Recommend an LED Headtorch/Headlight Please

I'd like to mention that Lidl are currently doing some fairly decent waterproof head torches at the moment. The only issue for me is they don't have a red light.
 
LittleSister said:
The 'red light saves your night vision' thing is a myth. It is true that most of the torches don't have a very low light setting, which is what is needed for that reason.
Click to expand...
Red light is a help when trying to preserve the deeper levels of dark adaptation. The “Red Light Myth” is an article widely quoted, but in my view it is better bundled with the other crack pot theories trying to disprove well established scientific principles.

It is a shame, as the best dark adaptation can sometimes be important on a yacht.
 
noelex said:
Red light is a help when trying to preserve the deeper levels of dark adaptation. The “Red Light Myth” is an article widely quoted, but in my view it is better bundled with the other crack pot theories trying to disprove well established scientific principles.

It is a shame, as the best dark adaptation can sometimes be important on a yacht.
Click to expand...

It's more about avoiding blinding others
 
I have a few, including a fancy LED Lenser with a seamless adjustable brightness. But my favorite is the cheapest one. It looks exactly like this one. I bought it for a few quid at a Asda camping gear sale (so they made a significant profit it seems).

The battery compartment has a silicone seal and is thus completely waterproof. It uses 3x AAA rechargeable batteries which still had nearly full voltage after our recent night passage, and that was with me reading my book.

The one button cycles through full white, dim white, red and flashing red. The brightness levels are just right for night passage uses: looking at sails or lighting them up with the white and rummaging around the cockpit and everything else with the red - the blinking red is useless, unless you need a backup bicycle tail light. The button is easy to feel and use and the lamp tilts. Headband is comfortable and the whole unit is light enough to not droop down and need a center strap like the much heavier Li-Ion one I have.

Would thoroughly recommend - heck, at that price, get a few spares.

Oh, and I tried both the fancy dimmable white LED and this simple red one, and I agree with Noelex - red is much better for night passage. Details: https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/2075/does-red-light-preserve-your-night-vision
 
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The Nitecore HA20 is probably the best good quality option, but it may be more expensive that you want to pay. It is about £45.

The Led lenser SEO range also fit the requirements, but the build quality is not the greatest.

Edit: the Fenix HL-30 (2018) is new. I have not seen one, but it should be good for your requirments.
 
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I have a Silva. Does what you want but I cannot recall how much I paid for it. They do a wide range, I suggest you look on line, obsolete models can usually be picked up quite cheaply.
 
This one has a red sliding filter and 3 brightness levels. Takes 3 AAA.

It is overpriced on ebay though. I have bought it from CPC Farnell in the past for about £6 IIRC.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/Kombat-UK-...m=281579856356&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-l...s_309_t_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=ZJ9K80212VVSMKEWYT5Z

https://ukmcpro.co.uk/products/high...MIgs_8nIv33AIV7BXTCh3WJgSqEAkYCSABEgKFoPD_BwE

https://www.cadetdirect.com/militar...th-red-filter/proforce-mira-tactical-headlamp

If you can find it for £6, then it is an ok buy. It is NOT up to military specs by any means and all links I have provided are overpricing the darn thing.

https://cpc.farnell.com/search?st=headtorch

Roger Taylor of MingMing wrote (or vlogged) about headtorches once. His expensive Petzl broke and his cheapo one lasted. I have 2 broken Petzls. The plastic surround cracked on one over time (£20 approx type; simple on off switch waterproof light) and therefore was no longer splash proof and the switch failed on the other (more expensive one). It was a push type switch for different levels of brightness. The switch was too small for me to fix.

Energizer cheapo ones with a cob LED arrangement for £2.50 are great for a flood of light, but not waterproof. Looks like this one, but is made by energizer. I can't find a link. I bought it from Tesco some years ago.

https://www.idealworld.tv/gb/pp/cob...MIgZrwvv323AIVw4jVCh02HAxSEAkYByABEgLDBvD_BwE

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=e...CigB&biw=1366&bih=582#spd=7714701221715920868

This has red LEDs:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/292308552348?chn=ps

There was a chap who posted some very interesting info about the 'red light myth' on YBW once, but of course I cannot find it now, but will keep trying. He was some specialist eye chap. Found it; only took an hour. Post #11

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...rtesy-lights&p=5107400&highlight=#post5107400

Energizer I find are good, but the ultra cheap ones Yngmar suggested will probably be fine (especially if you buy 3, so if one fails you have 2 left)
 
Yngmar said:
I have a few, including a fancy LED Lenser with a seamless adjustable brightness. But my favorite is the cheapest one. It looks exactly like this one. I bought it for a few quid at a Asda camping gear sale (so they made a significant profit it seems).

The battery compartment has a silicone seal and is thus completely waterproof. It uses 3x AAA rechargeable batteries which still had nearly full voltage after our recent night passage, and that was with me reading my book.

The one button cycles through full white, dim white, red and flashing red. The brightness levels are just right for night passage uses: looking at sails or lighting them up with the white and rummaging around the cockpit and everything else with the red - the blinking red is useless, unless you need a backup bicycle tail light. The button is easy to feel and use and the lamp tilts. Headband is comfortable and the whole unit is light enough to not droop down and need a center strap like the much heavier Li-Ion one I have.

Would thoroughly recommend - heck, at that price, get a few spares.

Oh, and I tried both the fancy dimmable white LED and this simple red one, and I agree with Noelex - red is much better for night passage. Details: https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/2075/does-red-light-preserve-your-night-vision
Click to expand...

i bought a lenser at great expense,it was excellent until it went u/s, the companies support was very poor. I will never trouble them again.
check out T38 or T67 on ebay
 
Petzl are one of the most common branded head torches. I have the Tika I think which has 2 levels of brightness but no red.

I was given a rechargeable one which looks like these for a Secret Santa gift which I find good.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123102891356

I also have one that looks like this and is good. The first one I bought looked well sealed with a gasket around the battery compartment. Subsequent ones did not have the gasket. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153076921330

Some of the cheap ones are so good I would find one and quickly buy a few of them.

The rechargeable one is useful for me because I wear it for long periods where I do have access to mains for charging but limited ability to purchase batteries. At the price they are, having a couple would get over tge charging time issue.
 
Any headband light ( depending on the price ) should have ideally two adjustments. The first is the brightness
adjustment as this is also the longevity adjustment. Marketing usually draws our attention to the super bright
"sunlight brightness equivalient marketing claims" but we quickliy find out that usually we can function with much
much less light and I would rather have twenty hours of battery life than three or four at the super brightest setting.

The other adjustment is the wide beam flood or focused search light switch or options. Usually walking along a path
in the woods at night we prefer the flood light but when we need to see the screw in the dark corners of an engine
compartment we select the search light focused option. Again, we are conserving battery life by not wasting light
in areas that we do not need or in an overkill fashion.

While there are some highly specialized super bright head lamps with enormous batteries for special purposes that
are usually also super expensive to the tune of hundred of dollars or more..... to be honest most that I have
purchased have been the mass marketed Energizer Bunny brand sold at Home Depot, Walmart etc usually for
between 20 and 30 dollars. This actually feels like top of the line as there are also several cheapies from China/Mexico
etc that are under five bucks. LEDs are a wonderful futuristic technology that I am glad to have lived to see
the development of just like the internet and GPS and cell phones etc.
 
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