Field Report

Field Report
Nite Ize L.E.D. Wand

August 19, 2006

Tester: Colleen Porter
Age: 31
Gender: F
Height: 5' 8” (1.73 m)
Weight: 137 lb (62 kg) Email: tarbubble at yahoo dot com
City, State: Irvine, CaliforniaBiography: I’ve been backpacking for 11 years, usually with my husband. We used to be heavyweights, but having children forced us to go lighter, and now on my own my 3-season base weight (without food, water or fuel) hovers around 13 lb/6 kg, and is getting lower. On family trips the weight usually doubles. I make some of our gear. My typical haunts are the mountains of southern California, the Sierra Nevada, the Grand Canyon, plus the Mojave and Colorado deserts. Yup, gotta carry a lot of water.

Product Information
Manufacturer: Nite Ize
URL: http://www.niteize.com/
Listed Weight: n/a
Tested Weight: 3 oz/86 g (wand only - no light or accessories)
MSRP: $15.00 US

Product Description: A waterproof polycarbonate housing with an attached acrylic cylinder that transforms an LED squeeze light (the wand comes packaged with an Inova brand light) into a glowing wand/flashlight. The total length of the wand is 8 in/20 cm. The circumference of the housing/handle is 4.5 in/11.5 cm, and the circumference of the acrylic cylinder is 2.5 in/6.35 cm.

Field Performance: As I said in my Initial Report, the L.E.D. Wand is a cool toy. Alas, I haven't found it to be much more than that, at least for typical backpacking situations. I had high hopes that by switching to a white L.E.D. the wand would become more useful. but even after making that change it is just a so-so tent light. It casts sufficient light to find what I'm looking for in the tent at night, but not enough light to read by or to do any kind of detailed repairs (sewing, etc.) in. As a flashlight, it's... well, I hate to say it, but it's a lousy flashlight, even in white. It's barely sufficient to see the ground directly in front of me at night. I used it to walk to a privy in the middle of the night, under a solid tree canopy, and it was an unnerving and not at all enjoyable walk. For the return to my tent, I broke my resolve to use the wand exclusively and dug my headlamp out of my pocket.

Another problem is that the Inova microlights will eventually shut off if left on the brightest setting. I discovered this in the MOST inopportune manner - using the L.E.D. Wand as a beacon so that I could get back to my tent in the dark after going outside to, um, "see a man about a horse." I squatted down, looked at my tent glowing softly in the night, looked away as I finished my business, then looked up again to find that the light had shut off and I had only a general idea of where my tent was. Of course, this was also the trip when my headlamp fell apart into useless pieces. That marked the only night I've ever thanked God for light pollution. Since then, I've tried to mainly use the Inova light on the second brightest setting. Of course the problem with that is that it isn't as bright, and as such isn't quite as effective as a beacon.

Other L.E.D. squeeze lights fit easily into the light housing, but the no-frills Pulsar-style squeeze lights are too thin to stay in the proper position to really be effective in the wand. The Inova lights have rubbery pads on the body of the light, and the wand's housing has been designed to just the right size to hold the Inova light in the proper position. However, wrapping a thin rubber band around it a few times can help a no-frills L.E.D. squeeze light fill in in a pinch. Still, the wand has clearly been designed specifically for the Inova Microlight.

The Wand has proven reliably waterproof, but I do have a minor quibble about getting it wet. Water stays in between the cylinder and the light housing - there's a small gap between the two, leading up to where the cylinder fuses into the housing. It's not a big deal, but I don't like crevices that retain water - they get icky and attract mildew. So I always shake out the water as best I can. No mildew so far, but anybody who cleans bathrooms on a regular basis knows what my fears are.

The included lanyard has proven handy for hanging the wand from loops inside my tents. It's also proven handy for hanging and attaching other item - in a pinch I used it to attach a stuff sack to my pack when I was absolutely jammed to capacity but still needed just a few more things. I've never used it to attach the wand to my wrist, as that has never seemed necessary. The metal clip that came with the light has had no use at all. It seems pointless.

the L.E.D. Wand is holding up very well, however. It's been dropped and stepped on, knocked around in the car, on the ground, and in a bathtub (for fun, run a bubble bath in the dark and then drop in the lit L.E.D. wand - disco bath!). It doesn't seem to have sustained any real damage and is still working just as well as when I received it.

Conclusions So Far: Useful if you are in need of a beacon. Seems truly waterproof. Not much use as a flashlight. A passable tent light, but not good for reading or for any kind of detailed work one might need to do in the tent at night. Durable and able to take some hard knocks without suffering any apparent damage. Really neat for kids; I plan to buy some as Christmas presents this year.

Thanks to Nite Ize and Backpackgeartest.org for the chance to test this cool wand.

Read more reviews of Nite Ize gear
Read more gear reviews by Colleen Porter

Reviews > Lighting > Flashlights - LED > Nite Ize L.E.D. Wand > Colleen Porter > Field Report

All material on this site is the exclusive property of BackpackGearTest.org.
BackpackGearTest software copyright David Anderson