So i have a few skilhunt headlamps (3xH04mini, H300) and used them quite often. In terms of comfort/convenience i’ve always considered HB3 to be great, pretty much the best headband available. But now, in a course of few years, i only have 1 left out of 4. Headlamp holder itself is built out of some low quality extremely brittle plastic and simply shatters at a random moment. This is what happened yesterday when i tried to adjust the headlamp (did not even try to take it out or put it in, just wanted to turn it a bit):
Extremely annoying as i ended up having to use it as handheld for the rest of the day (it was H300). At this point, with only one headband left, i 3d printed a replacement. It works, will probably be more durable than original… but what i wanted to ask - is it just how it is, or did i receive defective headbands (bought everything within ~a month) and if i buy new ones they’ll be good?
This is actually a bigger problem than it might seem - reliability is important for me - being left without a headlamp or having to carry a spare pice of plastic is not good at all…
The ones I got in Feb/March this year were very brittle. I got them for 3D printing parts to fit them anyway, but it was a pain and disapointing for PLA to be less brittle, and also for PLA to cut/mark the original pieces. And then having to model and print both pieces, not just the snap in center piece.
Mine is an older one, from about 3, maybe 4 years ago. It’s still solid as a rock and I don’t baby it. I go trail-hiking/jogging at night sometimes and have had no issues.
That’s sad if they indeed change the composition recently. While I do like Skilhunt flashlights - the bigger selling point to me was the HB3 (I even bought extra units of the headband alone).
Plastic is plastic. Construction is fragile and heavier. And don’t say you won’t be able to remove light out of silicone holder. I see just just product degradation. Worst thing they left no choice. Here and here silicon alternatives.
One thing this unfortunate situation made me realize - practically everything that’s good about HB3 is in this piece of plastic.
So far printed alternative is about 95% as good. I’ll see how it holds up, but i am yet to see anything i’ve printed fail like that - shattering into a bunch of pieces. Unless hit by a hammer or something.
Which makes whole issue even more surprising to me - they must have chosen either completely inappropriate or very poor quality plastic…
I’ve tried silicone option. Did not like it much but yeah, it is a valid alternative. Perhaps i’ll buy one as a spare.
Plastic can be very durable, it is just specific one which is not good at all…
Plastic is not plastic. There is a hell of a difference from one to another. Just like steel grades, or heat treats within steel grades. Plastics and plastic blends have a lot of variables. Big difference in different uses and between say PETG that is water bottles, and ABS that is plumbing pipe. Flexibilty vs strength, vs heat resistance, and a whole slew of other things.
