Budget hotspot free light to appease crazy dog?

So my dog loves lights. He loves lights so much that he dragged me into a tree chasing the beam on my flashlight last night. He seems the most focused on hotspots, as he doesn't chase the lights on the headlamp I have, which are weaker and more diffused (the red and blue also don't seem to bother him as much but I kind of hate them). But the headlamp barely lights up anything so....

1.) Is there an affordable headlamp (or flashlight) that has a wide beam for night walks, but no hotspots? I really don't want to go over $40 since it's just for walking the dog, but I will if I have to because I also don't want to inadvertently sneak up on a possum.

Thank you in advance for sharing your obsessive knowledge of flashlights :twothumbs

Check out the Energizer hard case at places like Home Depot.
It's like $15, runs on aa's, has a very durable platic shell and puts out a bright, diffused beam you may like.

These were my first 3 lights.
1 is coast hp7 from lowes $40
2 is ever ready hard case from home depot $15
3 is coast G25 from home depot $15(?) I forget



The HP7

^^ flood mode


^^ spot mode


^^ ever ready


^^ the G25.


The ever ready is a bright, well diffused room lighter.
The G25 has 3 blue-ish tint led's for gentle 2am nature calls. Also very well diffused.
Both are durable walk the dog lights.

Since we're talking budget here I would suggest any number of the cheapie focusing flashlights you can get on Bang Good or all day mall (for examples) in the $7 to $15 range. In the wide or flood setting these lights have absolutely no spot just a wide circle of light that would be fine for walking the dog in the evening and if you did need to reach out a ways to see what's rattling behind yon shrub you can zoom out and get it. Most of these are a good bit over rated in the lumen department, for instance I have one I got from DealsXtreme for $7.69 it's the UltraFire SH98. It's rated at I think 910 Lm but I wasn't expecting anything near that, I just like to play with these lights and I love the design. I have no way to measure but comparing to other more expensive lights I have I'd say it does at least a good four hundred Lumens which ain't bad at this price range at all. It has a Cree Xml T6 bulb and runs on a single 18650. Of course I have a good panasonic battery in it not a cheapie.

It seems like something you might be interested in, only problem is if you get it from DX like I did it takes almost three weeks to get here from China so you may want to get one or a similar something from a site with quicker delivery.

Mine looks like this:

Hahahahah. I suggest turning off the flashlight when he chases. Otherwise, a cheap zoomie as suggested above is not a bad idea.

eebowler said:

Hahahahah. I suggest turning off the flashlight when he chases. Otherwise, a cheap zoomie as suggested above is not a bad idea.

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Good idea, or even make him or her do a little bit of a lap by pointing your light all the way around back to you (basically chasing the beam back to you) .

I would definitely suggest a zoomable flashlight like the Ultrafire above, or any of the previously mentioned ones but even a cheaper Coast HP1 on Amazon would do it.

Why is it zoomies are being reccomended?

Op says the dog is chasing the spot and he'd like a light w/o a hot spot...

lol. zoomies are not hotspot alone. They can be a wide circle without any hint of a hotspot.
.
To the OP: Another option would be to put scotch satin tape over the window of your current flashlight to diffuse the beam so there is minimal hotspot.

If you send me a PM or email, I can give you a coupon that will provide an excellent head lamp that meets you budgetary requirements.

What about lasers? Or does sneaking up on wild animals kill that idea?

Ever tried a laser? Or is the dog indeed a flashlight fanatic?

eebowler said:

lol. zoomies are not hotspot alone. They can be a wide circle without any hint of a hotspot.

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This. Zoomies in flood mode have no hotspot. Instead they give a wide circle of perfectly even light. They only give a hotspot when focused to spot mode.

HAHAHA "appease crazy dog" that is awesome! Just go to HD or Lowes and get any Coast light that has variable focus the flood beam out of Coasts are the best I myself must have 3/4 of the entire Coast catalog and any of them that has variable focus has incredible flood beams. Best would be any HP7 be it the basic 251 lumen or 360 lumen Pro version you cannot go wrong with it. My local Lowes always has HP7's at the register.

I just tried a Duracell 350 lumen 4 aaa led light tonight with a zoom optic. On flood setting there is no hotspot. They are on sale at Costco for about $15 or $16 for a three pack, including batteries.

Try diffusion film...

The diffuser film mentioned above is a good idea. They sell diffusers for flashlights for about $10 or so for something more permanent. Zoomys sounds like a good idea as well.

obvious choice is cheap zoom as said multipacks from discount warehouses are especially good values.

Perfectly even hotspot-free beam.