Olight have just released their new Gober 2 Safety Light. Because you may not be sure exactly what this light is I am going to start off with a use case for this light that shows how it could be potentially lifesaving, and then we will get into more of the details and some other possibilities.
Here is the light:
Figure 1: Gober 2.
I really needed something like this a couple of years ago. I like to go hiking on occasion. There are many great tracks in South East Queensland, we are blessed with fantastic options. I was hiking with a friend on a section of the one of the Great Trails in land from the Sunshine Coast. The camping ground we were walking towards was one I had been to before this hike, but it had been many years since I had done that walk, and so I was not very familiar with the tracks we were on. We had a GPS, plenty of water and food, and we were both relatively experienced bushmen, so we knew that even if we could not find the right track to the camp ground from the roadside where we parked, we could still walk out the next morning and go to another camp.
The mistake we made, though, was walking for far longer than we had intended. The hike we were planning to do was only a few kilometres, as far as I could remember from when I was much younger, but as I said I had not been in this section of the forest for years, so we decided to stick with the fire trail we were walking on until we could hear the waterfall that was near the camp, and then we hoped we would find the right turn off to the campsite. But we did not find it. And we kept walking until it was too dark to keep hiking. We were sure we would find the turn off before that happened, but we did not.
Neither of us were injured, we had plenty of food and water, though our water was running low, as we had intended to fill our water bottles at the campsite which was next to a waterfall and river. But we did not find the right campsite. What was worse, the only place we could find to camp was on the fire trail we were hiking on. We were not worried about getting lost or anything, because we could easily backtrack our walk back to the car. But the trails we were on are well known to be used by 4wders, and we could even hear some vehicles in the distance. So, we needed to make sure that we could camp safely through the night.
We could not light a fire, as it was not allowed in this part of the forest. But we needed to put up visible lights so that any vehicles that possibly drove through would see them before they saw our camp. So, we tied some of our rope between two trees, on both sides of the campsite (the road was pretty narrow) and I had a cheap AAA battery lamp that I put on one side, and my friend put his headlight on the other side. We knew their batteries would not last the night, but it was all we could do. We put them up and prayed it would be enough if a car came along to alert the driver before they got to our tents.
What I really needed in this situation was one of these Gober 2 Safety Lights. It would have been perfect for the job. This light can last for 450 minutes on constant light - red, blue green or white - that is 7.5 hours. And on RBG (red, green, blue) chase mode it can last 730 minutes, which is just over 12 hours. On alert mode it will last for 910 minutes or 15 hours. This would have been perfect for the exact situation I was in. We could have used this light as our safety lights to show we were camping there.
The light comes apart, and you clip each side on in different ways:
Figure 2: Gober 2 separated and connected to different clips.
Figure 3: Same as last picture but from different angle.
Figure 4: The Gober 2 completely separated so you can see all these parts.
All we would have needed to do was turn and pull the light apart, attach one side to the Backpack Clip that comes in the package and we would have had the perfect safety light for our camp set up on this narrow bush road. We could have put the light on alert mode or RGB chase mode and we could have confidently slept knowing that it would last all night and still be going when we woke up in the morning. As I said this light could be potentially lifesaving. As it was, we were ok, we were pretty deep in the forest. But we also slept light that night, because we did not want to be sleeping where we were, but the underbrush was so thick we had no choice in the matter.
This is not the only way you could use this light, it has plenty of practical applications. You could put it on the back of your bladder pack while cycling at night:
Figure 5: The Gober 2 on my hydration pack straps.
You can even put it on the bike itself so that you have a clear light showing from the side:
Figure 6: The Gober 2 on the side of my bike to create a side light.
In fact, when I am not out bush, or doing something like this, that is where I will use this Gober 2 the most, because it does give your side profile more visibility to oncoming cars. You can never be too lit up when cycling in Australia after dusk.
You could also put in on your dog while out camping or walking, so that if they get away from you, they would be easier to spot. Or if your kids walk home from school in the dark put one of these on their bag so that they are lit up on the path and more visible to drivers. There are many ways you could use this light, but I keep coming back to the hiking trip with my mate that went wrong, we could have really used one of these. It would not have been a burden to carry on the trip either, as it only weighs 47 grams by itself.
The specs are pretty good on this thing too. It is not designed to light up your camp site, there are other great Olights for that job, like the Prowess or the Perun 3, or a host of other options. But as noted you have an incredibly long battery life. 910 minutes is the battery life of each light, so you actually have double that if you want; 1820 minutes or 30 hours of light combined. In an emergency that is very handy. If you broke your ankle and were stuck waiting to be rescued you could put this light on at night and that would help the rescuers find you a lot quicker. I also know the battery lasts as long they say because I left it on from full charge to empty on flash mode to test it and it lasted the noted length of time, which was 670 minutes for this setting, or just over 11 hours.
The light is also IP55 waterproof. It has a maximum lumen count of 4 lumens and a minimum count of 1. As I said, it is designed for emergency light visibility not lighting up your campsite. This low lumen count allows for long use and also makes this Gober 2 very light.
This is what you get in the box:
Figure 7: What is in the box?
You get the light, as I noted, a charging cable, the backpack clip, and the instruction manual. You might also notice that there is a tiny screwdriver there. What is that for you ask? Well, you can take the centre of the Gober 2 apart and fit inside it an Air Tag. Which opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. Say you have the Air Tag in there and you put this on your dog’s collar. If the dog runs off, you can track it using the Apple Find My app. This little device keeps getting better. You could also leave it in your car as a bit of extra security if you have to park in a rough neighbourhood. Or for a host of other uses.
And just one extra little bonus. This light will charge when connected to a portable charger.
Figure 8: The Gober 2 charging on my portable charger, next to my Warrior Ultra.
This might not seem like a big deal to some people. But I find it really annoying when I try to charge something on my portable charger and after a few minutes the charger shuts off, because the device is not designed to work properly with this charging method. Well, with the Gober 2 that is not an issue. Just plug it in with the provided cable or another compatible and high-quality cable and it will charge. And I know this is the case because I did it.
I highly recommend this Gober 2 Safety Light. Whether you use it out in the bush, leave it in your car for emergencies, or attach it to your bike or backpack on a regular basis, either way whatever your context you will find a good use for this thing. Pick it up when you can.
