Les, have a look on the Fenix web site, some very well made LED torches, much better than the cheaper ebay jobs by far.

The Fenix TK11 is a spectacular torch for its size. Fits in a trouser or boiler suit pocket easily and by far betters cheaper but bigger torches.

Would second that, I have one courtesy of Vanoord, brilliant little torch.

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I don't know the Fenix ones, I can only comment that the Wolf ones seem to be pretty much universal among industrial users. More messing about with the Wolf ones on board last night enabled me to pick out a channel buoy at a range of 130m.

The door mounted spot on my old Hilux was great, I kept it for a long time. It was one of those ones on a swivel, with a handle on the back; I always had the truck because I was carting my survey gear plus a zip-up scaffold tower for actually marking the bolt locations ( this being in the days before you needed to have a degree in scaffolding-with-modern-arts to hang a gate )

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Hi Les,

sounds similar to the problem I used to have in the salt mines.

Fenix is a good choice. But I'd probably go for the TK40 or TK45 just because there medium setting matches more or less the high output of the smaller lamps and you can use them longer on the medium setting (up to three times).

For much more light try the Wolf Eyes Storm-series (Super Storm II).

The big Fenix and the Wolf Eyes might be over your budget but then the Wolf handlamp will most certainly be and it is a bit over the top for your application with no ATEX required.

Have a look at the Fenix option. H&H might still have some.
We started with a PD30 at a saltmine and it worked great just for inspection of the roof (9 metres).
I still use one of them to illuminate levelling rods over a 30 meter distance at another mine today, but have now moved to TK40 and Super Storm II for general lighting of large roadways.

Has anyone seen that Lidl have got 4W torches coming in, see the link below, what do people reckon for £16.99?
Spec:
4w cree xr e led 150 lumens

If the link doesnt work its on the lidl website under 'for the road from thursday'

http://www.lidl.co.uk:80/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_uk/hs.xsl/index_14684.htm 

Not bad output in real-world terms, but it's going to be a bit heavy given it runs off 3 C cells.

Without wishing to plug something I sell too often, there are Fenixes which run off a couple of AAs and give more output, with the fact they're compact being a big plus.

The new LD40, incidentally, runs off 4 AAs and promises over 3 hours of runtime at 248 lumens. I hope to get one in my paws by the end of the week, so I'll post up a review sometime.

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I think Vanoord has definitely taken on the title of the Arthur Daley of the underground :lol: barely a thread goes past without him trying to sell something :lol: :lol:

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Thanks for the input gents.

Michael, I like the look of the Fenix TK40. Maybe I can justify some of those.
Sadly the Super Storms would be just too expensive.
Weight is not a big issue as the torches are carried by Land Rover most of the time.

Any special offers on TK40's anyone?

I can probably manage something - I'l drop you a PM in the morning :)

The TK40 is a good bit of kit: runs happily off rechargeable AA batteries (actually I'd strongly advise them), decent throw even if it's at the expense of a bit of spill.

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It must be reasonably hand portable with maybe a sling or belt clip used for longer carrying journeys. Nothing that requires a wheel barrow etc.
Doesn't have to be water proof but reasonably rugged for a mining environment (no gas problems).

I agree with the Fenix TK11 recommendations, but unless you use the lanyard all the time it can get easily lost.

For a working environment have a look at the Nightsearcher hand lamps, it's what they're made for. Panther is 1200 lumens and I've failed to break one despite dragging it through, under and over all sorts. Can be recharged in car.