Re: Which headlamp do I want??
Just discoverd that I need a headlamp!
Was out in the woods the other day, and felt that I really need a headlamp!
The size shouldnt be bigger than ex Pricneton Tec Quad. 3AAA batts are fine.
Output should be very low, absolute under 10 lumen, or ability to choose a lower level! I used my Fenix P2D with its low, but it was to bright, would guess around 5 lumen or so would be sufficient.
Price, not over $35 including shipping. Would guess the shipping would be around $10-15, so max price would be $20-$25.
have had a look at petzl e+lite, the only thing about that one is the batterys. I dont know if thats good or bad for me, dont think I would be changing alot of batterys on it.. really like the two stage output, plus a red led!
Let me know what you guys think! 🙂
it sounds like your needs are not very demanding for a headlamp. even a young, healthy person with no contributing factors for less than optimum low light vision won't spot landmarks in the dark or blazes marking turns in trails at 20'-30' with just 5lumens of light output. so, to me, it sounds like you need just enough light to take a stroll on an undemanding path and be able to see 5'-10' in front of you. nothing wrong with that at all. just bringing this perception i have from your Post, so that my following recommendation will have some context for interpretation.
It sounds like all you only need a 2x5mm or 3x5mm white LED headlamp. A Petzl Tikkina or a Black Diamond Wiz or Gizmo would fit the bill - one has 2x5mm white LEDs and the other has 3x5mm (my old-timers is actin' up so i forget which has which). The two BD headlamps have a lo and high setting. The 2x5mm i like more than the 3x5mm. Batt life on the 3x5mm was shorter than i expected. I was less disappointed by the 2x5mm BD (Wiz???) and actually enjoyed it a bit. it just might meet your requirements. they market it as a child's headlamp (i call it "Baby's first headlamp"), but i really was impressed with it - NOT that it's a great headlamp, but for the price and form factor and being just 2x5mm white LEDs with both HI and LO (and flash, if i recall correctly - my memory isn't too good for some things any longer) it seemed like a decent headlamp. price is good too.
if you want the Tikkina, try to find a pre-06 specimen. Why? i'm forgetting the exact timeframe, but i believe it was '06 (unlikely,but possibly '05 - time slips by when one is on in years) Petzl switched to the newer 2x as bright white LEDs. these will produce too much light for you based upon your 5lumen upper limit requirement.
i can't recommend even an older pre-'06 Tikka or Zipka (3x5mm) because they only have one brightness setting and that will also be above you 5lumen upper limit when the batts are fresh.
that upper lumen limit of yours makes much above a single LED Photon Microlight (or equivalent) more than you have specified. Check REIoutlet.com, they had for just shy of $12 an eGear (rebranded Nuwai???) headlamp with 1x5mm LED, if i recall correctly, that used 1xAA batt with a Plano-Convex lens for focusing the beam. You could take that lens out if you want flood and replace it with a proper sized flat "lens". I've done that and switch back and forth if i want spot rather than flood and vice versa. it's not terribly bright, though it has some throw, for a little guy, with the plano-convex lens.
Coast also makes a 1xAAA single white LED headlamp. Gerber Tracer with 2x5mm, powered by 1xAAA (VERY POOR construction) suffers from occasional bad connection after changing the battery. i don't recommend the Gerber.
i'd just like to address the Petzl e+LITE. what i'm about to say applies to ALL Li coin cell headlamps, with the possible exception of the PT Scout.
Battery life/burntime/runtime IS THE ISSUE with Li coin cell headlamps. Manufacturer's make wild claims of 10-20 hours (and even up to 100hours in some cases for 1x5mm RED LED models), but in actuality they produce only about 30minutes of BRIGHT (for a single LED, that is) light.
Take for example the Petzl e+LITE powered by 2xCR2032 Li coin cells having 225mAh of stored energy each.
according to one on-line review, on fresh batts the e+LITE produced, on HI, approx. 300 lux at two feet (why two feet instead of 1m or 1' - i don't know why the reviewer picked that distance). however, 30minutes later it was down to approx 75 lux (right where LOW mode starts out) and both modes, i.e. HI and LO, followed each other closely at around 25 lux from two hours on.
a single AAA or AA powered headlamp is a far better solution, IMO.
The Princeton Tec Scout is a bit different. Only 2x5mm LEDs, but it is powered by 4xCR2032 batts and has 3 intensity modes (LO, MED, HI) plus flash.
you can buy CR2032 batteries in bulk for about 50 cents each and in single quantities from BrightGuy.com for maybe 70 or 80 cents each (sorry, i forget).
i hope this info was clear and will prove to be helpful to you.
if you have any specific questions i failed to answer, just reply and i'll try to answer them.
last year, i switched from headlamps to a Fenix flashlight either clipped to my ballcap brim/visor or side-mounted in a JakStrap headband. The L0D-CE has only 7.5 lumen output on LOW and a decent burntime and weighs under an ounce. Plus you have the 50lumen MAX output mode if you ever need it. I'd highly recommend you give it a try.
by the way, i own all of the above (and dozens more different headlamps) and have first-hand experience with them all. so, i'm not just "parroting" something i read somewhere.
my two shekels. as always this is only my opinion ("opinions are like arm pits, everyone has 'em and they usually stink" is what my Pappy told me when i was kid - he had a lot of wise farmer sayings as i called them then).
YMMV (your mileage may vary).
