headlamp for night crabbing

Hey guys I'm a newbie. I'm looking for a headlamp that I can use to go crab hunting in the night. I need a light that can cut through about 3-5 foot of murky water to light up the bottom. Also needs to have very long run time. I generally stay out for 5-7 hours at a time. Rechargeable Batts would b best. Also I Don wanna spend that much but a great light that would help me to catch more would be worth the extra coin.i guess the beam best for me would be a spot and fill. But let me know what u guys think and please make suggestions based on real world experience.

I'm not sure a headlamp is your better illumination option? I don't know where you are located and what your crabbing technique is but I can tell you mine for simple reference. I crab using waders and along the shoreline. So I'm never is water deeper than 3 to 4 feet and typically when its pretty calm. Normally from late August to the end of October. Maybe into November if the season is rocking. I like to use a Coleman lantern myself. I own just about every make and type of headlamp there is and not one of them would be suited to the task. Wouldnt matter if they were spot or floody. Beam profile would be dependent on where my head was turned. That's not well suited to finding crab using my catching method. One needs to be looking left and right with a uniform amount of lumens, sweeping the area to look for changes in bottom color. That's how you detect crabs here. A spot type would only light up the immediate area in front of you and movement out of your peripheral would suffer. A flood might work but once again it would be dependent on ones head movement and where you were looking at.

I have my coleman tucked into the baggy front upper section of my waders between the suspenders. The backside of the globe has a section of aluminum foil to block light from blinding me and the best part of using a propane lantern is the byproduct. Heat. Water around here even in August is still in the upper 50's and in October it's down in the 40's. Don't know about you but my hands are almost always wet, even with neoprene gloves, and they get chilly. The warmth coming off the lantern is just what the doctor ordered for staying out a tad bit longer than I had planned. In case you were wondering I use a large cooler tied to me, floating like a barge behind me, for my welcome dinner hosts. Best of all? It's that season again right now. Hmmmmm,........Dungies. It's whats for dinner!

My buddy uses a cheap water proof light on about a 3 foot PVC stick. So he can put the light under or close to the water. He claims it works well.

If you want a headlight, I would think you need too look for more of a throw light vs floody?

Dollar amount of your budget? I think cheap is anything under $100.

Check out the Fenix HP40F and some of the other Fenix Headlamps. They have some that may work well for you.

It may blow your budget??

Thanks for the feedback!! Propane!!?? Never thought of that. But it would have to be insanely bright to penetrate to the bottom. I prefer headlamps bcuz I scap along the coast also. Keeps my hands free to use a scoop net when I spot them. I find that if I use too broad of a light it sometimes spooks the crab and they take off running. With a more concentrated beam I can sometimes kept the beam just near enough to them to spot them without spooking them. I definitely need maximum throw to penetrate the water so I will check out the Fenix . A 100$ is not too bad for me so that will work

http://www.petzl.com/en/Sport/PERFORMANCE-headlamps/TIKKA-RXP?l=INT#.Ved4mZePSV4 i use thew tikka rxp and program a low spot beam only this will penetrate the water and the spot only wont flood which will scare the crabs off.
I go crabbing myself and use this torch looking in the rock pools at night