You also need to ask yourself if you want an “L” style light or a “T” style. I have several headlamps (Nitecore, Skilhunt, etc) and they each have their strong points. I tend to abuse the Boruits more than my more expensive lights. I often loan or give away the Boruit lights to someone in need.
Another vote for Sofirn. I picked up their D25 ($18 on AE) a while back and its a fantastic light for the price! the D10 is the single emitter version and its $14. Ended up flipping it because I’m not a huge fan of cold white tints but still was a great value. Includes 18650 cell with on-board usb charging.
@Bearbreeder, yes I can most probably manage to fix something that is simple as lamp circuit lol, but I am not convinced that these cheap lamps have high DOA samples or that their lifetime is very short.
The way I see Sofirn as an outsider here is that there are a lot of favorable opinions about them, as they are somewhat active on this forum. But I like to see everything beyond manufacturer name. I can understand that having them here in community may result in some kind of close support or even product development, so that people here recognize this company as symbol of trust, quality or budget friendliness; but I don’t see it that way. I am trying to understand price points. Like is it price point related to quality of diode used, micro-controller chip used, is it some kind of open-firmware - with high customization - computer connectivity etc.
- Sofirn SP40 looks like decent lamp, but its price point is not justified. I like this modular design of handheld / headlamp, but in this price range I would want to see more mounting options available - like an bicycle mount or some open firmware editor that would encourage modding community etc.
- D25 is not Sofrin for sure. Here on forum there are two reviews of this lamp. One being made from sister company of Sofirn named ‘Outdoor 77’ or something like that and one thread with almost 200 posts where lamp is branded as Boruit. Now on Ali there are versions of this same lamp from any lamp manufacturer. This is an exceptional design / price point product, making it without any doubt most successful / perspective product on current consumer market in this field. I assume that this design marginal point of sale is around 9 USD. This is an price that we can expect at some high sale cycle such as 11.11/Black Friday/Christmas etc.
As this model is actually represented with 3 separate models in one, I would want to discuss this in further detail.
D10, is base model with single diode and no zoom;
D20, is D10 with zoom feature;
D25 is dual diode with no zoom;
What do you think - which is best among these three?
- OEM Q5 + COB is most probably the best buy unit in regards to its features / price range. For some light use as an home repair / hobby lamp. I could not resist and have ordered two units. On arrival, with help of this community, I will make an review thread.
I would like to thank everyone for their recommendations and support.
Low price, good quality. I bought a second headlamp from the same dealer. Headlamp is lightweight, easy to use. Buy without battery. This is a poor quality Ultrafire with a ridiculous capacity of 1Ah. You won’t buy anything better for $ 10. For this price it is a good headlamp.
For $ 20, of course, Sofirn is better. I bought her too. If you want an ultra-cheap headlamp, Sanyi is a good choice. For $ 20 you can have almost two. One at home, the other in the car ….
I believe that D25 is without zoom feature (my order did not arrive yet). I have zoom feature on other lamp and I very rarely use it. In my opinion it is not a deal breaker.
There’s 2 options for non zoomable lenses for the Sanyi D25 when ordering. A one lense and a two lense system. Anyone know what the difference is between them?
Sorry found the answer at site. It’s the same XM-L2 but the second option has 2 of them. So I guess it better to buy the 2 lense system maybe? I figure it would have more light output or is it barely noticeable?
I’d say that given the specific requirements stated, don’t go cheap. Because if you buy something of decent quality, it will last far longer than the cheaper flashlight.
Also, don’t rule out strobe as an included mode. As long as it’s out of the path of the primary UI, it’ll only be accessed when deliberately invoked.
I see that you’re not looking for a dedicated bicycle light, but instead a headlamp that can serve duty as a bike lamp as well. I don’t know if the side barrel emitter design on something like the D25 that works well for head use would work fine for bike use. Might be difficult to find an appropriate mount. The “L” shaped headlamps can serve as bike lights with a more standard flashlight mount. If I were you, I’d take a look at the Skilhunt H03 series.
Wow great tips and all lights above looks good. Have to decide between low price Sanyi D25, Boruit D10 or higher price Sofrin S40, Astrolux H03. I’m using it more for indoors and some outdoors. Indoors for fixing and/or opening variety of things and outdoors for working on car mainly and some hiking.
As Peter J. from Czech Republic, owner of both S40 and D25, said earlier above; Sofrin is better, but for its price you can buy two D25s. One can be yours everyday lamp, and one backup car lamp.