Wisdom lights. Have you tried them?

[PeteHall]

I've started looking at as mentioned Oldham and also KSE for a new cap lamp.

If you are after an Oldham, drop me a PM. I've got 3 on various iterations of Mr Mike's LED modules (all good working order) and also various Oldham or Speleotechnics headsets ready for upgrade. I'm sure I don't need all of them...

 

[CavefestUK]

Great reading all this. It does seem that wisdom are almost desperate to break into the UK market.

 

[yuvals]

First I have to say I HATE this brand. They are super rude, spamming FB groups an forums.

Saying that, I see 4 main problems with the light:
1. No option to replace batteries during a trip. When running out of juice you have to recharge it at home.
2. No option to replace batteries when cells are getting old, you have to buy a new light.
3. It is not balanced, 2 cells + lamp on the front and no weight on the back of the helmet.
4. No Flood beam only tight Spot

Ignoring all these disadvantages, the light is very durable and waterproof       

 

[AR]

Great reading all this. It does seem that wisdom are almost desperate to break into the UK market.

Or perhaps they've pissed off the people who used to sell their product to the UK market and they're desperate to find someone else... :-\

 

[CavefestUK]

I believe it was a company called Caplamps

 

[royfellows]

First I have to say I HATE this brand. They are super rude, spamming FB groups an forums.

Saying that, I see 4 main problems with the light:
1. No option to replace batteries during a trip. When running out of juice you have to recharge it at home.
2. No option to replace batteries when cells are getting old, you have to buy a new light.
3. It is not balanced, 2 cells + lamp on the front and no weight on the back of the helmet.
4. No Flood beam only tight Spot

Ignoring all these disadvantages, the light is very durable and waterproof     

No disrespect but you are missing the whole point relative to these lamps.
They are not lamps designed for caving or recreational mine exploration but lamps designed for use in working mines..

Re the Oldham D16, this again fits into this category. You buy an expensive lamp for what it is basically for a whole cartload of certification which is US to you, the headset heatsink is nickel to avoid the use of any aluminium which is would prevent full coal mine certification, as I understand it,  if someone else wants to come in on this elaborate, they welcome. I am not the expert on the D16.

 

[Fjell]

First I have to say I HATE this brand. They are super rude, spamming FB groups an forums.

Saying that, I see 4 main problems with the light:
1. No option to replace batteries during a trip. When running out of juice you have to recharge it at home.
2. No option to replace batteries when cells are getting old, you have to buy a new light.
3. It is not balanced, 2 cells + lamp on the front and no weight on the back of the helmet.
4. No Flood beam only tight Spot

Ignoring all these disadvantages, the light is very durable and waterproof     

No disrespect but you are missing the whole point relative to these lamps.
They are not lamps designed for caving or recreational mine exploration but lamps designed for use in working mines..

Re the Oldham D16, this again fits into this category. You buy an expensive lamp for what it is basically for a whole cartload of certification which is US to you, the headset heatsink is nickel to avoid the use of any aluminium which is would prevent full coal mine certification, as I understand it,  if someone else wants to come in on this elaborate, they welcome. I am not the expert on the D16.

You are quite correct. Anything that might generate a spark is banned, aluminium being near the top of the list as it is lethal when hit by iron or steel. It doesn?t have to be completely waterproof, just not capable of propagating ignition. It has to be locked to prevent in-situ tampering (that is a dismissal offence). I was under the impression that Oldham have issues with certification at the moment, and I don?t think they were ever certified for zone 0, but I might be wrong on that.

You are buying something for nostalgia?s sake. There are a wide range of better items for caving. We switched to carbide/electric setups in the ?80?s because they were manifestly superior to caplamps in all respects for caving. It took high power warm-white LED?s and Li-ion to get me to move on.

 

[yuvals]

No disrespect but you are missing the whole point relative to these lamps.
They are not lamps designed for caving or recreational mine exploration but lamps designed for use in working mines..

Re the Oldham D16, this again fits into this category. You buy an expensive lamp for what it is basically for a whole cartload of certification which is US to you, the headset heatsink is nickel to avoid the use of any aluminium which is would prevent full coal mine certification, as I understand it,  if someone else wants to come in on this elaborate, they welcome. I am not the expert on the D16.

I understand that, but since it is being marketed as a caving light I commented on the reasons why I don't thing it is good for caving 

 

[CavefestUK]

Thank you for all these comments.
Wisdom are certainly geared towards mining. They are interested in what the caving community thinks and will appreciate all and any constructive criticism.
Keep the comments coming.
If you are local to the Mendips and want to try them, or just have a closer look, just let me know and we can sort something out.

 

[NewStuff]

If I see them advertised, it's as an ATEX lamp, aimed at specific industries. As said, ATEX is an expensive certification that is almost entirely useless to recreational explorers, unless they visit places they won't be telling you about any time soon. If they're looking to recreational use, maybe they can drop the ATEX certification and make it have removable cells.

There are pro's - It's got a decent burn time on a standard setting. I had it running for 12 hours overnight and it was still lit in the morning. My 3A has a no fuss magnetic charger over USB - very easy to charge from any USB socket. I'm used to building my own lamps, (as is Roy). I assure you I'm a pickly bastard about lamps, and I've made a few from scratch and modified countless Oldam's. The Wisdom stuff is good, but definitely not for everyone. It just works for me. I can bosh it on charge the night before, or top the charge off from a powerbank on the way to where I'll need it.

 

[royfellows]

No disrespect but you are missing the whole point relative to these lamps.
They are not lamps designed for caving or recreational mine exploration but lamps designed for use in working mines..

Re the Oldham D16, this again fits into this category. You buy an expensive lamp for what it is basically for a whole cartload of certification which is US to you, the headset heatsink is nickel to avoid the use of any aluminium which is would prevent full coal mine certification, as I understand it,  if someone else wants to come in on this elaborate, they welcome. I am not the expert on the D16.

I understand that, but since it is being marketed as a caving light I commented on the reasons why I don't thing it is good for caving

Sorry, I wasn't thinking that way. Well, 'sold as a caving light' when they are not, kinda asking for criticism I would say.
Mind when one looks at the 4X4 market I would rather say that 'intended purpose' takes a back seat.