One of the most difficult parts of expedition or multi-day adventure racing is the "night segment". Not only are you out in the middle of nowhere - you have a much higher reliance on your team and equipment at night. That said - it is the night segment that capitalizes the A in Adventure when you are in a race. These segments make the strong teams, break the weak teams and send some teams into survival mode. There is a high to paddling on a remote river to the light of the moon and starts or making your way across vast dark wilderness expanses at night - and the Forida heat wanes a bit in the summer making it much more enjoyable.
The greatest annoyance I have at night is my gear. What I really want is a 100% reliable flashlight or headlight. I am not the only one who has experienced gear failure at night - and the one piece of gear that I rely on the most is lights. I have gone through many different lights as product tests. Adventure racing stresses gear - the gerar gets wet, muddy, banged around, it is stuffed in packs, pulled out when needed. Envrionments can be moist and foggy, hot and dry - and lost gear simply does not hold up to this. As far as my lights are concerned - my biggest failure is the battery contacts which love to corrode. I have had every light I own (I will not name any names here) fail on me except two. I have punished these lights, dragged them through swamps, submerged, bashed them against rocks while climbing, endoed off my bike with them - and when I click the button - they blaze into life. My award for best hand-light goes to the Inova T2. This little doozy cranks out a bright LED beam that cuts through anything. It is indestructible. I have used it to bash my bike cleats off my bike and it does not even have a scratch. I click the "on" button and it comes on. Another bonus is the fact it runs off C123A Lithium batteries which are light and cheap (if you buy them bulk - not at a drugstore). My honorable mention is also an Inova product - the Inova 24/7. This funny looking light is versatile and clips to the front of my pack. i use it to read maps and it has low and high settings. It also does tricks - but I don't really need them.
As for headlights - I wish I could recommend one - but I have yet to find a headlight that I could recommend. I'd be happy to try out other products - but most prodct companies are not that happy with my field testing - as they bring me the perfect light with smiles on their faces,just to have me return a piece of duct taped plastic after they have been through a race. I am still trying and when I find something - you'll read about it here first !
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