED's cost £60 - this was a while ago and prices have come down while performance has increased.  I'm going to make up some more arrays and will post details if interested - next time i'm goiong to arrange the LED's in two banks so that I can switch between "main" and "pilot".  If there are no takers for the FX5 then I might make an array for this.

One thing - why do Speleotechnics still use 7 Ah NiCd F cells in FX2,3 and 5's when 13 Ah NiMH F cells are available?

I'm not sold on the longevity of Li ion cells yet.

 

[potholer]

What's the runtime of a Nova 3 on AA batteries, (alkaline and rechargeable)?
I'd have guessed that alkaline AAs might get goosed fairly rapidly, but for someone carrying a bagful underground that might not be an issue, when balanced against their easy availability and cheapness if bought in bulk.

One mate with a Nova 3 reckons he only get serious runtime when using Duracell flatpacks (compared, I assume, with the regular rechargeable packs), but then his idea of serious runtime might be a bit larger than some other peoples'.

 

[Stupot]

One mate with a Nova 3 reckons he only get serious runtime when using Duracell flatpacks (compared, I assume, with the regular rechargeable packs), but then his idea of serious runtime might be a bit larger than some other peoples'.

I am getting at least 27 hours on a Duracell 4,5V MN1203 with the Nova 3, although the bloody switch has just bust on mine, it will work one way (bright) but not the other, that will teach me for bigging them up 

Stu.

 

[potholer]

How noticeable is the dimming through the battery life?
Do you notice the loss of distance vision, or of spill-light at the edge of the beam. Subjectively, roughly what fraction of your 27 hours would you reckon was 'close-enough-to-full-power', what 'mid-range', and what 'usable but dim'.

I have heard from quite a few people that the replacement service is pretty good.
I *think* I recall someone saying that they'd been told the switch mechanism had been improved, but that is rather third-hand information, so may not be correct.

 

[darkplaces]

The switch on my Nova3 failed also, I have a new one now NV3002 my old one was NV3001 so I guess some update has occured. Anyone know what the actual differance is?

The flatpack will give a LONG duration but not as bright as a Nova Nickel rechargable.

 

[SamT]

 

[RM]

I use 2 6led dive lights. Dirt cheap, waterproof, indestructable and bright (enough). Also lasts forever

 

[graham]

: Oldhams do break as well you know ...