My plan tonight was to write a nice review of my latest headlamp, but I got distracted.
On Dec. 20th, I posted an article about the new Irix headlamp. This is the follow-up to that. The first thing that becomes obvious is the high price is partly for the fancy packaging which you will need to destroy in order to get the headlamp out, and if not careful, you could injure yourself. The headlamp does not have a on-off button. Instead you turn a plastic dial on top of the headlamp. This feels very awkward, and I don't know if it is something that you would eventually get used to. Turning the dial dimly lights 4 small white LED's. The more you turn the dial the brighter they get until eventually you have a usable amount of light to negotiate a dark path. But if you keep dialing a larger brighter LED kicks in, and it becomes brighter and brighter as you turn. I think even the small LED's get brighter. The light pattern is great. But the peak of 35 lumens is not going to be enough for large borehole passages. The headpiece fits very loosely in the mount that it rotates in. I think it needs to fit tighter for caving. It definitely has a flaw in that there is not any easy way to tie a string from the light to the headpiece, as it could easily fall off and create a dangerous situation in a cave. The good news there is that it is unlikely to break, as there is no hinge like on almost all cheap plastic headlamps. I don't think this headlamp would be suitable for Honeycreek, but it should handle most wet small caves. Should be ideal for something like Whirlpool. I went hiking near my house tonight, and spotted a family of javelinas in the woods with it. So it is a practical light. For the cost, there are better choices for primary light source. It could be easily rigged on the helmet near the primary light as a back-up light. To me, if feels like a proto-type. The plastic feels cheap, but claims to be a polymer body. It is not obvious which end unscrews, to change the battery, so you are likely to break that trying to get the battery out. For anyone needing a purple headlamp, this may be your best choice. I plan to take mine back for a refund, if they will accept the torn package. David Locklear Ref: http://www.backpacker.com/media/originals/Irix_445x260.jpg --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
