Thru-Hike Flashlight or Headlamp

What do you think about the Fenix LD01 R4? Is 3 Lumens enough for camp/reading? Will a difuser help at that low of Lumens? Is 26 Lumens enough for the cashual and hopefully rare night hike? Look forward to your replies. As I have done more research, the Quark AA does not seem to run so well on genaric batteries. The LD10 weight does not seem worth it, but however if the 10 lumens of the LD10 low-mode is better for camp/reading than the 3 lumens of the LD01 then the weight would not matter. What do you guys recommend? Can 3 lumens provide enough for general camp or do I need the 10? Will the diffuser on 3 lumens be enough? Will the Diffuser on 10 lumens be to much? Thanks you

I used a Fenix L1D (used 1AA at 1.8oz/no bat, do they still make it?) on my 2009 PCT Thru-hike. It was bright enough to hike with (you can snap a red lens cap on the end if you like red light) and lasts a long time. I found that I could use the lowest setting for most camp chores (except packing up as I wanted to make sure I didn't miss something). The lowest setting also worked for most early morning and after dusk hiking. I hiked through all of Oregon with only 1 battery so it lasts along time if you mainly use it just in camp. Even though I had to put one of my trek poles on my pack when hiking with it, I found that having the light held down at waist level gave better contrast of the trail at night since rocks and bumps cast shadows that way and never triped or stumbled. The problem with headlamps is you lose that contrast since the light looks down from high above so you don't get those shadows and thus you can miss roots and rocks that will cause you to trip over and then you'll need those poles to catch you.

This would do the trick:

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?gfns=1&rlz=1T4ADFA_enUS399&q=petzl+e-lite&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=17201988796053879424&ei=w8H-TNH-L8Gqngf6v-irCw&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ8wIwAA#

You can clib this light to your shirt or belt to avoid the 'lack of contrast" issue…

Yup, it is the best ultra light, light duty, general purpose light out there. It does not excell at anything.
It does everything well enough. And it uses fairly standard computer bat's- two 2032's.

It has a reasonble light.Good for a couple full nights of hiking. Good for around camp. Reliable. You can drop the head band and case, clipping it to your shouder harness. It is waterproof for rain. For a UL packer, it is hard to beat as a main light. 'Corse, a lot of this depends on your night vision to start with. There is a LARGE variation in peoples low light sensitivity.

The lever can be difficult. I have 5 of these and two had hard switches, easily "fixed" with a sharp knife. (One for each pack…)

The first is as old as they come and is loosing some tightness in the swivel. My only other complaint. But, after a couple hundred nights out, I can live with it.

My thoughts only . . .
jdm

I use the Petzl Tikka+ (4 leds, 3AAA batts).

Low works great for reading,

Medium works great for setting up the tent (can see enough of the ground to get good placement), and walking through the woods at night without tripping.

High is needed for finding your way back to your tent at night (unless you have a great memory).

Something about 50% brighter than high is needed to find blazes on trees that sit off the trail at night.

Holding it by both straps at waist level is very easy if you want to use it as a flashlight rather than a headlamp. It's easier to point it around to navigate the trail at night if it's not clipped to your waist too.

I prefer a headlamp only. A Photon Microlite II would be a decent emergency backup light.

My choice is the Princeton Tech Scout for its ability to light a trail. Also it's light, waterproof and has 3 light levels and two strobe speeds.

It uses 4 coin LITHIUM batteries for an 80 hour max time so carrying spares is no problem. And the lithium batteries mean it's going to have good power even in freezing temps.

I've got this light and L-O-V-E it!! It'll cook your breakfast and rub your feet for ya if you twist the bezel counterclockwise three times while singing a secret yodel!

> It'll cook your breakfast and rub your feet for ya if you twist the bezel counterclockiwse three times while singing a secret yodel!

Hmmmm. All mine ever does is complain that I watch too much football and not pay enough attention to ITS needs.

Seriously though, the H51 is a cool light.

Opinions on this topic seem to vary greatly. In my experience, the more time you spend out there, the less you rely on a bright flashlight. Many night I don’t use a flashlight at all. I use the Photon X-light micro, and I find it does everything I need. Check out my review here.

I love the post above! Where has she been my whole life! haha Anyways, I really am at this point Torn between the Zebralight H51 and the Fenix LD01 R4. Anyone have any experience that will pull me one way or the other? I know that its kind of comparing two different apple to oranges (headlamp and Flashlight), but as posted above I'm not so concerned with the style, but rather long lasting battery leaning toward camp use; with the possibility of night camping when needed. So please , if you have any reason why one over the other I would appreciate it. I am going to order tomorrow because all the choices are driving me crazy! Who knew buying gear would take up so much time. I feel like a girl picking out her prom shoes!! haha
So here they are… Whats best for this PCT hike and any reasons why? Also I was wanting more feedback on what backup light (The Photon Freedom or Photon II)

Fenix LD01 R4
the Fenix LD01
3 Lm/ 27 hrs
26 Lm/ 3 hrs 8 min
72 Lm/ 1 hrs 28 min
weight—0.5oz—Excluding battery

Zebralight H51
.2 Lm/384 hrs; 2.5 Lm/72 hrs
8 lm/ 39hrs ; 30 Lm/ 12 hrs
200 Lm/ .9 hrs; 140 Lm/ 1.7 hrs
100 Lm strobe/ 2.4 hrs
weight—3oz—weight—w/battery

I will second to observation that most of the time we don't need really bright lights, but I have to say if you are night hiking with cloud cover or a new moon and lose the trail.. a couple of minutes of really bright light with a good throw is really useful.

All the lights you listed are decent. My favorite is the ZebraLight H51, good level options, good regulation, pretty reasonable weight for a headlamp.

One other light I would add to your list is the iTP A3 Updated. This is one of the best flashlight values: $20 for a high efficiency AAA flashlight with good regulation and a nice range of brightness settings (in lumens: 1.5 for 50h, 18 for 4h 80 for 55min). This flashlight + lithium battery weights just .6oz (18grams)

–Mark

Honestly pick one–you wont regret it.

I'd go with the headlamp but thats because I am more of an oz. weeny then a gram weeny. You will however save some weight and increase battery life with lithium batteries. They are a little but more expensive but worth it in my opinion.

Really… pick one that clips on can stay on your head or chest. You just might want to use both hands.

Thanks for all the replies!! I am going to go with the Zebralight H51/ With the Photon II as my backup. One quick question… Does the H51 work well on regular AA, or do they have to be lithium? As I will be on the trail, there might be areas I cant get to expensive batteries and alkaline will have to do… If it runs well on Alkaline batteries, Then this is the way to go!! Can anyone testify!?

The H51 will work fine with alkalines, but lithium is a bit better and lighter. While not too practical for trail use, look into Sanyo's rechargeable Eneloop batteries for home/casual use. These are regarded as the best rechargables available. Want to go even crazier? Look at http://www.candlepowerforums.com. There you will find more than you ever wanted to know about flashlights…. And then some.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?251039-Zebralight-reliability-(the-poll)/page8

i make no judgement or comment on them since i dont own one … one should however be aware of certain things for any products

for example i bought a set of link cams and found out afterwards that there may be an issue with them disintegrating under certain loads … not confidence inspiring when its yr only protection for the last 20 feet … oddly enough not too many people mentioned that fact at the time …

then there was the time when everyone, their moms, and outdoor mags recommended powershield softshells …

i get reborn as a sucker every few years i guess

MArk-

Where did you find the ZebraLight H51 for $20?

I got a Zebralight H51 a couple of months ago and really love it. It can be as dim or as bright as you need, can be worn on your head, clipped to your pack or shirt, or carried as a traditional flashlight, and runs on a single AA battery for easy replacement just about anywhere.

I used to carry a combination of an iTP A3 flashlight for good throw and a Petzl E+light for reading and camp chores, plus a Photon Freedom in my emergency kit. I've replaced both the A3 and E+Light now with the H51.

The H51 will run just fine with alkaline batteries — it just won't run for as long as a lithium battery would.

The iTP light can be found for $20, not the zebralight.

As far as the reliability poll, yes the brand has had a few problems. Be sure to keep the light's contacts clean and that often keeps the light trouble-free.

Zebralight participates in those forums and from my limited knowledge, they honestly listen to the customers and take suggestions into consideration when upgrading a light or working on the quality issues.

Regarding the comparison between the H51 and something like the iTP flashlight, a headlamp plays the role of a flashlight much better than a flashlight playing the role of a headlamp.

Even though some of these little flashlights come with headbands or there are various ways to mount them to a hat or clothing, a headlamp will be much better suited to the task, especially when you need to direct the light up or down.

Since the H51 can be removed from the headband quite easily, it really is both a headlamp and flashlight in one package.

I did a thru-hike on one set of batteries (two months). I don't have any objective data but I bet I used my headlamp maybe once a week. During summer it's light out until 21:00 or 22:00 and you'll find you sleep from dark until dawn (which of course comes early). For utility's sake I recommend a headlamp over a flashlight in just about all situations.

Geesh, That pole taken is enough to scare me into a Fenix Flashlight. Thank you for all the posts they have been very helpful. I guess I have a bit to think about.

I did start my 2009 PCT hike with a Fenix L0D Q4(1AAA) flashlight. While I think it was bright enough to work for the whole trail, its small size (and perhaps Olive wasn't the best color choice) worked against it as I somehow left it behind on Mt. Laguna a few miles before the store when I packed up in the morning. So it only lasted a few days before I was forced to use my Photon Freedom light as my primary light until I could replace it. While I think Photons will work for a low use camplite and for use as an emergency night hiking light, I don't think many would want to use them for an entire thru-hike. They don't last long before the LED light starts to fade as the batteries run down. I also don't know what I was doing wrong, but I would often get to camp at nite and find the battery dead in the L0D for some reason so I'm not sure I trust that twist on/off mechanism and prefer a real button. I started carrying it without the battery and then when it got dark, I would put the battery in it.

Most of the time in camp and hiking, you don't need a bright light. But there were a few times when I appreciated the bright Turbo Mode of my L1D Q5 light that I replaced my lost L0D light with. When looking for a campsite after dark, the added throw of a bright light helps spot campsites far off the trail. Also, I loaned it to a hiker so he could find his headlamp he dropped in the dark. He couldn't find it with his backup light, but easily found it ~1/4mile back with mine on full brightness. He lost the same headlamp twice in Washington (the previous time another hiker found it and returned it 2days later). Just before it gets dark, he would put his headlamp over his wide brim hat but leave it turned off until it was dark. Only he sweated alot so he would sometimes take his hat off to wipe the sweat off his head and twice his headlamp fell off the hat. The first time it happened, he didn't have a backup light and still insisted on hiking in the dark to get to a spring. It was funny watching him passing by my camp that night sticking real close to his hiking partner in front who had a light. If the guy in front stopped suddenly, they would have had a collision and found themselves in a compromising position.

FYI, as a very frequent visitor of CandlePowerForums, I'd like to advise you not to worry about that reliability poll and take it with a huge grain of salt, for two reasons:

1 – That poll was posted right after a lot of people were having an issue with the newly released Zebralight H30 a while back, of which the initial batch was recalled by ZL… so it's heavily biased towards people complaining about that one specific issue which was all over CPF for a while and was acknowledged and corrected by ZL

2 – Anyone who has a flashlight problem and googles for answers ends up at CPF, so you see a number of problem reports there that does not represent the general population

I have a Zebralight and it is awesome, well made and reliable.

PS. If you search CPF you can easily find enough reports of problems to scare you off (almost) any brand of light… including Fenix, 4Sevens and uber-reliable uber-expensive brands like Surefire. Huge selection bias in what you see posted there versus the general reality. 4Sevens, Fenix, Zebralight, Surefire, etc all make fantastic lights.