Just read the first look review of this ridiculously priced head torch. One thing niggles. The reviewer gives as an advantage the fact that the unit is rechargeable, doing away with the need for replacement batteries. Actually, I view that as a distinct disadvantage. Stuff that needs recharging is all but useless on any more than a couple of days trip away from an electrical socket, meaning it can't be used on multi-day camping trips. [That ignores the fact that this unit is a tad heavy for that kind of use, but I hope you get my point].
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 Apparently, it's magic for doing lighthouse impressions. Perhaps they spotted a niche market, only time will tell.
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 I agree with Slioch, and find it's the same with my powerful bike lights - brilliant as long as you return to a base, but no use whatsoever for an extended trip. For powerful ligh that you can take away with you, you need to stick with lamps that use 3 or 4 AAs, like the brilliant Priceton Tec Apex, or the similar looking offering from Black Diamond (the Icon iirc) or the revamped Petzl Myo XP. I suspect there's a niche market for the Ultra - with runners, orienteers, and probably rescue personnel, but otherwise I'd leave it.
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 I'd be happy with my E+Lite for extended trips and walking through the night. It only takes little lithium batteries, and while my local shops charge nearly £5 per battery, I've recently found an online source selling exactly the same things at 99p for two! They weigh nowt and if I have enough of them in the pack, presumably I can last all year!
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I'll second the Princeton Tec Apex which I use throughout the darker months, during the summer I use something similar to the e-lite.
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 Someone on a US forum was recommending Zebra lights. Looks nice and simple. And light. $49 and $6 shipping. I might give one a go. Gadgets? You can never have enough!
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Of course it's almost too obvious to say, but the suitability of a torch, including it's design and brightness (and battery source) does depend on the activity being pursued, and imo very heavily on the speed at which it's pursued!
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 I think the gear makers are finding it quite hard at the moment to better there ideas and bring out new ones as we've been spoilt last year, I think the latest TN tents proves that. I would never in my lifetime imagine needing a torch like the one above but know that as Matt says different gear for different situations, I know Matt uses a big light when he is cycling in the country in the dark which makes sense and I suppose there is a small market for the above Petzl torch but not sure it'll be anything other than a small market.
I'm a big fan of the tiny batteries, they are so light and small to carry as spares and last ages plus as Paddy says if you get them from the right places and in dozen or so at a time they are really cheap.
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 the zebra light is a great little aa powered thing. it provides a flood of light rather than a beam. being an aa battery, they are available everywhere and a cinch to change. i used one as a balcony light on hols to give a nice moonlight effect.
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Here we go... "When I was a lad..." When I was a lad, my first outdoor torch was just a rusty Pifco lamp off my old bike. The trouble with those things was that if you left the battery inside them for more than a week, it would leak and corrode the whole thing. Next torch was a hefty thick black rubber thing, metal inside, taking two chunky 'C' batteries. In the years when I seemed to spend as much time walking in the dark as I did in daylight, this was THE torch for the job. When I switched to lightweight kit, and torches started getting better anyway, I went through the run of things like Maglite and Mity Lite. They were not only lighter than my previous torches, but brighter and incredibly more durable. Battery size dropped to two AAs as well, which was a weight off my back. Now we have all these LED lights, powered by little lithium coin batteries, lighter and brighter than anything else I've ever used. The downside is, they're small enough to lose easily and quite expensive to replace. Looking to the future, I haven't a clue where the market is going... maybe you'll just be able to snap your fingers and night will give way to day!
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the zebra light is a great little aa powered thing. it provides a flood of light rather than a beam. being an aa battery, they are available everywhere and a cinch to change. i used one as a balcony light on hols to give a nice moonlight effect.
If you look at the link Parky, one of the models is a flood, another a beam. As you said, the beauty of it is the batteries. You can get them anywhere. 
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i think they're all flood but that's not really important. i have a few of the h50 q5 as they took aa rather than those, what i find annoyingly expensive and hard to get, lithium 123 things. a mulitutde of uses. the Angel loved it for negotiating the uneven way home in her "girl" shoes on hols and the three levels of brightness (dim, nice, retina searing). i haven't tried it in the tent yet but i think it's giong to be just the ticket with the beam spread.
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Paddy, if you loose the batteries keep them in one of those tiny plastic see through contact lense cases, I keep mine in there and its really light and stops them going orrible too.
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Paddy, if you loose the batteries keep them in one of those tiny plastic see through contact lense cases, I keep mine in there and its really light and stops them going orrible too. Ah, yes, that's all very well until you [or, rather, I] are tired and confused after an evening at the Wasdale Head Inn and try shoving lithium batteries in your eyes. Not nice at all.
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| Edited: 17/09/08 14:50 |
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Also available in the UK from Fenix Torches, £40 inc postage.http://www.fenixtorch.co.uk/head-torches/head-torches.html Also from http://www.thephotonshop.co.uk/page41.htm I use a Fenix L0D (1xAAA) as a keyring light. It's good enough that I used it as a bike light for 20 miles of unlit country lanes (by way of an experiment), and being on the keyring I've always got it with me.
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Just read the first look review of this ridiculously priced head torch. One thing niggles. The reviewer gives as an advantage the fact that the unit is rechargeable, doing away with the need for replacement batteries. Actually, I view that as a distinct disadvantage. Stuff that needs recharging is all but useless on any more than a couple of days trip away from an electrical socket, meaning it can't be used on multi-day camping trips. Lights that bright running off common disposable cells generally don't work, as the batteries aren't up to it. If you want, you can generally get spare rechargeable batteries for these things, which isn't much worse than carrying a fistfull of AAs apart from the cost. If you want to go really over the top, quite a lot of the MTB lights have headtorch type mounts available, so you could take something that's 2.5 times as bright as the Ultra and lasts for 6 hours (or 2 weeks continuous if you turn it down to bumbling round the tent levels). Price is in the "if you have to ask..." category.
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lol Slioch!
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