You know what, if you're wearing that thing 24/7, and a girl comes onto you, YOU'LL KNOW SHE'S THE ONE!
Advantage: You.
Why Hasn't The Hand-Held Flashlight Gone Extinct?
- Thread starter Fiddler
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You know what, if you're wearing that thing 24/7, and a girl comes onto you, YOU'LL KNOW SHE'S THE ONE!
Advantage: You.
powernoodle
Flashlight Enthusiast
I've been married 16 years, so the headlight/hot chick fantasy will have to stay on the back burner. Wait a minute. Mrs. Powernoodle is a hot chick!
DM51
Flashaholic
Something tells me Mrs. Powernoodle just walked in the room there, lol.
PocketBeam
Flashlight Enthusiast
If I am going to be looking at one place for a while, say working on something, then a headlamp is great. You can adjust the angle so that the light is in line with how you want to hold your head.
But if I am looking around and moving around and such, then I keep having to move my head with a headlamp. I have to move my head so that the hotspot is shining at what I want to look at. I can adjust the headlamp, but still what I want to look at is above where the hotspot wants to shine, or it is below it. So either way end up moving my head around a lot, and my neck also. So in this case it makes much more sense to move my hand a little and move my eyeballs, but keep my head in a comfortable spot.
So two hands free but neck strain, doesn't sound like a good deal to me. But I do also wonder why more people don't use or even own a headlamp for doing work where they really need or could use both hands free.
PS - I recently ordered the Zebralight, which doesn't have a hotspot. It just lights up the whole field of view, which should allow me to just move my eyeballs and not my whole head so much. Now if it had a option or way to get a nice thrown hotspot it would seem perfect to me, or at least the best out there now.
But if I am looking around and moving around and such, then I keep having to move my head with a headlamp. I have to move my head so that the hotspot is shining at what I want to look at. I can adjust the headlamp, but still what I want to look at is above where the hotspot wants to shine, or it is below it. So either way end up moving my head around a lot, and my neck also. So in this case it makes much more sense to move my hand a little and move my eyeballs, but keep my head in a comfortable spot.
So two hands free but neck strain, doesn't sound like a good deal to me. But I do also wonder why more people don't use or even own a headlamp for doing work where they really need or could use both hands free.
PS - I recently ordered the Zebralight, which doesn't have a hotspot. It just lights up the whole field of view, which should allow me to just move my eyeballs and not my whole head so much. Now if it had a option or way to get a nice thrown hotspot it would seem perfect to me, or at least the best out there now.
f22shift
Flashlight Enthusiast
it's because they look dorky(flashlights are dorky enough) and are not as good as handheld in current technology. headlamps are limited by weight and shape.
recently i went snowboarding in vermont as i was thinking on which flashlights to bring. i ended up with a headlamp and a 2aa thrower with a fauxton as a backup. the headlamp came really handy in loading and unloading the car with the poor trunk light. also it was handy in the hotel room as we let one person sleep longer because of being ill. it was easy to navigate the room. the 2aa thrower was just dead weight and used for fun as a light saber when a snowstorm rolled in.
i'll always grab a headlamp first in any occasion.
i also noticed that all the people(including girls) i camped with on their 2nd trip all brought headlamps. it takes one trip to realize their usefulness
recently i went snowboarding in vermont as i was thinking on which flashlights to bring. i ended up with a headlamp and a 2aa thrower with a fauxton as a backup. the headlamp came really handy in loading and unloading the car with the poor trunk light. also it was handy in the hotel room as we let one person sleep longer because of being ill. it was easy to navigate the room. the 2aa thrower was just dead weight and used for fun as a light saber when a snowstorm rolled in.
i'll always grab a headlamp first in any occasion.
i also noticed that all the people(including girls) i camped with on their 2nd trip all brought headlamps. it takes one trip to realize their usefulness
BlackDecker
Enlightened
Like mentioned by almost all of the posters here, the main reason that headlamps haven't taken over is that any single light cannot fulfill the tasks required of it.
There are those times you need a hands free light, but then there are times you need a handheld with enough 'oompf' to light up something more than 100 yards away.
For backpacking and general camp chores, it's hard to beat a headlamp. But for those times you hear a noise and you want to see what's in the bushes, hard to beat a long reaching beam of a handheld light.
I'm sure all the folks that post on this forum own at least one headlamp.
There are those times you need a hands free light, but then there are times you need a handheld with enough 'oompf' to light up something more than 100 yards away.
For backpacking and general camp chores, it's hard to beat a headlamp. But for those times you hear a noise and you want to see what's in the bushes, hard to beat a long reaching beam of a handheld light.
I'm sure all the folks that post on this forum own at least one headlamp.
because it's more fun to have a bit of challenge...
hopkins
Enlightened
I can wish that all the headlamps I own were Transformers!
At the flip of a switch they'd could be either a solid handheld or a
comfortable headlamp...hehe!
At the flip of a switch they'd could be either a solid handheld or a
comfortable headlamp...hehe!
Marduke
Flashaholic
That's exactly why I keep a 1xAA or 1xAAA light with a bezel-up clip attached. Works great as both types of light. (see my post above with detailed description)
peteybaby
Newly Enlightened
I asked this same question almost a year ago, somewhere in this forum. I agreed with the answers people gave then, and I agree with the answers people have given in this thread, supporting handheld lights. I guess the difficulty I had in understanding why people use handhelds so much was due to the kinds of activities I use a portable light source for. I think a year ago I listed things like night skiing/snowboarding, hiking, camping, walking the dogs, etc. but there are a lot of people who never do those things.
Having said that, I still think headlamps are used WAY less often than they should be. e.g. it frustrates me to hear people talking about what kind of tape they use to wrap their handheld light so that it doesn't hurt their teeth! That's just nuts! I have an EDC handheld light so sure I can understand that sometimes you don't have a headlamp handy, but if you've gone to the trouble of taping the barrel of your light, you can surely bring a headlamp instead.
To those people who say a headlamp doesn't throw, that may be true compared to your HID light, but not all of you have HID lights. I suspect many of the people who think a headlamp can't throw haven't tried the best headlamps. It's true that headlamp development is a lot slower than handheld light development. I guess that's because headlamps require molded plastic parts, while anybody can whip up a handheld in a few days with a lathe.
To those people who say a headlamp makes you move your head too much, I think you need a headlamp with a bigger hotspot. I had a handheld light before that had a hotspot so small that I had to "paint" with it too. Even reading a map in the car I had to move that light around. How annoying. So it's not just headlamps that can have small hotspots. You just have to find the right headlamp for your needs. I gave that tiny-hotspot light away.
And to all those who say a headlamp makes you look dorky (which is what I asked about in my thread last year), I say you all probably look dorky even without the headlamp, so don't worry about it! The headlamp isn't the problem, it's you!! :nana: (my gf hasn't left me even though I use a headlamp every chance I can get)
