Hi everyone, I am in the market for a new headlamp. I will tell you what I am looking for, what I have tried, and what my uses are going to be for it.
1. I want a light that (very) preferably uses a single AA, but am slightly open to multiple AA's or AAA's. No Lithium polymer batteries though.
2. I want a light that has a lot of throw, but has some use-able spill. Don't bother recommending anything that is only mostly flood. A light with separate flood and throw led's or a diffuser is okay.
3. I want a light with a lot of brightness adjustability. The perfect light has a single switch that rotates to turn it on and provide very dim lighting and with a twist increases in small increments to full power. Like the Icon Irix 2. Modes are acceptable, but hopefully not a lot of strobes and weird colored leds to cycle through to use the thing.
4. I need good runtime, so a very low low setting is critical, while super high lumen output is unecessary. A max of 30-50 lumens is plenty, though more is okay as long as I have useful lower output levels available.
I have owned two headlamps that have the exact features I want, but only if they were combined into one. Ideally, it would be the Fenix HL21 with a rheostat control like the Icon Irix 2 uses. The Irix never turns itself on in your backpack, and the infinitely variable light output adjustment makes every other user interface feel clunky and stupid. Unfortunately, it has crappy 5mm leds that put glare into your eyes, and it has all flood with very little throw, which makes it useless for me when backpacking. I like throw to see down the trail with minimal power useage, and just enough spill to be aware of my footing. A lot of flood just makes everything right in my face reflect back at me so I can't see anything far away at all, like the next trail blaze on a tree 40 feet ahead.
The Fenix HL21 is my favorite light that I own, but it has stupid power levels. The low of 4 lumens is way too much for looking in your backpack for anything at night, or reading in a tent, but just a little bit dim for making my way down a rough trail at night. It is an okay output level though. The medium setting is what bothers me. It is about 45 lumens, so it is way too bright for almost any use, and it kills the battery way too fast as well. The high setting doesn't appear a whole lot brighter than the medium setting, and the runtime is really awful on high. I never use it for anything, but it could be useful in an emergency or something.
If Fenix had made the settings something like 1 lumen (low), 10 lumens (medium) and whatever they wanted for high (I would still never use it anyway....maybe if it were 40 lumens or so), I would be in hog heaven, but the only setting with good runtime is the 4 lumen low settings that is a bit too bright for half my uses and a bit too dim for the other half of my uses.
I have been looking at the Zebralight h52, and it seems to offer something relatively close to what I am looking for, but my main concern is that it will still be too floody. The website claims a 12 degree beam, which isn't awful, but I much prefer the 9 degree beam of my Fenix HL21. That's how it can light a trail fairly well at 4 lumens and still run for 50+ hours that way. I just want a more useable medium for the wilder trails that won't kill the battery in just a few hours.
Why hasn't the fully-adjustable rheostat-type control of the coast hl7, coast hl27, and the Icon Irix I and II become the absolute standard in headlamps? To me it should have made a million stupid modes that you have to click through totally obsolete.
Anyhow, let me know what you guys think I should look at.
1. I want a light that (very) preferably uses a single AA, but am slightly open to multiple AA's or AAA's. No Lithium polymer batteries though.
2. I want a light that has a lot of throw, but has some use-able spill. Don't bother recommending anything that is only mostly flood. A light with separate flood and throw led's or a diffuser is okay.
3. I want a light with a lot of brightness adjustability. The perfect light has a single switch that rotates to turn it on and provide very dim lighting and with a twist increases in small increments to full power. Like the Icon Irix 2. Modes are acceptable, but hopefully not a lot of strobes and weird colored leds to cycle through to use the thing.
4. I need good runtime, so a very low low setting is critical, while super high lumen output is unecessary. A max of 30-50 lumens is plenty, though more is okay as long as I have useful lower output levels available.
I have owned two headlamps that have the exact features I want, but only if they were combined into one. Ideally, it would be the Fenix HL21 with a rheostat control like the Icon Irix 2 uses. The Irix never turns itself on in your backpack, and the infinitely variable light output adjustment makes every other user interface feel clunky and stupid. Unfortunately, it has crappy 5mm leds that put glare into your eyes, and it has all flood with very little throw, which makes it useless for me when backpacking. I like throw to see down the trail with minimal power useage, and just enough spill to be aware of my footing. A lot of flood just makes everything right in my face reflect back at me so I can't see anything far away at all, like the next trail blaze on a tree 40 feet ahead.
The Fenix HL21 is my favorite light that I own, but it has stupid power levels. The low of 4 lumens is way too much for looking in your backpack for anything at night, or reading in a tent, but just a little bit dim for making my way down a rough trail at night. It is an okay output level though. The medium setting is what bothers me. It is about 45 lumens, so it is way too bright for almost any use, and it kills the battery way too fast as well. The high setting doesn't appear a whole lot brighter than the medium setting, and the runtime is really awful on high. I never use it for anything, but it could be useful in an emergency or something.
If Fenix had made the settings something like 1 lumen (low), 10 lumens (medium) and whatever they wanted for high (I would still never use it anyway....maybe if it were 40 lumens or so), I would be in hog heaven, but the only setting with good runtime is the 4 lumen low settings that is a bit too bright for half my uses and a bit too dim for the other half of my uses.
I have been looking at the Zebralight h52, and it seems to offer something relatively close to what I am looking for, but my main concern is that it will still be too floody. The website claims a 12 degree beam, which isn't awful, but I much prefer the 9 degree beam of my Fenix HL21. That's how it can light a trail fairly well at 4 lumens and still run for 50+ hours that way. I just want a more useable medium for the wilder trails that won't kill the battery in just a few hours.
Why hasn't the fully-adjustable rheostat-type control of the coast hl7, coast hl27, and the Icon Irix I and II become the absolute standard in headlamps? To me it should have made a million stupid modes that you have to click through totally obsolete.
Anyhow, let me know what you guys think I should look at.
