Attaching small flashlights to a hat bill

So it ended up for me that the best headlamp solution was something I already had - a Quark Mini 123 simply duct taped to the bill of a hat.



Ended up getting a Mini AA and Eneloops for this - my runtime requirements finally hit the point of having to go rechargeable, and cheaply.



Duct tape works PERFECTLY for this, but I'm curious to see any other solutions...



I've thought of sewing a piece of elastic fabric on to a hat (this would be a hat dedicated to the purpose, used almost nightly, and for hours at a time when used).



I've thought of Velcro.



Ive thought of putting metal grommets in the bill and tying the light down with elastic cord.



But everything I think of seems to have the potential to be either:



1. More wobbly than securing with duct tape, or



2. More susceptible to letting the light fall off...



Any ideas (either actually done or theoretical)?

well a quark mini aa is perfect for mouth holding,i do this for hands free things sometimes,but that might not answer your question...so what comes to mind is those spandex like material hunters bullet holders..those things that hold rifle bullets maybe 8 or 10 of them,they stretch and hold the bullets snugly,this would be perfect if you could trim one tube of one and sew it to your hat,but since hats usualy have a plastic bill you could take a tiny drill bit and drill tiny holes to pass your fishing line or whatever tough thread medium you might chose..

I'm going to make a "Zebralight hat" for my SC51. The clip on the SC51 forces "bezel down" carry in the pocket, which is fine for that. What I'm going to do, once I figure out the ideal placement, is cut a square, or rectangular hole, with an Exacto knife, in the center of the hat brim, so I can slip the clip of the SC51 into the hole and viola! A headlamp hat! I want the front of the bezel to be even with the front of the hats bill. Once I get it done, maybe I can post a pic or two of the hat with light attached.

I have 2 quark minix's and the same thought occured to me. What I was thinking was to punch some holes in the bill of an old BB cap (I have at least 20 hats,) and ziptie the 2 mini's on the top of the bill.
Presto a 400+ lumen "hatlamp"!
You could crank the zipties down really good and the lights would never move or shift.
But, considering Spark just came out with a 500 lumen XM-L model I decided against it.

The ITP EOS A3 is perfect for a hat bill. Just reverse the snap clip that comes with the light, and clip it to the top of the bill. I use the XP-G R5 version of the A3 (which has a little more flood), with the first mode being low beam, next is medium beam, then high beam.

If any of you are in the market for a clip that can clip to a hat bill, and fits a variety of handheld flashlights... Then you might take a look at the Quarrow HighBeam Rechargeable headlamps. Not for the light, but for the clip. I have been using a Quark Mini 123 Watrm White in it and it works very well. The clip rotates 360 degrees Horizontally, and also Up/down too. You can clip it to a hat, shirt pocket, pants pocket, backpack, belt, etc. They are also extremely lightweight. I picked up a few of these for $6.99 at Frys Electronics last year on sale, although the price has jumped back to around $15 it seems. Here is a picture..

I have some like these that I put red LEDs for reading star charts and seeing different mechanical controls when out with a telescope.
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=hat+led+lamp&_sacat=See-All-Categories

A little funky but they work for close range.

Best regards,

Gary

I've found that the Zebralight pocket clip is awesome for securing small diameter lights to baseball caps. Here are some pics of it on Thrunite 1C backwards, but you can easily reverse the clip and make it a ballcap-light-holder.

I try to buy lights that allow hat clippage, but will improvise.

if you can't find a clip for your Mini AA or just want something super secure, you might try bolting a nite-ize clamp to your hat bill. it fits mag AA's so it should fit your Mini.

As promised, I made a Zebralight hat! Works with my SC51 or my SC60w. I may devise something like an elastic cord to loop over the very front of the light body to keep it from moving sideways, but honestly, if the hat bill is thick enough, the stock ZL clip holds the little light very firmly, but still allows a little lateral adjustment if it's not pointing exactly where you want it. I'm also going to take out a little more material from the "back" edge, as it goes in nice and easy, but gets cramped at the screw heads when trying to take it back out of the bill. After I fine tune it, I'll seal the edges where the cloth material was cut with super glue to keep the threads from unravelling. This was just an experiment to see if it would work well so excuse the dirty looking hat. When I get this one just how I want it, I'll pick another hat I like, and modify it the same. Even though my ZL models aren't the true headlamp varieties, they work exceptionally well in this fashion! Here's some pics showing above and below the brim.


I just wanted to make sure the end of the light was even with, or ever so slightly behind the edge of the caps bill, so as not to cast a shadow, but also I didn't want glare in my eyes. So far, I like it!

As you can tell from my response to this post from jorn, I really like this idea. Simple and effective across a wide range of small lights.:thumbsup:

- Jas.