Raw headlamp power- LOL your choice?

[todd92371]

Hello,
If you had to pick one headlamp that is under a 100 dollars that has the maximum amount of light output what would it be? No bells and whistles. Just muscle brawn. Kinda like the muscle cars of headlamps- LOL. I run the trails at night and use a EOS in my hand (awesome by the way- run by this primarily). But, want a headlamp that has OOOMMMPPPHHHH to make to make the boogy man go away. Love to be able to spot deer and see what that rustle in the woods is! What do you think. I've been hearing the Brunton L5 is a power house.

Thanks,
todd

 

[holm0299]

I just got the 130 lumen PT Apex and it is really bright. The 5mm LED's alone outshine my Streamlight Propoly 7 LED light. The 3 watt maxbright doesn't have as much throw as my SL Argo HP C4, but it just explodes out much more overall light. Very impressed so far.

 

[tnuckels]

Check Szemhazai's website for comparisons. I believe that the Brunton L5 is the same headlamp as the Sliva LX, so scroll to his LX pictures on one side and compare to another light of interest on the other side. At 1.5x the price, the LX doesn't seem that much better than the Brunton L3/Silva L1 or the MYO RXP, but it is of course difficult to judge real world usefulness solely from pictures.

Pay no attention to the really bright pictures, the Ultra/Alpha/ETC.headlamps, if you want you wallet to stay intact. If you stare into the light at the $3-400 price tag long enough, it doesn't look sooooooo big after all.

 

[Yucca Patrol]

Princeton Tec Apex at 130 lumens. Even if it is not as waterproof as they claim, their customer support is excellent and will replaced water damaged lamps.
Almost all of my caving friends who do not have custom built expensive headlamps use the Apex.

 

[tnuckels]

It's too bad that Szemhazai's website doesn't have any Princeton Tec products for comparison, but perhaps PT is not available in Poland. Where are PT products made anyway?

I would have loved to see the tint on the 5mm flood LEDs on the Apex, compared to something else, and shied away from purchasing one for fear of getting more blue light and because of the undercurrent of plastic breakage problems I've read about on CPF.

At least the Apex is less likely to "catch fire".

 

[holm0299]

I hope to post some beamshots of the Apex soon. I haven't found any of the 130lm yet. Yucca is right. you can't beat a lifetime warranty. Even if the hinges are weak points, just send it right back for repair or replacement. That's the same reason I love to shop at REI.

 

[problemchild200]

The zebralight h60 is 200 lumens and 70.00

 

[tnuckels]

The zebralight h60 is 200 lumens and 70.00

... and is all flood ... perhaps not so good for reaching out and spotting some deer, as the OP was hoping to do. I don't know how far out the ZL's "wall of light" reaches, but I would guess a spot beam is more in order for deer spotting.