In need of a multiple AA headlamp, fairly cheap.
Key here is long life,going to need 2+ hours and the wider the flood the better.
Don't need one of the flood to throw things as I have no need for throw on a headlamp.
This'll be used for hiking, that will include the walking section of the hike early morn and as it starts to get darker.
Was ideally aiming for <$30-$35 but could stretch for something ideal.
Any usable AA headlamps for <$15 for fellow walkers?
what kind of lumens are you looking for for 2+ hours.
don't know what trails you'll be hiking, but you shouldn't need much more than 30 lumens to hike most trails.
Not trails, it'll be off the trail mainly and up hills/ mountains.
I know I'll need more than 30 lumen that's for sure, ideally I'd like a nice 50ft coverage in front, and around a 100 degree flood from it.
The uf h2 seems good, but if it could run off say 3/4 in parallel....that's the kind of thing I'd love.
you might have to splurge for this one. there don't really seem to be any budget priced headlamps that can do what you need and do it reliably.
i would think a Spark ST6-460NW with the frosted lens would work well for your application, but if you're committed to AA batteries, i'd get the Fenix HP11 and apply some diffusion film to the lens.
a pure flood like a UF H2 probably won't work because even on max, you're not going to be able to see much of anything beyond 20 feet. i used to have a modded headlamp with a bare XPG that was dialed up to about 150 emitter lumens and it was still less useful for hiking than a 27 lumen Fenix E05. i just couldn't see anything past 20 feet with it.
A Zebralight H51f or H51 with some diffusion over the lens would do what you want (it's what I use) but it's 1 AA. It's simple to change the batteries even in the dark just by touch so you could carry the other batteries in your pocket rather than on your head. It's over your budget however.
As was mentioned it's hard to meet all of your requirements.
Zebra also has plenty of modes to select to your needs and thus get even longer runtime.