Posts Tagged task lights
Really Bright Icon Lights
Some kind of flashlight is a critical piece of gear for almost every traveler — you never know when the power is going to go out, your car might break down, and if you’re doing any camping or outdoors after dark, you need portable light. Icon makes sturdy little lights that are small enough to hold in your hand but cast enough light for you to find critters lurking in the distance when you step out of your tent in the middle of a moonless night.
Consider, when you’re shopping for a flashlight, if a little handheld light is enough or you want a headlamp. Headlamps are great for camping; hands free means you can cook dinner, pitch a tent, read a book… A little standard flashlight requires you hold it in your hand. This is fine if you’re using it too look for your keys or finding the way back to your bungalow and some off the grid hotel, or just packing it in case of emergency. The season is coming, so consider, a headlamp or a flashlight makes a really great stocking stuffer type gift for the traveler in your life (or yourself). Think about use and go from there. Headlamps for campers, outdoorsy types, a flashlight for everyone else.
I know this because I wish I’d packed a headlamp for my last trip. I used a hand held flashlight and it was awkward. I wished for a headlamp often, especially while sitting in a camp chair with my dinner plate perched on my knee. That said, I really liked the Irix Link light that I did pack. With one AA battery, I was able to light up my tent (and my hotel room, when the power went out) for two weeks — and there’s still plenty of juice left in it. It’s a cool looking gadget with a nice aluminum finish and a carabiner style clip integrated into the body. This turned out to be really useful, I’m always trying to lose my gear and because I’d clip the flashlight on to my belt loops or a tie down on my pack, it stayed put. Icon says that the light is waterproof to one meter for 30 minutes, I didn’t test this but what it means is should you drop it out of the boat, it will still work if you’re quick about retrieving it.
Icon’s Irix headlamp is also a great little light. It’s made from plastic so it’s a bit lighter than the Link, and it’s weatherproof rather than waterproof, meaning you’ll be okay using it in the rain but don’t drop it in the lake. It’s got a brightness dial; you can turn it down so you don’t blind your camp-mates when you look at them. You’ll get lots of use out of one AA with this light too. The light itself can be removed from the headband so you can use it as a handheld light. With my tendency to lose small bits of gear, I’d probably leave the light clip to the headband.
Both lights are small and lightweight; you can easily find space for them in your kit. The Link is listed for 27.99, but I saw it for as low as 17.00 on Amazon. At around 50.00, the Irix headlamp is a bit pricier, also on Amazon.
Posted by Pam in Business Gear, General Gear on October 28th, 2011
Reading and Task Lights from Beam N Read
I’ve tried out a whole slew of reading lights and task lights over the years, from the Lightwedge to the Periscope to various brands of headlamp. I guess that’s why I got a call out of the blue from the president of the company producing these Beam N Read lights to try them out. These didn’t look like anything else I’d checked out before, so I agreed to put them through their paces. He set me up with an extra too, so leave a comment at the end to win one for yourself.
This is pitched more as a multi-function light than a reading light, which is a good thing because for reading it only works well if you’re in a sitting position. The light hangs on a strap around your neck and points downward, making it great for a bus or airplane seat, but lousy for when you’re lying flat in bed with a book above your face.
Depending on which model you get, there are either three or six LED bulbs that supply bright light and last forever. The three-bulb one promises that the four AA batteries will last at least 120 hours, or 48 hours for the LED 6 model.
The design is pretty basic and there’s no elegance to it, with a wide battery pack and the bulbs usually shining uncovered unless you put on a red filter (for the three-bulb one) or another color filter (my sample came with orange) for the six-bulb one. The latter also comes with a magnifier. But what matters is these lights do the job: shining on what you need lighted up. And bulky or not, you can easily find and travel with rechargeable AA batteries, but it’s single use only for those calculator-style ones many reading lights use.
These Beam N Read lights would work well for any travel task where you need your hands free, from rooting around the backpack to reading on a train to writing in your journal at night. If you’re traveling with a baby you could change diapers in a hotel room without lighting up the whole room. And this would solve a problem I had a lot when backpacking: figuring out a way to play cards in a poorly-lit cheap hotel room. (Without the other person seeing your cards.) Plus unlike with a headlamp, you won’t blind anyone when you look in their eyes to talk to them.
You can get the Beam N Read LED 3 at Amazon for $19.95 plus shipping, or the LED 6 for $24.95.
Or…get one for free! Leave a comment below on why you would want one and we’ll pick a winner at random in a week—on February 4.
Posted by Tim L. in General Gear, Kids and Family on January 28th, 2010
