flashlight for long hiking and expeditions

[moozooh]

Neutral light is preferable for headlamps since it helps discerning colors and shapes: cool light tends to significantly wash shadows and dark surfaces out—this ends up in a loss of visual contrast and general shape recognition. It's not a problem indoors where potential obstacles are easy to recognize and avoid, but definitely not something you'd want to give up when climbing, caving, or biking. If you only have one main light source on your trip, you should definitely consider something neutral.

 

[Lone]

Yes, Moozooh. ofcourse you are righ. i forgot about that one.

so it's basically down to either the H51W or the H501W. when considering the Zebralight models.
From what i can tell after looking at the specs on the ZL website the H51W is more powerfull and has twice the output modes than the H501W. at almost the same weight and price.

 

[moozooh]

If I remember correctly, H501 is the older model which at this point is discontinued and out of stock. It's been fully obsoleted by H502 which suits the same purposes but does everything better.

 

[Lone]

I can only see flood models of the H502.
are there spot models aswell?

 

[Ezeriel]

I can only see flood models of the H502.
are there spot models aswell?

Get the xml model with 260 max lumens, and just crank it up if you need to see things at a distance...


A floody light is a good light for walking, so don't fret. The H502 can do 12 lumens for 27 hours, and if there isn't any other light around, that's very usable.

25 lumens for 12 hours is where I'd want to be at... if there is light around your eyes will adjust, and you will need to be in the 50 lumen range.


If you are hiking/camping, the H502 it's about as good as it gets.



and as silly as it sounds, a $1 solar light from walmart could be very useful. I bought a ton of them for my deck.. priceless..
but my store sold out of them too.. so.. easy come easy go i guess.

 

[Lone]

Ezeriel, most people here think that a warm tint light is the best way to go. whereas the 502 is a cool white light.

in which way is it better than the H51W ? except for being much stronger.

 

[MichaelW]

There are 3 versions, so far, of the H502.
The very cool-white xm-l
The slightly cool-white Rebel 5000K
The neutral-white Rebel 4000K
Zebra is trying to source neutral xm-l's to their liking.

I think the extra length of the H51Fw is better for use with the NiteIze headband (if you decide to use something other than Zebra's own band/holder)

 

[Ezeriel]

Ezeriel, most people here think that a warm tint light is the best way to go. whereas the 502 is a cool white light.

in which way is it better than the H51W ? except for being much stronger.

I LOVE warm tints... I really do, and under normal circumstances I would recommend one,
but since you seem really worried about runtimes and batteries, cool whites are better for that.

....and actually as I look, the H502d has daylight tint and only slightly less lumens/runtimes as the XML

The H502 can do 12 Lm (27 hrs)
the H502d can do 10 Lm (27 hrs)
the H51W can do 7 Lm (26 hrs)

so.. there isn't a lot of difference there, and a warmer tint might be worth it to you.

I think the H51w is a fairly focused light as well. The XML is floody as can be.

Hold a focused light on your head, and imagine looking around with it.
Other people prefer focused headlamps, but I think that would drive me insane.


but yeah, we are way into the personal preference zone, so go with your gut, and pick the one you like

 

[yellow]

I thought everything has already been cleared out on page 1 --> the H51w
:thinking:

the 501/502 - for me - all seem to be floody ones without reflector at all ...
... use them for reading newspaper/book, or possibly cooking or setting up tent. But anything needing more than 2 meter illumination distance ...



PS: "to the Alps"?
didnt You type something to have us (me) think of a "remote" part of the world?
I highly doubt You wont be able to recharge anything during Your trip
what are You doing with: Your cellphone, Your I-Pad, Your cameras batteries, ... ?

but You are right: NO chance to get loaded 18650s anywhere. Therefore one brings his own + charger

 

[jorn]

the 501/502 - for me - all seem to be floody ones without reflector at all ...
... use them for reading newspaper/book, or possibly cooking or setting up tent. But anything needing more than 2 meter illumination distance .

Yeah. I used the old h30 (old all flood model) for some years. It's a great light, but the total lack of lux kind of kills it when i'm walking. I'm always running it on max (80 lumen) while walking on trails. The newer versions got a even wider beam (120degree), so it would need even more lumens to match the 80 lumen (80 degree) h30. Atleast if i want the same amount of lux on the trail.. Bought the h51fc and it's perfect for me. You still got plenty of extra lux in the center of the beam, and it's hard to tell where the huge hotspot starts/ends (outdoors). Tint is yummy, and the c models are more efficient in the medium settings than the cree models. Now with better lux (and still a floody beam) i can run it in the efficient med modes, and still have the lux i want on the trail. Win-Win

 

[The_Driver]

It's obvious that the light should be floody and waterproof. I would put a lot of emphasis on the low modes. The yshould be well spaced or inifinitely variable and the light should be efficient at these levels. Good would be maybe 0,03, 1 ,5, 10-20 , 50 lumens and then one bright 100+ lumens mode. HDS lights are very good for this. The current ones are also floody.

 

[reppans]

It's obvious that the light should be floody and waterproof. I would put a lot of emphasis on the low modes. The yshould be well spaced or inifinitely variable and the light should be efficient at these levels. Good would be maybe 0,03, 1 ,5, 10-20 , 50 lumens and then one bright 100+ lumens mode. HDS lights are very good for this. The current ones are also floody.

Agree with this except for IV lights and HDS - the former has terrible low lumen runtimes and the latter hard to find batts.

 

[hazna]

If I remember correctly, H501 is the older model which at this point is discontinued and out of stock.

Yep that is correct.

Yes, Moozooh. ofcourse you are righ. i forgot about that one.

so it's basically down to either the H51W or the H501W. when considering the Zebralight models.
From what i can tell after looking at the specs on the ZL website the H51W is more powerfull and has twice the output modes than the H501W. at almost the same weight and price.

If you can only get one light get the h51w

 

[Lone]

Ezeriel- Yes i too think that a very focused light is bad for looking around but i hope that the Zebralight spot models have sufficient spill that will allow me to look at objects near me without having to turn my head in order to get the hot spot on them.

Yellow- "the 501/502 - for me - all seem to be floody ones without reflector at all ...
... use them for reading newspaper/book, or possibly cooking or setting up tent. But anything needing more than 2 meter illumination distance .."
are they that floody ??

jorn- Thank you for the life experience feedback about using flood headlamp while walking.
i made a comparison between the H51c and the H51W . and came up with the H51W winning in all categories.

The driver- why is it so obvious that the light needs to be floody?
if you are traversing dark open terain and you need to see 10 meters away from you, what good is a flood for that? i prefer a spot with good spill. no?

 

[reppans]

The driver- why is it so obvious that the light needs to be floody?
if you are traversing dark open terain and you need to see 10 meters away from you, what good is a flood for that? i prefer a spot with good spill. no?

The H51w is considered a "floody" light (just by nature of a small, shallow head). H501/H502 is pure flood. A large diameter deep reflector head on small XPG emitter is a throw light, yet with large XML emitter is a "throwy" light.... All just shades of grey.

 

[Lone]

Oh. well i am embarrassed.
so all the small headlamps are "floody" by nature i guess and spot is reserved for the big deep reflector lights? . i think i'm starting to get it.

i am just trying to figure it out if floody is what i need.

 

[Ezeriel]

Oh. well i am embarrassed.
so all the small headlamps are "floody" by nature i guess and spot is reserved for the big deep reflector lights? . i think i'm starting to get it.

i am just trying to figure it out if floody is what i need.

It's like, all in your state of mind, dude

...and the dude abides.


and we have no definition of the middle area of where throwy meets floody



but if you look at the beam description on zebralight's website they describe the beam pattern to you

the H502 is "Flood, with 120 degree beam spread" (no hotspot)

the H51w is "80 degree spill beam spread; 11 degree hot spot (3.8 feet at 20 feet)"

 

[jorn]

i made a comparison between the H51c and the H51W . and came up with the H51W winning in all categories.

Won't win in color rendention and yummy tint
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...unny-thing-about-Zebralight-hi-CRI-efficiency
I also think the c might have more throw. (The rebel is smaller than the xp-g, Smaller led means better focus---> more likely to throw).
There is a video that shows what the frosted lense will do to the beam at youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gVCk4J20jA

It's very "alps like" where i live, so everytime i want to go fresh water fishing etc. i need to climb some #"@€% mountian. Had a sc50+ a while, but dident like to walk on rocky hillsides with a spotty beam on my head. The hotspot is kind of blinding and it dont light up your next step that good. (tunnelvision makes it worse). Only used it on one trip. The h51w should be more floody than my sc50+, (sc50+ got a smaller xp-e led). If you find the h51w to be too spotty, a layer of frosted scotch tape on the lense will make it a floody light in seconds

A little picture while youre waiting for the alps trip It's littered with 1000-1200 meter high mountains everywhere here. Makes me feel like a beat up old man everytime im out fishing:laughing: I find the f version to be in the "goldie lock zone" in these types of terrain. I dont have the h51w to compare with, but the sc50+ was so far from optimal as a headlamp for me, that i jumped directly on the h51fc when it came out.

 

[Ezeriel]

whoooooaaaaaaa.......... That's awesome! Where is that? You guys got healthcare? Speaky english?

I'm sick of america.. please tell me that paradise is full of blondes with big.. headlights


Edit: Norway! umm.. yeah.. english? blondes?

 

[jorn]

whoooooaaaaaaa.......... That's awesome! Where is that? You guys got healthcare? Speaky english?

I'm sick of america.. please tell me that paradise is full of blondes with big.. headlights

Haha

Free healthcare.
The Un says it's the best place to live, but i dont know.. You won't starve, but it's so freaking cold up here...
Lots of blue eyed blonds, but not that many would wear a headlamp. And the loong cold winter + short "rainy" summer, will prevent them from even thinking about showing some skin :mecry: