> I used to carry a 'waterproof' PFD strobe that ran off a couple of AA > cells and was claimed to be visible to 3km. The same company made a > "constant" light of similar size and shape and with the same claimed > visibility. > > Nearly all our trips have us in the water at some point so the major > problem with them and with other lights was water leakage. I've had to > throw away three so far. >From the description it could be Aquastrobe by Princeton Tec and Sport Flare by the same company. I think they run one one AA, not two. Did you mean those? Used to be a decent company in outdoor lights, too bad to hear about leaks. Incidentally, I've been thinking of getting Aquastrobe. Now using ACR C-light, 2AA, leaks don't seem to be a problem, but I'm not impressed with a visibility. ACR use Fresnel lens, which is supposed to focus most of the light in narrow horizontal 360 degrees "slice", but this only works when the "stick" is strictly vertical. Otherwise, you hardly see it from a few yards (because the "slice" of light is so narrow). Besides, strobe stands out better in the dark than a steady light (yeah, I know, vessel light should not be a strobe, but I'm going to use it in emergencies only, and not for routine navigation in busy channels). Btw, if my memory doesn't fail me, some vessels do use a strobe. Our city Sea Bus (small passenger ferry) is flashing a strobe in the night. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sat Jan 03 2009 - 12:13:51 PST
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