Headlamp for my father

[lovenhim]

I have been looking around this forum and searching and all that fun stuff. I am looking for an inexpensive, bang for the buck headlamp for my dad. He is an old school car guy who builds engines and works on some classic cars and his own cars. He does not like droplights because of the cord you have to drag around with the light and he is cheap in that he is not going to buy a rechargeable LED worklight. I would like to get him a headlamp that is simple to use and has some basic modes such as a low/med/hi. Battery type is not a big deal as i can keep him in batteries or show him where to get a CR123 for example. I see the ITP light is out there and a Zebralight is out of my price range. I would like to stay in the $25 or less range but can be a bit more. I am ok with something used.

 

[chris23]

You could look at some streamlights, these are the only headlamps I have experience with, I have a argo hp c4 which is more of a spot beam than flood, but it might be useful for getting extra light onto one part of the engine while providing some flood light (has low and high settings) other light I have is streamlight septor (low, med, high) led headlamp, that's $30 while the argo hp is about $35, the septor uses 3 AAA's, argo uses 2 CR123's, the septor is mostly flood, and has a somewhat bluish tint;
one last streamlight that I've seen but haven't used is the streamlight 61400 enduro, about $13 on amazon, can clip it to a hat too

 

[adamjh3]

You could also try one of the energizer headlamps. I have one - the mini, I think - and it works very well for me. Runs on a single AA, infinitely variable output.

 

[etherealshade]

I've got one of the ones discussed here: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=97877 kicking about unused. I'd be happy to post it to you, if you want it.

 

[fishx65]

Walmart sells a 3aaa coleman cree for around 25 bucks that is pretty nice. I would also consider getting him set up with a charger and batteries for the garage.

 

[fixitman]

Since he is working on a car, color rendition is somewhat important. I would try and avoid headlamps that use cheep 5mm LEDs. The tints from really cheep 5mm LEDS is really, really bad, and can make seeing the color of wiring and other things difficult. Stick to Cree or Rebel based headlamps, and you should be fine.

Too bad you cant afford a Zebralight H501w, the wide flood beam and neutral tint is perfect for up close work. When I am working inside machinery, it is my light of choice. Plus, if you get one of those clip magnets from a office supply store, you can make it into an extremely portable work light that you can position where ever you need it.

 

[lovenhim]

Thank you all for the help. After your replies and some reading I have a much better idea of what is out there now.

 

[jhc37013]

How about one of the two new Icon's being discussed in thread link below with other links. it should be easy for him to use just dial the knob for brightness control and Icon makes good stuff from what I've seen.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=276150

look at two different models- http://www.myiconlight.com/myiconlight/content/templates/main/main/products.html?item=irix1

For sale here near bottom of page- http://www.opticsplanet.net/icon-flashlights.html