Highest sustained-brightness floody 18650 headlamp...?

[Tremelune]

I have a floody 4000K Zebralight H600Fc Mk IV XHP50.2 for working on cars and it's fantastic. My complaint is that max brightness only lasts a few minutes before it surreptitiously ramps down (presumably due to heat). There is still plenty of battery life after that, but it's just...not as bright.

Are there any alternatives here for me or must I just use the not-so-max brightness (which is still pretty good)?. I'm hoping to keep a similar size/weight, but I could go bigger...Battery life is of no concern, as I have a stack of charged batteries always at the ready nearby.

Is there another form factor I should consider? I've seen some "light bar" headlamps, but they seem to be from no-name brands, and I fear low quality LEDs. It would be nice to have multiple light sources to reduce shadows, though...

 

[Bimmerboy]

Definitely check out Lucifer headlamps. https://luciferlights.net/en/led-headlamps They seem to feature constant brightness, and for your needs I might suggest getting one with more output than you need, then running it a level lower than max to better manage heat.

No matter what, with a lot of heat going into a small amount of aluminum with passive cooling, some kind of compromise has to be made. Otherwise, the LEDs will degrade, and you wouldn't be able to touch the unit and have a little furnace attached to your forehead.

Hopefully my above suggestion fits the bill. The Lucifers seem very well made. I hope to own one myself someday.

 

[Tremelune]

Oo, very interesting. Those multi-lights might work well! I think you're right about y options...Just get something super bright and just use a lower setting...

 

[Tremelune]

The bummer with those LED arrays is that they come with their own battery packs. I have a stack of 18650s and a charger, so I'm hoping to keep those in the mix.

 

[3L3M3NT]

See what you can find on https://skylumen.com/ There might be something on there that'll work for you.

 

[Bimmerboy]

If by LED arrays you mean the Lucifers, they are actually made to use 18650s. The wire coming off the headband goes to a battery tube. Protected is their recommendation, but unprotected will also work.