2010 - Oceanside, CA
More than one-third of your life passes under the darkness of night. If you travel near the polar regions that figure goes up. Having reliable and versatile light sources is essential.
I realize lots of ultra-lighters swear by single 5 or 10 lumen LED key chains running on minuscule button-cell batteries. These ounce-counters (I am to an extent one of them) are thinking about weight more than function. Usually that works for lighting. They get up at dawn and go to sleep not long after sunset, worn out from the day's hike. But they might not be thinking about safety or versatility.
If an emergency -- snake bites, bear attacks, or your partner's cardiac arrest-- requires you to evacuate an area during eight or ten hours of darkness, it will be maddening trying to navigate trails with that tiny light. Again, if a person is seriously injured and must be attended to in the field that dinky light will draw out curses. It might just be a lost item that needs to be found in a large area, or an unexpected poker game in the back country.
Many people choose to go with headlamps for this reason. Some headlamps are very small and even feature-rich, such as the 1 oz.
Petzl E+Lite, but again, might not be very bright (the E+Lite claims 16 lumens). Brighter headlamps packing 40-80 lumens can be prohibitively expensive and usually require several batteries in an attached pack. Weight savings and chances of equipment failure might rise with the complexity.
Here is my system (which may not work for you):
First, let me say that I always like to have a red LED of some sort because it doesn't disable night vision while reading maps or doing tent chores. Red usually gets the job done on minimal power, without disturbing snoozing mates. However, I liked a white LED for reading when solo, and as a backup for navigating trails at night. I used to employ two iNova keylights for this purpose, which combined to weigh a scant .7 oz.
However, I am switching over to the Petzl E+Lite simply because for a negligible .3 oz. more I'll get:
__- waterproof to 1 meter, or all the rain in the world
__- headband strung around my neck at all times (I lost 2 iNovas on one trip)
__- white AND red LEDs, and strobe modes
__- has built in clip options to go strapless
__- 3 times the lumens of my iNova
Ironically, I plan for this to be my backup -- you WANT backup light -- because I don't like plowing through expensive coin-cell lithium batteries and mostly use this for the never-ending red LED.
Now to what I alluded to, and the purpose of my post:
The light which sees a lot of daily use and gives me serious photon power in the field is almost unknown to the backpacking world: the 4Sevens Quark AA R5 flashlight.
Before listing the specs, I'll mention why I love it. First, the thing is lighter than most headlamps, but packs a range of modes, ranging from the oh-so-useful
.2 lumens moonlight mode all the way to 109 lumens! You can light only the sentence of a book, or blast beams into dark side like Han Solo. As for handling, the Quark is svelte but purposeful, with beefy knurling for grip. A reversible clip allows it to clench hat brims, and it can tail stand with a diffuser tip to be a powerful camp lantern. It's seriously rugged with aircraft-grade aluminum and glass, with an IPX-8 rating, AKA waterproof to 3 meters, and features both SOS and self-defense strobe modes. Last, the Quark uses one of the latest high-efficiency LEDs. The manufacturer rates the run time conservatively, for alkalines. With lithium batteries, you might get double these times:
__- Moonlight: 0.2 lumens for 10 days or 240 hours (1ma)
__- Low: 4 OTF lumens for 2 days (10ma)
__- Medium: 22 OTF lumens for 6 hours (50ma)
__- High: 85 OTF lumens for 1.5 hours (250ma)
__- Max: 109 OTF lumens for 1.2 hours (350ma)
__- Strobe: 109 OTF lumens for 2.5 hours
__- Beacon: 0-109 OTF lumens pulse for 18 hours
Now for the rest:
__- Weight: 1.8 oz. (AA Lithium battery brings it to 2.3 oz.)
__- Length: 3.8 inches
__- Diameter: 0.86 inches
__- LED Emitter: Premium Cree XP-G R5
__- 5 Current Regulated Output Levels
__- 3 Flash modes: Strobe, SOS, Beacon
__- Square threads for lifetime smooth operation
__- Type III Hard Anodized finish
__- Reversible/Removable Clip
__- Reversible/Removable Clip
__- Impact-resistant glass lens with Dual-coating - sapphire coating on the outside and anti-reflective coating on the inside for optimal efficiency and durability.
__- T-6061 Aircraft-grade Aluminum Body
I realize lots of ultra-lighters swear by single 5 or 10 lumen LED key chains running on minuscule button-cell batteries. These ounce-counters (I am to an extent one of them) are thinking about weight more than function. Usually that works for lighting. They get up at dawn and go to sleep not long after sunset, worn out from the day's hike. But they might not be thinking about safety or versatility.
If an emergency -- snake bites, bear attacks, or your partner's cardiac arrest-- requires you to evacuate an area during eight or ten hours of darkness, it will be maddening trying to navigate trails with that tiny light. Again, if a person is seriously injured and must be attended to in the field that dinky light will draw out curses. It might just be a lost item that needs to be found in a large area, or an unexpected poker game in the back country.
Many people choose to go with headlamps for this reason. Some headlamps are very small and even feature-rich, such as the 1 oz.
Petzl E+Lite, but again, might not be very bright (the E+Lite claims 16 lumens). Brighter headlamps packing 40-80 lumens can be prohibitively expensive and usually require several batteries in an attached pack. Weight savings and chances of equipment failure might rise with the complexity.Here is my system (which may not work for you):
First, let me say that I always like to have a red LED of some sort because it doesn't disable night vision while reading maps or doing tent chores. Red usually gets the job done on minimal power, without disturbing snoozing mates. However, I liked a white LED for reading when solo, and as a backup for navigating trails at night. I used to employ two iNova keylights for this purpose, which combined to weigh a scant .7 oz.
However, I am switching over to the Petzl E+Lite simply because for a negligible .3 oz. more I'll get:
__- waterproof to 1 meter, or all the rain in the world
__- headband strung around my neck at all times (I lost 2 iNovas on one trip)
__- white AND red LEDs, and strobe modes
__- has built in clip options to go strapless
__- 3 times the lumens of my iNova
Ironically, I plan for this to be my backup -- you WANT backup light -- because I don't like plowing through expensive coin-cell lithium batteries and mostly use this for the never-ending red LED.
Now to what I alluded to, and the purpose of my post:
The light which sees a lot of daily use and gives me serious photon power in the field is almost unknown to the backpacking world: the 4Sevens Quark AA R5 flashlight.
Before listing the specs, I'll mention why I love it. First, the thing is lighter than most headlamps, but packs a range of modes, ranging from the oh-so-useful
.2 lumens moonlight mode all the way to 109 lumens! You can light only the sentence of a book, or blast beams into dark side like Han Solo. As for handling, the Quark is svelte but purposeful, with beefy knurling for grip. A reversible clip allows it to clench hat brims, and it can tail stand with a diffuser tip to be a powerful camp lantern. It's seriously rugged with aircraft-grade aluminum and glass, with an IPX-8 rating, AKA waterproof to 3 meters, and features both SOS and self-defense strobe modes. Last, the Quark uses one of the latest high-efficiency LEDs. The manufacturer rates the run time conservatively, for alkalines. With lithium batteries, you might get double these times:__- Moonlight: 0.2 lumens for 10 days or 240 hours (1ma)
__- Low: 4 OTF lumens for 2 days (10ma)
__- Medium: 22 OTF lumens for 6 hours (50ma)
__- High: 85 OTF lumens for 1.5 hours (250ma)
__- Max: 109 OTF lumens for 1.2 hours (350ma)
__- Strobe: 109 OTF lumens for 2.5 hours
__- Beacon: 0-109 OTF lumens pulse for 18 hours
Now for the rest:
__- Weight: 1.8 oz. (AA Lithium battery brings it to 2.3 oz.)
__- Length: 3.8 inches
__- Diameter: 0.86 inches
__- LED Emitter: Premium Cree XP-G R5
__- 5 Current Regulated Output Levels
__- 3 Flash modes: Strobe, SOS, Beacon
__- Square threads for lifetime smooth operation
__- Type III Hard Anodized finish
__- Reversible/Removable Clip
__- Reversible/Removable Clip
__- Impact-resistant glass lens with Dual-coating - sapphire coating on the outside and anti-reflective coating on the inside for optimal efficiency and durability.
__- T-6061 Aircraft-grade Aluminum Body
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