need a BRIGHT headlamp!!!!!

[Louise]

I am new to posting on this forum, though I have read stuff on it a couple times....
You guys seem to be the place to be when it comes knowledege of lights!!!!
I am looking to upgrade a light for coon hunting and the new LED's on the coon hunting market are great but I think there may be something out there greater!!! Maybe a bike or scuba light. I could probably handle some minor modding, I have fiddled around a bit with my old lights to keep them running, soldering, wiring, etc...
I currently own a 21V battery pack with a RCA jack. I also have two heads for it. One I never use is an Adcon 5100 head with an incandescant lamp hi/ lo side. I thought the light was the best thing since sliced cheese until I saw a few LED lights.
I purchased the ProHead, made by Fox Fury for a coon hunting light company. I have heard it is rated at 570 lumens
http://www.conkeysoutdoors.com/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=LEDPRO
This is a great light!!!! I recharge it about every three weeks!!!! The 5100 got recharged daily!!!!
But of course, brighter is better, and I want more!!!!!!
I have compared it to several of the new LEDs in the coon hunting market but think there has to be some thing brighter!!!!!!
So guys, I need some help....
1. A headlight that will operate in the 16V- 26V range, preferablely 21V
2. Really bright, the brighter the better
3. Waterproof
4. Mountable to a hat or bump camp
5. A good run time it has to last all night on one charge, preferably two or three or more(being way out in the woods with no light is no fun, did it plenty of times with the incandesant head)
Suggestions, please??????
Thanks in advance,
Louise

 

[hopkins]

Do you need to be running the lamp on high
all the time for your sighting? Maybe another battery pack would be the cheapest solution. And a small headlamp worn around the neck as a backup
and/or to save the main headlamp battery till needed?

Cavers have a real need to carry several lights. You may be in a
similar situation.

Several extra battery packs of course are an easy solution. Hope you don't have to carry them all at once.

Or maybe something like this.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.25149
http://www.attackpoint.org/discussionthread.jsp/message_347166

 

[Louise]

Wow, I have not seen this light.
At that price it's worth ordering just to try!!!!
The PROHEAD I have cost $175 - $200
You probably could easliy have 1-2 hours on high in the winter time, I have never timed it.
The 21V battery pack I have will run quite a while. I'll check to see what I can find on it, but on a 12V32x incandescant bulb it will run a good 10-11 hours on the lowest setting, and on the highside of the bulb probably 2 or so hours, if you could keep it cool enough. More times than I would like however I have walked out of the woods in total darkness with one of these, not fun leading a dog too. Ha ha, I've done it a little lost too, pre GPS and dropped a compass, I had the light of my cell phone with no service. Did I say I spend every spare dollar and minute pursuing this awesome sport, lol.
On the LED prohead, wish I knew what LED's were in it I could hunt every night for 3 weeks, literally all night, this has spoiled me to recharging the battery every three weeks. If I could get insanely bright and keep the battery pack I have I would go back to charging every night.
I hadn't thought about the possibility of carring two heads. I try to minimize what I take since everything feels four times as heavy by the end of the night. In clothes and equipment and sweat, not counting my 10/22 rifle, I weighed everything one morning when I got in... 40 lbs, I only weigh 135, a little less than 1/3 of my body weight, plus 3 ignorant dogs.
I'm excited!!!!
If anyone else has any suggestions keep em coming!!!!!!
I am definately looking into that one.
It's amazing how far LED's have come in the recent years!!!!!
I have thought a lot about that p7 LED but have never done any major mods myself, I know enough about electricity to be merely dangerous

 

[Louise]

It says the maximum input volage is 8.4V.
Dumb question. If I have a 21V battery pack, could I put 3 in series?

 

[TorchBoy]

I'm not sure I'd recommend that head because handheld it would get much less cooling than on a bike and you would want to use it for long durations. But I do think you can probably find what you want with an LED (or maybe several) in it. I gave up using a rechargeable 100 W spotlight when I got an inexpensive LED torch with an aspheric lens in the front of it that focuses a very nice beam.

Can you give us some more information about your battery? What type is it (eg, Li-ion, SLA)? What is its voltage fully charged?

 

[hopkins]

Louise
Unless you can rewire your 21volt battery pack (Ni-cad? Ni-mH?) down to
8.4volts at full charge probably a good idea to go with the Magicshine 900's
Li-ion battery pack and either buy a spare or

what I'd do is make a pack for 6 Ni-mH rechargeable AA cells in series 1.4volts (fullcharge) X 6 = 8.4volts. Cheaper but heavier. Cells are removed to charge in ordinary NimH AA charger.

Did you see this deal for the light head only. wow!
http://www.geomangear.com/index.php...ducts_id=143&zenid=39rd64au24jv0aj3nh6d0sqc86

http://www.geomangear.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=13

And the spare cheapo headlamp 3xaaa type is only a few ounces.

 

[Ritch]

Here is the best you can get. But those lights are awesome expensive.

http://www.lupine.de/web/de/produkte/stirnlampen/tesla/x/

> richard

 

[TorchBoy]

Here is the best you can get. But those lights are awesome expensive.

http://www.lupine.de/web/de/produkte/stirnlampen/tesla/x/

Best in what way? Not for light output - it's only 700 lumens at the LED.

 

[Ritch]

Best in what way? Not for light output - it's only 700 lumens at the LED.

Better for you?

http://www.lupine.de/web/de/produkte/stirnlampen/betty/xpro/

 

[psychbeat]

have you checked out the magicshine headlamp?


its a cheaper copy of the lupine- theres a newer version
with two more emitters.. kinda weird looking tho...

 

[vtunderground]

Is there any way to disassemble your Foxfury headlamp? It MAY be possible to upgrade the current LEDs to get more output, or to replace the optics to get a more desirable beam (more throw, more flood, whatever you'd like).

 

[TorchBoy]

Better for you?

http://www.lupine.de/web/de/produkte/stirnlampen/betty/xpro/

Apart from not reading German too well, yes, 1850 lumens is much better.

 

[Louise]

That is a good deal!!!
I am checking out the majic shine light.
I really like the homemade battery pack...
The battery pack on my light, has rechargeables longer than a AA battery, 15 of them. They are in shrink wrap and fit very tightly in the pouch, take it off, I could find no writing on them either, they are light green.
When I become independently wealthy the first thing I will buy is a lupine light!!!!
They are very nice....
As for the Fox Fury head, it's pretty well sealed and very water proof, I have thought about that too... but I don't want to open it with out a plan to upgrade (yes, I am a wuss!!!), maybe I will call them and ask if they think it might be doable, esp since the warranty is expired anyway. I was also told it is non repairable, I may see if I can find a nonworking one to buy though and tinker with it!!!!
Any ideas on which LED would be good to upgrade to?
Thanks guys for all your input, you guys are great!!!!