Do you know of a good reading headlight?

[Farhad Gulemov]

Hi,

I would like to purchase a good headlamp to read at night without bothering my wife who is pretty sensitive to light. Ideally, I would want the following:

* LED
* fully "modulatable" (is that English?) output, i.e., the ability to set the output as low as I want, while my eyes adapt to the darkness. If that is not an option, several low output settings to choose from.
* a narrow beam with as little flood as possible
* running on either AA or AAA (incl.rechargeables)

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mathiashogevold]

Narrow beam? Flood are better for reading, but if you do not want to bother your wife, i understand your wish for a narrow beam. Hmm, most headlamps are made for giving more flood than throw, but the Zebralight H51 in low2 mode gives out 0,2 lumens, and low1 gives 2,5 lumens.
Feels good on your head, i think it will be a good choice. The spill of the 0,2 lumens on the H51 shouldn't be very visible.

Runs on 1 AA, Alkaline, Lithium or Nimh.

 

[Lucciola]

I just wonder why anyone would like to have a light for reading with a tight spot instead of flood. :thinking:

I use a Zebralight H501w for reading in bed or while travelling in trains, planes, cars, you name it. IMHO a good floody light which gives even illumination of the entire book is just about perfect for reading.

Could you explain why you do not want flood? I am just curious because I read a lot with my headlamp. Maybe you got a point I never thought of.

Cheers, Lucciola

 

[Farhad Gulemov]

Could you explain why you do not want flood?

I just don't wanna wake up my wifey ;-)

 

[zemmo]

I just don't wanna wake up my wifey ;-)

Have you tried reading for more than a few minutes with a throwy beam? It's not a lot of fun. The best reading light I've used is my Surefire minimus, which fits the bill for you very well, other than being floody. Oops, it runs on Lithium primaries, though.

One of the floody Zebralights would be good. Or maybe you could talk her into using some kind of eyeshade?

 

[davidt1]

Have you tried reading for more than a few minutes with a throwy beam? It's not a lot of fun. The best reading light I've used is my Surefire minimus, which fits the bill for you very well, other than being floody. Oops, it runs on Lithium primaries, though.

One of the floody Zebralights would be good. Or maybe you could talk her into using some kind of eyeshade?

I see you haven't tried the H501 yet.

 

[Belstaff1464]

I just don't wanna wake up my wifey ;-)

As long as the output goes down to a really low level it won't matter if it has a floodier beam. The Zebralight H501W has a low of 2.7lumens and a moon mode of 0.3lumens. The moon mode should not be enough to wake up your wife.

 

[MikeAusC]

The LED Lenser H7 does ALL these things for about $100
- Instant Flood to Spot Zoom
- Instant Dim to Bright
- Balanced with 3 AAA batteries at the back

If you're not sure, but want to test the importance of these features, you can buy a clone for less than $20 mailed worldwide. Once you've tried it, you won't be satisfied with less versatility from fixed-beam or fixed-brightness lights.

Google dealextreme sku.29435

 

[davidt1]

The LED Lenser H7 does ALL these things for about $100
- Instant Flood to Spot Zoom
- Instant Dim to Bright
- Balanced with 3 AAA batteries at the back

If you're not sure, but want to test the importance of these features, you can buy a clone for less than $20 mailed worldwide. Once you've tried it, you won't be satisfied with less versatility from fixed-beam or fixed-brightness lights.

Google dealextreme sku.29435

Focusable headlamps sound good paper, but in practice the flood beam usually does not look good. There is likely a giant black hole in the middle.

 

[Mundele]

I've recently gotten a kindle and have re-kindled my love for reading (sorry, bad pun). I was looking for a cheap headlamp with a red LED option. I saw a post about the princeton tec byte here recently and picked one up for $13 on ebay. It has a 5mm red LED and some other white LED with two levels. Not sure what the actual emitter is, they give it their own name (like megabright or something else stupid). The beam is pretty ringy, but I used a little scotch tape over the lens and it's pretty nice now.

The kindle screen does reflect the hotspot a little, so I've recently been wearing it around my neck like a necklace when reading in bed. I can shine the red LED up and across the screen at an angle so the glare doesn't bother me. I think in total I spent less than $15. I'm really happy with it. Oh, and the kindle is awesome too...

--Matt

 

[skyfire]

another recommendation for the zebralight H501w. or H50w which is an older model, a bit smaller in the head, and cheaper.

 

[MikeAusC]

Focusable headlamps sound good paper, but in practice the flood beam usually does not look good. There is likely a giant black hole in the middle.

It will only cost you $20 to convince yourself that you are wrong - do you think I would recommend a light that has a giant black hole in the middle ?

 

[steveG]

My Zebralight H30 works great for reading. At close-range (arm's length) the beam is still fairly narrow. The newer models with lower "low" would be better... a "warm" version would be even better.

 

[nick-nack]

Lots of great options provided here.
Just to reiterate what has already been said - reading with a narrow beam will probably just end up giving you a headache. A low powered flood won't wake anyone up.

I do a lot of reading in bed as well as on some hiking trips where I take a book. One thing I have learnt is to stay away from head lights that have a battery pack. If you want to lie back and read or lean your head back against a wall or headboard the battery pack will just annoy you.

I personally used the Zebralight H501 (wish I got the warm tint) and had it around my neck.

 

[zemmo]

I see you haven't tried the H501 yet.

You are correct. I have an H51, but of course it uses a reflector and has a hot spot, which I like very much for most things, but not for reading. Might pick up a H51F at some point.

 

[davidt1]

The OP should wait 2 weeks for the H51F, if he can. That is my most anticipated ZL light.

 

[shark_za]

Another vote for the H501w.
Its become my favourite light of them all in a very short time.

I dont even have the new user interface with the really low moonlight low.
The standard low is quite bright when its completely dark but the tint makes it less glaring than normal.
Its easy on the eyes, great for reading.

 

[carrot]

Check out the ICON Irix 2