While I was attending Cave Capers (a caver reunion in Indiana) last month, I had the opportunity to be introduced to the reflectored version of the StenLight. Jon Burlison showed me the difference between my regular StenLight and a version of the StenLight equipped with a prototype of a reflector.
I was skeptic that I would prefer that over the regular StenLight, with which I was already extremely pleased, but lo and behold, I found that the reflector was a definite improvement. One concern with my current StenLight is that I have to reposition the head piece depending on whether I am crawling or walking in cave. It seems that the new reflector addresses that problem nicely by using more spread, which gives me more up-and-down vision as well as wider peripheral vision. I find that extremely useful for caving, as it is tedious to reposition the head piece, especially with muddy hands or when you are in tight crawlways. I'd rather just keep it in one place most of the time. The wider peripheral vision is also important as it allows you to see more of the cave floor ahead of you, in order to choose where to step next.
I also found Jon's demo of pointing the light into far-away trees quite impressive. The spot light seems more focused and powerful than on my regular StenLight. It will really help me when I am looking for detail high up on the wall or in domes, to check for new cave passage.
In addition, I liked Jon's demonstration of how pure the light is with the reflector: no artifacts in the circle of light at all. I'm pretty convinced that the reflector is what I prefer, and am eagerly awaiting mine. One more improvement to an otherwise fantastic caving light!
Yvonne Droms
