Night O headtorches

[rf_fozzy]

Well....

Petzl range is here: https://www.petzl.com/GB/en/Sport/Headlamps
Silva: https://silvasweden.uk/collections/head-torches
Mila ones here (can't find Swedish Website): https://formline.uk/collections/tech
Lumonite: https://www.lumonite.com/en/c/lights (don't ship to UK - thanks Brexiters - so you'll need to find a UK supplier)

[DaveK]

Yes, all very well as a list of websites, but hardly any response to SIman and Sean's requests for information on 'best buys'. Anybody? (I need a new lamp for the Kent Night Cup season as it happens )

[rf_fozzy]

Well in the end, it's down to the individual's budget and preference.

A £50 Petzl is likely to be better built than a £50 LED lenser, but you probably get more lumens for the latter. Something random (with an arbitary number of lumens) you get off amazon might be brighter still, but the build quality is likely to be of variable quality.

If you're after something for running around streets, you want something like a basic headtorch that allows you to read the map.

If you're off to the Lakes for BNOC, then you might need something a little better. But again it comes down to how much you can afford.

Personally I have a Petzl Nao RL which I think was about £120, and that's fine for most stuff, but if I had the cash, I'd be buying a Lumonite top of the range one. But it's overkill if you just run round the streets.

I went for build quality over brightness (I still have a cheap Petzl I bought 15 years ago and is still fine), but others might want a different compromise.

In the end, it's going to come down to personal choice and budget. Hence post the links and then allow you to make the choice, shop around and see what you can get - it's not difficult to find a headtorch and then do a google search for best price.

That's the best advice I can give you - because me telling you than I have a Nao RL is probably unhelpful, and if a dozen people come along, they'll all tell you they have a different one, or a super expensive one or whatever.

[SeanC]

Those links are helpful RF_Fozzy. Good to know there is a UK supplier for the Mila.

Ah shopping, it would be nice to go to a shop and physically try different types, but now we are in an online world where we need personal reviews and a way to interpret ads.

So for Dave and anyone else's benefit I'll answer my own original post with some experience and opinion.

Firstly if you can afford it and are worried about the extravagance of spending X hundred on an expensive headtorch, they are very useful gadgets outside of orienteering. No need to buy a shed light... or a light for the loft, useful for fixing things, finding all the broken glass after breaking a wine glass...... Or if benighted on a mountain walk a torch much more likely to get you to safety, or at least alert mountain rescue from 3 miles away.

Secondly, it's often the case that beginners to night orienteering get the advice to get something cheap to start with in case you don't like night o. I think this is OK for streets and parks, but proper forests (even southern ones) navigating out with a 30 lumen backup torch could be quite an experience for a newcomer to night o, so you need something reliable, ie not too cheap. I'd like to see clubs hire quality headtorches (ie Silva, Mila) to beginner night orienteers in this situation (for a proper fee like £10).

Also I find that even on a street event, a powerful headtorch is better as planners seemingly love to give the dark path/through a wood/cross a field option somewhere (so one where you can switch between low and high power in an event is good)

In our house we've had 3 Petzl headtorches for trail runs or walking (a Tikka and two Actik's) which are ok for a street event or when you need to grab a headtorch quickly (eg dog walking in the dark) because the battery and torch are all one unit. The torch is reliable and robust, but the clip on the straps have all broken quite quickly, which means they come loose easily. Their more powerful headtorches like the Duo also have the battery on the headstrap. That might annoy me if it is quite heavy, I'd have to try it.. In the absence of further evidence I'd discount Petzl.

For the cheapest night option I'd recommend, many Kent Night Cup people have used the Magicshine 1000 (lumen) from brightbikelights.com who have been a reliable supplier. I don't remember these failing. £70. I've also used the Ferei HL50 which is 2000 lumen and a lot more powerful but is one of those headtorches that are primarily designed for bikes. I found the beam was quite narrow and good for seeing a long way straight into the distance, but not good for peripheral vision to pick up those hidden behind the bush KNC controls. Also there was a lot of map glare.

Some of those Silva headtorches look good, and the batteries are mostly detachable from the headstrap, but with a lot of choice I suspect they are mostly designed for trail running, cycling and skiing rather than the small orienteering market. Never tried these though. Any opinions?

Silva have a 10,000 lumen torch. That actually looks like a floodlight.

Finally the Mila headtorches. I do have a Mila 4000 lumen headtorch and it's by far the best I've used, but yes an order of magnitude more expensive. These seem designed for orienteering in that as well as lots of power, the beam is spread for peripheral vision and the beam scattering reduces map glare. No reliability problems in 3 years of KNCs (ie 60+ events). How bright does it need to be? Probably the 2000 lumen version for sale at CompassPoint for £165 would suit many people. But if you've got spare money then blowing it on the 5000 lumen one seems like a good indulgence compared with other stuff you could blow your money on. I guess you can justify by saying you're less likely to fall over, but really it might just be a 0.5 control an event advantage over your peers.

[rf_fozzy]

Some more options:

Lucifer (Czech company - not come across them before - and they have a guide for orienteers): https://luciferlights.net/en/choosing-h ... ienteering

The Bright Bike Lights option - which many orienteers seem to go for: https://brightbikelights.com/product/po ... d-cycling/

And I missed LED Lenser torches off the list yesterday: https://ledlenser.co.uk/collections/head-torches