Modern white LED torches have overtaken filament torches as general camp site and night walking
aids, whether in the guise of head torches or hand helds. They now can't be beaten for battery
economy and local wide illumination.
But they don't beam well, so for picking out distant things with a beam filament torches still rule,
hence the dual LED-filament head torches some makers offer. But there's only a small gap here to be
bridged in terms of power and focussability, and I suspect another year will see LED-based torches
moving into that arena as well with special lenses, side emission LEDs, etc..
We'd all like a really powerful long-range egg-frying light-explosion torch for those occasional
times when you want to pick out something in the distance, such as a landmarks or people, but with
conventional torch technology these are big heavy torches which for walkers are not worth the weight
for the rarity of use.
If you shift to the latest high tech high power filament bulbs and batteries there are some powerful
lights available in the AA Maglite sort of size, allegedly powerful enough to be used as night time
light guns (briefly blind the attacker).
They eat expensive (3V high-drain lithium) batteries very fast, so not much use for general
illumination, but are small, light, tough, and very powerful, so well suited to brief use
as required.
What seems to be the best value easily available in the UK is Surefire's economy torch, the G2 at
about 35 quid, available (for example) from
(click "torches", "surefire", "g2"😉
For reviews and comparisons see
flashlightreviewsflashlightreviewsOpen ↗
Has anybody tried out this kind of torch for night hillwalking?
--
Chris Malcolm [email hidden] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
["]http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]