Phaethon is a high-performance headlamp designed for caving and cave diving. It was engineered and manufactured by Elias Kazais and Komninos Boutaras, close friends and long-time co-cavers with whom I explored several of Greece’s major caves, including Gourgouthakas, Tafkura and Lion Cave in Crete.
Elias had produced early prototypes when I joined the effort, contributing modern 3D design to refine and finalise the product. The result was the Phaethon caving lamp as it is sold today. It is regarded as one of the world’s top cave-diving headlamps; in 2016, Xavier Meniscus used it during his world-record dive to –262 m in Font Estramar, France.
