Headlamp Fetish and Night Hunting

[Trask]

I love headlamps..Simple as that..It seems I find myself using them more and more all the time. A good one can make night into day and you hardly know it's there. Many of our hunts are so far from home that I have to maximize the time and that means hunting well into the night. And I have found that they focus my eyes on a smaller area more effectively and can thus be very effective for hunting points.



A few of my favorites that I currently own:

Fenix..HP10..THE KING! 225 Lumens and powered by AA's. waterproof to 3 meters.


Best for the Price by Coast and a very nice white lamp ( about 20$ for 90 lumens):


A great all around light by Streamlight ( Pelican )..Very adjustable from 5-125 Lumens and fully waterproof:


StreamLight vantage: Made for mounting on a Fire Helmet: Bombproof and bright @ 180 Lumens..I have this mounted on an adjustable mount on the shoulder strap of my pack. Downside is it takes CR123 Batteries ( expensive)

[Trask]

A great website/forum for Light junkies of all kinds:Headlamps

[Mud Hawk]

Candle Power Forums... I been there before... OK, hours of flashlight/torch reviews...Trask, never figured you were a flashlight junky!

Stainless Steel Maratac "aaa" best pocket torch for me. Fenix made some good stuff too!

[Ryno]

This was helpful to me, Ive been looking for a good light.. The ones i buy at wallyworld are alright,, but seem to crap out on me.. Ive gone through 3-4 in a yrs time..

[Mud Hawk]

Fenix is the way to go Ryno...

[Trask]

I've had my Fenix hp10 for a little less than a year and I have flat out abused it...It's had every kind of stone/cement dust, mud and sludge thrown at it. It has been completely submerged and survived multiple mt. Bike Crashes. It is a GREAT light.

[Garza]

This is my favorite les lenser h7 from 2.5 lumens to 155 lumens, uses 3 AAA batteries

[joshuaream]

They are great when camping, hiking, etc. Two free hands are better than one!

[willybee]

i have learned that high grade equipment can help make
up for lack of expertise-consequently i have bought the best
stuff i could afford ---flashlights and headlamps included--
my current picks are



BEST HEADLAMP: Princeton Tec APEX EXTREME-200 lumens LED 24 hour runtime
on HIGH(based on my own use) waterproof to 3 feet
8 AA batteries in a water tight belt pack! $90

BEST SPOTLIGHT: Stanley 5 watt 400 lumen LED Nimh cell phone batteries
built into it, charges in car or house, lasts 55 minutes-
so good i bought 2 ($39) great for blinding any
competing hunters! waterproof to 10 feet FLOATS bulb up
for easy night retrieval from moving water-

BEST AREA LIGHT: Coleman LED lantern 4 D batteries 58 hour runtime
select between white or BLUE light-$28

That apex headlamp is the best thing i ever owned in flashlight
technology-its so bright i use it on meduim a lot-plus it has lots of cool
features like blinking to tell you your batteries are getting low an hour
ahead of time! Apparently these dudes from Princeton University
started designing outdoor gear using the latest technology-the lamp
in this sucker gets a little hot and it has a pretty good sized heatsink
built into it. it looks like HIGH NOON under this light at night. if you
wear this light on a mountain bike at night it looks like a TRAIN is coming
from the distance.
The stanley spots are super lightweight and very durable, plus you NEVER
have to buy batteries, the charge time is only 20 minutes in the car.
I use the headlamp for exploring gravel and sand bars and the spotlight
for cutbanks-even in the distance.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND night floating-unless you consider yourself an
expert kayaker AND an expert on the particular section of river you
are floating on--PLUS you should have been through the route
since the last flood.

Also its good to know ahead of time that (especially in WINTER)
anywhere the water temperature is 20 degrees or more warmer than
the air temperature -FOG the likes of wich lights won't penetrate directly-
keeps you from actually seeing ANYTHING out in the water-sometimes
moonlight filters through -you still don't see anything more than 5 feet,
but if you can keep to the middle of the river.....its OK.
dang some people will go to ridiculous lengths to find a rock.
PS:ALWAYS WEAR FLOTATION DEVICE AT NIGHT

willy

[ghost recon]

I prefer night hunting with small powerfull led or xenon lights. I usually wear a headlamp as well but the shadows it creates doesn't help imo, I usually turn it off and just use the headlamp for walking through the woods. It's good for illuminating an area but I like a low level light from the side, and many other angles, that's why I prefer small handheld lights. Here's a few of my flashlights, streamlight tlr2, pentagon px 1, energizer headlamp, and a few other small lights.

I'm thinking about getting this headlamp for caving, and possibly some night hunting. I think the rechargable battery pack and other features justify the price. Plus 350 lumens pretty much blows away everything else in its class besides maybe the silva alpha, but that's more of a high speed bike lamp, or headlight. Jmo...Nothing really compares to the sun though.

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