Hello all, my name is Roger and Ive been a lurker here for about a year off and on. I was hoping for some help on headlamp selection. Ive done so much reading that Im now suffering from information overload (not to mention I think my eyes are bleeding). I found this forum in my original search for headlamps about a year ago, thats when you turned me on to the river rock k2 from Target. Sadly thats about the time peoples heads were catching on fire and were being discontinued. So I went to all the Target stores around me and bought out all of their stock (yes I thought it was a great headlamp).
Now you may be wondering why I need so many freakin headlamps, so heres a little background. I own a restaurant exhaust cleaning company. We clean the exhaust systems when the restaurants are closed which 98% of the time is at night. We use pressure washers that produce over 3000 psi and heat the water upwards of 200 degrees. The river rock worked good, it withstood the moisture, the grease, was able to penetrate the steam cloud with its tight beam (very important), and held up to employee abuse. The part of the river rock that eventually failed though is the battery compartment clips. This is the part that seems to fail on most headlamps Ive bought. These lights are used 6-8 hours a night, 5 nights a week so we go through a good number of batteries. I thought I found the answer with the zebra light. Bright, built like a traditional flashlight, out of metal (durable), twist on cap for batteries (no clips to break), light weight. Sadly I didnt read carefully enough, the first time I used it all it did was light up the entire steam cloud which makes it absolutly worthless. I wish they would come out with a spot version, for me, I think it would fit the bill perfectly.
So, I was hoping I could get some suggestions. Price isnt really an issue though I would rather outfit 6 employees with $25 headlamps than $300 headlamps. Here is a list of what a perfect headlamp would be for me, is there anything out there that comes close?
Thanks for taking the time to read this and for any help you may offer.
Now you may be wondering why I need so many freakin headlamps, so heres a little background. I own a restaurant exhaust cleaning company. We clean the exhaust systems when the restaurants are closed which 98% of the time is at night. We use pressure washers that produce over 3000 psi and heat the water upwards of 200 degrees. The river rock worked good, it withstood the moisture, the grease, was able to penetrate the steam cloud with its tight beam (very important), and held up to employee abuse. The part of the river rock that eventually failed though is the battery compartment clips. This is the part that seems to fail on most headlamps Ive bought. These lights are used 6-8 hours a night, 5 nights a week so we go through a good number of batteries. I thought I found the answer with the zebra light. Bright, built like a traditional flashlight, out of metal (durable), twist on cap for batteries (no clips to break), light weight. Sadly I didnt read carefully enough, the first time I used it all it did was light up the entire steam cloud which makes it absolutly worthless. I wish they would come out with a spot version, for me, I think it would fit the bill perfectly.
So, I was hoping I could get some suggestions. Price isnt really an issue though I would rather outfit 6 employees with $25 headlamps than $300 headlamps. Here is a list of what a perfect headlamp would be for me, is there anything out there that comes close?
- Tight beam to penetrate the steam
- Very bright
- Durable to hold up to harsh environment and employee abuse
- Preferably take AA (36 packs of batteries are cheap)
- Light weight
- No plastic battery compartment clips
Thanks for taking the time to read this and for any help you may offer.
