BEING able to move around easily and safely in low light or the dark is important to fishos, especially as these times usually mean peak fishing activity.
In the not too distant past, fishos had to make do with clunky handheld torches to provide night vision. Thankfully, the days of juggling a torch in the hand while balancing rods, buckets, packs and the like are largely over, since the advent of the headtorch.
Having hands-free night vision just makes the business of fishing so much easier and head torches have evolved a great deal in recent years.
Compared to the old model I’ve had for 15 plus years or so, which has an old-style incandescent globe and significant weight, the LED Lenser SEO5 headlamp I’ve been using for the last few months is quite a step forward.
At 105 grams this headlamp is roughly half the weight of “old reliable” and has a number of features that make it ideal for fishing use. The SEO5 is a compact unit that is comfortable to wear thanks to its adjustable cloth head strap. Compared to my old headtorch the reduced weight on the noggin is very noticeable after a few hours.
The SEO5’s white LED beam is switched on via the rubberised pushbutton at the top. A push of the switch activates the full beam, which is very bright and more suited to walking to your fishing spot, rather than shining around on the water and the bank. Push the button again quickly after the first beam and the LED dims to a lower setting. I found this fine for moving from spot to spot, landing fish or tying knots. The next position gives a safety oriented strobing effect.
The SEO5 features full focusing control so you can adjust the LED’s beam from a wide area to narrow spot beam. Importantly for fishos, it also has a low light red LED that still allows you to tie knots etc, without shining a bright light over the water and potentially spooking fish.
The unit runs on three AAA alkaline batteries and according to manufacturer spces, will run for seven hours on its high setting and provide a 120m beam range. On the low setting the beam will last for 20 hours.
The SEO5 is water resistant, comes in grey or red and a range of headstrap colours and is backed by a limited five-year warranty. RRP $99.95.
More info: www.zenimports.com.au
