Small torch

[WazoSmurph]

Hi there, I would like to know any suggestions on small torches used for evening time and early morning. Keen to source lightest but most efficient for trip.

 

[dougfitz]

Kathmandu sell some good small torches with either a white or red light. You might want to search the forum for info on this topic, and the heat it generates when someone lights up an albergue dormitory at night or early morning.

You could also try browsing the equipment topic, which might be more fruitful than having it in this topic.

Regards,

 

[Peregrina 2013]

The Black Diamond Storm Headlamp is one of the best LED headlamps. It is extremely light (3.9 ounces), it as a TriplePower LED that outputs up to 100 lumens and it throws a beam up to 70m. It provides up to 50 hrs. of use on high and 200 hrs. on low; here is another plus that has saved me already once, it has a battery indicator light to help you determine how much battery power you have left. Hope this helps!

Ultreia!

Mary

 

[dougfitz]

Kathmandu is having a massive Easter Sale here in NZ at the moment....and it may be the same in Australia.

I have both the white and red Kathmandu Dual Mini LED Light. At about 20gm and currently on sale, they are pretty good value. I carried a red one, so that if I do walk on roads in the dark, I can attach it to my pack and set it to 'flash'. That happened far less often than I had anticipated.

 

[methodist.pilgrim.98]

Having being woken by people's head torches I have a downer on them.

I carry a small wind up LED torch that is smaller than the palm of my hand. As I only need it to go to the loo at nigtht it is big enough to fulfill that function.

Being wind up I do not have to worry about batteries.

I have walked at night but try to avoid it all costs and I regard setting out before there is enough natural light as an accident waiting to happen.

It is so light the kitchen scales dont register and it fits into my trouser pocket.

 

[tyrrek]

It depends what time of year you're going. If it's still dark when you set out in the morning you may want something fairly powerful, but if you just need something to find the loo at night you can get a small LED torch very cheaply. Mine cost £3 and is great. Buen Camino!

 

[ffp13]

Kathmandu sale discounts are big, but then they can afford to be, as their prices are over inflated! a 70% discount brings the price down to a realistic value

 

[RENSHAW]

Having being woken by people's head torches I have a downer on them

I Understand this , but a headlamp is the answer. The only time I ever wore the lamp on my head was during a night walk from Burgos to Castrojerez.
I am one of those people who always have to get up at least once during the night. Pointing the lamp downwards, I cup the lamp in my hand covering most of the beam with my fingers but allowing just enough light to see.
Yep '98 , a full beam blasted into your eyes is just pure ignorance , I agree.

 

[Sagalouts]

I have the "flashlight" app on my smart phone along with other apps maps/guides,I love how each one lowers the weight I have to carry'
plus a tiny key-ring light for toilet trips.
if you partly pack your backpack before sleeping-never go to bed before finding the way out of town first,you hardly need a fancy head torch at all
all they do is wind up (pun) your fellow Pilgrims,making the Albergues look like a lighthouse keepers convention in the mornings :x
Ian

 

[mspath]

Last October at the Roncevalles albergue check-in counter I bought a tiny finger size light for night trips to the loo. Weightless and inexpensive it was great! For reading in my bunk when ALONE in albergues during late autumn and winter I use a head lamp, but only then.
Margaret Meredith

 

[Kiwi-family]

I carry a small wind up LED torch that is smaller than the palm of my hand.

I'll bet you were more considerate than the guy at Portomarin who wound his torch for AGES right next to our kids who were trying to go to sleep (and who had been quiet all afternoon while he slept!)...and then wound his torch again at 10pm evidently for the fun of it, then played a beepy game on his i-phone for a couple of hours....then at midnight rewound the torch for a toilet break before going to sleep and finally one last time at 4am when he decided it was time to get ready to walk. His torch was not the only thing wound up in that dorm and we all ended up making an early start (the rest of us in pitch blackness as the lights could not be turned on in the whole place!!)
But you wouldn't have done that, would you Methodist.Pilgrim?!

 

[jmcarp]

In addition to whatever general purpose flashlight (torch) or headlight, I always carry a small keychain light wherever I travel for the middle-of-the-night nature calls. I prefer the ones with red LEDs because they don't create such a bright pool of light, especially in an environment like an albergue. They are dirt cheap, and weigh only 6 gm / 0.2 oz. http://www.rei.com/product/671104/princ ... -led-light

 

[methodist.pilgrim.98]

But you wouldn't have done that, would you Methodist.Pilgrim?!

Nope. I would have done what I did in Logrono in 1998 when a pilgrim had his radio on when everyone else was trying to get to sleep.

I politely asked him to turn it off.

Since I am the original 10 stone no good in a fight sort of bloke I was gobsmaacked when he apologised and did so.

I have only once deliberatley got up and made a lot of noise to a pilgrim who had come in drunk the night before. He stopped me sleeping and so I did the same to him.

Someone actually shook one of his companions awake and told him it was 6.00am and time to get up to get on the Camino.

And I am normally such a sweet natured guy.

As an important ps, I am genuinely sorry you had that awful experience.

 

[newfydog]

I have the "flashlight" app on my smart phone

nice app! thanks for that. Those phones are as versatile as Harry Potter's wand.

 

[Al the optimist]

I have a small torch which fits in my harness. I don't walk in the dark but it along with my whistle are for any emergency. Fortunately my bladder does not normally require an out of bed in the night exercise experience, but I always have my powergen external battery which has a light. If necessary I can use this with my fingers over it to get a sufficient but subdued light.