Are they much brighter though Jon? I suspect a lot of the increase in range is due to the reflectors giving you a thinner but more intense beam.
I'm also extremely cynical about burn times- they don't seem comparable.
There are also times at night when they seem to cast as much shadow as light and plus they ruin your night vision for a while. That said, when you need one, they're invaluable
I can see that for a few sports a strong beam would be useful but there are very few who genuinely need to spend silly money on a head light.
I live in the highlands, I'm out in the forest every evening with the dogs which for several months of the year means after dark, hence I use a headlight for a couple of hours every day. You might think that I'd want an all singing and dancing light, in fact I have one I bought off ebay for a tenner a few years ago. It uses 8 LEDs with a 2/4/8 mode switch and even then 90% of the time I only have 2 lit, that's enough for about a 5-10 meter glow which is fine for most things and means I only have to recharge the AAA batteries every few weeks.
I did splash out a couple of weeks ago on a spare headlight to keep in the sack when out in the hills in case I ever have battery problems with the normal light, £7 for a wind up one from a supermarket. It's not up to much power wise, a couple of minutes of winding gives about 10 mins of bright light within about 5 meters followed by 20 mins of useable light but I'd rather that than a 100m beam which eats up all the batteries and leaves you trying to get off a hillside by starlight!
The latest headlights are genuinely significantly brighter in a like for like comparison - what's happening is that while halogen and HID light technology is developing relatively slowly and mostly isn't relevant to us, LEDs are still advancing at a fast rate so the latest Cree LEDs *- for example - output significantly more lumens for the same input.
It's very obvious in the mountain bike light market where previously LEDs couldn't compete with the output from halogen or HID lights, but are now extremely close in output and also less fragile with it.
Beam pattern is important, yes, but the main factor is the advance in LED technology.
Anyway, I'll try and do some comparison shots at the weekend to show the differences in output between 2007 and 2008 Myo XPs, that's assuming I can work out how to change the exposure setting on my digital camera.
I'm still trying to get used to my old version myo xp, i got for xmas.
On the long beam, you get a tunnel vision effect a bit like you get from a Scuba diving mask. The flood beam is better for general use but a low setting is better in dense fog or cloud as you jut get dazzled in a bright glow.
> I suspect a lot of the increase in range is due to the reflectors
Partly, perhaps, but it's also down to the rapid progress that has been made in LED technology over the last few years. White LEDs are now about three times as efficient (in terms of lumens/watt) as halogen lamps. This means more light for the same power, or a longer lasting light from the same batteries.
Whilst low power, flood lamps are better for simple walking, it's often useful to have a long spot beam for route planning (i.e. checking the terrain ahead for possible routes), or climbing.
Yes I agree Captain and I do use my light for picking out abseils in the dark. However there is also a need for a bit of width to make sense of what you are seeing. I am suspicious that some of the more impressive figures have been produced by the reflectors- this would account for the rather large variations in torches with the same LEDs and configurations
