Showing posts with label lighting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lighting. Show all posts

Friday, 19 November 2010

Glo-toob FX in the field

I got to try out my Glo-toob FX in the field two weekends ago when went for a nice long walk and overnight camp in the Brecon Beacons.

The Glo-Toob is a cylinder measuring 70mm x 19mm and weighing in at only 34g. It takes a small, high-capacity battery. Light is provided via a set of LEDs that bounce of a clever polished metal cone at one end of the cylinder. The light spread is surprisingly uniform given the directionality of LEDs.

It's a fun little piece of kit. I'd had a hope that it would provide enough light to read by; it doesn't. Even in my fairly small one-man Scarp 1 tent you get the sort of ambient light that your mother would tell you off for trying to read by.

The Scarp has a nice hook in the centre of the roof which is perfect for hanging a small lantern like the Glo-toob.

Far be it from me to suggest the Glo-toob isn't worth having; it's definitely part of my standard kit now. It's so light you'll never notice the added weight, and it really is tiny. It's nice having an omni-directional light source on in the tent without having to faff about with a head-torch to find things. And you can leave the light on when you need to step outside for an, er, well you know.

Hopefully, the next time I get out to the hills it won't be raining and blowing a ferocious gale all night and I'll be able to take a night-time shot to show the comforting glow of this little lantern.

Friday, 22 October 2010

New Stuff

I've made a few acquisitions in the last month.

Tomorrow morning I'm off to the post office to pick up a pack of assorted Fuizion freeze dried food sachets, which everyone seems to have been raving about.

I've ordered a Glo-Toob FX for small, lightweight in-tent lighting. I've heard good things about them and as it's always a pain to create ambient light with a head torch, which are usually very directional by design, I'm looking forward to seeing how it performs. Whether it's bright enough to read by remains to be seen, but I live in hope.

On a similar note, I've added a Petzl Tikka2 XP to my collection as well. I actually quite like my dirt cheap Energizer LED torch that I got for £5 at a Millets in Oban and have never seen sold anywhere since. But I've started cycling in to work now and the throw wouldn't be long enough to see where I was going on a dark winter's evening. I'm delighted with the effectiveness of the Petzl's diffuser, but slightly irritated by the noticeable flickering of the LEDs in economy mode.

I wish I could afford a decent insulated jacket so I can get out in the dead of winter. I'm looking at you, PHD Minimus jacket. And by decent I of course mean top of the line. Ahem.