I really am an idiot sometimes. Seriously. I can’t deny it. The facts speak for themselves.
This Egg headlamp from Ring Cyba-lite arrived in the post a couple of weeks ago for review. I’d already spoken to Ring about it and, in fact, published a press release from them, which you can see by CLICKING HERE.
So, why am I an idiot (this time)? Well, when the Egg Headlamp arrived, I quickly opened it, put the batteries that came with it in, pressed the button and….NOTHING. Impatient person that I am, I put it to one side and vowed to put some new batteries in at some point. The ones supplied were Duracell, so it was odd that they didn’t work, but hey-ho…
Two-weeks later, I put some brand new batteries in. Same thing. THEN the penny dropped and I remembered one of the key selling features of this particular headlamp; it has a power-saving mode, which means that it can’t be turned on accidentally in your bag or pocket. All I had to do was hold the button in for three-seconds and it worked perfectly. I told you I was an idiot!
So, on to the review…
I suppose I should cover the ‘anti switching on’ feature first, as I am now such an expert on the matter. Basically, if you use the headlamp normally, you just press the button on the side to switch it on and off. However, if you are going to store it (i.e. when packing up), then you can turn it off normally and then, by holding the button for three seconds, it flashes at you and enters this ‘safety mode’. To turn it back on, you simply hold the button in again for three seconds. A simple process that stops a little bump in your bag from draining your batteries, something that most of us have probably experienced at least once!
The torch itself has four modes: low beam, high beam, red light and flashing red light. To get to the one you want, you simply press the button the appropriate number of times. Thankfully, once in the chosen mode for a couple of seconds, you just press the button again to switch it off. A lot of these cheap headlamps about require you to scroll through ever option available on them before they switch off, which can be irritating, to say the least.
The main beam mode is stated as 85 lumens, which is pretty bright. To be honest, although that sort of brightness may be good on a beach, the low beam (10 lumens) option is probably more than adequate for most inland fishing. Of course, you also get longer batter life in that mode – 120 hours of continuous use, in fact. That’s a long time!
The red mode is also handy, as it doesn’t mess up your night vision and it will avoid all the other anglers on a lake cursing you! I would have thought that most anglers would be using it in red mode most of the time.
The head tilts 90-degrees and feels ‘solid’, so once aimed, it will stay where you want it. It is also water resistant, meaning that use of it in the rain should pose no problem.
One thing I do like is that you can remove the lamp itself from the headband very simply. I use my headlamps for all sorts of things and there are times, such as when I’m trying to look at something on a running car engine, when I don’t necessarily want it on my head, or a strap in the way.
All in all, this is a very good little headlamp. It’s compact, works well and the anti-battery drain feature appeals to me a lot. Light is important; not only does it make life easier, but it can be vital to your safety. You need a headlamp that works. At £19.99, the Egg headlamp from Ring Cyba-lite is a pretty sound buy.
Elton Murphy, April 2013
