New Zebralight headband

I bought a H600Fc this week and was surprised at the new headband. It feels smooth like a car seatbelt but is still elastic. I wore it for 5 hours today and it feels good. It should clean up easier if handled with dirty hands. I noticed the price of replacement headbands had gone up when I bought the H600Fc. Maybe this is why.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well well looks like it's time for me to replace my old worn headband after all.
Did you get it directly from ZL?


Sent from Tapatalk

Yes direct from Zebralight. In my picture you can see how shiny the new headband is. The pic of the replacement one on the Zebralight website looks like the regular older ones.
Maybe an email to Zebralight could tell us what to expect

Really nice. Keep us informed about durability or in case any issues.


Sent from Tapatalk

id30209 said:

Really nice. Keep us informed about durability or in case any issues.


Sent from Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Yes. Going to do some more plumbing tomorrow and wearing my Headlamp.

looks like a material which will not age well.
sun, time, wear, oxidation is ...

kreisl said:

looks like a material which will not age well.
sun, time, wear, oxidation is ...

Click to expand...

Your Opinion?!?

LOLz

Looks just like the headband I got in late 2019 with the H600Fc. I presume they must have switched awhile ago.

Too soon to tell if it ages well, but no signs of deterioration on mine. I use it almost every day. I also ordered an extra GITD band, but I haven't used that yet.

I find the straps have a tendency to loosen a bit over time. The buckle will slowly slip the headband through it, since the material is kind of smooth. But I retighten it about once every month or two, and that's fine.

I've found over time my old style stretched and looks like bacon (curvy) lol. This looks promising!

Now ZL, please give us a rigid quick release plastic mount like ArmyTeks, and improve your damn pocket clips!

Ordered a H502PR Headlamp last week, light has arrived, it still had the old style headband.
Just an update for y'all...

AstroTurf said:

Your Opinion?!?

LOLz

Click to expand...

lolz 😁

i have a good amount of imagination 's all, haha

i had been wearing the olight H1 Nova headband regularly (not excessively) and it's become so loose (i.e. weak) that it's unusable anymore, like my old underpants.
I'm gonna buy a new pair of underpants and i doht regret having purchased the H1 product 2 years ago but i wouod never rebuy the olight headband spare part.
i simply retired the entire product and use the fenis hm61r instead. great great headband. so far.

kreisl said:

lolz [emoji16]

i have a good amount of imagination 's all, haha

i had been wearing the olight H1 Nova headband regularly (not excessively) and it's become so loose (i.e. weak) that it's unusable anymore, like my old underpants.
I'm gonna buy a new pair of underpants and i doht regret having purchased the H1 product 2 years ago but i wouod never rebuy the olight headband spare part.
i simply retired the entire product and use the fenis hm61r instead. great great headband. so far.

Click to expand...

I use a baseball cap.

Mounted to the backside strap.

ZL headband gives me headband hair...

Headband Hair Bad!!!

LOLz

kreisl said:

looks like a material which will not age well.
sun, time, wear, oxidation is ...

Click to expand...

I can confirm that these headbands don't age well. Both of mine have failed after 3 years. The elastic has failed and they no longer stretch.

Dave W 42 said:

I can confirm that these headbands don't age well. Both of mine have failed after 3 years. The elastic has failed and they no longer stretch.

Click to expand...

Are you referring to the new material like in the photo at the top of this page?
I mounted one of these on a Fenix HM61R yesterday, I was also perplexed, the material is different and it is difficult to fold it to insert it into the rigid guides of the headband.
The old ZL headbands are all still in their place, used and even washed together with the headlamps they are still in good condition, on this new model of headband I am also uncertain about their duration over time.

I'm not sure if there is a good solution for the headbands wearing out. It seems they all turn into bacon as likethevegetable said.

I'm glad they sell replacements.

I made a video of a few seconds to show the difference between the two.
The new headband is the darker one, it is more rigid and less flexible.

I prefer the old headband, somewhere I have to have a supply of one or two of the old ones.
It will be problematic to remove it, I noticed it when I mounted it, it is rigid and removal is not easy.

first thing i do with any zl headlamp is remove the headband.

followed by mounting it to the back of a ballcap.

a much better solution which only leaves me with cap hair, and not headband hair.

1000% better!!!

I too have been a bit disappointed with ZL head straps. I clicked my ZL H604c into the headband that came with my Fenix HM61R (fits perfectly) and I'll never go back (at least until the headband for the HM61R wears out: no signs of that yet and it's almost 2 years old with daily usage). Their headbands are the weakest thing they do… which is unfortunate. The ability to remove the light and magnet mount the light for me makes it the single most versatile light I own. If ZL would step up their game in the head mount dept I could recommend with zero reservations/caveats.

AstroTurf said:

first thing i do with any zl headlamp is remove the headband.

followed by mounting it to the back of a ballcap.

a much better solution which only leaves me with cap hair, and not headband hair.

1000% better!!!

Click to expand...

I tried this for a while with an OLD ZL 123 light that I still own and while it works well, it makes the EDC less useful/portable for me. YMMV of course.