Nocturnal Intel - Part I

 Having been running a lot at night lately, I thought that I would share some of my experiences. 

To start off with, I want share something about one of my existing head lamps. 

A couple of years ago, I picked up a Black Diamond 400 Lumen head lamp. I think at the time that it set me back about 40ish dollars. 

The head lamp is a bit heavier than I wanted, I suspect because it needs 4 x AAA batteries, but I could not argue with the brightness. It was definitely worth the extra illumination.

In full disclosure, I probably only use it once twice a year. The primary reason is that on full brightness, it burns through batteries like a Hummer through gasoline. 

For the WWC 24 hour Timed Laps event, I decided to bite the bullet and buy enough batteries to get me through the night. 

I was using Rayovac batteries. The first set of batteries burned out in about 3 hours and 10 minutes - give or take a few minutes. I wasn't exactly timing it. I reloaded it with fresh batteries. This time, I got roughly 2 hours and 50 minutes. Okay, this wasn't a good but still decent. At least compared to my other head lamps. I reloaded a 3rd time, but this time about 10 minutes in to the trail, it dims and then goes dark. 

I stop, pulled it off, and press the on/off button. It lights up but only for a few seconds, and then goes dark again. I don't have time to figure it out so I pull out my backup head lamp. Yes, I carry two head lamps. 

As I go along, I am worried that I got a bad batch of batteries. Sadly to say, I wasn't exactly sure which pack that pull this last set. 

I finish the night using my back up head lamps. Yes, I have several of them. 

Still thinking it was the batteries, I picked up two new packs of Duracell batteries. I loaded up my Back Diamond intending on using it at the Haigler 12 hour race. I turned it on, and the same thing happened. It came on, dims, and then goes dark. The battery indicator saying that it has low battery. 

I pull them out, and put them in one of my other head lamps. I leave it on for maybe hour. The battery seemed to be fine so the head lamp must be the issue. 

I still don't know what's wrong with it, so I set it aside for now. I have been doing some research on the internet but nothing helpful came up. 

Likely, this head lamp has seen its last night time run.

Cool Down Runner