any recommendations

i have a energizer micro which i like but would like something with more light output

i have thought about getting one of the new fenix headlights but at

£40-50 they are not what i would call budget lights

any one got a good light for less i see all sorts of headlights at KD and DX anyone got experience with these

Barrie

But the dog chewed them. Not sorry to see them go, they were never that great. The best one I've come across is the Zebralight H50 (AA) but it is not a budget light. I think it cost me $59. Since I got it I've never even looked at another headlight. KD has Ultrafire more or less clones of these which might be worth a look, here's a note about them with links.

Here's a short review of the Ultrafire though I don't fancy something with an 18650 in it on my head, just too big.

My Zebralight ran for about a week of night-time use on an AA NiMH - and that was in a place with no electricity.

How about a headstrap with a mount for hand flashlights? Something like this, but universal: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.32755

Hi guys i think i need to [ shed some more light on this]

i have a ZL H30 a good little light but not very good for outdoors only 80 lumen's and all flood

i have tried the headband thing from niteze i thought of the fenix headband but reports of it in practice are not all that good

just wondering if any one had maybe found one of those little gems of a cheap light that turned out to be a great find

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.20763 Having raked through DX, the only one of their headlamps that looks even mildly interesting is this one.

For the sort of things I use a headlamp for it'd probably be too bright. Since it's probably direct drive there should be no problem using a single lithium cell in it - or modding it for a belt mounted battery pack of rather better capacity than 3xAAA.

If you don't need much light they even have a $3 headlamp which I'm tempted to stick into the next order. Can't beat the price though it is quite possible a match could beat the brightness...

thanks Don

that might be worth a try i have 3 dogs and tying to hold a hand torch and them on there leads is not always easy so have found my little headlights good in this situation but not powerful enough a headlight with hand torch performance is what i am looking for at not to much money i will put this one on my list of light to consider

cheers Barrie

All makes sense now - I'd not really thought of the hands free aspect of headlamps rather than the close-up aspect.

Some of the indestructible cavers ones are very bright - but they are also a very long way from cheap - I think the Stenlight is over $200. It's bad enough keeping track of the two dogs I'm looking after just now - one small and white, one huge and black - I hate to think of the "fun" it could be with 3. The Ultrafire ZL clones claim to be a lot brighter (230 lumens) than the ZL but only appear to be available from KD. Funnily enough the cheapest of the three of them is the 18650 model. CR123 model. http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=10235. 14500 model. http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=10241. 18650 model. http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=10294. They are also all flood where you might want some throw - especially if the dogs are off their leads.

I'd think along the lines of a 2" chunk of 20mm copper pipe hammered flat for a heatsink with a P7 or MC-E emitter thermal epoxied to it. Attach this to a headband or cheapo headlamp - the $3 one might come in handy for the headband. A reflector - doesn't even need to be perfectly suited to the job and direct drive it from an 18650/3xAAA/3xAA or whatever in your pocket. Very little to go wrong, can be weatherproofed with silicone sealant and a sheet of something transparent stuck to the front of the reflector. A P7 can be had for $14, a reflector for $5. I assume batteries and wire and the ability to solder.

Let us know how you get on with your final choice.

only a couple of day on here and already i get the feeling my wallet is going to be empty soon

Next feature on this forum: all Paypal and Credit Card payments must be routed through this forum pending administrator approval to avoid economic ruin for BudgetLightForum members...

no worries about that my other half keep a close eye on what i spend

there's got to be enough for a handbag or a pair of shoes as-well

http://lightbroker.com - Where our users go broke for lights.

very good

Just like the rest of us then

Damn too bad your way out there......i have a Princeton Tech that could use a new home....just needs and upgrade since the bulb is incan.

Just want to give a word of warning about that Dx sku 20763: I thought it looked ok, and should have decent heat dissapation for the led + it had a Q5 (supposedly), so I bought it a while back.

But the only good thing about it is the headstrap system (which I might use as basis for a homemade headlight soon...).

The actual light is useless as is. Don't understand the good ratings it has on DX, unless it is from people with very low expectations.

Problem is that the LED star has no contact to cooling surface at all! - it is just floating on 3 plastic pins, and will overheat in a very short time. Terrible design - see pics:

On the bright side, the led does seems pretty bright, and is not to blue, so perhaps I can use it to upgrade some other light.

Overall verdict is a one star rating - perhaps two if you can use the led. Light is waaay overpriced though - should be $5.

:)

Thanks for bringing up this old thread. That's useful to know about the DX lamp.

This one might suit Barrie's purposes better.

http://www.lightake.com/detail.do/sku.32660

But it is 14500 only.

Mine appeared to be DOA but is now working properly. Will do some beamshots when it gets dark.

Hey Don, yes old thread, but couldn't let anyone buy the DX 20763 without knowing the truth first :)

I think the best headlamp on DX is actually http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.29435 - which I have had for about a year now.

It is a copy of Led Lenser H7, and a pretty good one, but it is a copy for sure - they are not made in the same place. I had the real H7 also (which my dad uses now), and have compared them carefully. There are small but unmistakeable differences in the shape and look of details.

But it works well, and the adjustable beam (zoom) function is pretty good. I have since upgraded the led to an XP-G R5, which was pretty tricky, but it worked out well in the end - much brighter now!

Only real flaw is the basic one, that most headlamps suffer from: It runs on triple AAA cells, which (as you all know) only holds the juice of one AA, but takes up much more room. So I am thinking of modding it to run on a single 18650 instead - which would also triple the runtime :)

Yes that doesn't look to bad that "Zooming Cree Q5 3-Mode LED Headlamp (1x14500)". If only it ran on nimh AA also - and the lens was a bit shorter, so there wasn't so much weight sticking out. Will it stay in place you think?

I am just about to do beamshots with one if it hasn't started to rain again. From my limited testing it seems to stay in place.

Wide Angle Zoomed

High: 550 lux / 99 lumens 360 / 65

Med: 298 lux / 53 lumens 186 / 33

Low: 61 lux / 11 lumens 4 / 1 Looks like the 14500 could use a charge.

Turns out it didn't need a charge, it needs the light repairing. Well, now to figure out how to get it apart.