I have six bike/head lights - four are installed in our (mine, 2 sons and wife’s) bikes for night riding and two are installed in helmets - but I haven’t tried one with a red light yet.
Aside from bike riding, I also run at night so I would like to have one headlamp with a red beam. Therefore I’ve very interested and would like to have the Nitecore HC50.
Sunwayman D20A: I absolutely love this form factor. It leverages the popular AA format batteries, which can be found anywhere, and for very cheap. The fact it has dual emitters just adds to the fun. The human eye is less sensitive to red light, so a dim red led that has a wide beam is just perfect for walking around while preserving your night vision. It has a very nice and springy removable clip that can help store it securely in a backpack or on a car sun visor. A stainless steel bezel on the front surrounding both leds helps to protect the glass, and it looks pretty. The body of the light is machined out of a solid piece of aluminum, so it should be stronger and dissipate heat better. The anodization is type 3, so it should be very well protected from scratches. The battery cover is a unique design, it uses a twist design instead of the normal threads. It also has a cool lanyard attachment point on the back cover. The automatic step-down from turbo to high should help with battery life a lot. It also has a cool button design: there are two of them! With a XP-G2, it should provide a nice balance of flood and throw.
Nitecore HC50: I have a thing for well-designed headlamps, and this looks like a very good one. With an XM-L2, you need good heatsinking, and this headlamp provides it. It has a solid one-piece body, so it should keep the led cool while being nice and strong. An 18650 or two cr123 powers it, so it has a lot of available energy to utilize. Nitecore programmed very nicely spaced modes. Direct access to a 1.25 lumen red mode is very useful for maintaining good night vision. It also comes with a very well made head strap, which is necessary, as this is a heavy light. The button on this light is also special, as it is a two stage: partially depress it to switch between modes, fully press to turn on/off. The small reflector used in this light is very nice in this situation. You want very little throw, as you are mainly using this for close up work. It also has a very cool battery indicator built into the switch, so every time you turn it on, you can estimate the remaining battery capacity. I also have a black diamond storm to compare it to.
Love the HC50 for its great design and form factor. Could have really used that on my last high altitude night hike. Would also like to try out the red LEDs for use around camp. Actually my friend was going to buy this, but he ran out of time before the trip. His 3xAAA didn’t do much on the trails.
Sunwayman. Strange name, beautiful flashlights. D20A is the pick of this bunch for me. I love the practicality of headlamps and would love an HC50, but when it comes to spending money on (or winning) flashlights, it's Sunwayman all the way for me.
The contest is now over for 1 week and winners still haven’t been announced.
This is not serious from a company as big as DX. It seems that they want to get some attention by making a giveaway but not giving the price away is a really bad commercial behaviour.
Should I keep ordering from a company that is so unorganized (Or maybe that they did it on purpose, to save a few bucks)? Probably not.