Advice needed for trip to Norway Tromso (Northen lights)

battler · 2019-01-10T08:08:04.000Z

Hi all,

I’ve read many posts and there is so much knowledge on this forum that I thought it might be better to ask you guys for advice.

I’m going to Norway in two weeks for a duration of 10 days. The trip will involve walks at night in the snow, day walks, husky sled ride, driving and of course northern lights seeing and photography.

For all this, I think I need two types of flashlights a headlight and a handheld flashlight. For the headlight, I estimate a budget between 10 and 30 dollars (per light, I need two of them) and for the handheld a max of 70. As I’m from the Netherlands there will be hardly any use for these lights after the trip. Also, the lights available in the Netherlands or being able to ship to the Netherlands is limited. After reading up in the forum I thought the following might be good.

Headlight: Olight H04
They are affordable, delivered in time via a trusted website and a trusted brand. However, I’m concerned about the amount of lumen. Is this enough for walking in the dark at night?

For the flashlight, I’m considering the: Olight R18 PRO Rechargeable
I can get it for 50 euros ($57.00) and it seems to have more than enough lumen. Also delivered in time by a trusted website. However, the beam is not adjustable. For photography it might be better to have a adjustable beam. Is there an alternative in the same price/quality range and the high lumen output but then adjustable?

Disclaimer: There might be a lot of textual errors as Im not a native English speakers, appologies.

iwandutchy · 2019-01-10T08:43:47.000Z

Hi there,

The best deals you can find are here, using coupons and/or flash / group sales, but delivery takes more than 2 weeks.

The quickest and most reliable shop for you is NKON in Eindhoven- NL. A lot of flasholics (and myself) buy their batteries there.

I’m not a specialist, but I suppose you will use a daypack…if you use a right angle flashlight like the Skilhunt H03, you can attach the light vertical at the rucksack / daypack strips, you can use the headband and you can hold it in your hand….so multifunctional in one easy-to-carry light.

NKON

polarweis · 2019-01-10T10:29:22.000Z

why do you need two lights? And when are you going(shipping time)?

And who says you dont need a flashlight in the Netherlands

Igor · 2019-01-10T12:28:31.000Z

If your budget is 70 for the handheld light, get a Zebralight SC64w at NKON. You’ll use it forever in the Netherlands (yes you do need a light there too).

battler · 2019-01-10T14:47:14.000Z

I’m going with my girlfriend, so I though one for her and one for me?
I am going to take a look at your suggestions. The brands are a bit new for me, is this reliable stuf?

Scientist · 2019-01-10T14:57:18.000Z

Are you going to be photographing the northern lights? If so, be sure to get in a lot of practice beforehand. My wife and I went to Iceland to see northern lights in October. We were there one week and only saw them one night for a couple of hours. So I was frantically trying different things with the camera while they were out and ended up not having things in very good focus. So the more time you can spend out in the dark trying to photograph the stars before you go, the better off you will be when you get there. You can try out your new flashlights too! A good low mode is good for adjusting camera settings while not destroying your dark adapted eyes. The other thing for us was that we were able to just step out of our hotel room and see them quite well overhead, so did not really need a lot of flashlight. However it would have been better to be in a really dark sky location where you will need good flashlights. Have fun!

Igor · 2019-01-10T15:21:41.000Z

battler:

I’m going with my girlfriend, so I though one for her and one for me?
I am going to take a look at your suggestions. The brands are a bit new for me, is this reliable stuf?

Zebralight is extremely reliable. Just note that it has as interface you just learn how to operate and program, but after it’s done, it becomes second nature. If you or your girlfriend are not willing to deal with interfaces, you can program it to have only one mode and keep it simple.

Look at the Zebralight H600w Mk IV, it’s a headlamp but can double as a handheld flashlight, then you spend less money and don’t need to buy two different lights.

Also you need batteries and a charger. Zebralight uses unprotected Lithium ion batteries, just make sure you can handle them safely.

Or if you’re not willing to deal with lithium batteries, you can choose AA flashlights, like the Zebralight SC53w for handheld and H53w for headlamp. I recommend the Eneloop Pro batteries, they’re hassle free and safe.

Tumbleweed48 · 2019-01-10T16:02:12.000Z

Aurora-service.eu is a great site to keep track of solar winds.

Flashlights?

I’d take two Skilhunt H03s, spend (probably) less than one Zebralight, and have perfect backup. They’re so small and light weight I don’t even carry a spare battery any more - I just carry a spare H03.

Henk4U2 · 2019-01-10T17:23:09.000Z

What a rush. A good thing you reminded yourself (at the last moment) you needed some lights. And because you have little time to spare you go to a trusted website and lay your luck into the hands of PostNL. And wait till the lights arrive. That’s the moment when you have (little) time to assess if these lights are any good.

Before I go on, I would like to assure you that even in NL any (wo)man needs a few good flashlights.
If you are just fine without them, may lie in the fact you never got yourself in a situation you needed them.
But that’s just me.
Before ordering, try visit some brick-and-mortar stores in NL where you also get some advice. I give you:

Knives and Tools in Apeldoorn.
Ledscherp in Arnhem.
NKON in Eindhoven.

The ~~first~~ second store can give you the best advice, but not always the best price.
The ~~last~~ third can give you the best price, some does and don’ts, and a chance to “feel” what you’ve ordered.
I have no personal experience with the ~~second~~ first store, who has most lights.
If I may say something rather unsporty, take the advice the air of a now bankrupt clothes empire gave me.
“Ga naar Lampe om te kijken en te passen en dan naar C&A om te kopen”. I won’t translate that.

EDIT: I corrected first, second, et cetera.

Riku · 2019-01-10T16:40:32.000Z

Max output is rarely a concern, it’s the lowest mode that matters.
You’d be surprised how little light you need - my headlamp is programmed to have max output of 10 lumens! The night sky is much more enjoyable if you avoid blasting your lights at max. Also, turn down the screen brightness on your camera.

Why do you want both a flashlight and a headlamp? If you’re photographing, a flashlight will probably stay in your pocket.

Like others already said, you’ll find what you need on nkon.nl website.

Get a headlamp that has a good moonlight/firefly mode; preferably close to 1 lumen.

I suggest Zebralight H600w (lithium battery for longer runtime) or H53w (AA).

scrumpypaul · 2019-01-10T19:29:14.000Z

As well as lights, spare lights, batteries and spare batteries, I hope I’m not telling my Dutch grannie to suck eggs, but please take plenty of layers of warm clothing. Good gloves. Good hat. And also some sort of face protection is very useful - in the Arctic Circle I experienced temperatures down to almost minus 40 Celsius. Crazy cold. Your eyelashes freeze and eyelids can stick together. The hairs in your nose snap, they are so brittle!

I found https://softservenews.com/ had an excellent Aurora forecast.

Oh, and make sure your camera batteries are up to the job - in those temperatures the usability of a camera can plummet.

Best of luck and stay warm.

Not jealous at all…………………………………………….

Totally jealous actually.

Paul

battler · 2019-01-10T23:47:44.000Z

Sow much advice thank you! The reason why I need a seperate flashlight for the photography is maybe to highlight certain objects. I can still use my headlight to walk and operate the equipment. Thats also why I was concerced about the throwing distance and width of the beam not being adjustable, as that is something I probably need.

I does seem that all the recommendations are above my budget. Although only slight I assume there is nothing more cost effective also worth the effort?