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Stages of Development:

Here begins the story... well, on Facebook at least. the actual story begins about four years ago.  There were a few things niggling at my brain.   One was the question, "what happens if something happens to me out here on the mountain and I can't raise the alarm and call for help?" another was in this day and age, with high powered LEDs, there is no need to be restricted to indulging in mountain pursuits during daylight hours.  I want a head mounted torch that will cover all my mountain interests and tell the appropriate people if I have got into difficulty and I can raise the alarm.  I have been hellbent on realizing the Adventure 1200© ever since I embrked on making a prototype.  These pictures are of the initial development stages.  I thought you might like to watch the post-unfold and tell the story of how I will hopefully get this product to market as it actually happens, the ups and the downs and life generally getting in the road. 

Got to go and have supper at my mums now. I will be back soon to tell you more about the story and let it unfold before your very eyes.

By for now,

Derek and Mountain Pursuits.

Hello again,

After coming up with the concept for the Adventurer 1200© I got myself a high-powered torch that I reckoned I could properly turn into a prototype. I thought I could at least check out the ergonomics of the device. I got on my lathe and made an end cap for the powerpack and the connector that would screw into the back of the lamp. I now had a power pack that I could attach to the strap of my rucksack. I figured out the wiring so that I could put a 1m cable between the powerpack and the lamp that would still really the functional signals as well as supply power.

Wednesday night was upon me and an ideal opportunity to start testing out my prototype. I stuck my powerpack to the shoulder strap of my hydration pack and taped the lamp to my full face helmet and headed for Glentress and the Scottish Borders for an evening of mountain biking.

It was pitch black when I got there, just perfect for testing. With 630lm streaming from the top of my head the single Cree® LED was lighting up the woods turning night into day. With the lamp mounted on my head the beam was rocksteady. On my first descent over the jumps across routes, any ordinary, bar mounted lamp, would be bouncing its beam all over the place. It is like looking into a stroboscope; very unpleasant on the eye. Also, when the lamp is on your handlebars the beam is never pointing where a rider wants to go or want to look. With my lamp on my helmet whenever I turned my head to look, whenever I looked was bathed in bright white light and the light was steady as a rock.

As winter gave way to spring I began testing my lamp at dusk. At this time, there is plenty of light to write by that is, until you plunge into the woods. The result was that little bit of time between your eyes adjusting from the light outside the woods to the darkness inside the woods. I found my lamp was sufficiently powerful enough that the light from the lamp is equal intensity to the light outside the woods. In short, my eyes did not have to adjust as I plunged into the darkness of the wood.

With the controls mounted on the strap of my hydration pack, I found that even as I was bouncing down through spooky wood I was easily able to use the lamps controls to adjust its mode and intensity. What a fantastic advantage when you're riding at dusk. Before a rider plunges into the dark of the wood, the light is perfectly adequate for riding in. It is so good to be able to easily reach for your lamps control and turn the lamp on just before plunging into the darkness.

Running on eight AA Nimh rechargeable batteries I was easily achieving a good 2 1/4 hours of runtime at 630lm. That's plenty of time to get a good grade in. For the more adventurous among us, it is really easy to increase the right time by simply carrying another eight AA batteries.

Once again, got to go.

I'll post again soon,

stay safe till then,

Derek.

So that you can give me feedback based on an informed opinion, can I suggest that you familiarize yourself with what is on offer and price before filling in the form of your choice,

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