| Torch Light For Night Trek |
 |
 |
 |
| Written by Leonard Goh |
| Wednesday, 19 May 2010 15:10 |
|
Buying a torch light for trekking at night
Hi folks!
As you might have noted, our Belumut Night Trek is less than a week away from now and you will probably need a trusty torch to illuminate your path. There are many kinds of torch available in the market and each of them have a unique set of strengths that make them suitable for specific tasks. Before you head down to your neighbourhood hardware shop to purchase your guiding light, here are several things to consider.
For this trip, our Belumut trip leaders recommend using a headlamp, basically a torch with a head strap, so that we can keep our hands free during the trek. There are many premium headlamps on sale on the internet with many features that suit the demanding situations. However, it is difficult to find such headlamps locally and frankly, some of these are too expensive and too extravagant.
So, what features do we really need?
1) LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) only! LEDs are the most efficient type of bulbs available. Unlike incandescent bulbs, LED produces a negligible amount of heat during operation and that means less energy wastage. To put things in perspective, incandescent torches usually lasts less than 10 hours before it gets too dim to be useful while LED torches of similar specifications can last about 20 hours or more. With this amount of runtime, you can avoid the trouble of bringing too many batteries and you probably won't need to fumble around changing batteries in the dark.
2) Water Resistance Well, this is self-explanatory. Look out for those with rubber seals along the battery compartment and seams. These rubber seals will suffice for dealing with rain. Yup.
3) Variable brightness Having a really bright torch can be really useful in seeing far but it prevents your eyes from adapting to the dark. If the situation allows it, lowering the power output can perhaps, allow you to see even further when your eyes adapt to the dark. Also, having an option for lower brightness will be more pleasant to the eyes when doing close-up tasks like finding something from your bag.
4) Common Batteries Avoid those that use obscure battery sizes like N, CR123A and other odd sizes that you are unlikely to obtain in your destination country. Can't go wrong with AAs and AAAs.
Important note: All bulbs (both LEDs and incandescent) have very low tolerance for high voltages. It can be tempting to buy high energy Lithium batteries for longer runtime but they may just blow your bulb. Check your instruction manual before using those. When in doubt, stick to alkalines.
Oh hey, some of our sponsors sell headlamps and torch lights. Do check them out! 133, New Bridge Road, #02-03A, Chinatown Point Singapore 059413 Mon-Sun 11:00am-8:00pm
187 Sims Avenue Singapore 387497 Tuesday – Saturday: 3 - 9 pm
11 Stamford Road #01-13 Capitol Building Singapore 178884 Monday to Saturday: 12pm - 8pm; *Remember to show your membership card to receive discounts!
|
| Last Updated on Wednesday, 19 May 2010 16:01 |
Incandescent bulb - Some high-end torch lights use this type of bulb because they are capable of producing very high intensity light. The light produce is more 'natural-looking' compared to LEDs. However, they have rather short runtimes, get very hot and may use specialized and expensive batteries to compensate for the bulb's inefficiency.
5mm LED bulb - This is a lot more efficient than the incandescent bulb because it converts electrical energy directly into light instead of having to heat up a filament. LED bulbs have a much longer life span than the incandescent bulb and is unlikely to break on impact due to its hardy design. LEDs are becoming more and more advanced, giving us more options - there are now a variety of high-powered LEDs that can compete directly with premium incandescent torches in terms of brightness. Given its qualities, LEDs are extremely versatile.