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I've developed a liking for headlamps in recent years, except I always seem to buy whatever junk I can find on store shelves when I realize at the last minute that oh yeah the one I used last time died and now I'm up against the clock. I'm wondering what anybody is using that is wallet friendly (when multiplied by 4 to set up the whole family) reliable, durable, waterproof. I got frustrated looking online, there are just gazillions of them out there.
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I picked up a Black Diamond Storm last year and love it. Bright as bright can be & waterproof. Good price for what it does, but x4 makes it $232 - plus batteries.. yikes.
The headlamp is only as good as the batteries you put in it. It's best to go quality here, but again the x4 thing makes it fairly expensive.
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Peek wrote:
I picked up a Black Diamond Storm last year and love it. Bright as bright can be & waterproof.
Also have the storm. Has served me well for a few years now.
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I'm not really sure why we need 1 billion lumens. I do have a Phoenix light that casts a beam about 10 miles, but I almost never use it. Instead, more often than not, I use a Petzel e+ Lite. The new version is 50 Lumens. It is 1/5th the weight of my Black Diamond Spot and it's cheap. I don't bring spare batteries. I bring a spare headlamp! The whole thing weighs as much as 1 AA battery. While it is tiny it casts more than enough light for any purpose I've come across.
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BD & Petzl are both market leaders and excellent choices but there are a lot of less expensive ones that are dependable. I have one by Nova that I bought 5 years or so ago at Canadian Tire for $10 that is great.
My "must haves" when shopping for headlamps is a low intensity light setting and a tilt capability. Good features if you like to read. A red light mode feature is handy at times, too, but not a deal-breaker for me.
For someone looking for an inexpensive option, check out Home Depot. I went in there a couple of years ago to buy some batteries and ended up with a set of 6 maglites, 6 headlamps (with all 3 features mentioned above) and a shite-load of batteries for something ridiculous like $19. One maglight needs a shake once in a while and one headlamp had a faulty red light but otherwise they have been dependable. Good option with kids.
Last edited by Algonquintripper (6/06/2017 12:53 am)
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Not sure if they are still around (haven't looked) but I bought a Rayovac headlamp at CT back in 2005 for $19, takes 3 triple A's. It's still going strong.
Has 3 settings. LED, red Led and normal bulb.
Last edited by ChrisMcD (4/29/2017 1:00 pm)
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Thanks so much to all. I had looked at the Black Diamond Storm, and it seems there's no question it is a great lamp, but for sure at $40x4 that could get unpleasant fast.
I had been looking at petzl products as well, and kind of bypassed the Petzel E+lite. That has potential. Still pricey multiplied by 4, but there's some weight and space savings to be had there for sure, and since I'll be the horse on this trip that could be winner winner chicken dinner.
At some point I'll decide what I'm doing with this, and good or bad I'll remember to touch back on this post-trip so I can contribute a little something in terms of information. We're not going until August, but much capital equipment needs to be purchased between now and then.....
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I use them for work and gave up with the recreational models years ago. Unfortunately my current one is on my hardhat at work but I get them from industrial supply stores. Waterproof (side effect of intrinsically safe). It doesn't have tilt or red but that's a good thing in my world. Tilt breaks and I hate having to scroll through red and strobe to get what I want. Mine has high/low/off. $20 in 2013??? it gets used often for 12 hours at a time 21 days in a row. I get 3-5 shifts out of a pair of AAA's on high. Low is fine for walking around a site and not tripping on things, I only really use high in full dark (mines) or high contrast areas, ie looking into a dark place from a well lit area. Used on low it lasts too long to really notice when I change the batts sorry.
Energizer comes to mind but... gah... Of all the things I've lost I miss my mind the most.
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2 things always bugged me about my previous BD Spot headlamp. The first was it would always somehow get turned on in my pack. It had no disable feature to prevent this. And second was not knowing how full the batteries were that were in it and having to carry extra batteries.
I switched over to a BD Revolt last year. It has rechargeable batteries so I know it is always full before I leave on a trip. I always have a battery bank with me for my GoPro and other items. ( I've never had to use it to recharge the headlamp though. ) If you don't carry a battery bank it will take regular AAAs as well. It also has a power meter that indicates the amount of life left.
Most important to me is the on/off lock feature, so no more coming on in my pack. ( maybe they added that feature to the newer Spot version too. Not sure. )
Last edited by ShawnD (6/06/2017 10:30 am)
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For anyone with kids (or a thing for chocolate) the XL size kinder eggs have a plastic case inside that is PERFECT for holding a standard size (3x AAA) headlamp, crush resistant, light, pretty waterproof, and most importantly, guarantees your switch won't get bumped on inside your pack!
Petzl Tikka goes in great!
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For anyone with kids (or a thing for chocolate) the XL size kinder eggs have a plastic case inside that is PERFECT for holding a standard size (3x AAA) headlamp, crush resistant, light, pretty waterproof, and most importantly, guarantees your switch won't get bumped on inside your pack!
Petzl Tikka goes in great!
Oooooo a reason for Kinder eggs.. :-)
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