I’ve a friend who’s heading to Finland in search of aurora come February; I’d like to recommend a couple of lights - one with a low output to allow him to check his camera settings without losing his night vision, and one with a higher output as a general find-your-way-out-of-the-frozen-forest-in-the-dead-of-night kind of light.
I would recommend a Thrunite Ti with a lithium Energizer as the low output but wasn’t sure how the compressible foam in the head would cope in very low temperatures. Similarly, I was going to suggest the Thrunite T10 or T20 with appropriate lithium Energizers as the bigger light as they’re available as a deal with the Ti, but I have no experience of either.
Can anyone suggest any suitable lights, absolutely dependable and budget not necessarily a problem (not the parameters I’m used to looking at!)? The only real stipulations would be a failsafe and easy way of entering a low/firefly mode and running on non-rechargeable lithiums (presuming that’s the best way to guarantee performance at low temps?), oh, and easily pocketable.
For lower light levels…Photon Proton Pro. It has two LEDs, a red and a white. Perfect for checking readings and looking at maps without disrupting night vision.
Why not just a T10 for all needs? If it's bright enough on high for finding his way around then you really don't need a second low output light as the T10 also has moon low just like the Ti plus no foam to get wonky in the cold. ;)
I know someone else here will remember better than I, but I think it was Jake that just started selling an AA light with 4-modes for just $20 that has the build quality and looks of a T10 but is only a little bigger than a Ti. Outputs ranging from .2 firefly all the way to 120 on high.
Nitecore Explorer EC2. 18650 long run times, throwy, plenty of lumens and it has a 2nd red LED for ultra low lumen use. Nice and compact too. Only downer might be using the smallish buttons in gloves, but if the person will be using a camera then I can’t see it being any more challenging.
How do the modes work on the T10 - is it the same as the Ti in that you just rotate it a bit further? Just want to make sure he can get the modes he needs with cold/gloved hands.
As I said, budget isn’t really an issue as long as the light/lights work reliably and easily in the likely conditions. I only have budget lights and haven’t had the ‘opportunity’ to use them in extreme conditions but I’m not sure I’d want to rely on them, though others more knowledgeable may say differently.
I could be interested in Jake’s light, again depending on build and mode switching.
I live in Lancashire, England…trust me, it’s extreme compared to what we get!
Does the T10 have mode memory and what’s the sequence?
Sorry, I know I should just Google it…
OK, found the review - sounds like it could be a reasonable choice with a lithium primary but I’d be interested to hear of alternatives; would prefer to keep it to AA or CR123 size rather than 18650s.
