Headlamp gift recommendation...

[Olumin]

Im planning to gift someone a headlamp mainly for their daily dog walks. Budget is up to 100€. Would like something with a simple interface (recipient is over 50 and not big into lights) and intergated usb charging is must. takes 18650. Area illumination, meaning on the floody side but not a complete lack of throw. Dont need special modes, a simpler Interface is better. Also dont need 1000 lumäns turbo, would rather prefer around 400 - 500 constant regulated output. If the light has a overhead strap is needs to be removable. Also has to survive heavy rain and storms occasionally. batt of cause should be replaceable.

Mainly looking at fenix right now at their HL60R. is has turbo and red but otherwise seems rather simple and the 400 lumen mode is constant and well regulated. Also neutral white and ipx8.

Is there anything else I should look at? I really dont know anything about headlamps so I need your help here. thanks guys.
p.s. does anyone have the hl60r and can report how the ratchet mechanism holds up? Ive read its just a plastic piece rubbing against the ridges of the lamp.

 

[Olumin]

no one? looked at sofirn sp40 but the strap isnt removable. Looked at nitecore hc60 but regulation doasnt look as good as on the fenix and no neutral white I think. armytek wizard interface is too complicated and too many modes. zebra got no integrated charging. what else?

 

[Olumin]

Ight ill just get the fenix. thanks...

 

[DaveTheDude]

Sorry I'm late to the party. I want to confirm your choice of the Fenix HL60R. I have one of these (among many others) and I suspect it will please the recipient no end. You made a sound choice.

 

[Olumin]

Sorry I'm late to the party. I want to confirm your choice of the Fenix HL60R. I have one of these (among many others) and I suspect it will please the recipient no end. You made a sound choice.

Thanks. So far shes been very satisfied. She only uses low mode FTMP anyway so the 2600mah that came with the light will last loads. Its a solid light.

 

[Stefano]

@Olumin
I received this headlamp today and I think you have made a good choice to give as a gift.
Rechargeable, battery supplied, rugged and waterproof.
Even without the rubber cap, the light remains waterproof.
It has an easy to use mode for a newbie although I have to say that compared to Zebralight and Armytek I cry when I use it, after all these years Fenix still doesn't give direct access to the Turbo (HL55 was better on this)
The tint is nice, (around 5000 K) neither blue, nor yellow but white and therefore able to please everyoneeven.
Disappointment because I thought an XM-L2 T6 led arrived instead XM-L2 U2 arrived, maybe with T6 the tint lottery would have been better ?
Surely you have made a good choice, this headlamp even if it may now be "obsolete" as the amount of lumens has become very cheap and is a great buy.
I was impressed with the size, I have seen many photos and videos but live it is much smaller than it looks.
I don't find it heavy at all and it's very comfortable on the forehead.
It came without the top band fitted (perfect like that)
I have never been able to find information on the angle of the light beam, for the HC60 Nitecore declares 100 ° here I don't know.
Zebralight's opaque lens or Armytek's TIR lens gives a better, more homogeneous beam, but HL60R is slightly better vision here if you have to see far away (more visible hotspot)
Using the high level or Turbo the beam is very good, at low levels I must say that Armytek TIR or Zebralight frosted lens is more comfortable.
However, even after 5 years from its entry into the market it is a respectable headlamp.

Edit: I can't speak much about the ratchet mechanism because I received the HL60R today, but it seems solid, well made and I don't think it will cause problems at least in the short term.

 

[Olumin]

@Olumin
I received this headlamp today and I think you have made a good choice to give as a gift.
Rechargeable, battery supplied, rugged and waterproof.
Even without the rubber cap, the light remains waterproof.
It has an easy to use mode for a newbie although I have to say that compared to Zebralight and Armytek I cry when I use it, after all these years Fenix still doesn't give direct access to the Turbo (HL55 was better on this)
The tint is nice, (around 5000 K) it is not blue, it is yellow but white and therefore able to please everyoneeven - my specimen is slightly greenish at low levels (but you don't see it very much)
Disappointment because I thought an XM-L2 T6 led arrived instead XM-L2 U2 arrived, maybe with T6 the tint lottery would have been better ?
Surely you have made a good choice, this headlamp even if it may now be "obsolete" as the amount of lumens has become very cheap and is a great buy.
I was impressed with the size, I have seen many photos and videos but live it is much smaller than it looks.
I don't find it heavy at all and it's very comfortable on the forehead.
It came without the top band fitted (perfect like that)
I have never been able to find information on the angle of the light beam, for the HC60 Nitecore declares 100 ° here I don't know.
Zebralight's opaque lens or Armytek's TIR lens gives a better, more homogeneous beam, but HL60R is slightly better vision here if you have to see far away (more visible hotspot)
Using the high level or Turbo the beam is very good, at low levels I must say that Armytek TIR or Zebralight frosted lens is more comfortable.
However, even after 5 years from its entry into the market it is a respectable headlamp.

Edit: I can't speak much about the ratchet mechanism because I received the HL60R today, but it seems solid, well made and I don't think it will cause problems at least in the short term.

My complaints are mainly with the interface as well. Instant access to turbo, and especially low/red would be a must for me. Also a shame that turbo is not regulated well/at all. The recipient doasnt care about any of that tho and is very happy with it. After all we like to nitpick here.

They seem to have fixed turbo runtime on the 70r, but still no instant access to low/turbo or even red due to mode-memory. IMO they should have skipped the CW/NW thing and just have HCRI NW as main, and red as secondary. Skip MM for red mode so it always comes on in low. single click for ON, double from OFF for instant turbo, Hold-click to access red. single click from ON to change through modes. Tripple click to check voltage. That would fix it.

 

[JustAnOldFashionedLEDGuy]

Late to the party but...

18650 headlights are too heavy for casual users.

You almost never need or want 400-500 lumens hiking. Most of the time 100 is more than enough.

You don't want a hotspot in a walking / hiking light. Nice and smooth for maximizing near to you visual acuity (and footing).

 

[Stefano]

My complaints are mainly with the interface as well. Instant access to turbo, and especially low/red would be a must for me. Also a shame that turbo is not regulated well/at all. The recipient doasnt care about any of that tho and is very happy with it. After all we like to nitpick here.

They seem to have fixed turbo runtime on the 70r, but still no instant access to low/turbo or even red due to mode-memory. IMO they should have skipped the CW/NW thing and just have HCRI NW as main, and red as secondary. Skip MM for red mode so it always comes on in low. single click for ON, double from OFF for instant turbo, Hold-click to access red. single click from ON to change through modes. Tripple click to check voltage. That would fix it.

An XHP50.2 or XHP70.2 (5000 K) led would have been nice and maybe a secondary red led (as you say) and able to do even ultra-low (withe) levels so as not to make the main use interface too complex.

 

[Stefano]

Late to the party but...

18650 headlights are too heavy for casual users.

You almost never need or want 400-500 lumens hiking. Most of the time 100 is more than enough.

You don't want a hotspot in a walking / hiking light. Nice and smooth for maximizing near to you visual acuity (and footing).

For many years I have preferred headlamps with opaque lenses or TIR optics.
It's nice to have a 18650 light for the power it can pull out, I often use high levels, I like to see animals around me in advance so as not to discover them when I'm too close.
Last night using HL60R I illuminated two large badgers.

 

[JustAnOldFashionedLEDGuy]

For many years I have preferred headlamps with opaque lenses or TIR optics.
It's nice to have a 18650 light for the power it can pull out, I often use high levels, I like to see animals around me in advance so as not to discover them when I'm too close.
Last night using HL60R I illuminated two large badgers.

If you are walking with a dog, you are not running into badgers That said, if you worry about animals, carry something that makes noise as you walk.

I have an 18650 headlight, and hike a lot. It almost never gets used. It's too much unnecessary weight. You are not moving very fast hiking, so even 100 lumens illuminates a fair distance ahead, and 200 more than enough.

 

[Olumin]

The recipient uses the light for dog walks 99% of time for arround 1h or less. Lamp is hung from the neck and not worn on the head. Weight/size is MOL irrelevant here. The main advantage of a larger battery is not so much brightness but runtime increase which also leads to longer intervals between charging = longer batterylife.

Many lighter lamps using smaller batteries are missing integrated charging (like AA or cr123) or recharging capability alltogether both of which was a requirement and/or use non replaceble built-in batteries.

 

[Stefano]

@Olumin
Your friend will be happy with this light.
Last night I also tried to use it on the neck, it is very stable and well adjustable.
I figured having more or less the same type of tint I could use the Zebralight H604d on my forehead and this HL60R on my neck to get shed.
I just finished a home test with stopwatch and lux meter (no fan, temperature 18.8 ° C) the HL60R is really solid.
I kept the light for exactly 7 minutes at turbo level, it keeps the power constant without drops, only in the last two minutes it has dropped a little but we are talking around 2% or 3% of the initial value (this is irrelevant)
It remains cool, only towards the end of the test the temperature was almost 40 ° C on the front of the headlamp.
Its shape and size allow it to manage heat well although I want to repeat that this headlamp is not as big as it may seem from the photos.
I am positively impressed with this "old" headlamp, It also has a great price, paid only 62 euros on the Italian amazon (including battery 2600 mA)