Hi , in your opinions , what’s the best headlamp(s) in today’s marketplace with the qualities as listed below.
1—Priced under $20
2—Brightest Output
3—Throw & Flood combination.
4—If possible , have a battery pack/holder that’s not head mounted , but belt mounted.
Your help and suggestions will be appreciated :+1:
Look at the WOWTAC A2.
2nding the Wowtac A2. It is a solid performer and the best value for $19.99 anywhere.
Requests #2/#3/#4 are more common in > $100 headlamps.
Increase your budget by $10 and get the SkillHunt h03!
At this point he can just add another $10 and get the armytek elf c2
Guys , Thanks for your suggestions—Aren’t there any under $20 headlamps or have a belt mounted battery holder ?
Nope. There are under 20$ headlamps which do include battery holders… but they are mostly considered to be bad lights in general.
Why do you want a belt mounted battery holder BTW?
Besides myself looking for a pretty good under $20 headlamp , I’m basically also looking for someone who’s afraid
of the head mounted battery holders , because of hearing about battery explosions.
Lithium cobalt was a more volitile chemestry .. it’s appeal was much higher capacity. Lmr /inr imr has mad a big jump in capacity//// a huge drop in price and has always been a much safer technology . Battery explosions in a single cell set up are so far and few between it makes more sense to be afraid of the monster under your bed.
I remembered Boruit RJ-02 (HC50 clone) was quite popular at one time.
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/40951
Is there some simple , easy way to transform the head mounted battery holder on
a headlamp into a belt mounted battery holder ?—Such as how to extend the length
of the battery holders’ power cord , so battery could be mounted on belt instead of
the head. There’s a bunch of mechanically minded people here on the BLF , does
someone have any ideas of how to accomplish the battery move :question: —Not just
for a single cell battery holder , but maybe a 2-4 cell holder.
You could buy a bike light that has the option of mounting to a helmet... Perhaps even a headband like those branded as Nitecore. Some bike lights come with a headband.
I converted a River Rock 2* CR123, one piece head lamp to a 4* AA using battery holder and the connecting wire was taken from a car charger. You could probably find the wire in bulk somewhere.
Like Boaz said, it's extremely unlikely a battery will go bad on your head, much less explode.
I get under cars and I can't stand resting my head on a batt. pack so most of mine have the battery inside, up front.
Something we don't like around here is resistance to current flow so using a long wire ie. >12" is shunned! Ok, just kidding... maybe.
There's a few cavers/spelunkers here and your set up sounds similar to that kind of equipment. Just not the price.
Its doable but probably easier and more cost effective to buy a light built this way. There’s the fenix hp30r, nitecore hc70, spark sx5 but those are way over $20. Try also checking out bike lights that double as headlamps. e.g OTR Headlamp
As for the fact a lithium battery is unlikely exploding , there’s no guarantee it won’t—It only takes once. :confounded:
I didn’t make it clear , I was really referring to battery holders for 18650 size cells for longer run capacity.
Why don't you just go with a headlamp that uses Ni-MH or primary AA/AAA cells instead of Li-ion? Wouldn't that alleviate the fear of explosion? Of course, there would probably be a trade-off with brightness.
My concern with L-Shaped headlamps is that it seems that the light would be skewed at close range. That is to say, half of what you are looking would be darker than the other half when working up close and personal. Has anyone experienced this? Just my thoughts.
Update:
202BigMike, how many lumens do you need? What will the headlamp be used for? What about waterproof rating? Thanks!
Here is a highly rated basic headlamp on Amazon with an A Fakespot rating. Would something like this work?
With with reflector based throwy headlamps, maybe. But I never had this problem with H03 or armyteks which use floody TIR. I don’t even notice that its not centered.
Unless “up close and personal” means right in your face like making out with someone. Then you have a problem. :heart_eyes:
I was thinking about reading distance. I probably wouldn't be happy with an L-shaped headlamp without a TIR lense then.Thanks!.
Reading distance is no problem with floody l-shaped headlamps. I use my H03 (albeit heavily modded) as my camp and bedtime reading light all the time. Warmer CCTs, nice tints and nice low modes (around 1 to 5 lumens for me) are also important for these types of activities for less glare and less strain on the eyes.
Still one-a my faves. I shouldda gotten a commission for as many times as I hawked ’em…