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foursquarewarmup
Dec 15, 2003, 1:15 AM
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Registered: Dec 30, 2002
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What is the Best Mountaineering Headlamp? I'm considering getting a Petzl Zoom and was wondering if this would be a wise choice?
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tanner
Dec 15, 2003, 2:09 AM
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Registered: Apr 28, 2002
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I really like the myo 3 from petzle(SP?) Its served me well. Get the belt If your planning on being in any cold temperatures. Mine faded really bad @ -10c The LED's still worked fine at that temp. I also have the BD moon light. I really like it as well
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anykineclimb
Dec 15, 2003, 3:26 AM
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Registered: Mar 30, 2003
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I got a Petzl Zoom and love it, Although I don't think they make it anymore. If you happen to get a Zoo, be sure to get the AA adapter. That way you can use AA batteries or the "bricks". I prefer the Lithium AAs for cold weather use.
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hugepedro
Dec 15, 2003, 3:32 AM
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Registered: May 28, 2002
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I'm the Imelda Marcos of head lamps.
My favorite right now is also the MYO 3. You get plenty of light and long battery life with the LEDs, and brightness when you need it from the halogen, plus redundancy.
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diesel___smoke
Dec 15, 2003, 4:47 AM
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Registered: Aug 9, 2003
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As mountaineering is a subjective term, I can lend the following advice from my experience. I have a Petzl Duo with three LEDs and it is my primary light, I use it for everything. Although, I have found the halogen light to be useless. I only use the halogen to see how low the batteries are via the brightness of it, as the LEDs never really seem to diminish in intensity until they are useless. I like this light but if I were to buy a new light I would buy one with only LEDs, preferably 5 or more. I believe now that anything compared to LEDs is inferior. LEDs might seem unusual at first due to the different colored light, but soon you'll love them and enjoy their glow far more than and other bulb (at least I do). The white/blue beam is superior to any other. If you buy a Duo you'll have nice (and expensive) LED light with an built in batterie tester. They make the Duo with 3, 5, and 8 LEDs. Does anyone know of a headlamp with 8 LEDs and no other bulb(s)?
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mike_ok
Dec 15, 2003, 4:56 AM
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Registered: Feb 21, 2003
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I second the LED's. I know the moonlight only has 4 bulbs, but its my favorite for normal use. I've had the same batteries in the darn thing for 6 months, which includes nightly use for 6 weeks while backpacking/camping/climbing in Europe, along with my normal schedule of weekend camping/climbing.
That being said, I can think of a few instances when I prefer a brighter bulb... not, however, for mountaineering. Mtnring wise, the moonlight is all I've needed. Caving however, often/occassionaly demands a brighter source of light.
For your purposes, however, I'd strongly recommend the moonlight for an inexpensive option (30 retail but easily found for 20); if you really want a bright light and can afford it, I'd look for - as mentioned already - a unit with 5-8 LED's.
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nagatana
Dec 15, 2003, 5:05 AM
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Registered: Sep 28, 2003
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Yeah, REI Outlet and Mountain Gear have the '02 Moonlight for $20. I won one from a comp, but haven't needed it, yet.
Has anyone tried out the BD Zenix?
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alvchen
Dec 15, 2003, 6:49 AM
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Registered: Jan 15, 2002
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I actually have tried out the BD Zenix, I don't know much about headlamps but that thing is uber bright, but only has 2 brightness settings though. One setting is for the main big bulb, and the other is for the 2 small ones beside it. I only wish it had more brightness settings.
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diodesanddihedrals
Dec 15, 2003, 7:24 AM
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Registered: Nov 3, 2002
Posts: 52
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I prefer the the lamps that have the external battery pack. When it's cold outside I'll put the battery pack between my shell and fleece layer to keep the light from waning due to frozen batteries.
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cliffmonkey2003
Dec 15, 2003, 8:13 AM
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Registered: Jan 29, 2003
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My grandma always told me that if I ate a lot of carrots that I could see in the dark. I'd invest in some carrots. 8)
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hema
Dec 15, 2003, 9:54 AM
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Registered: Oct 10, 2003
Posts: 251
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Led lamps are great for camp activities, like cooking, and for easy scrambling, think of snow plods with no routefinding problems or for hazards. The main bad thing about the led-lamps is that the lamp will only light up an area of about 10 m tops in front of you (if you have a good nightsight).
If doing anything other than snow plod (even relatively easy scrambling) you better have some other lightsource, preferably a high performance halogen light. To me the Petzl Duo seems too heavy, and something in the line of BD Spaceshot might be better. The lightest option might be a good, but lightweight, halogen headlamp (like Petzl Zora Belt) and a really small led-lamp to be used at camp (Micro Photon or similar). Use the halogen lamp when needed (ie. climbing, route finding or scrambling), walk without a light when the route allows it, and use the small led forreading the map and other small odd jobs like coooking.
If somewhere cold external battery-pack is adviced, as else you might drain the batteries too soon.
So if just trekking on a well marked path in the forrest a led-lamp like Petzl Tikka (or Zipka) or BD Moonlight is a good lamp. But if doing real mountaineering a high performance light, like a halogen, is a must.
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cryder
Dec 15, 2003, 3:17 PM
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Registered: Oct 14, 2003
Posts: 391
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I gotta say, I have used both Petzl and BD, and BD is handsdown my favorite, particularly the Gemini. It has both Halogen and two high intesity L.E.D. bulbs for under $40. They are usually a bit cheaper then the Petzle equivalent and seem to like cold temps a little better (that is my subjective opinion... could be wrong).
- n -
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sspssp
Dec 15, 2003, 4:39 PM
Post #13 of 13
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Registered: Jan 2, 2003
Posts: 1731
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I like the myo 5 and I'm a little puzzled why this headlamp doesn't seem to get more attention. It has 3 brightness settings for the LEDs and a halogen that has a good focusing (no "dark" spot in the middle). You can get it either with or without a belt pack. Without a belt pack and with lithium batteries, it is pretty light and long lasting.
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