New headlamp from Black Diamond

[ruscal]

I have been using this type of lamp for many years. They are handy for tackling all sorts of tasks in the dark. Your hands remain free and the light is directed wherever you point your head. Led technology has really increased the run times in recent years. Miners used these powered by liquid fuels or carbide. (I think) The first modern one I purchased had a krypton bulb and a very dim led as an energy saving option. It was only useful for close up reading or tasks while on led, and the krypton bulb, while brighter had only an hour or so burn time on 3 AA batteries. I have continually upgraded over the years to gain lighter and better systems.
The trend has been to shun AA's in favor of AAA batteries to make the lights lighter. I still prefer the AA's since my GPS and Older camera also use them and I can switch between the devices.
The new Icon from Black Diamond has amazing brightness of 200 lumens with a burn time of 75 hours! You could trail ride a mountain bike with that much light. The 200 lumen output is from one led, and is infinitely dimmable. You hold down the on off switch to continuously dim and brighten the lamp. To turn it off just momentarily hit the switch. Hit the switch again and two smaller led's turn on. They are also infinitely dimmable, and can last up to 250 hours on low. Red led's are also selectable which will keep your pupils from dilating and causing night blindness. The unit is water resistant to a depth of 3 feet.
I purchased one of these yesterday from REI, and can't wait to try it out. It uses 4 AA batteries. I keep a 100 lumen lamp hanging on a coat hook just inside the door of our Scamp, and use it constantly for camping chores.
Russ

[Donna D.]

I bought one of these at Harbor Freight, can't beat the price. And fortunately there's a HF about five miles from me.. no shipping! I bought it to work inside my trailer, inside a cupboard. If it lasts a year, I'll be a happy camper!

Headlamp with Swivel Lens

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by ruscal

I have been using this type of lamp for many years. They are handy for tackling all sorts of tasks in the dark. Your hands remain free and the light is directed wherever you point your head. Led technology has really increased the run times in recent years. Miners used these powered by liquid fuels or carbide. (I think) The first modern one I purchased had a krypton bulb and a very dim led as an energy saving option. It was only useful for close up reading or tasks while on led, and the krypton bulb, while brighter had only an hour or so burn time on 3 AA batteries. I have continually upgraded over the years to gain lighter and better systems.
The trend has been to shun AA's in favor of AAA batteries to make the lights lighter. I still prefer the AA's since my GPS and Older camera also use them and I can switch between the devices.
The new Icon from Black Diamond has amazing brightness of 200 lumens with a burn time of 75 hours! You could trail ride a mountain bike with that much light. The 200 lumen output is from one led, and is infinitely dimmable. You hold down the on off switch to continuously dim and brighten the lamp. To turn it off just momentarily hit the switch. Hit the switch again and two smaller led's turn on. They are also infinitely dimmable, and can last up to 250 hours on low. Red led's are also selectable which will keep your pupils from dilating and causing night blindness. The unit is water resistant to a depth of 3 feet.
I purchased one of these yesterday from REI, and can't wait to try it out. It uses 4 AA batteries. I keep a 100 lumen lamp hanging on a coat hook just inside the door of our Scamp, and use it constantly for camping chores.
Russ

That's really a nice headlight. A bit pricey but, nice. After you've used it a bit I'd like to know how the balance works with battery pack at the back of your head.

Here's the link to REI page.

[ruscal]

Originally Posted by Byron Kinnaman

That's really a nice headlight. A bit pricey but, nice. After you've used it a bit I'd like to know how the balance works with battery pack at the back of your head.

Here's the link to REI page.

Byron,
I have used headlamps with the batteries in the rear and the ones up in the headlamp. Both have worked well while hiking and caving. I don't jog, so don't know if one is better for bounce control. While at work I use the ones with the batteries in front, as I am a handyman and spend a lot of time under sinks with the back of my head against the floor of the cabinet. The rear battery pack is not comfortable in that case.
Speaking of balance, attached are photos of the light I use while off road biking. the light mounts to most helmets with a velcro strap. The battery pack mounts to the rear of the helmet to balance the load. You can feel the weight while riding, but that is the price to pay for turning the night white! This light is made by Serfas, has 3 Cree xml emitters that produce 500 lumens each for a 1500 lumen output. The battery pack lasts a tad over 2 hours with the light set on nuke. (turbo) I have another mounted on the handlebar with its battery mounted on the stem. It allows riding at any speed I can muster. These things are amazing. On road rides I only use the bar mounted light set on medium and carefully aim it so it doesn't blind oncomming drivers.
It'll go for about 4 hours. Ain't technology cool?
Russ

[ruscal]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

I bought one of these at Harbor Freight, can't beat the price. And fortunately there's a HF about five miles from me.. no shipping! I bought it to work inside my trailer, inside a cupboard. If it lasts a year, I'll be a happy camper!

Headlamp with Swivel Lens

Donna,
At that price you could buy a gaggle of them and always have one handy!
Russ

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by ruscal

Byron,
I have used headlamps with the batteries in the rear and the ones up in the headlamp. Both have worked well while hiking and caving. I don't jog, so don't know if one is better for bounce control. While at work I use the ones with the batteries in front, as I am a handyman and spend a lot of time under sinks with the back of my head against the floor of the cabinet. The rear battery pack is not comfortable in that case.
Speaking of balance, attached are photos of the light I use while off road biking. the light mounts to most helmets with a velcro strap. The battery pack mounts to the rear of the helmet to balance the load. You can feel the weight while riding, but that is the price to pay for turning the night white! This light is made by Serfas, has 3 Cree xml emitters that produce 500 lumens each for a 1500 lumen output. The battery pack lasts a tad over 2 hours with the light set on nuke. (turbo) I have another mounted on the handlebar with its battery mounted on the stem. It allows riding at any speed I can muster. These things are amazing. On road rides I only use the bar mounted light set on medium and carefully aim it so it doesn't blind oncomming drivers.
It'll go for about 4 hours. Ain't technology cool?
Russ

Thanks, I've used head lights for years also, battery pack on the belt, and in th front. The ones with batteries with lamp used 3 AAA batteries, which there's been several. The belt pack was 4 AAs. But, I've never used one with battery pack at the back on head strap. They've all gotten pretty heavy use.

[Ed Harris]

I too use a Headlamp every day,I am the guy in your house wearing one and making the kids laugh as I come out of the Attic and Basement Crawl Space.

I am fairly hard on them too and have been going through them steadily and I also lose them a lot?

Rayovac makes a very bright one that I have been using for a year or so npw and it is designed to be extra rugged and affordable too.

Around $20.00 and too bright sometimes on the high setting.

[fusedlight]

Originally Posted by ruscal

I have been using this type of lamp for many years. They are handy for tackling all sorts of tasks in the dark. Your hands remain free and the light is directed wherever you point your head. Led technology has really increased the run times in recent years. Miners used these powered by liquid fuels or carbide. ... <snip>

Back in the day we would put carbide in the bottom of this and water in the top. A spin of the flint and "POOF"... light! I am so jealous of cavers today with LED lamps. No big bottles of water, no baby bottles (yes!) full of raw carbide, and no nasty calcium hydroxide to dispose of.

I use a head band mounted lamp fairly often at home. When I have to do some work on the electrical panel in the basement I still have plenty of light even when I've thrown the main breaker.

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by fusedlight

Back in the day we would put carbide in the bottom of this and water in the top. A spin of the flint and "POOF"..........

As a kid we used those carbide chips to send cans flying in the air. Lucky to have 10 fingers.