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Call us crazy, but we’re guessing that the Joby you knew last year will look nothing like the Joby that we see this time next year. Once famous for crafting flexible tripods for simple point and shoot cameras, the outfit has branched out quite significantly since. Case in point: the Switchback. Joby’s still relying on its flexible mount expertise by including a tripod with this here lighting instrument, but it’s the device itself that steals the show. The water resistant Switchback is a two-piece product; there’s a headlamp that can be worn around your dome, and it can be shoved into a lantern container for those sit-around-the-campfire moments. The light itself has a central white beam with two power levels, and it’s surrounded by a foursome of Cree LEDs that shine blue or red (and can be toggled with a button press). Joby throws a pair of AA batteries in for good measure, and in our testing, we found it sufficient enough for backyard gatherings and the like. The lantern apparatus has a clip on the bottom in order to affix the aforesaid tripod, but in practice we found it fairly simple to tip over when not wrapped around a tree limb. At any rate, it’s on sale today for $59.95 for those looking to hit the forests in the near future. Joby tempts the argonauts with Switchback headlamp / lantern originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink