Can anyone recommend me some suggestions for a headlamp? This will be velcro or 3M taped to my full face helmet so weight is not a big consideration. Also it doesn’t necessarily have to be a headlamp, although I have not seen any good solutions to mount a flashlight to helmet that is not crude or meant for a hardhat or tactical style helmet.
I will be using it to ride offroad trails at night on my ebike. My priority is a spot/flood combo that has a good throw. I would be riding around 10-20mph speeds so throw is actually important to me, this light would be run in addition to a handlebar light, however I don’t like to use the handlebar mount because I find the light too “busy” as it gets vibrations from the suspension and makes it difficult to see. I would never be using it for arms length work.
I am hoping for 1500 lumens steady but I will take as much as I can get, max runtime I only need 1-2 hours. I don’t believe overheating will be an issue in the winter, I am more worried about the battery becoming too cold. So I would prefer a light that has an actual thermal sensor rather than a timer for throttling the output. For example my current flashlight is bright enough at 1200 lumens but only runs that for 1 min and starts ramping down, even though the body is stays around 15C in the winter temps. The other thing that would be nice is the ability to hardwire this directly to the USB output on my Ebike which can deliver 2 amps. However this is not a big deal as this would limit my options a lot.
I don’t mind paying more but what are some options I could research? Something like the Fenix HP30R seems like a good option but I would really want a coiled power cord for durability. Mounted e-bike lights just don’t work for me because they’re designed for easy street riding where there is no shake. Because of the trails I ride, the light would be constantly bobbing up and down making it really annoying to use.
I would use a bike light as primary light source and a head lamp for extra lighting to be used as needed.
Don’t forget the bike light will always illuminate in the direction you are riding, whereas the head lamp will illuminate in the direction you are looking.
Hey. I use a Sofirn HS20. Paired with a high quality 18650 it’s awesome. Very simple ui. XHP50.2 spotlight and a LH351D flood light (90CRI). The rubber pivot that attaches to the alloy body is nice. No stops on angle adjust. Can run both chips separate or together and at different levels. Sustains well on high with either chip.
Using just the spot you get enough throw for high speeds with adequate spill.
However in no way does it make for a single source. I ride downhill and single track at night and heavily depend on my bar mount. I’m currently using a $50 light bar from Amazon. Its output is true to advertising at 2600L. Has 5 chips. The 2 outer are flood and the center is spot. It will charge while in use too. It mounts with two arms very tight and sits at the center of your bars. Just looked and it’s discounted but shipping slower. ACRUNU Large.
Big lumens (especially in cold weather) + long runtime. Just a random example using data from Zebralight SC700d I know it’s not headlamp, but ZL drivers generally considered quite efficient and it’s a single 21700 light, so should be comparable to the biggest single-cell lamp one would wear.
With cooling, the light does 1900lm for 45 min; 1400lm for 72 min; or 800 lm for 120min.
With double battery (and cool conditions) this light would do 1400lm for 144min which is in line with the 1-2 hours OP requested.
Edit: I’m only explaining my thought process, I know a remote pack not for you, and that’s okay! :+1:
