Used it yesterday on a 7 hour trip and very pleased with it.
The beam is the best I've seen from an LED lamp and is on a par a 6watt halogen Oldham, light output is better than a Nova but much better focussed.
Spill beam is good with your feet been well enough illuminated, you have a reasonably wide beam with a tight centre spot, all round very good light out put.
Pilot beam is not fantastic but you can walk with it, I guess with a designed duration of 500 hours on pilot its not gonna be bright!
The only reservation I had with the lamp is at one point it suffered a little with condensation on the reflector, not a big deal and I suspect it may have been simply because its the 1st time the lamp has been on any length of time and upto working temperature. I will monitor it and see if it occurs again.
The metal casing of the lamp gets warm (not hot) so presumably is acting as the heat sink for the LED
Other lamps compared with yesterday where, Nova, Duo, Oldham GT, Myo, Nife and another Oldham conversion using two 3watt LED's (will look up its name), the onlyone with similar performance was the Oldham conversion thing.
It is only a single 3watt Luxeon but doesn't suffer from lack of light. Will be interesting to directly compare it to the FX5, Stenlight and the Scurion, I suspect one or the other will put out a bit more light but not decively!
Perhaps most importantly of all, its tough, certainly as tough as a traditional Oldham which puts a step ahead of anything else on the market.
Combination of battery endurance, light output and ruggedness, its top of the game. Best underground lamp I've seen to date. Some P4 emitters may be more powerful but thats only a 3rd of the game. Battery endurance and toughness need to be figured in.

I'm told a full DL-16 LED and lithium ion battery setup is on it's way to me by way of a three week demo loan 🙂

Should have it well in time for the Cwmorthin working weekend.

Should have something else to play with as well 🙂

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Excellent news!
May have try and figure out how I can justify the expense of buying the LithiumIon setup......

I was underground a month or so ago with Roy Fellows who was using an led conversion kit inside an Oldham Headshell. I have to admit, the light output was good but my one complaint, which i'm sure a lot of users are not too aware of, is the side scatter. the light on the periphery is just as dazzling as the light straught out the front., whereas with a halogen there is a sharply focused beam of intense light a few degrees wide and the scatter from the sides doesn't dazzle any one facing it. I am keen to know what others have to say about this 'drawback' in seemingly the best development in lighting since the halogen bulb.
Just another thought; what colour do they present to slide film? Roy.M

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I was underground a month or so ago with Roy Fellows who was using an led conversion kit inside an Oldham Headshell. I have to admit, the light output was good but my one complaint, which i'm sure a lot of users are not too aware of, is the side scatter. the light on the periphery is just as dazzling as the light straught out the front., whereas with a halogen there is a sharply focused beam of intense light a few degrees wide and the scatter from the sides doesn't dazzle any one facing it. I am keen to know what others have to say about this 'drawback' in seemingly the best development in lighting since the halogen bulb.
Just another thought; what colour do they present to slide film? Roy.M

Less of an issue with he Oldham factory LED unit I think, the beam is much more tightly controlled much like the halogen. It does have a far better spill beam than the halogen but not to the extent of dazzling people next to you I dont think.
I did notice that I had to switch to pilot when sat close to or talking to people as its far to east to blind them by looking at them!

I noted the 'active' angle to be greater than 45 degrees each side of the lamp. Had that been a halogen set you could shine the beam within inches of someones ear without them losing sight of the floor in front of them. My encounter was when I was negotiating a narrow plank ten feet above a drive. The Petzl types are even worse!
God! I sound like a grumpy old man! Eeeeee! When I was a lad..........

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The demo DL16 unit has arrived :)

Look forward to giving it a proper testing.

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The demo DL16 unit has arrived :)

Look forward to giving it a proper testing.

Well? Do tell man! Whats your opinion?
Actually scrub that question because I'm not worried wether you like it, I've already make my mind up :lol: what I'm really interested in is are we going to have a retail supplier of them?
Looking to buy a L16 battery after Christmas and probably a charger (unless I can make one) if Oldham are prepared to sell them through you at a sensible price.
I've used mine enough now to be sure that I'm happy with it and its the dogs danglies.
I know you micro lamp types are happy with your Stens/Scurions but they dont float my boat, the DL16 ticks all the boxes, its light enough, its certainly tough enough (although I have yet to chuck it in the bath overnight) and its light output is more than sufficient.
It has survived my customary battering without a scratch and even though it runs a single 3watt Luxeon its bright enough for the job.
A 16amp hour battery puts it way out in front of anything else on the market.
Another point to ponder is the battery, the L16 Lithium Ion battery is drop tested and certified intrinsically safe, all other Lithium Ion batteries carry warnings about being suseptable to damage etc, this one is certified droppable etc.

Don't forget the Retro2, its cheapest solution on the market for any owner of a good standard Oldham, and possibly biggest light output at 200 lumens

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Well? Do tell man! Whats your opinion?

We're still pondering whether to stock them (would be in low numbers) given the number of people who are going from belt mounted batteries to Stens/Scurions etc.

I've used the DL16 a bit underground, and I like it's ruggedness, and I am impressed with it's spot beam (which is like nothing else I've ever seen). However there's a few things that I'm not totally convinced with:

- The first example we had didn't charge, in their defence though they swapped it immediately

- Spill beam isn't as good, IMO, as my Sten with reflectors fitted

- Still not convinced with having .75Kg of battery hanging off my belt, quite appreciate I can drop it, and it's certified and all that, but it's still quite a lump

-Lack of hinging on the lamp itself, I love this feature of the Sten, just angle it to where you want it to shine, compensates for different styles of helmets. With the DL16 I found whilst scrambling in narrow awkward or steep passageways where your head wasn't necessarily pointing in the exact direction of travel that the light wasn't where I wanted it. With the Sten (or any other hinging blade mount lamp) I just change the angle and job done.

Just my own personal observations. I'm not disputing the lamp's pedigree, or unquestionable ruggedness, nor the fact it's certified not to blow up, but I prefer my lightweight helmet mounted battery setup.

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Spill beam is a trade of, you get the spot instead.

Battery weight? Wear one a while and you dont notice, thats with the 2.2kg lead acid, the L16 would be akin to having one made of helium, every ounce of that weight gives you more capacity, a matter of taste I suppose, I happily trade the weight for the massive capacity bonus (a/h per 100grams is about the same across all the LithIon batteries)

Hinge? Hinge?.....
Thats why you were built with a flexible neck, when god created the Oldham Lamp he undrstood this and therefor didn't bother with a hinge thingy :lol:

I've got my mits on a BiSun conversion for the Oldham, I am seriously considering the benefits of running the DL16 alongide another headset with the BiSun or Retro2 off the same battery. More than enough battery capacity and a serious amount of light, one headlight running a tight beam and the other a broader spread similar to the Sten.

If you end up selling the Oldham I would think you will have a steady trickle of buyers, its the dogs bollox for us tradionalists who prefer a bigger capacity battery 😉

Just been looking or trying to look at the BiSun conversion kit, you mentioned that you had one, any chance of a pic of it in the flesh? There is no picture of it on the website????

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Just been looking or trying to look at the BiSun conversion kit, you mentioned that you had one, any chance of a pic of it in the flesh? There is no picture of it on the website????

Yeh but give me a day or so, I still haven't found the charger for the camera battery since moving house 😞
The guy who makes them has sent me one to try for a little while and do direct comparisons with the DL16.
Planning on trying to put a Retro2, Scurion, P4 Stenlight, DL16 etc up for direct side by side comparison.
We often see the lates tlamp compared to one of its competitors but as yet nobody has put them all side by side at the same time in identical conditions and recorded the results.

Just been looking or trying to look at the BiSun conversion kit, you mentioned that you had one, any chance of a pic of it in the flesh? There is no picture of it on the website????

Yeh but give me a day or so, I still haven't found the charger for the camera battery since moving house 😞
The guy who makes them has sent me one to try for a little while and do direct comparisons with the DL16.
Planning on trying to put a Retro2, Scurion, P4 Stenlight, DL16 etc up for direct side by side comparison.
We often see the lates tlamp compared to one of its competitors but as yet nobody has put them all side by side at the same time in identical conditions and recorded the results.

Great, thanks. It would be very interesting to see all of them compared. On my last trip to Nent we had a Chinese mining light with a 1W 75lm side emitting LED and reflector - the beam was excellent and I would imagine that it would be around the same as the Oldham, however most of our group preferred a wider flood (horses for courses). What version of Retro2 do you have as the older ones give out 90lm and the new ones with P4's are 200lm full power, bear that in mind.

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Just been looking or trying to look at the BiSun conversion kit, you mentioned that you had one, any chance of a pic of it in the flesh? There is no picture of it on the website????

Yeh but give me a day or so, I still haven't found the charger for the camera battery since moving house 😞
The guy who makes them has sent me one to try for a little while and do direct comparisons with the DL16.
Planning on trying to put a Retro2, Scurion, P4 Stenlight, DL16 etc up for direct side by side comparison.
We often see the lates tlamp compared to one of its competitors but as yet nobody has put them all side by side at the same time in identical conditions and recorded the results.

Great, thanks. It would be very interesting to see all of them compared. On my last trip to Nent we had a Chinese mining light with a 1W 75lm side emitting LED and reflector - the beam was excellent and I would imagine that it would be around the same as the Oldham, however most of our group preferred a wider flood (horses for courses). What version of Retro2 do you have as the older ones give out 90lm and the new ones with P4's are 200lm full power, bear that in mind.

Err the plan might fall down a little with regard to the Retro yet, the bloke who has one (never version) has decided to part with it in favour of a 2nd Stenlight so I will have to find somebody else with one before mid January 😉
Hardest part of the idea is getting the different lamps and people in the same place at the same time. Will get there in the end though, He has his on Ebay and if funds permit I may buy it to try out

I will be at Cwmorthin next timbering meet with my Retro2, its latest with twin P4s and I did a write up on my www.mineexplorer.com

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I will be at Cwmorthin next timbering meet with my Retro2, its latest with twin P4s and I did a write up on my www.mineexplorer.com

Cool, jobs a good one then, thanks Roy
Chain of thought is to use the big chamber just down theincline as a test base, that way when a new lamp comes along ot can be tested in exactly the same place/conditions.
Will be curious to see how the Retro and the BiSun compare, they bosth use two P4's in the same headset but with a different approach (the BiSun using half a reflector type arrangement)

Actually, I have been looking at my retro and wondering if I could get a sort of reflector surround into to capture a bit more light in the right direction. It was only a thought, I mean if something works why try to fix it.
Its good enough as it is.
They burn for ever on full power if connected to a T6!

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Having had to use an Oldham last weekend, i have to say it made my Duo look stupid (can almost hear Jagman laughing...). In the lamp room were some Italian looking LED Oldham style lamps and by all accounts they were crap. There was a big pile of 7 or 8 waiting to go back coz after 2 months they had packed up, the switchs had fallen off I'm seriously considering getting an Oldham LED next year. Just got to find out how to make my charger do Li-ion and woosh the cheque will be in the post.

DP

May have some news about direct availability of these in the near future (a few factors dependant)...

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