Best, or favorite head lamp.

A newby here, I thought I would ask which are the favorite headlamps of the group.
Hopefully current models I can get, or old models I can find easily and modify.
Thanks
wak

Zebralight H501 or H501w. There is a big thread on it in this section.

LedLenser/Coast H-7

Zebralight H31. Very efficient, small, 6 output levels, great beam profile, reasonable price.
Might actually be my favorite light right now.

Surefire Saint. Excellent output, incredible UI, and reliable.

A good cheaper alternative is the Princeton Tec EOS.

I will second the recommendation for the SureFire Saint! I have the scaled down version (Minimus) which uses one battery and feels quite light on my head. It is nice and floody with 1 to 100 lumens output.:thumbsup:

Welcome!

wakrocket said:

A newby here, I thought I would ask which are the favorite headlamps of the group.
Hopefully current models I can get, or old models I can find easily and modify.
Thanks
wak

Click to expand...

First post and you are asking for favorite headlamps. OK, I will play. Mine is the Zebralight H501. I like it because:

1. It's small, so small I can carry it in my shirt pocket or on the belt at all times, even when I sleep. This is important because I adhere to the "The only useful tool is the one you have with you when you need it" principle. Say you are in a high-rise that's on fire. The lights go out. It's dark and difficult to see. You need a headlamp for hand-free use to see and help others. Whatever your favorite headlamp, it doesn't do you any good if don't have it with you at that moment.

2. It's versatile. Most headlamps are just that -- headlamp and nothing else. Because the H501 is so small, it can be removed from the headband and turned it into a flashlight, desk lamp, shirt light, belt light, lanyard light, overhead light, etc.

Until someone makes the perfect headlamp (which I doubt), the are always trade-offs. For my use and need, the small size and versatility of the H501 outweigh any trade-off.

Zebralight h50b neutral white for exactly the same reasons as stated by davidt1.

But zebralights only go so far... for walking, running and skiing at night I am still searching for a small, lightweight, multi-mode, neutral or warm white headlamp with sufficient throw and output for those tasks. Oh, did I mention it can't be absurdly expensive? The candidates I've seen so far all fail at least at one of my criteria. Yes, I am picky about the user interface, too...

davidt1 said:

First post and you are asking for favorite headlamps. OK, I will play. Mine is the Zebralight H501. I like it because:

1. It's small, so small I can carry it in my shirt pocket or on the belt at all times, even when I sleep. This is important because I adhere to the "The only useful tool is the one you have with you when you need it" principle. Say you are in a high-rise that's on fire. The lights go out. It's dark and difficult to see. You need a headlamp for hand-free use to see and help others. Whatever your favorite headlamp, it doesn't do you any good if don't have it with you at that moment.

2. It's versatile. Most headlamps are just that -- headlamp and nothing else. Because the H501 is so small, it can be removed from the headband and turned it into a flashlight, desk lamp, shirt light, belt light, lanyard light, overhead light, etc.

Until someone makes the perfect headlamp (which I doubt), the are always trade-offs. For my use and need, the small size and versatility of the H501 outweigh any trade-off.

Click to expand...

+1
except i perfer the H501w (neutral tint version)
I rarely use it as a headlamp though, but its still so easy to use it hands-free without strapping it to my head.

Thanks for all of your thoughts guys.
wak

Princeton Tec EOS!

I use my headlamp at least five nights a week. I've used the same one for almost a year now, in rain, snow, all temperatures. It's been magnificent!

So nice I bought it twice (one for a back up): the Princeton Tec Apex Pro.

Since I've standardized all my lights to cr123 lithium batteries, the Apex Pro was the best one I could find that is small, light, shatterproof, waterproof, and has two wide beam and two narrow beam settings with an SOS thrown in extra. The run times are great, I can stuff it in my pocket with a couple of extra batteries, and it's very comfortable on my head for long periods of time.

I can't recall exactly, but the lumen output on high, narrow beam is about 190 for 1.5 hours. The wide beam on high (which is the one I use most) puts out 90 lumens for about 10 hours. The throw on both these settings is exceptional. I get thirty strong yards on wide beam. On high narrow it's way over one hundred yards. You can switch between settings with a simple press on the lamp underside.

The batteries are easy to change on the fly. The headlamp signals you by flashing when there is about twenty minutes of runtime left. I really like that feature since I can choose to change at the first opportunity, or just finish up knowing I still have some time. I've changed them in the middle of a pouring rain with no trouble (I shielded the battery case with my body against the wind).

I spot a lot of animals at night by the glow of their eyes. I saw a mean looking, fearless possum last night (that I circumvented). And tonight I saw a mother raccoon with two kids following her. Lots of rabbits too. The wide beam catches their eyes, then I can power up the blinding narrow beam to clarify them.

I posted a thread on this forum asking for a better cr123 headlamp, but recieved no better suggestions than the Princeton Tec Apex Pro.

H501 is my fave. But IMHO its uniform flood biggest strength can also be its biggest weakness.

Paired with a Surefire+malkoff hand held its a perfect tandem for both near and far field.

I like to pair the SC50w with its tight intense hot spot and kind of weak but large spill with my H501w. They seem to go pretty well together.

PT EOS followed by the Surefire Saint

I think the best Headlamp you can actually buy at the Moment is the Zebralight H31.
It has some useful throw and lots of sidespill in a tiny package. Its powerful and still allows for very long runtimes due to the superb UI with 5 Modes + strobe.
The downsides of the H31 are that you have to use less readily avaible CR123 batteries and that the quite bulky pocketclip and headband cannot be used together and thus have to be exchanged for the different tasks you do.

The upcoming Zebralight H51 adresses at least the battery "problem" as it uses common AA batteries (but can still be used efficiently with 14500s).
Hopefully it will adress the pocketclip and bulky headband issue too but i doubt it.
Both issues can be easily worked around though by making your own headband attachment and using pocketclips from other manufacturers (fenix E01 clip for example).

So in my opinion the H51 will be by far the best Headlamp (or even the best flashlight for my needs). If you have some time to wait for it (consider two months as zebralights keeps pushing the release date further out), go for it.

Else get the H31 and some rechargeable RCR123 batteries.

My favorite is my PrincetonTec EOS. Of course it's the only one I have so...:shrug:

pae77 said:

I like to pair the SC50w with its tight intense hot spot and kind of weak but large spill with my H501w. They seem to go pretty well together.

Click to expand...

uplite is another member who has the same setup you have. He even posted pictures a while back. He hasn't been around for a while. You are not uplite, are you? LOL.

I notice you have a nice collection of lights including two headlamps. It's always good to hear a recommendation from someone who has experiences with various headlamps.

Zebralight H60 all time goodness

Surefire Minimus