UKC

I may have lost my Petzl Zoom. What's best (and best value) for a few hours getting off the hill in the dark? Are those new super light weight LEDs up to the job?

Thaks

Kevin

In reply to kevin stephens:

The most annoying thing I've noticed is that they seem to take 3 batteries. It just annoys me - such a stupid number. Anyway, I don't have one, but I'll be most interested to hear if they are any good.

In reply to kevin stephens: I've got the Pretzle Zipka and am very happy with it, but mainly for short use (although bright light doesn't go so far as my Halogen zoom does. I've seen that Petzle have brought out a duo(?) with both the Halogen bulb for longer distance and a 5(?) LED cluster for low power closer use.

If you want to follow a path home occasioanally I'd say the zipka / tika is great, light and low on the juice use but anything other than a known direction I'd go for the combo (or even the zoom again).

In reply to kevin stephens: Kevin - just done a quick search on "headtorch" and found this http://www.rockfax.com/rocktalk/t.php?t=22387
which might add something to your quest...

In reply to kevin stephens: I use the zoom and have done for as long as i remember and have had quite a few of them coz my kids use them and they go walkies but have just invested in the 3 led bulb for the zoom and must say i am impressed with the battery saving of led, whilst the 3 led's are not quite as powerful as the standard bulb it projects a nice wide consistant light, more than enuff for walking. So with the zoom you can pretty much have everything, standard, led or halogen. Fair to say it costs a bit for the bulbs but i now have all options in a single torch. This is my choice of torch.

In reply to kevin stephens:

Basically, the LED torches seem to be very good and long-life if you need a low light source. So if the weather is good and you are largely walking, it does the job very well. Great for early morning alpine approaches for example. But if you are in bad conditions or you are climbing then you probably need something stronger. If you are trying to save weight then how about the Halogen version of the mini BD torches? Or just one of the Petzl micros (not fancy but does the job). Unfortunately I have got used to my Petzl Zoom with Halogen bulb and tend to stick with that unless weight is a real issue.

In reply to kevin stephens: I lost my zoom and replaced it with a micro, before losing that. After much research, some here I got a BD moonlight. This proved sufficent to climb the last pitches of a wet welsh vdiff at night last saturday, and get off the hill. Any torch is better than no torch.