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Phaethon Lights

Finally! A lamp you change the 18650 batteries in yourself. Considering you can get a decent pair for 12 quid, then it's not to expensive to take spares. Means you can run the thing on high brightness without worrying about boaring stuff like getting out again. Plus my ecig uses them so if I get trapped underground then I have the choice between light and nicotine. :)

It does only take two cells though, so I guess you may have to change them more often.
 
Looks like a sturdy bit of kit, the only faff I can imagine is dropping the Allen key whilst changing batteries.
 
Nice to see a system where the battery pack is designed just as well as the light unit, although agree Allen keys is not ideal.
 
Blakethwaite said:
Nice looking lamp, Stenish. But what's wrong with a blade mount? The go-pro mount pictured looks plain clumsy!
Click to expand...

Its clever because there must be at least a thousand different mounts available for however you want to use it. Why engineer something that already exists in a thousand forms!
 
Antwan said:
Why engineer something that already exists in a thousand forms!
Click to expand...
Well I suppose one reason could be because that a thousand people have a blade mount on their helmet!  :)

A blade mount is simple and it works and is vaguely universal. And it also means that when I send the Phaethon back to Greece when something goes wrong and don't see it again for a month or more then I could stick my spare lamp straight on my helmet without having to arse about changing brackets....
 
Looks very sturdy and exceptionally well made, but this is off their website:

?6 strobe modes

Oh no!
Why, Oh why, Oh why
:furious:
 
The strobe modes are on the original model which I assume is also intended for cycling use.

The new Dual model looks like the better one for cavers, where the 2 LEDs can be run independently, at different levels. And no strobe modes!
 
Blakethwaite said:
Antwan said:
Why engineer something that already exists in a thousand forms!
Click to expand...
Well I suppose one reason could be because that a thousand people have a blade mount on their helmet!  :)

A blade mount is simple and it works and is vaguely universal. And it also means that when I send the Phaethon back to Greece when something goes wrong and don't see it again for a month or more then I could stick my spare lamp straight on my helmet without having to arse about changing brackets....
Click to expand...

I never saw the beauty of a universal blade mount until i had to send my battery pack of for servicing.....
 
The user changeable 18650s are useful feature, but I feel unsure about people changing these underground in wet conditions. One has to respect LiIons as they can bite. Protected cells carry a metal tread from +V down to the protection PCB mounted on the base and any damp here will soon cause this to corrode with resultant complete loss of power.
I have tested LiIons to destruction in diverse ways!

I dont want take this off thread but to the best of my knowledge there is only Stenlight and me offering sealed, reasonably priced, LiIon power packs where it is economically viable to purchase and carry a spare.
I gave this matter a lot of consideration and this seemed to me the best way to go.

Anyone have thoughts?

Back on thread, I certainly like the lamp, it looks real brick you-know-what and eminently suited to the underground.
 
It would still be nice to have the option to change the batteries. For example on a multi day trip where you don't have access to power or are doing two caves in a day.
 
Well, spent about 2 hours searching for gopro to blade mounts, found a couple that would work but no specific mount... If you want to put one on a surfboard, quad copter, rc car or even a 6ft spinning arm on top of a helmet however. Then there are plenty of mounts available!  :lol:

Ah well, still looks good.
 
Roger W said:
Does this indicate a significantly greater risk from a gopro mounting than, say, an Oldham lamp on a traditional mounting?
Click to expand...
Dunno. Do many people ski off piste wearing Oldhams?  :-\

But seriously, for every Red Bull sponsored 'Xtreme Athlete' producing slick videos to flog us sickly drinks with there are a billion 'all the gear no idea' mountain bikers & skiers producing incredibly tedious, shaky unwatchable videos with which to flood YouTube and presumably giving their helmets far greater impacts than the usual bumping and scraping that most of us do. Meaning I suppose that any particular problems would be well known!
 
Roger W said:
Weren't Michael Schumacher?s head injuried supposed to have been caused or exacerbated by the gopro fitting on his helmet?

/quote]

Dowt(sp) any cavers are going to reach that speed!  ::)
Click to expand...
 
A blade is not difficult to make. I have made one in the past to make a Petzl carbide headset de mountable. One that attaches to GoPro mount is unlikely to be hard to make.
 
bograt said:
Roger W said:
Weren't Michael Schumacher?s head injuried supposed to have been caused or exacerbated by the gopro fitting on his helmet?

/quote]

Dowt(sp) any cavers are going to reach that speed!  ::)
Click to expand...

But a moving rock hitting a stationary head could have the same effect as a moving head hitting a stationary rock...

I was wondering if some helmet mounts do reduce the effectiveness of the helmet, and by how much.  I'm sure the subject of holes drilled in he helmet shell to fit the mount has been mentioned on the forum somewhere, as also the possibility of inward-projecting bolts being driven into your head in case of impact.  But I recalled what was reported about Schumacher's injury and wondered if there was anything particularly dodgy about the gopro mount.
Click to expand...
 
Heading massively off-topic, but I was once hit in the head by a clay-rabbit at a shoot I was helping out at with the cadets at school. Fortunately I was wearing a beret which cushioned the blow. Unfortunately the clay hit the cap-badge and inserted the loop of the internal clip into the front of my skull. Managed to reload the trap and launch another clay before the blood got in my eyes. I'll never wear any headgear with inward-facing pointy bits again...

Closer to the topic, the issue I have with blade-mounts is the ability to tilt the light up and down. I have an Oldham headset attached/bodged to the strapping from an old petzl gloom which allows me to keep the flexibility when I can't tilt my head...

On topic, I like the look of the thing - it's similar to sketches I drew up but never made a few years ago. Not so sure about the loose 18650s though - much more comfortable with the shrink-wrapped types with standard connectors.
 
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