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Cyclopath Faster than light
Joined: 20 Mar 2012 Posts: 7726 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
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Cyclopath
Faster than light
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Wed May 20, 2020 7:18 am
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I'm curious what other people do wrt light. How many lumens, how many lights, what type of lights (hand or head), and what do you do about battery power? Obviously there's a different answer for a typical day hike, a backpacking trip, and a day hike that involves some darkness like watching the sun rise from a peak. Would love to hear your preferences for each.
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Backpacker Joe Blind Hiker
Joined: 16 Dec 2001 Posts: 23956 | TRs | Pics Location: Cle Elum |
Enough to navigate at night by.
"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide."
— Abraham Lincoln
"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide."
— Abraham Lincoln
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MangyMarmot Member
Joined: 06 Apr 2012 Posts: 474 | TRs | Pics
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I usually carry two headlamps. I also have a tiny emergency light in my repair kit. When desperate, I've used my camera as a light by pulling up a bright photo on the LCD display and pointing it forward.
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HikerJohn Member
Joined: 01 Sep 2008 Posts: 354 | TRs | Pics Location: Daydreaming |
Black Diamond rechargable headlamp plus spare batteries.
I will also sometimes stuff a mini-flashlight into my emergency bag as a "get back home" backup.
I do NOT count on my cell phone as a light (you guys have heard me rant about that a lot here...)...
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thunderhead Member
Joined: 14 Oct 2015 Posts: 1519 | TRs | Pics
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For most backpacking trips i bring 2 headlamps plus my phone as a backup.
For dayhikes and backpacks near the summer solstice when days are very long... 1 headlamp is good enough for me.
For easy caves 2 plus the phone again.
For hard caves.... all the headlamps. Lol.
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treeswarper Alleged Sockpuppet!
Joined: 25 Dec 2006 Posts: 11276 | TRs | Pics Location: Don't move here |
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treeswarper
Alleged Sockpuppet!
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Wed May 20, 2020 8:50 am
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A headlamp and a solar rechargeable Luci light. The latter weighs the same as a CD and will stay lit for hours. To recharge, you just put it in the sun.
What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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Bronco Member
Joined: 20 Jun 2010 Posts: 134 | TRs | Pics
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Bronco
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Wed May 20, 2020 9:05 am
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My goto is the Black Diamond Spot with an extra set of batteries and a tiny Petzl emergency light. Headlamps are so good and cheap nowadays that I think I have one in every pack and vehicle.
You definitely don't want to be that person who calls SAR because you didn't think you needed a light.
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Cyclopath Faster than light
Joined: 20 Mar 2012 Posts: 7726 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
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Cyclopath
Faster than light
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Wed May 20, 2020 9:13 am
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I bring a headlamp and a flashlight. Headlamp uses AAAs and that can be a bit of a pain, but it's worth it because you have both your hands and the light follows your gaze. I have an old bike headlamp that's 800 lumens on full blast, but can make it through a night on medium which is ~3. It can also draw from an external battery pack. I have a second rechargeable flashlight that does 1,600 lumens, if I plan to hike through the night I'll bring the three of them and pull a fresh one out when one dies. Very bright lights tend to run a long time on their medium setting, and every now and then an artificial sun can be useful navigating in dark woods on a moonless night.
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Luc Member
Joined: 05 Jul 2003 Posts: 1675 | TRs | Pics Location: accepting wise-cracks like no other |
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Luc
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Wed May 20, 2020 11:28 am
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For backpacking I have a Mammut with a crazy bright spot setting. Bring an extra set of lithium batts and it will last for weeks especially in summer when it's light out for some 16hrs a day. Then my phone as a backup - with a battery pack to recharge.
For dayhikes, the same headlamp and phone, without extra batts or batt pack. They've stay in the pack, since I've never found myself needing to bivy on a day hike.
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awilsondc Member
Joined: 03 Apr 2016 Posts: 1324 | TRs | Pics
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Black Diamond spot and an extra set of batteries. I've never had it fail, ever that I can remember (10 years?). I'd use my cell phone flashlight for an emergency and have done so once on a sunrise hike once when I forgot my headlamp. I now keep an extra headlamp in my car in case I forget since it's happened a couple times.
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Navy salad Member
Joined: 09 Sep 2008 Posts: 1865 | TRs | Pics Location: Woodinville |
For overnight trips, I carry 3 lights (not counting my cellphone, which I also don't count as a light):
-- A Spot headlamp (that I'm not all that crazy about);
-- A mini flashlight about the size of my little finger that clips to the little loop on the ceiling of my tent and has helped me find my tent in the dark more than once; and
-- A tiny key-chain type light that weighs 0.2 ounces that clips to my backpack. I could probably get along just find without this, but it's such a trivial amount of weight I bring anyway.
For dayhikes, I just carry one emergency headlamp.
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Kascadia Member
Joined: 03 Feb 2014 Posts: 651 | TRs | Pics
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Kascadia
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Wed May 20, 2020 11:49 am
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Two small BD headlamps (same for Kascadio, who also carries extra batteries). They're in our packs ("10 essentials") and go on every hike.
It is as though I had read a divine text, written into the world itself, not with letters but rather with essential objects, saying:
Man, stretch thy reason hither, so thou mayest comprehend these things. Johannes Kepler
It is as though I had read a divine text, written into the world itself, not with letters but rather with essential objects, saying:
Man, stretch thy reason hither, so thou mayest comprehend these things. Johannes Kepler
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christensent Member
Joined: 05 Nov 2011 Posts: 658 | TRs | Pics
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For anything less than caving, I just carry one head lamp. The odds that it's going to fail seem to be really impressively low, and if it does the consequences are just not that high. Plus as much as people say a cell phone doesn't count, if I'm somehow in an emergency situation where I absolutely must move at night and my headlamp has failed, I'll gladly take a cell phone.
And of course if I'm in a group rather than solo, other people have lights too. Although it is unpleasant, I have hiked out with N-1 headlamps in a group of N people, and it's just not THAT bad.
Learning mountaineering: 10% technical knowledge, 90% learning how to eat
Learning mountaineering: 10% technical knowledge, 90% learning how to eat
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texasbb Misplaced Texan
Joined: 30 Mar 2009 Posts: 1153 | TRs | Pics Location: Tri-Cities, WA |
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texasbb
Misplaced Texan
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Wed May 20, 2020 2:00 pm
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I don't generally hike at night, at least not on purpose. I take one tiny headlamp (Petzl e+LITE) and one tiny pen light (one AAA battery). The headlamp is mainly for reading in the tent. The pen light is mainly for hanging as an overhead light in the tent. Unless it's a completely moonless night, I rarely use a light outside the tent. Even then, I'd rather not foul my night vision if I can help it.
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Schroder Member
Joined: 26 Oct 2007 Posts: 6720 | TRs | Pics Location: on the beach |
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Schroder
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Wed May 20, 2020 3:19 pm
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I've done a lot of hiking and climbing at night and never found a need for more than one good headlamp with spare batteries.
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