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Last night my red light headlamp died at the worst moment
I was out in my backyard in Austin trying to dial in my finderscope on my 6 inch dob. The red light just flickered and went out and I was left fumbling in the pitch dark for like 10 minutes. Finally gave up and used my phone light which killed my night vision for a good 20 minutes. Has anyone else had a battery die at a critical moment like that and found a backup light setup that actually works?
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margaretk891mo ago
Used to grab whatever cheap headlamp was on sale, figured a light is a light. This changed my mind after my Petzl Tikka died mid collimation last month. Now I keep a separate keychain light with a dedicated red mode clipped to my backpack strap, runs on a single AAA. It's tiny and dim enough not to wreck my night vision, but it saved me when my big light went dark. Cheap little Nitecore Tube I think, cost like 15 bucks.
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iris_mason881mo ago
Got a buddy who had the exact same thing happen except he was deep in a cave system. His main headlamp just flickered and died, no warning, nothing. He had a little Photon light on his keychain that he'd bought years ago for like ten bucks. That tiny red LED was all he had to navigate out through the dark passages for almost an hour. He said it was dim but steady and never let him down. Now he tells everyone to carry a backup light no matter how small.
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park.iris1mo ago
Wait, has anyone else had that moment where you realize your "big" light is basically a paperweight and your backup becomes your whole world? Honestly, my buddy got stuck in a storm drain tunnel system during a flash flood drill. His headlamp got submerged and just stopped working. He had this cheap little keychain light that was supposed to be for finding his keys in the car, but it lasted him the whole 45 minutes down that muddy drain. He said it was so dim he had to hold it right up to his face to see, but it never flickered once.
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