Another question….on Headlamps

>>”current BD”

just curious, which model? might help with providing some advice.

>>”green or green yellow combo that offers a less harsh light”

not sure what you mean. human eyes, generally speaking, other than those with a chromatic aberration (i.e., some forms of color “blindness”), see green light the best. by this i mean, that a green light of a particular power output will appear brighter than a white light of the same power output at the same viewing distance. in this sense it is “harsher” to the eye. i personally find green light more blinding than white light. yet, white LEDs actually cause me to initially wince a bit more if it hits me in the eye, but their effects don’t seem to be as long lasting. i know…it sounds a bit contradictory (to me at least), but this is my experience.

ok…i just paused from typing this. i took two Photon Microlight II’s – one green and one white; both w/fresh batts; went into a dark closet; one in each hand; held them at same distance from my face and momentarily activated both with a squeeze and release – at the same time. long after the white image “burned” onto my retina faded, the green image was still present. if i pause typing and close my eyes, even now , i still see the green, although very dull. i know…not a very scientific test. YMMV.

here’s some suggestions that come to mind that might give you multi-color proximity/task lighting options:
1) three Photon Microlights + one hands-free clip – a reasonable guess on wt is ~1.0 oz for the whole shebang. One White MAXX; one green; and one better for preserving your dark adaptation (either Red or Yellow/Amber – red is better, but Yellow/Amber gives a little better distance viewing – not as good as Green or White, but wont’ harm dark adaptation AS MUCH as Grn or Wht will – it’s a trade-off.). or…go for four, it’s only another 1/4 ounce, IIRC. after a few treks, you might find yourself leaving two of the colors at home once you find out for yourself which two colors you prefer.

2) PT Scout + either PT Eclipse (in red and/or green), or a red and green Photon + one clip in lieu of the Eclipse(s).

3) Gerber Meridian – actually a very fine headlamp. won’t save you weight (7oz with alk. batts; ~6.1 oz with Li batts – remove the top “bucket” strap – it’s really not needed due to the small lightweight head). since it uses AA batts which last approx. 2.3x longer than AAA batts, it might save a bit of wt if you intend to carry spare AAA batts (less important if you’re carrying spare CR2016 and CR2032 Li coin cells for “microlights”). so, what are its advantages? 3xAA (not AAA) gives very long batt life – no need to carry any spare batts for the headlamp. batt compartment on back of head and small, light generating unit on front of head – hence no need for top “bucket” strap. two separate switches for ease of operation and selecting the light source you desire. three light sources. a 1W White Luxeon-type LED for great distance viewing (60+ feet of clear, easy viewing; 100′ of throw for just making out objects in the distance, but not a lot of detail at that distance). based upon your stated purposes, you won’t use it much, but it’s there just in case. The other switch sequences between the other two colored single 5mm LED light sources. 2 5mm LEDs; one red and one green. the green actually is bright enough to hike by with 15-20 feet of throw. the red preserves some dark adaptation your eyes may have acquired adjusting to the dark. i haven’t measured batt life, but it was surprisingly long. one set of alk. batts lasted me over a month of daily in yard, and on trail use – average, maybe 2hrs per day with more than occasional use of the 1W white Luxeon LED. it’s also supposed to be regulated, but the available documentation is not real clear on this subject, nor have i seen specs on its performance. at least, it appears regulated to me. anyways, unlike a lot of other headlamps, i was NOT disappointed with the batt life. supposedly the 1W is 9h to 50% light output and ~15h to 25% light output, IIRC. Use of the single green and/or red LED will last many 10’s of hours and still provide plenty of light (esp. the green). i found myself wondering “when are these batts gonna’ quit?”. they certainly did not disappoint.

oh…one other point just came to mind. the “white” 1W LED is NOT pure white (this may account for it NOT seeming as bright as some other 1W LEDs – don’t get me wrong, it’s no slouch). it has a very slight “yellow” color to it. you might like that. please, don’t misunderstand me, you’d never call it yellow (like some incandescent bulbs), but, i believe, that it’s an attempt to give a semi-incandescent-ish hue to the otherwise pure “white” light of other LEDs.

4) Primus makes a couple of nice headlamps (try REI -AND- REI Outlet = on sale). You can get 1W White Luxeon + 4x5mm white LEDs + 2x5mm Red LEDs (another less expensive model uses 6x5mm white LEDs and “loses” the two red LEDs).

5) here’s a light wt. (under 3oz) solution: try a Tikka/Tikka+ or Zipka/Zipka+ and get the optional filter kit. now you can have 3 intensities each (i.e., 3 levels in each of the following colors) in white, red, and green by changing filters, or just go for the TacTikka and have 3 levels/intensities of white light or flip-up the attached red filter and have 3 intensities of red light. keep in mind that filters not only change the perceived color, but also reduce slightly the perceived light output.

keep in mind that non-white LEDs all result in some degree of color distortion. additionally, some colors will not be perceived and some objects may blend right into the background being essentially invisible to the eye even though “under” white light they would be readily distinguished. also, depending upon LED light color, some lines on maps may become unreadable. i think it’s always good to have at least a white microlight with you.

let me think a little more on this and see if any other reasonable options come to mind. i’ll post back if any other do.

BTW, even now, closing my eyes, a very dull greenish image is still burned on my retina. guess i need either to grow younger or need some more Vitamin A for rhodopsin (aka “visual purple”) production.

Would this do?

http://www.gerbertools.com/Gerber-Meridian-Headlamp-0007.htm

I’ve got no experience with this light, have just seen them in stores.

FWIW I don’t know of anybody who manufactures a 1-watt or greater LED that’s not white (if that’s your goal) and a multiple array of 5mm colored LEDs can’t replicate the throw of a single high output LED.

Rick,

our Posts crossed in the “ether”. read my post – it speaks of my experience with the Meridian – very fine headlamp; not the brightest 1W, but very long batt life & very versatile.

The Gerber sounds very interesting. Check out this review:

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/gerber_meridian.htm

David,

Many thanks for the link. That reviewer is the undefeated, undisputed heavyweight champ of the lighting review world. Heard of his website. Someone else recently posted links to it. He gives it “Three Stars”. I guess 3 out of 5 generally means that you’re not wasting your money, but it’s not a “must have” or “best in class” either. Personally, I’d give it a 4-star rating. Pehaps that reviewer would also if the Meridian’s 1W Luxeon color-tint were not an issue. I get the impression that it is a driving factor in his rating.

I agree with the luxeon “tint” comment. However, i think that it is a genuine attempt, as i stated my earlier Post, to make it appears “incandescent-ish”. Some people actually like this instead of the pure white light many others produce. Let me just say, i’m in that crowd. I like pure white LED light. However, having said that, the tint in the Meridian’s Luxeon is acceptable. Pure white is just my strong preference.

Waterproofness of the battery box? Agree with the reviewers comments. I would only add that many hikers will don a poncho or rain jacket and the hood will cover the battery box on the back of the head. So, if the battery box is not waterproof, no matter when the hood is on.

The red LED on the Meridian i own appears fine, i.e. “not out of focus”. This leads me to believe that it is a manufacturing defect peculiar to one or more units and not an engineering design error.

For me the comment the review made about “loosening the strap to change the batteries”, is a non-issue. I generally don’t like this type of design, but in the Meridian i didn’t find it as objectionable. Why? Two reasons: 1) it’s easier to do than with some headlamps and pretty easy to readust it to fit and make it line up again, and 2) the batteries last so long (esp. if the 1W luxeon is not used continuously), that you don’t change the batts too often. i’ve only gone through two batt changes. i’m on my third set of AA’s. i purchased mine when they first were introduced, so quite some months ago.

The only other comment I would make is that I still like, for some applications, a white task/proximity light – something that will not cause color distortion. While the single green LED on the Meridian provides excellent light output from a single LED, personally, due to the color distortion green LEDs cause, I would still carry a small Photon Microlight Freedom MAX and it’s included hands-free clip (~0.5oz; ~14gm).

There’s some info I believe to be good at:

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/qa/color_rendition.htm

and http://www.flashlightreviews.com/qa/monochrome.htm

The author thinks overall a white light is best. Our eyes and brains have evolved to process and obtain information from all the colors that we see.

While great for spares, I’m no fan of any lights which use coin cell lithiums for any extended use. The problem is not the light, but the batteries. Even on a light per weight basis, coin cells simply cannot deliver.

Note: The following Post is my personal opinion. Take it with a “grain of salt”. It’s NOT “gospel” – just my take on a couple of aspects of “trail lighting”. YMMV.

I would agree. White light is best for most purposes. Obviously, anyone interested in preserving their dark adaptation (aka low light vision) would want a dim (not bright) red light – just ask an astronomer.

Fall ’04, on a dark trail on an overcast night, I compared, side-by-side both single LED and three LED 5mm LED lights. It was so overcast and dark, I couldn’t see my hand “waving to me” in front of my face.

The single 5mm LED lights compared were a Green Photon Microlight II and a White Photon Microlight II. The 3x5mm LED lights were both Streamlight ClipMate lights (one with 3 green LEDs and one with 3 white LEDs). New batteries were used in all lights. 3xAAA batteries power each of Clipmate lights.

All four lights were ready for use. The two Photons clipped to my cap brim. The two clipmates clipped to my pack straps and later on to my waist belt. I would alternate back and forth between them (i.e. white-green-white-green, etc.) I tested the two Photons first, and then the two ClipMates.

In both cases, I could see farther when using the green LED lights, than I could with the white LED lights. However, the uneven trail surface certainly looked strange when looking down at the ground instead of a little farther ahead. I didn’t like it. Detail appeared to be lost when using the green light.

I’ve also compared the green ClipMate to an original 3x5mm LED Zipka – again, both with new batts. The green ClipMate also illuminated distance a bit better than the white LED light of the Zipka. Again, the color distortion and loss of some detail, when looking down at the ground two to six feet or so ahead, for me at least, was a bit objectionable.

I prefer white light, but realized I could see a bit further using green light. I determined this by standing stationary and alternating between the two lights and noticing what I could make out in the distance. Keep in mind the distance here is 20 feet or so using the 3x5mm LED Clipmates, and less with the single LED Microlights.

---

As far as Li coin cell batt life. Eric is right. Personally, I feel that Li coin cells should be replaced before each trek – if the light was used more than two hours previously. This two hour “mark” is my personal preference – YMMV. These lights are bright for the first 30min or so, and then the light diminishes. For me, the first two hours, they’re fine. I’ve used for up to 10hrs, 2xCR2016 Li coin cell powered lights (usually white, green, blue, and turquise/blue-green LEDs), and for up to 15-20hrs for 1xCR2032 Li coin cell powered lights (usually red, orange, or yellow/amber LEDs). For me, at these upper time limits, the lights can only dimly illuminate objects maybe 24 inches or so away – maximum, and at that distance appear to me to be quite dim, sometimes almost unusable. So, only the closest at hand tasks can be accomplished at this point (YMMV – especially if you are younger since you will, generally, have better low light vision, than this old man).

In my limited experience, there is at least one exception to the Li coin cell “two-hour rule”. The Princeton Tec Scout, is a 2x5mm LED headlamp employing 4xCR2032 Li coin cell batts. It’s usable light is much longer than other Li coin cell powered lights that I am familiar with. I’ve used a Scout with new batts to follow a trail. It failed, for me, to meet my “30 feet test” (see below). It was doable, on HIGH output mode, while the batts were fresh, but it’s not my first choice since I prefer more light, so that I can make out low contrast faded blazes on trees and rocks at least 30 feet ahead. This is an entirely arbitrary “pseudo-standard” that I personally adopt. Others may feel more comfortable being able to clearly see a shorter distance ahead than my arbitrary 30 feet.

Also, for me, using any “microlight” as a primary light source is out of the question. Perhaps if I was certain that I was only using the light at most two hours or so for in camp tasks, then it might be acceptable if I wanted to run the risk of not being able to hike out at night in an emergency situation. Again, YMMV, depending upon a number of physiological and psychological factors.