Practical Portable Worklight

Is there a summary of worklights thread? I have been reading/searching but not finding the information I need yet. (It may be in another forum.) And I'm still reading. Hopefully someone will have kindness...:mecry:

I work in the audio/video/control systems industry. Recently I was in a dim room trying to make connections for an extended period of time and realized that my Energizer Headlight 3LED was too weak. It works better in darker rooms but the low light accually was enough to lower its effectiveness.
I switched to a a typical mouthheld flashlight for that long was impractical (drool factor). The hotspot washed out the work making it harder to see with precision, others were too weak. Plus I discovered that I don't like holding a flashlight in my mouth because I know where it had been. Gross.
Plus the color-tint was screwing with blue-green distintion.
Others wouldn't stay put, they liked to roll/flop, bend where they did the least good.

In all the job took longer than it should have. Way longer.

So my quest is for a floody, brighter (selectable), hands free worklight with a tint that allows color distintion. (orange and brown look alike, as does green/blue in certain tints and the exact color the manufacturer uses). I sometimes work on very small connections up close so keep that in mind, and floody is best for this type of work.

I've looked at cliplights, LED glasses, hatlights, Energizer hard-case headlights, Swivel Lights, Flourescent Folding lantern, TerraLux WorkStar, Black&Decker, Stanley, Zebralights, various desk lamps, and cordless magnifying lamps. but looking online isn't knowing how useful it is offline.

Zebralights repersent the upper end of what I want to spend at this time.
And there may not be a single solution. But I'd like to know what works for others.

hi there.
well my job is kinda the same as yours.i work in telecomunications,connecting from normal electrical copper cable to fiberoptics,telephony,utp....
most of the time i use a fenix mc10,with a headband or clipped on my hat, or shirt poket.find this light can handdle almost any situation.
it also comes with a diffuser,for more flood.uses one aa battery and has pretty good autonomy:low,like 50 hours,medium arround 5.
it has a nice white tint color,so brown looks like brown
also when connecting optical fibers,i mostly use the quark rgb.don´t know why,but if i turn the red color,i can see much better.loots of flood too.
hope it helps you.

tony

Have you considered a DIY headband kind of solution? I clip my ITP-A3 to my hat and it works great, when I want a more spot throwey beam than my H501.

My sister in law gave this Joby task-light to me for christmas. It uses an XPE emitter driven at low current, to extend run times. Out of the box its WAY too spot-throwey, so I used scotch tape to flood the beam and its nice as a close range kind of light. Although its still far from a pure flood.

It is a regulated circuit and runs a long time off standard alkalines. Although eneloops are my preference. It has an infinitely variable dimmer control circuit. Its only about 50 Lumens though on HI, so I don't know if its bright enough for you.

it has magnetic feet so you can stick it onto anything magnetic. I dont have a pic of it, but I stick it onto my drill press to put a near-spot of light onto my work piece.

I have a Black & Decker 26-LED bright bar that I use. It has a rechargeable battery inside and has a hook at the top which is rather useful.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H75L1O/?tag=cpf0b6-20

Some stores (Target I think) carry the smaller 14-LED version of it.

Is this your headlamp? I think these are about 20 Lumens, and they are intended to be more of a LONG running task light.

http://www.botachtactical.com/enhead.html

So your goal should be roughly something in the 50+ Lumen range as a good starting point. You should probably surf the headlamp sub forum, or make a trip to your local REI store. They have dozens of headlamps to choose from and demo models on display to try on.

I really like my zebralight H501. The H50 is nice too.

Thanks to all.
tucolino, I didn't even know that model existed. Hmmm...standable, headbandable, brightness seems enough, diffuser.

kramer5150, I don't often wear a hat and I own a iTP-A3. some jobsites hats would not be appropriate. Something to think about when it is appro. That JOBY is too cool! Magnetic feet, brilliant!
Yes that is the Energizer model I have. I've looked at the various headlight models on the other forums just gathering info at this point. I may just need a brighter headlight.
energizer makes a 6LED that is brighter and another Hard Case headlight. Plus the various Tikka, PT, UK, Fenix models. All possible solutions. The nearest REI is 300 miles. There are other stores of the like so I may take a shopping trip.

Robin24k, That has been considered but waiting for an evaluation before I buy anything. I like the cord/cordless option with some of the barlights.
How directional is it?
Lanterns were blinding me as much as lighting the work so that didn't last long. They are now in the almost forgotten catagory.

The practical/portable side is one backpack, messenger bag, camera bag that has the eccentials in it. Keep the specialities elsewhere. So room is limited.

So far a H501, headlight or MC10 and a JOBY or Barlight may be the way to go. And a hat.
Thanks again. The replies have breathed new life into the search.