Headlamps?

[Sphinx]

[Thinker]

Well, My Petzl Myo 3 died the other day, about one month after the 3-year warranty expired. The little wire that runs into the bulb housing evidently has a break in it as it only works when the wire is positioned just right.

 

So should I do surgery myself?....any other way to make this right?

[catbirdseat]

Try repairing it yourself. What have you got to lose? If you succeed you might just get another three years out of the lamp. Do you have a soldering iron?

[tleaf]

I have had the Myobelt 3 for about 2 years now. Awesome headlamp. The Halogen light focuses well, throws lots of light. The 3 LED's work well, though the 3 LED's in my PT Aurora may throw a slightly better beam. I chose the Myobelt 3 since it has an external battery compartment which allows you to keep the batteries warm. It also makes changing the batteries easier if the headlamp is attached to your helmet.

 

The Myobelt 5 has 5 LED's which throw a bit more light, but also use C size batteries which seems silly since spares are bulky and heavy. The Myobelt 3, Myo 3, and Myo 5 use AA, a size comonly used in GPS units and other headlamps so you can just carry one extra set that can be used for everything. Of course there are probably AAA headlamps as well...

[korup]

Another vote for the Petzl Zoom/Arctic. If you need to routefind with a dink LED, you are in deep poop. Batteries last a long time (20 hrs?) w/nonhalogen bulb, 9 or so with.

[chris]

The only time I've ever needed the Petzl Arctic was when I wintered over at McMurdo Station back in 1998. Otherwise, its extreme overkill. I used a Petzl Zoom on Rainier until the Gemini came out. Now I just use the Gemini when I need to do routefinding in the dark, and if I don't I use a Tikka.

[northvanclimber]

i picked up the petzl myolite 3 last year after deciding that having just led's on my tikka was just no good for routefinding. so far, find it really good to be able to easily switch to the halogen when you need the extra juice... especially when negotiating ice falls at 2am...

[Dihedral]

It is somewhat heavy on the technical side but I found the following web site helpful for comparison when choosing a headlamp:

 

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews_index/reviews_index_headlamps.htm

[Thinker]

Petzl authorized the return and replacement of the headlamp, thanks in large part to my neighbor who is a gearhead at Backcountry.com. I should have a new one soon. A big thanks for those guys stepping up to the plate and keeping a customer happy.

 

Lesson Learned:

 

The research I did online (highly scientific and accurate source the internet is...) showed that there have been more than a few problems with the wire shorting/breaking where it comes out of the 'lamp' part of the headlamp. It may behoove one to take care when packing the unit so as not to stress this part.