Having now spent a bit of time playing around with the new 'K' at home and abroad in The Picos with the Oxford lot, I can now say a bit about the light.
In England the light is great, obviously MORE than adequate. Personnaly, I choose to run the light on a very dim setting (1 on spot and 2 on wide) when actually moving through a cave. When in a group sitting, waiting, resting whatever, just run 1 on spot so not to blind people. 8)
The new recessed switch on the headset is a great change. I have never caught it by accident in a tight crawl and altered the settings un-intentionally. Somthing that was beginning to drive me mad with the P7.
New thicker 'O' rings at the back on the battery case help prevent any water getting into this compartment. I had previously not heard of an incident of this ever happening, but after chatting to Rolf on Saturaday at the HE conference, he told me that all new battery cases come with a bigger 'O' ring - Fine, not going to complain!
Abroad in The Picos caving with the Oxford University in Julagua the light came into its own.
Most of us reading this will undoubtably agree that the light output of the 'K' is absolutely waisted in pretty much all caves in the UK (excluding Titan or Gaping Gill where on max power the light illuminates ALL walls). However, take it overseas and into the larger caves of the world and this is where light matters. As getting a bunch of decent photographs was my main priority, I needed to use the 'K' for foreground illumination with several scenes.
Believe it or not, but the back-light used on the opening double-page shot of the Mail on Sunday's 'Live' Magazine (second image down, Rosa Clements on the left) was provided by my 'K'
www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1207655/Deep-Impact-Dicing-death-3-700ft-ground.html[/url]
I would have struggled with anything else as it would not have been powerful enough.
Colour of the LED's is fine - No complaints there. If you want daylight then look no further. These are by no means green like a Duo or too blue like the earlier Scurion models. Besides if you know what you're doing, correcting any imperfections later in photoshop is hardly going to take up all night.
Both Rolf and Martin have also changed the desgin of the battery case so that the new cable comes out of the side of the case, rather than directly out of the underside, reducing any serious twists or bends in the cable.
Whilst I was browsing the stands in the trade hall at the weekend I stopped and enquired at the 'Viper' light. Personnaly - No contest!
(am well aware of the other thread so won't go into too much detail why)
The 'K' is by far the best thing on the market at the mo, but does cost!
If you are an expedition caver in BIG FU...ING caves then this is the light for you, especially if you struggle with charging facilities.
Have you seen the price of a spare battery for a Viper!!!!!!???? :tease:
