I want a fairly strong red led headlamp. The ones I’ve seen with a primary white and some tiny aux red won’t cut it. I’d like to be able to use 18650 and either 2AA or 3AAA. Zoomable would be nice but I feel I’m going to be limited by the red requirement. Cheap is good.
Saw a headlamp on ebay that used an 18650 but also came with an adapter to run it off 3AAA. I liked that although have a ton of rechargeable AAs.
I’ve been told to get some red gel paper and put it over a white led but not sure how well that works out. I don’t need pure red, just don’t want to ruin my night vision while trail hiking.
As someone who has done a number of night hikes, I would give up on preserving your night vision. With me even a tiny 5mm LED will ruin it, of course I am talking about hiking at midnight on a moon less night without any lights. :D
Using red works for me. I have carried my handheld flashlights with red led and can definitely tell a difference over a white lens. Also might use it while coyote and rat hunting where I also prefer red.
Easiest option is to try a red photo filter on a cheap eBay headlamp. Red filters block a lot of light and you'll probably have to crank up the output to get the kind of light you seem to want and so the battery life might be shorter than what you had hoped for. But it's an easier option than building your own headlamp that uses a red LED, which is what your other option is probably.
Be careful about the quality of eBay headlamp as they can vary a lot regardless of the seller. If you want something well made that offers multiple battery configurations, try looking up the Spark SX5. They were being sold for around $60 with some black friday deals. Don't know if those deals are still valid though.
How about something like this
I used to have one of these a long time ago(back when for me 4D mags were the brightest thing I ever saw lol). It was decently bright, good amount of red light.
It runs on 3 AAA, so it could be adapted to 18650 I’m sure.
I’ll look for mine and see if I could tell you more
On an impulse I bought this today at a sporting goods store. The Princeton Remix. This one has 3 red leds but it isn’t anywhere near bright enough. I am probably butting up against the max I can expect from the AAA platform but I have to think I can find something a little better. LIke I think I said above, I’d prefer a dual 18650/AAA platform. My Coleman Max AAA has a red led and it does better than this. I paid $30 for this and it will have to go back.
