Night or Bright Orienteering?

[Adventure Racer]

Seeing candyman's comments about awards for improvers, I guess I should point out that I won the Western Night League "Most Improved Competitor" running round with a dwarf star on my head. However it wasn't the extra light that led to my improvement - my best results were earlier in the season when I was still using my old 20W halogen which I've had for many years now (I'm guessing that some here might think a 20W halogen is a lot of light - well not compared to my new homemade LED it's not!) It is still very much all about the skills - and slightly different ones to daytime orienteering - than how much light you have. Though given I'm far more interested in the overall win than in personal improvement - though given how close I was last year, I guess one follows the other now hopefully - I'm taking as much light with me as I can.

Anyway, since orienteering is about gaining advantage from using your brain, I don't feel at all guilty about making myself a new brighter light last season. Only slightly spoilt by the fact you can this season go out and buy something just as good!

There has never been a world championship in night orienteering. I'm wondering whether 'Betty' and her progeny are the reason why there is not and cannot be.

I doubt it. Surely it's not beyond the top competitors having the best lighting available, and in any case it's not like you lose out that much with something like a 20W Silva, and one of those is hardly budget breaking. I'd imagine anybody likely to be up there in a WC would already be running events like the 10Mila, and so have a good light anyway. In any case the ubiquitous big Silva was all that was available for many years (Betty is brand new), so it's hardly influenced policy in the past. I'd suggest the lack of a WC is more to do with the fact that it's a minor part of our sport.

[Mrs H]

After a certain point I'm not sure a more pwerful light is going to make any difference. I'm not sure what my light is (but it says 10/20 on the inside - so i guess it's like those silvas you are talking about) but I only switch it onto the more powerful setting when I'm getting close in to a control or when I really am stuffed as I don't feel i need any more light and I also worry about the battery running out what ever - it's not two candles.

My distance vision is limited by th contact lens i wear in order to be able to read the map - so seeing further is not necessarily going to be much of a help, but I do need to be able to see where I'm about to put my feet and also pick up that most difficult of features at night - crossing a path covered with leaves

(Mind you - judging by my performance at AR's Western night League the other weekend I perhaps ought to shut up - but someone told me I am the reigning midlands W50 night champ - I was the only one elligible

[redkite]

Mrs H - I wear a different prescription in each eye. The left eye is used to read the map and the right for distance. The brain doesn't seem any more muddled than it normally is.

back to the thread. I only do two or three night events a year and just use a low level light working on A4 batteries. Happy with that but do get slightly annoyed at the bright lights running past that blind you for the next couple minutes. Tend to stop and turn my back on them now.

[AndyO]

I was convinced of the value of Halogen a few years ago when others were running past me and I could see my shadow on the ground. I found it hard to see the kite even when I was looking directly at it (when I eventually found it). The Petzl is OK as a back-up in a bum-bag to get you home if your headlamp battery dies, but you certainly can't run through terrain with it - at least not at night You can run through terrain with the Silva/Mila type - which makes the whole experience so much better. As Big Jon says, you are orienteering, at night.

[FatBoy]

Having gone up the scale a little with lights I think a 6W Halogen is just enough to avoid falling over things too much. Any less than that flat out on a track you will run in to things you haven't seen yet. I think you can easily navigate using a 6W Halogen except for the fact that when a brighter light comes past your eyes adjust and then you can't see any longer. As to whether it makes it easier with a brighter light than that, I'm not sure, you still need to point your personal daylight in the right direction - which is a primary skill of night-o. Personally I would like to see all night-o venues (and day for that matter) filled with thick fog.

[Gnitworp]

As to whether it makes it easier with a brighter light than that, I'm not sure, you still need to point your personal daylight in the right direction - which is a primary skill of night-o.

The 'best' modern lamps are not only brighter but give increased diffusion (field of illumination), which decreases the need to 'point your personal daylight in the right direction'. The photographs in the article in the latest edition of 'Orienteering Today' show just how much difference there can be in this respect.

[HOCOLITE]

I am/was afraid of the dark. I would not do night O but then I borrowed youngest's light last year and went out very tentaively to collect the low scoring controls on the paths as I quite like running where I can see the ground. I soon got a little more adventurous and now occassionally stray off the path if I can see what is under my feet. Thought I'd have to give up this season as youngest decided he needed his light at Uni. However the old man very generously let me use his light and hass spent the last week soldering and creating some device for an old one for him to use. I would not go out with a Petzl.

[OldManHOC]

At what-wattage can you move fast through the terrain?
My old kit was a 5W halogen on the left and a 2.5W 'standard' on the right
I think I managed 10+km at Sherwood Pines in under 60 minutes (3rd Place M21 BNC) which as far as I am concerned is not that slow.
I had previously done some tests - having both lights on gave me more confidence (and speed) through the bracken and brashings
No difference on the paths. Advantage of bright light came when using it in "searchlight" mode - looking for the control flag.

A year or two ago I got round Oversley using an AAA Mini Maglite (having mischarged by 20/10W headlamp, which died on me at #3)
I am estimate the torch puts out under 0.5W (2 off 1.5V 1000mAh alkaline cells, 9 hour burn time)
As the light was so weak I got to keep some low-light adaption and had no problems running on the paths, nor finding most controls - just one niche where I had to run back to the path and compass and pace in.

Yes - brighter is better, but not much so - perception of increasing brightness is (sort of) logarithmic. To double the perceived brightness you have to more than double the output power. Increased output power makes more of a difference in the far distance and at the edge of the beam, and you can have a much wider effective beam as well.

But then what do I know...

[grubby]

There's a new 'limited light power' course at the BNC in February. Check out "BANTER" for more details.