Good General Purpose AA Headlamp

Hello,

I am part of a Disaster medical team and am getting my deployment gear together. I am trying to make sure all of my battery powered gear runs off the same type of batteries but am having trouble finding a AA headlamp that looks good to me.

I am not totally against AAA, but I would rather not have to carry another type of spare batteries. I definitely want to stick AA or AAA in case I need to find them on the fly.

This will be my first headlamp, so I am not really sure what the options are. Any help or suggestions will be appreciated.


Thanks,

Lump

Hi Lump welcome to CPF. If you want a light that is mostly a spotlight, others will have to help you out. However if you are looking for a floody beam that's for working relatively close, have a look at the thread in my sig line. It's even organized by battery type so you can have a look through a lot of models and see which fits your needs. Some of the lights are flood/spot convertibles, too.

In general, people usually get headlamps for flood or combo. However some people need headlamps for spot, such as people who are moving quickly through the dark (bicyclist) or search and rescue if both hands are full.

So you have many other decisions to make other than battery type. How much to spend (range $20-$1000)? Is tint important? How wide a beam? Spot and flood, just spot, just flood? How long a runtime do you need? Battery pack on the back or not? Waterproof? Etc etc. I've tried to get many of these variables squared away in the Flood Beam Headlamp Thread. Hope it helps, but it's only for floody lights.

Thought about this a bit more, here are a few you ought to consider:

- Pixa 3 is supposedly designed for rough use, hazmat situations, both spot and flood, but it's bulky up front and not very bright.
- SF will be coming out with an AA headlight at some point, we don't know when. Likely narrow flood. If you're a SF fanatic you might want to wait for it.
- Zebralight has a strong following here at CPF, small and bright and durable (except for a batch from early 2009 that had sealant problems).
- Princeton Tec Apex gives you both spot and flood and is a popular light, though somewhat "elderly" now but a good value.
- Petzl makes the nifty Myo RXP convertible spot/flood. Battery pack.
- Foxfire bills itself as a headlamp that's purpose built for various rescue & emergency and doesn't get discussed much here on CPF.

That's a start in the $30-$100 range. If you want high-end lights that the cavers use, then the sky's the limit.

vaska said:

One more suggestion.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I think that Silva light is still 3 AAA.

leukos said:

Unfortunately, I think that Silva light is still 3 AAA.

Click to expand...

Not according to the product description in the link.

Silva Ninox Headlamp Product Features

• 2 x AA batteries included
• Fully waterproof (IPX7) – Can be submersed in water to a depth of 1 metre
• Intelligent Light – optimized light image technology
• Power LED technology – outstanding power
• Battery life indicator
• Red LED – preserves night vision
• 6 different light modes – flexible use depending on light demands
• Up to 120 hours light time – "no risk" to run out of batteries
• Compact design – easy to bring anywhere
• Cocoon storage system – non-obtrusive when not in use
• Large on/off button – can be operated with gloves
• Light modes:
• Max, med, min, blink, red, red blink
• Weight:
• 80g Excl batteries, 140g Incl batteries

We've got them in one of the local stores. I'll try to make sure of the right configuration in a couple of days

Does the Silva Ninox have a combined simultaneous spot and flood (like the Pixa 2)? Looks like it. Manual says " combines a wide angle flood light with a long reach spot light." I'm assuming a narrow flood beam <40 degrees and blueish tint since that's so common...until told otherwise.

The manual at the Silva site specifies 3xAAA, but the retailer link given above, advertises it as 2xAA. I think Leukos is correct, it's 3xAAA.

See mfgr's link here.

Is it regulated? Says "no risk to run out of batteries" which makes me wonder if it's unregulated (ie, fading slowly).

Bolster's list is great. Two more possibilities to consider, both single AA:

1. Spark ST-5. Possible to convert to flood by removing the reflector. Newish company, newish design, but well designed.

2. Fenix HL20, with an HL21 upgraded version to be released soon. Has the advantage of a flip-away diffuser, if you need both flood and spot. Established company; product is not on the current cutting edge, but reliable and solid.

Ted

Sorry about misleading you. I visited our local hike-equipment store today to found out that it uses 3xAAA

Zebralight H51!