Reviews > Lighting > Flashlights - LED > Nite Ize L.E.D. Wand > John Waters > Long Term Report

September 26, 2006

Contents:
Biographical Information
Product Information
Field Conditions/Completed Test Results
Summary

Tester's Biographical Information

Name: John R. Waters
Age: 57
Gender: Male
Height: 5 ft 9 in (1.7 m)
Weight: 178 lb (81 kg)
Email Address: exec at bysky dot com
City, State, Country: White Lake, Michigan USA

Backpacking Background

My backpacking began in 1999. I've hiked rainforests in Hawaii, Costa Rica, and Puerto Rico, on glaciers in New Zealand and Iceland, 14ers in Colorado and Death Valley's deserts. I hike or snowshoe 6-8 miles (10 km-13 km) 2-3 times weekly in Pontiac Lake Recreation Area, with other day-long hikes on various SE Michigan trails. I also hike in Colorado and am relocating there, which will increase my hiking time and trail variety tremendously.

My daypack is 18 lb (8 kg); overnights' weigh over 25 lb (11 kg). I'm aiming to reduce my weight load by 40% or more.

Product Information (from Manufacturer website) http://www.niteize.com Manufacturer: Nite Ize, Inc. Style: L.E.D. Wand Colors: Clear Weight: Not available on website MSRP: $15.00 USD Transforms the Inova® Microlight™ flashlight into a versatile Signal Marker / Spot Beam / Beacon. Features: For an in depth description of the Nite Ize L.E.D. Wand, please refer to my Initial Report.

Color: Clear w/green and blue Inova Microlights
Length: 7.75 in (19.68 cm)
Weight without Microlight: 3.50 oz (99 g)
Weight with Microlight: 3.75 oz (106 g)

Field Conditions/Completed Test Results

These tests were done in Colorado at 5600 ft (1707 m) above sea level in pitch blackness. There are no lights around anywhere that can be seen in any direction.

One person stayed at the campsite and the other was positioned about 1/4 mi (.40 km) away.

During my previous tests, the question still lingering in my mind was "What does this wand product want to be and why would I buy one?"

I still don't have a firm answer.

As can be seen from these tests, the light is not as bright as the microlite all by itself. In fact, I was quite surprised how bright that little L.E.D. device is! When we tested the microlite outside of the wand I walked an additional 1/4 mi (.40 km), so I was 1/2 of a mile (.8 km) away and could still see the strobe when it was outside the wand. The only reason I didn't go farther was because I was going around a bend. My guess is that I could have easily gone another 1/4 mi (.40 km) or more. However, the same unit inside the wand is about 50% less bright and was barely visible at 1/4 mi (.40 km). So why would I want to add it to the microlite if it makes it less bright?

We were able to test both colors and all modes. Here are the results:

At a distance, blue is brighter than green. Probably because it's closer to white.

Setting the Nite Ize Wand vertically made for a light that was barely visible at 1/4 mi (.40 km). Although it can be seen, especially if there are NO other lights, I don't see the reason for using this mode if I wanted to be found. The wand barely lights up the area around a tent and would not be adequate for working or cooking if used on a table. As a marker to mark a trail, it may be adequate, but then you would have to leave it in strobe mode or in low-level mode because in high level mode it turns off in 4 minutes. Thus, I can still not sure when to use this unit and for what.

Pointing the end of the wand (the polished end) at the person 1/4 mi (.40 km) away created a visible light, but again it was about half as bright as the micro-L.E.D. all by itself. So what's the use of the this device?

I've tried using the Nite Ize Wand hiking, around the house and at work and I have not found this device to be meaningful to me. If the high-level light would stay on longer than 4 minutes, perhaps it would be used as an electric light-stick, but having to open it every 4 minutes to turn it back on is difficult and the light in low beam is not bright enough to be useful.

Some pictures of our very unscientific testing, I'm not an expert photographer and this is a digital camera that can go up to an 8 second time delay that I had set on 4 seconds. Check out first picture to get a feel for the real view at 1/4 mi (.40 km) then use the other images to get a feel for the relative brightness difference. After I did these pictures, I decided that the next time I have to test a unit like this, I'll concentrate more on the actual image rather than trying to do a relative brightness test, however these should be adequate to display the output from the units.

This shows the actual view back to the test location with the blue light from the end of the wand. It's barely visible as a dot in the blackness and if there were any ambient light around it, would probably not be visible at all. The rest of the tests were done in an attempt to get RELATIVE brightness between the different settings, so the pictures were taken with 4 second time exposures, which is why they appear brighter. In retrospect, I should have done all the tests using photo settings like this first one, but the others still give information about the unit's brightness.

	The blue L.E.D. in the Nite Ize Wand in vertical position.
	The blue L.E.D. in the Nite Ize Wand pointed with the polished end to the camera.
	The blue L.E.D. in the Nite Ize Wand in strobe mode with the polished end pointed to the camera.
	The blue mini-L.E.D. OUTSIDE of the Nite Ize Wand.
	Looking at the green L.E.D. in the Nite Ize Wand with the polished end to camera.
	Looking at the green L.E.D. in the Nite Ize Wand vertically
	Looking at the green strobe L.E.D. inside the Nite Ize Wand with the polished end to camera.

WEATHER CHART FOR RECENT CAÑON CITY TRIP

Summary

The Nite Ize L.E.D. Wand is a sturdy piece of gear that has held up to testing for these past months. There has been no failure or damage to the outside, threads or inside of the Wand. I have not had any scratches from normal usage. At no time did the Wands leak. Both Nite Ize L.E.D. Wands are in good shape. The concept appears to be a good one - amplifying an L.E.D. microlite, however, I just haven't found the Nite Ize L.E.D. Wands to be a valuable tool for my needs at this time.

Thank you to BGT and Nite Ize, Inc. for the opportunity to test this product!

John R. Waters

Reviews > Lighting > Flashlights - LED > Nite Ize L.E.D. Wand > John Waters > Long Term Report