What flashlight for Caving?

Daniel Dorn

Daniel Dorn

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Apr 21, 1999
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I'm planning on taking an intro to caving class this fall, and was wondering which flashlight would be most ideal.

I've used a 3 D cell Maglight in the past, but the problem with that is it eats the batteries, and weighs a ton, comparatively, and I need something that would last quite a while with good output. I'm looking for over 25 lumens, and would rather have 50-60.

I wouldn't mind a 3 C cell, or one that takes two or three of those Lithium 123's, and I know I will probably have to have some sort of LED, or LED/Xenon combo. I like the Luxeon 1-3 watt LEDs, but they are hard to find in a decent price.

I'm looking to spend around $30. Is it more economical to go with a multi-LED light at a lower weight, and light-output? Or is bigger better? Should I just go for the high-power, and carry extra batteries? I'm confused.

My ideal would be a mini-mag size with at least 25 lumens, and a run time at peak light for at least 6-8 hours.

Any help would be appreciated. For reference, the last cave I went into we needed 3 sources of light, hard-hats, climbing gear, and a minimum of 4 in the party. We were in the cave for 18 hours straight. Of course that was 6-7 years ago, and I'm not in that good a shape, and this is an intro course with probably 8-10 hours spent in 3-4 caves.

So, light, bright, and long-lasting. I figure there must have been some great light breakthroughs in the last decade.

Thanks in advance,
Daniel
 
I have no experiance in caving (I didn't even know cave could be a verb), but Surefire's lumamx series fits your needs except for the price (over $100 each). If you don't want LEDs, you could go for the G2 nitrolon, which is "only" $34. Some people will reccomend the $20 brinksman maxfire, but Surefire has excellent customer service.
 
I buy inexpensive flashlights by Garrity or other common brands for caving. The rubber-covered ones will be less likely to break when dropped on the rocks. D-cells seem to last longer than C.

I also carry a small AA light for backup.

Headlamps work well too. In fact they probably work better than my system - you'll have both hands free.

Have Fun!
-Bob
 
I bought 2 nuwai headlamps recently for the times when I get stuff from the trunk then to the front door in darkness.
I'm surprised no one mentioned them in the other thread maybe because they cost under your price point of thirty dollars.
Both were from amondotech, both 1 watt luxes, both has 3 settings
One uses 3aaa and the other 2 cr123's, the 3aaa one had the better luxeon of the two. It looked a little brighter and no rings BUT it's runtime is 1hr on hi
the 2 cr123 unit has 5.5 hrs on hi per package.
I'm glad I got them.
 
Hand-held torches would be a waste of time.

Use a headlight. I'd suggest the one I chose: the Petzl Tikka Plus.

Produit_Image_463.jpg


Technical specifications :

Long light duration up to 150 hours.
Water-resistant for all-weather use.
Uses 3 AAA/LR03 batteries (supplied).
78 g including batteries

maximus otter
 
I will probably get one of the Petzls as part of the whole thing. I would imagine 3 sources will be the minimum again. I like a head lamp mounted on the hardhat for traveling through the cave, but I like a good hand-held for exploring, and enjoying the beauty. I found a TerraLUX MiniStar2 which will upgrade a Mini Mag-lite 2xAA with a Luxeon LED. That has 25 lumens, and will last over 6hrs. They also have a double Luxeon for the larger Maglites with the D-cells. That has 50 Lumen for 24hrs!(on 3-Ds) Only problem again is price and size/weight.

I'll check out Amondotech to see what they have. Sounds promising.

The actual term for caving is spelunking, but for the un-initiated, "caving" covers the subject well enough without adding any confusion.

Thanks, and keep the suggestions coming.

Daniel
 
I think princeton tec has some lights in which they include a plastic clip to attach on to helmets. (I've seen them in EMS and REI, both outdoors equipment stores)
did you use a hands free light the last time?
 
Back then, I was just happy to have a $20 maglite. Some of our gang had head lamps, but at that time they were pretty clunky, and I never had the moola to pick up something like that.

My usual 3 sources included the 3-D cell Mag-lite, a 2xAA mini-mag, and a few glow sticks. Sometimes it would be one of those cheap Ever-ready Wal-Mart specials for $5. And of course there were tons of batteries.

Our longest stint in Fitton Cave near Harrison Arkansas (aka Beauty Cave) lasted 23 hours in the cave, plus a 3 mile hike in, then back out to the road. With only a 24 hour window to be in the cave, we'd get there as close to midnight as possible, so that at least 25 hours of battery life needed.

Ah, the good ol' days!

DD
 
A friend and I went caving on his parents' farm near Harrison, Ark. Don't know if the cave had a name or not, but we were underground for 5 hours.

And I used to live in the woods near Devil's Den State Park. Naturally I spent quite a bit of time in Devil's Den and the Devil's Icebox, even 'finding' a connecting tunnel. Those are rather ordinary crevice caves though, created by blocks of rock moving apart. A less-known cave on the western edge of the park is Farmer's Cave, an actual limestone cave carved by running water. That cave takes around 2 hours to completely explore and now requires a permit.

Best Wishes,
Bob
 
In my experiance caving, I would suggest a head lamp as being your primary light source.

I would suggest a LED headlamp with variable brightness. The variable brightness will be handy with the dimmer setting usefull for small passages, and the brighter setting to light up large rooms. Further, the variable brightness will enusure you maximise your run time. Using a LED vs. an Incandecent will also increase your battery time.

Carry a fresh spare set of batteries, and have fresh batteries in your head lamp, but that should go with out saying...

For a secondary light, I would suggest a bright incandecent, with lot's of throw, to really illuminate the larger rooms, and to highlight some of the more interesting cave topography.

For a head lamp, I could only recommend a Petzl, though Princton-Tec has some nice ones too...


I use the Myo XP - a bit pricy, but an excellent LED head lamp.

The new Tikka is pretty cool, and I am sure it would be a good choice too though, and a bit cheaper as well.

Good luck!
 
I love the Petzl Duo. My brother and I have been using them for years. Then we got the 5 LED upgrade and that made them even better. Now there is a 14 LED upgrade that I just NEED to have! ;)
 
I would go with the Princeton Tec Apex headlamp when it becomes available. It powers a Luxeon III LED with 4 AA batts (60 lumen output) and features 4 smaller LEDs for lower intensity lighting. Water resistant to 1 meter.
 
since I've been caving - Your primary source of light was a carbide lantern!!! LOL!!! :eek:

And as soon as electric headlamps came out, I got one of those...

For now, the miniheadlamps already pointed to would be great primary lights, with any long throwing incandescent being the best secondary...
 
You can go to there WEB site and check them out but here are three good choices from Petzl 1. MYO XP 2. TIKKA XP 3. TIKKA Plus, I have the TIKKA XP and I love it. Petzl's are Like good knives you can't have just one. I own 2 models and plan on getting 2 others when I can afford it.
 
Check out Black Diamond. They make LED headlamps with incredible runtimes, and you can get ones that incorporate selectivly switchable incandesant bulbs and LEDs in one lamp. I think you can pick up a Black Diamond Gemini for about $35.

Sorry for resurecting a sleeping thread. :rolleyes:
 
maximus otter said:
Hand-held torches would be a waste of time.

Use a headlight. I'd suggest the one I chose: the Petzl Tikka Plus.
Click to expand...

I accidentally dropped a Petzl Tikka from the top of my head (5'10") onto a rocky area, while I was camping on the Appalachian Trail. The front plastic housing cracked, causing the batteries to scatter onto a dark trail. The light was useless during the rest of the trip. The plastic is extremely weak and fragile. I wouldn't recommend this light.
 
Daniel,

nice to know someone else sharing my interest in caves,

i'm only a amature caving enthusist, just went recently to a cave recently for a 4 hrs plus anventure,

recommend the following lights (3 source) to be considered,

1. PrincetechTec Scout 2 5mmLED Headlamp with 5 settings (rated approx. 15 hrs-30hrs for low-high setting using 3 Lithiums Coin Cells Batteries) with a Underwater KInetics (UKE) 2AAA Xenon Lamp mounted on the side of the same setup with the PrincetechTec Scout - 2 independant source for throw and illumination lights which weights very little.

2. Surefire G2 Nitrolon P61 Lamp Assembly for throw/spot lights to check out large caverns .... approx 120 Lumens

3. Krill Electrolumenen Extreme Lights (Green) for Extended Low Light Use when resting, eating, sleeping in caves etc.... over 200 hrs on 2 AA Cells

bob
 
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