[pct-l] Night Lighting

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Oops, I misspoke:  the Photon uses CR-2016 batteries rather than CR-1016.

Steel-Eye

On Sat, Jan 29, 2011 at 7:18 AM, CHUCK CHELIN <steeleye at wildblue.net> wrote:

> Good morning, Ethan,
>
>
> A powerful light has never been a serious need for my hiking.  I don’t
> much care to illuminate anything beyond my grasp, or beyond the next 10 feet
> of trail.  At the vary most, I’ll direct my little light in the direction
> of the bear ‘can just out of curiosity to see if a scuffle is caused by a
> bear or a Sasquatch.
>
>
>
> I almost always sleep under the stars where there is much more ambient
> light than one might imagine.  Except for 4-5 days per month at the dark
> of the moon, I can do most things, like make or break camp, with available
> light. I’ll probably use the flashlight only for limited and specific tasks,
> like making one last pre-dawn inspection of the campsite to see if I
> misplaced anything.
>
>
>
> I read/write in the sack before I sleep, and often – but not always – use
> the light for that.  To me, even a 1-LED light is far too bright for close
> reading; it’s just dazzling.  The little Photon Freedom has electronic
> controls rather than a simple on/off button.  As a result, the light
> intensity is continuously variable from zero to maximum, and I turn it very
> low for reading.
>
>
>
> Associated with the electronic controls is the ability to program other
> gimmicks.  The Freedom can continuously display three different strobe
> rates, plus it can continuously flash S-O-S in Morse code.  (Yawn….)
>
>
>
> I use standard, white LEDs.  Simple, little LED pinch-lights are really
> cheap, and I bought and tested about 6 of the most readily-available colors.
> Red is sometimes useful, but the others serve no purpose for me.  Beginning
> about 50 years ago I had to use red light quite a lot during night military
> operations, but I didn’t like it then and I continue to not like it.  I
> believe red is overrated at functionally preserving night vision.  In most
> instances there is more ambient light outside than one might expect, and if
> one only shines a small – but adequate – light there is hardly any effect to
> one’s eyes.
>
>
>
> The tendency of red light to obscure map colors is a bit aggravating when I
> study the maps before sleeping.  Maps vary in the colors they use:  The
> traditional Wilderness Press Guidebook maps are substantially black/white,
> with only a little blue being used for water, and these maps can be easily
> read with red light.  Many older ‘topo maps used brown for contour lines.
> Apparently – at least for my eyes – the red constituent of brown is
> suppressed leaving only the green constituent.  When brown contour lines
> are printed on a green, i.e. forest, background I have difficulty discerning
> the resulting color mush, particularly when the contour lines are close
> together.  My prints of HalfMile’s maps are better in that regard:  The
> contour lines print more in a shade of medium/dark gray which can be seen in
> red light, however the red PCT line is difficult to see.
>
>
>
> As an ultra-lite hiker I carry very little redundancy, but I do usually
> carry two little Photons.  I have several, so I don’t have to buy anything
> extra; and at 0.263 oz. each it’s not a real burden.  I usually keep one
> handy for regular use, while the other stays unused in the ditty bag.  Once
> I did lose a light:  On a stormy evening in ’07 I was in a real hurry to
> pitch my tarp near Apache Spring – one of the few times I pitched the tarp –
> and I somehow lost one of the lights because I didn’t have it on all the
> time.
>
>
>
> I don’t know how long a pair of the commonly-available CR-1016 batteries
> lasts; I probably replace them every 1,000 miles or so.  I carry an extra
> pair at 0.069 oz. each.  All it takes to change them is a knife point in
> the notch to pry off the back of the case.
>
>
>
> I can easily hike at night with the Photon, and I prefer to hold it in my
> hand rather than have its string around my head as a headlamp.  One reason
> is the low-held light creates shadows on trail irregularities, thereby
> providing relief contrast that is not available when the light source is
> near eye-level.  The other reason for keeping the light in my hand is that
> I rarely have it on all the time.   I’ll walk most of the time without the
> light, then flick it on to momentarily illuminate a difficult step.  Night
> vision is thereby enchanted, plus one can much more easily see near-trail
> surroundings for more enjoyment and better overall situational awareness and
> perspective.
>
>
>
> None of this is really very important:  About any light that one is
> willing to carry will serve well:  Think reliable, lite and inexpensive.
>
>
>
> Steel-Eye
>
> Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965
>
> http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye
>
> http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09
>
>
> On Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 10:36 AM, Ethan Smith <esmith11 at my.whitworth.edu>wrote:
>
>>  I read in the archives that you are a proponent of these lights:
>>
>> http://www.amazon.com/LRI-FMW-Freedom-Keychain-Micro-Light/dp/B0007D5TKQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1296239239&sr=8-1
>>
>> I am looking into lighting options for my thru hike and wanted to pick
>> your brain a little. What kind of battery life do these lights get and are
>> the batteries easily replaceable along the trail?
>> Why do you carry two of them?
>> I hope to do an hour or so of reading each evening and maybe a little
>> night hiking. From your experience, would these lights be adequate for
>> frequent evening reading and a couple hours of occasional night hiking?
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Ethan
>>
>
>