“You think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted it; I was born in it - molded by it. I didn’t see the light until I was only a man. By that time it was nothing to me but blinding. The shadows betray you because they belong to me.”
headlamps
Probably the single most important piece of caving gear… the thing that allows you to see in the dark. Many cavers have strong opinions about various cave light options, and there are clear regional preferences. Sten Lights are now out of production, but they are a favorite of many western US cavers. Zebralights seem to be quite popular in Texas, Missouri and TAG. In Europe the Scurion and Rude Nora have a lot of followers. The Manley light is gaining in popularity as a more efficient and economical alternative to the Sten Light in many parts of the US. Below are a series of video reviews of many of the most commonly used options for caving. No light is perfect and these reviews attempt to objectively weigh the pros and cons of each.
headlamp price
There are vast differences in the brightness, usability, durability, waterproofing and run-times for many popular caving headlamps. The chart below attempts to give a rough comparison of the price of different premium caving headlamp options, including a battery and charger. All of these lamps run on 18650 cells, though some run on single cells and others use up to 4-cell battery packs. I’ve tried to normalize the cost by adjusting to the equivalent cost including 4x 18650 cells.
Scurion
These Swiss-made headlamps are considered by many to be the best you can buy. Note that the lumens in the table below are emitter lumens, not ANSI out-the-front. Scurion now uses ANSI in its marketing literature, which is a more honest but lower number, but virtually every other manufacturer uses emitter lumens, so I’m also using this for comparison purposes.
Marble Mountain Lights
The Manley 20 is the current iteration of the headlamp built by Colorado cavers Kevin Manley and Steve Reames. A bright and efficient dual-LED light at an economical price.
The run-times and lumen outputs below are my own calculations, and are based on the latest 7000 mAh battery packs that Marble Mountain Lights is selling. The Manley can be put into one of two different sets of modes that they describe as “hybrid” (Profile 1) and “flood” (Profile 2).
Little Monkey
Little Monkey sells LED insert modules for upgrading older style Petzl Duo, Wheat Lamp, and Oldham Pitlamps under the CustomDuo brand. They also make the Rude Nora 3 and Filthy Edna 2 stand-alone premium caving headlamps. The Rude Nora 3 is dive rated and utilizes two Cree XP-L2 emitters (one spot and one focused flood). The Filthy Edna 2 has a similar build quality but uses a single XP-L2 emitter with a focused flood beam, and an auxiliary 5 lumen LED.
Zebralight
Zebralight makes a dizzying array of lights that are very similar. Below is a chart showing lumen output and run-time. These are based entirely on Zebralight’s marketing claims. Some of the numbers don’t account for PID controls that reduce current, and therefore lumen output, when higher temperature is measured. I also believe some of the lumen claims for their latest high CRI emitters are overstated.
El Speleo
El Speleo headlamps are made with high performance Cree LEDs, which are bright and efficient, but the marketing claims for run-time and lumen output don’t line up with Cree’s performance charts. The values on El Speleo’s website are exaggerated, but even after I brought this to their attention there has been no correction. The tables below show the run-times they claim, as well as the calculated and measured run times.
StenLight
The StenLight S7+ (premium version) has been around since about 2009, and the LED emitters have reportedly been upgraded several times since then, but the manufacturer doesn’t release new specifications. The values below are the best estimates for lumen output and run-time, based on a 5000 mAh battery pack. The Sten is no longer being manufactured, though parts are still available.
Petzl
There are 3 versions of the 2018 model of Duo headlamp, the Z1, Z2 and S.
Customduo
While this isn’t a stand-alone caving headlamp, it is a good option for upgrading an older style Petzl Duo and making it into a modern performing premium headlamp. The combination of the v42 Omni CustomDuo module with a pre-2018 Petzl Duo housing can be bought for around $150 and makes the best performing AA battery powered headlamp, and probably the best value in a headlamp under $200.
Carbide lamps
Carbide cap lamps and generators were the standard caving headlamp for most cavers up through the late 80’s or even early 90’s. The advancements in LED emitters and battery technology has made these lamps obsolete. They are objectively dirtier, less bright, less efficient, more dangerous and less reliable than modern electric lights. Common cap lamps were produced by Premier and AutoLite. The most common generator based carbide lamp was the Petzl Aceto, also commonly referred to as the “ceiling burner”. These lamps can still be purchased - mostly second-hand, but the calcium carbide fuel is becoming more difficult to find.