How do you deal with bugs and back-glare when using headlamps?

From time to time, two things bother me when using some of my headlamps. In winter, when moisture content is high, my PT EOS especially generates a lot of glare off the moisture in the air. Having the light source so close to the eyes causes one to look down the shaft of haze, sometimes obliterating the visibility of what one is looking at. The tighter the throw, the worse the effect.

Second, in warmer weather, when bugs abound, they are attracted by the light straight toward my eyes and face. Quite annoying! Any tricks to address these two issues... besides holding a flashlight in my hands or using "OFF!"

actually, i heard that yellow/amber filters or LEDs will not attract bugs, and since most fog lights are also amber colored to reduce glare, that might solve both of your problems, unfortunately everything will take on a yellow glow. Your other option is a headnet...so i guess its which option will annoy you least. I do not actually have a headlamp, for mostly those reasons, I am waiting for mr. zebralight to do a high power Amber LED version and i'll be all over it!

Yes ... a Bee-Keeper headnet made totally of fine mesh all around the head , would be my only answer too. (along with DEET)

But be prepared for getting some funny looks and snickers .

(I have a bee net and have used it at times when the bugs were really bad) I have TooManyGizmos .

Are you using headlamps for camping , working on car , or nighttime gardening ?
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TooManyGizmos said:

Are you using headlamps for camping , working on car , or nighttime gardening ?
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The glare is an annoyance when hiking in the woods with high moisture content and viewing at distances. The bugs are more an annoyance in warmer months around the back yard.

Sounds like you need the world's 1st leglamp (the lower the better, like my car's foglamps) and a UV light in your back yard.

Using the headlamp with a ball cap is a possibility for reducing glare, but it's not perfect. The bug thing is a show stopper for me using headlamps outdoors in the warm months.

For these reasons I gravitate toward HLs that are mostly floody for indoor, short range work only.

Been wondering about this myself. I made a dual bulb fishing headlight that uses a 12v 20w 3000K dichroic for the high beam, and a bluish white led cluster for the low.

The yellower dichroic attracts ickies like you would not believe. The bluer diffuse low beam is far less bad to the point of non-existant, although at the height of the hatch still attracts some. Realistically, I have found that simply a less intense more diffuse beam = less 'visitors'/reflected glare.

For the bugs, buy some DEET. I know this was already mentiones, but all DEET products are not created equal. Get the non-aerosal type with 98.5% DEET like Ben's (stores like EMS, REI, Campmor, ****'s, SPorts Authority should all have something equivalent to this).

I've been deep in the woods and this stuff will literally keep a 3 foot barrier between you and the bugs (and it's a great feeling when you see them swarming around you past that ~3 foot mark).

Please be cautious with it though; it's a harsh chemical and can deform some plastics, and shouldn't be used for weeks at a time or anything.

I've run into both. I use a flood lamp so the mist just cuts down visibility. A handheld in the pocket is good but it's kind of a light sabre too.

I think a flood lamp just attracts bugs from a wider angle. No amount of deet will keep june bugs from charging your head. I setup a lantern nearby to attract most of the bugs away from me. Keep the headlamp off or hold it in my hand for a bit if it gets overwhelming.

I tried some green lights in the boat last fall. They were covered in some little bugs so I don't know. I don't like red. Plants show up as black so it isn't impressive in the woods. It works good in a white room though. Haven't tried other colors yet. I don't know if there is a magic color or if one color doesn't attract june bugs, another gnats, etc. I'm fishin though so sometimes I spend some time in the dark.

re: Mosquito netting - Works great, make sure you're inside and light is outside. If light is inside it'll illuminate the mesh and you won't see out.

Make a fake head: put up a pole/flag/cap - many bugs fly to the highest part of an animal and try to eat - if you stick a walking pole up 2feet above your head with a toque or bandanna around it, lots of bugs will spend hours leaving your real head alone.

Watch against a night sky for bats flying around eating - lots of bugs out in the darkness. It's just that you can't see the hundreds of bugs flying around and circling the back of your head because they're in the dark.

re: pure Deet - yeah works ok if there's only a few bugs. When they get thick its more of a marinade you put on for them.

A colored LED works great, that's the one and only thing the Rayovac Sportsman Xtreme had going for it. I could get water safely and with no bugs using that blue LED.
You could just make a slip on filter/diffuser with a bottle cap and colored film/tape/plastic/soda bottle/ etc. Sounds like a fun way to kill 5 minutes, anyway.

I've never had a problem with glare and as for the bugs... I've largely learned to ignore them when hiking and camping. I wear long pants, long sleeve shirts, and a jacket's hood or a decent hat/toque/balaclava can be great protection depending on conditions.

Hack On Wheels said:

I've never had a problem with glare and as for the bugs... I've largely learned to ignore them when hiking and camping. I wear long pants, long sleeve shirts, and a jacket's hood or a decent hat/toque/balaclava can be great protection depending on conditions.

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Good points, but that might be a tough solution for Alabama in July...

Hello everyone,

I've always been bothered on cold days when my exhaled breath would hang in the light beam of either the Princeton Tec EOS or Quad that I use and reflect back at me.

The solution was to wear the headlamp around my neck. I take it off my head, turn it upside down as it aims better that way slide it over my head onto my neck and snug it up so it faces forward. Now the exhaled breath goes up and away from the light. You do have to turn from the waist to go side to side, but walking forward is easy.

I don't know how you would do this with a light that has an overhead center strap.

Bye for now.

The third strap can just be put on one side, not ideal but it works.

GRunner said:

I take it off my head, turn it upside down ... I don't know how you would do this with a light that has an overhead center strap.

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G-string?