affordable headlamp

[petedelisio]

Advise on a headlamp on Amazon under $25 have a gift card... if a good one a couple dollars over may work...
that is usb rechargeable
bright enough (a lot of led lights will blind you but are barely bright enough to see)
have red light to preserve night vision
maybe have a green light (forget what it is for)
light weight but doesn't have to be ultra light
water proof

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st_p...price-asc-rank



Anybody have one that they rely on to be durable enough etc...


Also a cheap lightweight solar charger


Thanks

[Dogwood]

https://www.amazon.com/Energizer-Hea...96466690&psc=1

It's water resistant not waterproof. For backpacking it's OK. I wouldn't trust it for caving or paddling adventures.

Very inexpensive decently light wt but not solar can be had at Kohls. https://www.kohls.com/product/prd-21...=Black&prdPV=2

Together they are $25

[Slo-go'en]

I don't do much night hiking, so I don't need much of a headlamp. A cheap 3-AAA powered one from Walmart is all I use. In the summer I can get away with a small penlight flashlight.

Green also preserves night vision and the eye is most sensitive to green. I like to use green when hiking in snow. It doesn't reflect back and blind you as much as white does and red just isn't bright enough. I actually made my own super bright Green LED headlamp for winter hiking. Green light is less effective in the summer when everything around you is Green.

As for a solar charger, if this is for hiking the AT, don't bother. You won't get nearly enough sunlight to make it effective, even in the early spring with no leaves on the trees. After the trees leaf out, there in no chance at all.

[chef4]

Nitecore nu25, if you don’t mind spending an extra $10. It has a lot of good features at that price point, it’s a very good value.

[fastfoxengineering]

Used a nitecore NU25 on my AT thru... still use on walks all the time around at home. I thought it was great for my thru. Even used it to nighthike in PA. Get the white and its easy to find in your tent at night.

Granted most of my thru i rarely needed a light at all. Prob coulda thru hiked with just a photon but i like a proper torch because ive been part of two SAR's and was forced to night hike in some sketchy areas.

NU25... the intergace is awesome well with the two different buttons for red/white.



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[saltysack]

Used a nitecore NU25 on my AT thru... still use on walks all the time around at home. I thought it was great for my thru. Even used it to nighthike in PA. Get the white and its easy to find in your tent at night.

Granted most of my thru i rarely needed a light at all. Prob coulda thru hiked with just a photon but i like a proper torch because ive been part of two SAR's and was forced to night hike in some sketchy areas.

NU25... the intergace is awesome well with the two different buttons for red/white.



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+1!!! I love this light for night hiking! I’ll stick with an aluminum sealed housing like a zebra light for paddling..ultra light and bright!


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[HooKooDooKu]

I like the Black Diamond Ion. I won't say it's the best thing if you do a lot of night hiking, but it's more than enough for use around camp and only requires 2 AAA batteries. Pair it with a set of lithium batteries (the latest model comes with Alkaline) and it's still very light weight WITH a spare set of batteries.

Price is Right at $25 (or less depending upon color choice).
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Diamond.../dp/B01LZM307J

[TNhiker]

I like the Black Diamond Ion.

i also like the Ion I got.....its a little tricky with turning on and off but once one gets used to it--it's fine...

I got mine dirt cheap so that also helped...

REI had them for 6 bucks a year or two ago and I snagged one...

[fastfoxengineering]

Also nitecore just came out with the nu35 if you want some more power.

Just trust me on this one...

Nitecore is quickly rising ranks in the thru hiking world. The NU25 is an EXCELLENT thru hiking headlamp. The two button controls, the lock out, the aux white led, the battery indicator.

It's all just right. Not holding buttons down to find settings or clicking through a million times. Red or white

NU25... its the bomb right now for the weight.

Litesmith also has a pretty cool weight to make this headlamp REALLY light.

1.1oz or so with the litesmith mod. Its a lot of headlamp for the $.

Either way.. Ive had about 10 headlamps for hiking, camping, and work.

The NU25 is my go to for thru hiking.

If I was planning on substantial night hiking I would go with a 3x AAA lamp with spare lithiums. Like my Petzl Actik

If your using a headlamp just for regular use around camp and maybe a couple hours of night hiking. Then the NU25 is the ticket.

Ive seen LOTS of BD torches crap the bed, especially if they get wet.

Salty knows whats good for ya

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[Dogwood]

Also nitecore just came out with the nu35 if you want some more power.

Just trust me on this one...

Nitecore is quickly rising ranks in the thru hiking world. The NU25 is an EXCELLENT thru hiking headlamp. The two button controls, the lock out, the aux white led, the battery indicator.

It's all just right. Not holding buttons down to find settings or clicking through a million times. Red or white

NU25... its the bomb right now for the weight.

Litesmith also has a pretty cool weight to make this headlamp REALLY light.

1.1oz or so with the litesmith mod. Its a lot of headlamp for the $.

Either way.. Ive had about 10 headlamps for hiking, camping, and work.

The NU25 is my go to for thru hiking.

If I was planning on substantial night hiking I would go with a 3x AAA lamp with spare lithiums. Like my Petzl Actik

If your using a headlamp just for regular use around camp and maybe a couple hours of night hiking. Then the NU25 is the ticket.

Ive seen LOTS of BD torches crap the bed, especially if they get wet.

Salty knows whats good for ya

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I do not readily see specked burn times on different lumen outputs. That can be darn important for a rechargeable headlamp especially if it was all that was being relied upon for light...on a longer trip without having backup power recharging capabilities. For overnighters, those who don't use/require much energy to power their headlamp, those with multiple lights, or those having power recharging
capability I see it as being great. Help me. Am I missing something?

[fastfoxengineering]

I do not readily see specked burn times on different lumen outputs. That can be darn important for a rechargeable headlamp especially if it was all that was being relied upon for light...on a longer trip without having backup power recharging capabilities. For overnighters, those who don't use/require much energy to power their headlamp, those with multiple lights, or those having power recharging
capability I see it as being great. Help me. Am I missing something?

Spec'd burn times can be found in the downloaded user manual directly off the the NU25 link. About halfway down the page under add to cart. Theres a tab for the user manual.

Burn times are on the 1st page

https://www.nitecorestore.com/NITECO...-nite-nu25.htm

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[fastfoxengineering]

Or if you want it spoon fed!

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[fastfoxengineering]

Its the most intuitive interface Ive seen on a headlamp. I love two different buttons for white/red light. Has a lockout. Can check battery charge. Has an auxilary white. Has a real head band, but can go lighter (backcountrybanter mod or litesmith mod).

If you want to order id look at Litesmith first to see if you want his shockcord head band mode. It gives you a fully functional headlamp for like 1.1oz ... not bad at all.
25 has been going strong since GA.. I use it 4 times a week right now going on walls around the neighborhood. Its so light and compact it feels good on your head.

Big fan of the rechargeable. And ld hiking ill have a battery bank.

The white headband gets pretty gnarly real quick.

But I like the white cause its easy to find in the dark. The whole light says quality.

For me its a good compromise because I cant go into the woods comfortably with anything less. Ive NEEDED a good torch a few times. And every time I was like damn.. glad I have a real light. Like a night hike down the south side of Camels Hump in vermont. Helping carry a liter of a broken ankle victim. Pitch black at 11pm. A photon or tiny little AAA light wouldnt have cut it.

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[saltysack]

Also nitecore just came out with the nu35 if you want some more power.

Just trust me on this one...

Nitecore is quickly rising ranks in the thru hiking world. The NU25 is an EXCELLENT thru hiking headlamp. The two button controls, the lock out, the aux white led, the battery indicator.

It's all just right. Not holding buttons down to find settings or clicking through a million times. Red or white

NU25... its the bomb right now for the weight.

Litesmith also has a pretty cool weight to make this headlamp REALLY light.

1.1oz or so with the litesmith mod. Its a lot of headlamp for the $.

Either way.. Ive had about 10 headlamps for hiking, camping, and work.

The NU25 is my go to for thru hiking.

If I was planning on substantial night hiking I would go with a 3x AAA lamp with spare lithiums. Like my Petzl Actik

If your using a headlamp just for regular use around camp and maybe a couple hours of night hiking. Then the NU25 is the ticket.

Ive seen LOTS of BD torches crap the bed, especially if they get wet.

Salty knows whats good for ya

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...congrats on the thru! I bought mine from Lite Smith also...it is very comfortable, bright and lite....but not a big fan of the UL headband as the cord lock slips when putting it on so you have to tighten every time you put on, not a big deal but if I were ordering I’d save my $ and do the mod JB has on his site. Last easily as long as mfg specs say. Medium/high 5-8 hours very reasonable imo...only time I used the turbo mode was to check out a bear coming into camp from my hammock on TRT few months back...


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[HooKooDooKu]

i also like the Ion I got.....its a little tricky with turning on and off but once one gets used to it--it's fine...

I got mine dirt cheap so that also helped...

REI had them for 6 bucks a year or two ago and I snagged one...

There are two models...
This is the older model TNHiker is talking about (and likely the reason it was gotten so cheap). These older models come with a set of lithium batteries and use two touch sensitive bars on the front to control it (and yeah... it's a little tricky learning to control it, but once you've got the hang of it, it's not too bad).
The newer model comes with a set of alkaline batteries and has a push button control.

One of the things I love about the newer push button controls is that it remembers the briteness level. With the older model, when you turn on the white light, it always turns on at about 80% briteness. You then raise or lower it from there. But when you turn it off, it forgets the briteness level. The new push button ones remembers your briteness level and turns back on at the briteness you left it. That's great because I usually find the lowest setting is great for looking around the tent when it's dark... but you blind yourself when it turns back on at 80%. With the new one, you set it to the lowest lever output and when you turn it back on, it's still at that low level and not blinding you.

[Dogwood]

Look for the newer version BD Ion as described above. I had a few of the older ones the setting interface would lock up. I've heard the same in other ION reviews.

TU Fox. Missed that.

[Gambit McCrae]

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Diamond...+Diamond&psc=1

[GaryM]

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This is the one I use. Not rechargable, it uses an AA battery but a couple of spare batteries are light and cheap. Light output is not a lot but I have found not much light is needed on my night hikes.
Mine hasn't failed but I haven't torture tested either.

[HooKooDooKu]

Look for the newer version BD Ion as described above.

So I just relooked at the BD Ion Link and noticed that both the old and new versions are included on that same web page (simply depends upon which "color" you choose). So I thought I'd make mention that the easy way to visually know whether a BD Ion is the new version or the old... look for two lights.

The old version had a tiny red LED tucked in one of the corners of the white LED.
The new version has the red LED under a separate lens from the white LED.

One of the reasons for the difference is that on the old versions, the two metal pieces that form the BD symbol are the touch sensitive controls. It works something like swipe left to turn the white LED on, swipe right to turn the red LED on, or hover over the controls to adjust the briteness.

The new one works something like a quick click turns the white LED on, a slow click turns the red LED on, press and hold adjusts the brightness.


BTW, both models have a locking feature. Hover/Press the control for about 3 seconds. When the red LED starts flashing, remove your finger and the unit is locked. If anything hovers/presses the control, the red LED simply flashes a few times to indicate the unit is locked. Prevents accidental activation and running your batteries down while stored in your pack. (Same process unlocks it).

[Leo L.]

Reading this thread is interesting, especially to see how far software has been introduced into something as simple as a headlamp.
A few years ago, I was very proud of my smart new Petzl (which was a free replacement for an older Petzl that went dead).

After several years of hiking in various conditions I must state that I rarely use the headlamp at all, its mostly dead weight in the pack.
When setting up camp and running the usual evening chores, its usually still daylight.
In the morning I hardly ever start off before daylight.
In the night the headlamp is too bright to be comfortable, I usually use the smartphone (the screen illumination only) for the bathroom break.
On my recent overnighter, I hiked in the night for two hours, but the snow was bright enough for the lowest setting of the lamp to be sufficient.

So after all I think for many years I was widely overthinking the (importance of) a headlamp, I could as well go with the crappiest piece of lamp (I have many of them), or completely go without.
I see some similarities to the topic of knifes.