How does the Yukon compare to the Yukon HL?

I'm looking for a headlamp in the $30-40 dollar range. I stopped by REI's store recently, to look at the Black Diamond Gemini. Maybe the batteries in the display models were wearing out, but the Gemini and Polar Star's output looked fairly weak, even with the "bright" bulb. I also didn't care for the battery case design.

So, of course I looked at the Yukon HL and was impressed. I'd never seen a LED that bright before. I'm not sure I want to pony up that much cash for a headlamp, though. REI didn't have the regular Yukon in the store, so I'm wondering if anyone could give me an idea of how much difference there is between the two. Is the build quality similar?

The HL looks good, but is the Luxeon that much better than the plain Yukon's xenon bulb?

If you get the Yukon, you know the light will be white. If you get the Yukon HL, you are playing the Luxeon lottery and may get some tints you don't like. But, hey, you are buying it at Return Everything Inc, right?

I don't have either lamp, but I will comment that the Gemini is a very good headlamp. The only aspect I dislike is the bulb, which is bright but has poor light color. But the Yukon bulb fits in the Gemini, which is a great bulb.

One other thing is that the Yukon HL is focusable, but I don't think the Yukon is. Wierd.

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mrme said:
One other thing is that the Yukon HL is focusable, but I don't think the Yukon is. Wierd.

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I don't know if I would consider the HL to be focusable; I'd be more inclined to describe it as "defocusable". It looks pretty gnarly when you try to spread out the Luxeon beam from spot to flood.

mrme - Your Gemini has a Xenon bulb, like the Yukon, right? I wonder if that means the light output would be pretty much identical between the two? I think I'll go back with a fresh set of NIMHs and try those out on the Gemini. Then maybe they'll let me take the two behind the store at night to get a better idea of their lighting power.

I did like the Gemini's power switch over the Yukon HL, and the mounting hinge looked a little stronger. It also used a slotted screw so it could easily be tightened with a coin in the field. The battery case seemed ill-designed and hard to use. I like to get at batteries quickly.

I don't think color tint bothers me. If the Luxeon lit everything in hot pink I'd care, but I just want something that puts out alot of usable light in places where there's little to no ambient light. The sixty bucks for a lamp is really what's holding me up.

Besides REI, I don't know many places around here that stock headlamps.