Post by Brian Roebuck on Apr 30, 2007 5:51:35 GMT -5
As many of you have read Lynn got me a Sten Light for my birthday. I used it in a cave like environment Saturday and thought I would post a short report of how good it is so far.
Friday evening Lynn and I went to a local cave for a few minutes to check water levels for a survey team planning to survey there. I tried out the Sten in the dark zone awhile as Lynn shot a few critter photos. It is a beast of a light! At full blast it lights up our typically dark brown mud covered walls easily. It is like being around 4 or 5 cavers with good lights as the whole passage gets lit up. It has 4 settings and the lowest one is good enough for lighter colored limestone passage but I wouldn't want to have to use that setting exclusively. The second level is very usable and is about like a small carbide lamp in light output. The third setting is bright and can be used for lighting up pits, domes, and large passage. The last setting is very bright and hurts your eyes to look directly at.
The diffuser spreads out one of the three watt LEDs while the other is a spot. They work together to give you plenty of peripheral vision as well as depth. The whole rig is light weight, small, and well balanced. It is pure function and power while being rugged and easy to use. You will get used to it immediately and wonder how you ever caved without it.
I also got to use it under my brother in law's house for 4 or 5 hours while doing floor joist repairs. It was awesome under there. I had no trouble seeing anything on the second or third setting and used "Turbo" for awhile just to see how hot it would get. While it did physically heat up it was tolerable and was no warmer than a carbide lamp body gets after prolonged use. In fact it could be used to help warm a cold caver up as the aluminum body stores heat rather well.
I'll take it caving soon and give a better in-cave report. Suffice it to say that this may be my last cave light ever needed. It is that good. Perhaps technology will make better stuff in the future but the Sten is state of the art right now.
Friday evening Lynn and I went to a local cave for a few minutes to check water levels for a survey team planning to survey there. I tried out the Sten in the dark zone awhile as Lynn shot a few critter photos. It is a beast of a light! At full blast it lights up our typically dark brown mud covered walls easily. It is like being around 4 or 5 cavers with good lights as the whole passage gets lit up. It has 4 settings and the lowest one is good enough for lighter colored limestone passage but I wouldn't want to have to use that setting exclusively. The second level is very usable and is about like a small carbide lamp in light output. The third setting is bright and can be used for lighting up pits, domes, and large passage. The last setting is very bright and hurts your eyes to look directly at.
The diffuser spreads out one of the three watt LEDs while the other is a spot. They work together to give you plenty of peripheral vision as well as depth. The whole rig is light weight, small, and well balanced. It is pure function and power while being rugged and easy to use. You will get used to it immediately and wonder how you ever caved without it.
I also got to use it under my brother in law's house for 4 or 5 hours while doing floor joist repairs. It was awesome under there. I had no trouble seeing anything on the second or third setting and used "Turbo" for awhile just to see how hot it would get. While it did physically heat up it was tolerable and was no warmer than a carbide lamp body gets after prolonged use. In fact it could be used to help warm a cold caver up as the aluminum body stores heat rather well.
I'll take it caving soon and give a better in-cave report. Suffice it to say that this may be my last cave light ever needed. It is that good. Perhaps technology will make better stuff in the future but the Sten is state of the art right now.
