interested in all flood, no reflector headlamp but concerned about the lack of throw?

if you're thinking of buying an all flood headlamp for outdoor use but are uncertain about how much throw it'll provide, try this:

you can sort of replicate the beam pattern of an all flood headlamp with a soft white 60 watt light bulb, a desk lamp, a long extension cord, and some card board. cut a round hole in the cardboard a little bigger than the bulb, place the bulb right behind the cutout, and then take it outside at night, turn it on, and aim.

a soft white 60 watt bulb produces about 600-800 lumens depending on the brand. placing it just behind the cutout should reduce OTF output to 100 to 150 ish lumens. the throw from this setup is very close to the throw from a reflectorless LED headlamp setup. take note that the tint and CRI will be very different from whatever LED headlamp by comparison, but the throw will be about the same.

beamshots and video can only tell you so much. this should give you an idea whether an all flood lamp throws enough for your outdoor uses.

What if you took a flashlight that makes approximately the same lumens as the headlamp that you are looking at buying, remove the reflector, and see how it performs as a mule? That's pretty much what you'll see from an all flood light.

yes. if you have a flashlight that has an easily accessible and removable reflector, that would be much easier. Maglites come to mind.

however, i am a bit skittish about removing reflectors as i've ruined my share by mis-handling them.