I want a new headlamp

"The reason I preferred single AA lights at the time was because a single AA had equivalent current to three AAA batteries. And so AA was more practical overall. Is this no longer the case?"

Roughly speaking, an AA does still have triple the capacity of an AAA and I believe an AA usually weighs a bit less than three AAA's. So I believe you get slightly more energy capacity for the weight with an AA, plus there's less batteries to swap and keep track of for a given amount of energy. Ie. on a night hike I might need to carry two AA's rather than six AAA's.

A single AAA light is going to look lighter than a single AA light on a spreadsheet, but this weight savings may only be true for short/low headlamp usage trips where you won't use up most of an AA. For example, on a week long hike with moderate headlamp usage I may need just one AA to get me through the trip, whereas if I used an AAA light just one battery wouldn't last and I might need to carry two spares to provide the same amount of light to last the trip. So sometimes, a single AAA light just externalizes some of the weight. The headlamp looks lighter, but then you've got more weight in the 'extra batteries' column.

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of a single AAA light, but if you're running it at a decent output then one AAA isn't going to last very long and you're likely going to be carrying spares, so you may not be any lighter than an AA light.

"If you want a 100 lumen traditional headlamp, as others have stated I would recommend zebralight also. But they are obviously not as light as clipping a triple-a light to a cap."

Zebralights come with a clip as well for clipping to a hat, so they are not solely a 'traditional headlamp'. Then can be used either way.

I was doing a long hike that began at 3:30 a.m., and there were two other guys going along. As we all stood at the trailhead, lacing up our boots, I asked a few questions. Is everybody ready? Do you have your lights working?

Each of us had a flashlight or headlamp, but one of the guys had a small flashlight that he hadn't really checked out. It turned out that the batteries in it were old, and they had no more than a few minutes of life in them. The guy thought he was prepared for that, since he had spare batteries in his pocket. We took off and up the trail we sailed in the darkness.

Thirty minutes later I paused to sip water, and the next guy caught up with me. His light was doing fine. We never saw the last guy, so we just kept going (which was the agreed plan in advance). That last guy never made it to the summit destination. At the end of the day, as we were returning to the trailhead, we met up with him.

It turned out that his light's old batteries had failed very early, so he needed to switch to the fresh batteries. Unfortunately, he could not see in the darkness, so he was unable to get the fresh ones inserted correctly. Therefore, he had no workable light, so the entire hike fizzled for him. He was unable to use his natural night vision effectively. It turned out that his batteries had to be inserted in the same direction, which is slightly unusual for that type of light.

So, it is always nice to have a tiny alternate source of light, just for battery-changing purposes. A cigarette lighter might be good. I have one of those tiny Nite-Ize zipper-pull lights that is smaller than a dime. Not many lumens. No features. It is just a "last-resort light." It would even be tough to hike by it unless you were holding it at knee level to the trail. It weighs less than 3 grams.

Zip-Lit

–B.G.–

I just received my H501, and it seems as advertised. Nice flood.

I was flabbergasted when I removed the end cap to look down the tube toward the LED head, and I saw the number of driver components. It is real busy down there.

Some of you out there already have a similar model, so I may pose some questions to experienced users.

You know the black silicone holder that holds the main unit to the head strap? Then there is a luminous silicone holder included also. How are you supposed to remove the black one and substitute the luminous one? There seems to be no way to get it on or off the strap. That is not a huge deal for now, since I have a separate strap that I may use to reduce weight.

I have to leave for an evening hike right now, so you can bet I will give this thing a try.

–B.G.–

H501 with single lithium AA battery, the included luminous silicone holder, and one used Croakies head strap (sewn on) = 54.3 grams = 1.915 ounces. Mission accomplished.

Or, with alkaline AA instead, it is 2.12 ounces.

The only problem is that I wore it on an evening hike with other people, and I think I blinded a few.

–B.G.–

Bob,

I've looked at that luminous silicone holder and thought, "well, that's nice." But I never actually looked at how to replace it!! I'm as dumbfounded as you.

My only suggestion that doesn't involve ripping out seams and resewing, is to take a hacksaw or other thin knife/saw and make a slit in the middle of one side of the black plastic piece that isn't the adjustable piece. That would allow you to slip the elastic band off and switch the silicone bands. I've done this to add Tarptent-style linelocs to grossgrain loops without having to do any sewing. Here's an illustration of it:

Maybe someone has an intelligent answer!

Edit:

I did find a loose end. Hopefully the picture is good enough to self-explain how to disassemble the strap, replace the silicone holder, and reassemble the strap.

Travis, I don't know about your silicone pieces, but the ones I have here are pretty soft and wobbly. If I cut one side, it would not be stiff enough to hold anything. If it were a stiff plastic, it would still hold shape.

So, basically, the way it stands now is that I have the H501 with two strap systems. One strap system is the heavy Zebralight adjustable strap with the black silicone holder. I would use this with an alkaline AA battery.

The other strap system is the old Croakies strap sewn onto the luminous silicone holder, and this is the one that I would use for lightweight backpacking. I would use this with a lithium AA battery.

Now all I have to do is to attend a training class to learn the user interface on this silly thing. Push fast once, or push slow, or push twice, and then…

They should have put a warning notice on the front of it. Do Not Look Into Beam.

–B.G.–

Ah, to clarify….cut into the hard plastic piece that's on the headband, NOT the silicone piece.

I hear ya regarding the interface. I lurked on the CandlePowerForums for a while before deciding on the H51. Everyone kept saying how easy and user friendly the Zebralight interface was. While I get it now, I can't imagine using the "non-user friendly" flashlights!

"Ah, to clarify….cut into the hard plastic piece that's on the headband, NOT the silicone piece."

That makes a lot more sense now.

If I got silly, I could get some really lightweight elastic band for this and save one tenth of an ounce or so, but then the whole strap system would get kind of wobbly. I don't need that. The old Croakies strap is good enough. Or, I could use a new Croakies strap. But, it tends to look old after it has done one backpack trip anyway.

–B.G.–

wow that review is making me want to buy one…. d*mn you guys ;-D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkhGGa857Gs

Noel, they're both great lights. If you what throw, get the H51. If you want flood, get the H501.

I will say, that the H51 has more than enough flood than I need, and a fantastic throw. It will really light up your entire field of view for quite a ways.

Wow you got this light quickly. Being in Canada, I'm used to stuff taking 2 weeks minimum.

Just thought I'd post an update on the ZebraLight HC31 headlamp. I emailed the company to ask why they no longer have the glow in the dark (GITD) ring on the light. I immediately received a reply explaining that it was eliminated because the ring wasn't really large enough to work. But, she said she'd be happy to send me an extra GITD bracket for the light. I gladly accepted, and it arrived today.

Not only did they send the bracket (which works well, by the way), it also came with a braided lanyard style cord pre-woven through the slots in the bracket. It can hang around the neck, or you can put it on your hat and just slide the cord lock to the right tightness. This is perfect. Even lighter than the stretch headband, and more versatile, imo. I have the version that takes a single CR123a battery, and it weighs 2.2 oz. with this setup, including battery. The AA version is, I gather, slightly less.

I think this is a great solution for backpacking, with a much better beam than the typical mass market headlamps, and six different brightness settings. And I have nothing but good things to say about the customer service.

"The AA version is, I gather, slightly less."

My H501 with single lithium AA battery, the GITD silicone holder, and my special strap came up to 1.91 ounces.

I've figured out the primary cause of failure. It gets lost because of its small size.

–B.G.–

So is this able to clip onto the bill of a hard brimmed hat?

I have currently a Mammut Lucido X-Zoom Headlamp which weighs in a staggering 6.9oz with batteries. Don't get me wrong I love the thing for the amount of hours (120 hours on high & 300 on low) I can use it before changing batteries along with the beam distance of 50m on low and 120m on high. I am willing to part with it to save some weight or at least put it on back burner for now.

I have been told that this is a great light
http://www.fenixlight.com/viewnproduct.asp?id=61

How does it compare to the Zebralight?

And does anyone experience with those 3-5 LED lights that clip onto the bill of your hat? http://www.cyclopssolutions.com/HTML/specialty_lights.html

-Kevin

"So is this able to clip onto the bill of a hard brimmed hat?"

Kevin, if you think about it, a flashlight has the light coming out of one end, and typically the switch is on the side of the battery cylinder. If there is a hat clip, it would be on the side of the cylinder and aligned with it.

A headlamp is different. Many of these headlamps have a similar battery cylinder, but the light comes out of the side near one end. A hat clip on the cylinder wouldn't make any sense unless you wanted to clip it onto the side of your hat brim.

–B.G.–

How about any one have any pros/cons with the Cyclops hat lights?

When I went in a dark room and compared my 3 AAA bat,3 LED, 2.9 oz headlamp against a single LED photon freedom, and a 5 led cap-bill clip on, I quit using the big, heavy one permanently.

The cap bill clip on put out the most light, and spare batteries weigh nothing.
The photon was next, and spare batteries weigh half of nothing, and with the little clip weighs 0.5 oz.

I take the photon, spare battery CR2016. IF you dont like the little clip (Thats fantastic btw), use velcro dots to stick to hat.

My five led was cyclops, it is the brightest of my 3 but plastic clips will fail eventually. Velcro will fix that.

Thats the answer I was looking for.

I'm thinking about going to a Steripen, if I do, I think a 31 is in my future :)

That's the route I am going Mike. My 31 is on the way. Back to carrying one type of battery!

Ken- post up your impressions when you get it if you don't mind- thanks :)

+1 on the one battery type

Will do. Left Beijing this morning.(the light that is)

Got it today. Just blinded myself…

Ken,

Where did you buy it? I'd like to order one.