Check It Out!: Lasting Light for Confined Spaces

Special situations often call for specialized tools. Lighting is no exception. EMS, search and rescue, confined-space and wilderness rescue teams often use the types of head lamps commonly worn by mountain climbers. Princeton Tec has added powerful LED technology to its line of head lamps, creating units with low profiles, light unit weight and minimal power needs. The Princeton Tec Corona was recently tested in a few rope rescue and building collapse classes and found to be an excellent choice for a variety of settings.àœ

The Corona is a two-piece lamp, powered by three “AA” batteries, that slides over the top of your helmet with a couple of connecting, adjustable elastic straps. Having the lamp positioned on your forehead and the power pack located on the back of your head gives the Corona excellent balance on your helmet, potentially reducing neck fatigue on long operations.

The eight-LED head lamp with 90″ swivel and integrated heat-sink is the focus of the system. The Corona can operate on eight, five, three or one LED, and low, medium and high power settings. With a maximum range of 93 feet and an eight-LED uninterrupted run time of 30 hours (which is much longer than I would care to run it), the Corona is ready for the long haul. With one LED set on low power, the range is 20à’23 feet, but the run time is increased to an Iron Man-like 70 hours.

All of the settings emit a bright, white light through a feature called a “Focused Wide Beam.” The Corona throws a very bright center spot with a soft edge that fades into a dimmer surrounding light. This lighting pattern illuminates the user’s entire field of vision, allowing use of peripheral vision without eyestrain and therefore reducing fatigue. An integrated power regulation system guarantees that the light will maintain a constant brightness until it’s shut off, so you still have bright light when you need it.

The Corona head-lamp is available in green, blue and black. It retails for about $55.àœà› Michael Porter, AAS, CCEMT-P, Rescue Specialist PEMA US&R Co. 2