4AA Helmet light advice

Wow! There are other people like me out there! I thought I was the only flashlight-obsessed person around.

My question: I just hooked up with my local VFD and have been looking at helmet lights. I don't think I'll be using it enough to justify a rechargeable, and the one hour run-time on most lithiums seems ridiculous to me, so I'm thinking 4AA. I'm considering the Streamlight 4AA, the UK4AA Worklight, and the Pelican Stealthlight. I'm leaning towards the Pelican. Anybody have any experience or advice on these lights?

Thanks.

They all suck, but Pelican would be my choice.

Have you looked at Elektrolumens headlamp? You can find a review of it here.

Elecktrolumens headlamp is worthless for firefighting.

uk4aa hands down. It has the easiest switch to use with gloves on of any of the lights. Operating small or tricky switches is no easy task with bunker gear on. And it's approved for hazardous locations. Lots of helmet mounting options. Every fire dept in our local area uses them.

I wouldn't go with elektrolumens for your lighting needs. For use with the fire dept you should stick to lights that are approved for the situations you will be facing. The last think you want to do is get accidently blown up because your light isn't approved for the hazardous locations you visit.

UK4AA AS2 is probably the best choice for you. Although many find it quite tight of beam, that might be just what a firefighter needs!

Pelican 4AA Stealthlite is quite a bit larger, and I find the switch a bit akward...

Edit:If you click on my lights pic down below, the Stealthlite is the bright yellow light left of center near the front, and the UK is two spaces left of it. Look at the size difference!!!

In a smoke filled room a flood light does nothing for you. It creates a lot of brightly lit smoke. Tight beams are helpfull in firefighting in that regard.

The Elektrolumens Elektrostar is 'worthless' only in the sense that it's made of plastic. It would probably do fine until it started to melt or had burning material fall on it. At that point, I think I'd be long gone. Otherwise, it would do a fine job. It has a tight beam that would be great in smoky conditions.

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PhotonBoy said:
The Elektrolumens Elektrostar is 'worthless' only in the sense that it's made of plastic. It would probably do fine until it started to melt or had burning material fall on it. At that point, I think I'd be long gone. Otherwise, it would do a fine job. It has a tight beam that would be great in smoky conditions.

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You are kidding, right?

"The headlamp's fine just as long as we don't actually go near fire..."

I wouldn't want a firefighter to be unable to do his/her job because he/she was afraid of the headlamp melting.

So how about your rubber boots, rubberized clothing and gloves....

First, I have yet to see a (commercialy produced) LED light that has a tight enough beam to be able to compete with an incandecent in that regard. Feel free to prove me wrong on that one if you can.

Second, although I am sure Wayne has a quality headlamp, I do not believe that he has obtained the necessary certifications to ensure that the light is completly sealed and will not spark in a combustable atmosphere.

Lastly, Luxeon LED's don't like to get very hot. So don't use them for firefighting helmets. It's that simple. Even if it didn't melt, I would think that the thermal radiation from a fire could easily put the LS over it's rated junction temperature, whereas bulbs are much more tolerant of getting hot.

Thanks for all the advice.

On the LED vs inc. question, based on my (very) limited experience I agree with FreeBSDboy. I had a chance to examine a Stealthlight 4AA LED over the weekend. It was pretty cool, gave a nice wide flood of blue-white light, and would be next to useless in a smoke-filled building.

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PhotonBoy said:
The Elektrolumens Elektrostar is 'worthless' only in the sense that it's made of plastic.

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It is worthless in another way: won't fit/stay on fire helmets and can't generally be used with face shields. Side-mount is the way to go for most fire guys

nm

Our brigade use Xenon-bulbed UK4AA's which are ok. I also carry my own Streamlight 4AA 7LED which has proved to be invaluable. The flood beam is great at RTA's (MVA's?) and for open-land firefighting. At a recent furze fire the boys' UKs were all dying but my Streamlight was still emitting loads of light. I highly recommend it for its quality of light and long run time.

When my wife wants to know why I need the UK4AA AND the Streamlight 4AA 7LED, I'll refer her to you guys.

Y'all gonna back me up, right?

BTW, Steve Andrews, what is a furze fire?

Brush fire?

All right FC, you reeled me in.
1. What model SF is that?
2. Where did you get the helmet mount? (It looks like a conduit clip.)
3. Is the switch difficult to operate when wearing FF gloves?
4. How quickly does that thing eat batteries?

Nice pics.

FC - you should send that top pic to Surefire for their next catalog!

1. SF 6P-N
2. SF M15 mount ( surefire does not know that they make it, so you will have to give them the part number, M15)
3. I turn it on before I put gloves on
4. Get 45 minutes of great light.

It is as bright as a Lightbox.

Thanks guys /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif