Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Headlamps

In my line of work I am often required or expected to locate the game my hunters shoot at the closing moments of light. Blood tracking this way may come down to a single spot of blood to get you in the correct direction. In the African bush you really never know what is around the next corner. This makes having a great bright headlamp a necessity

Over the years I have used quite a few models. One of my all time favorite was the black diamond with the little LED that would flash constantly as a " find me" feature. Clearly one of the more brilliant designs of all time. When it's pitch dark and you meed a light it was simple to spot that little flashing light to help you locate the headlamp.

However that light was left in the dark as newer LED super bright lights came on the market. With the newest Black diamond the icon being one of the best I have used. However now that I have the battery replaced on my Zebra Light....... well that poor icon is not even in the game any longer!

If there is a lighter better made more powerful head lamp on the market I've not seen it. 2 hours of 1000 lumens is the most brilliant powerful white light I have ever found. It's like wearing a BMW high beam headlight on our head, that is so light weight you don't even know you're wearing it.

I could kick myself for letting the rechargeable battery get so bad that I stopped using it. I fixed this problem, I have 4 batteries and a dual charger now. As well as a car charger.

If you were ever in the market for an astonishing bright light that is bullet proof and dirt cheap, check these light out. I'm using an H600 Mk II

I keep looking at those Zebra lights and can never figure out which one to get. I have been through a couple of the Black Diamond Spots and they are great accept they are all plastic and will break. I'll be sure and check out the H600 MkII.

Just looked at their site and remembered why I never ordered one. Their site really leaves something to be desired.

Don't know if I've ever seen their website.

I had a client with one which blew me away.

When I came back to the states I just ordered one on EBay

I have the original zebra light, how does the new model stack against it?

My next headlamp will be the Fenix HP30. 5 power settings and man is that thing bright when set to turbo. A friend of mine brought 2 of them into moose camp this year and holy cow were those things impressive.

I don't like the way LED works for blood trailing. At least not the ones I have had so far.

I fall back to a coon hunters light still with extra 6 volt battery for that specific task.

Though just for whatever and cleanign game and such, LED is fine.

I have a few brands but found some cheapy's on sale a year or so ago and bought half a dozen for my wildland fire gear and at home in the winter and such.

As luck would have it when I shot my moose a month ago in AK, I cleaned it almost all in the dark by myself and had the cheapest light I own with me... it worked just great.

BUT I will look at the Zebra if I can find it and the Fenix for sure. Extra badazz lights never hurt.

The Spec on the Fenix and the Zebra is so different.

Fenix at 900 lumens does not show anyplace I could find how long the run time is. Not in any location they show their lights, not even in the instruction manual? It's called Burst mode, which leads me to believe that it's for a momentary use only? Does the Over temp switch, switch it back to high from burst?

The Zebra light shows 1050 lumens is good for 2 hours, and the lower settings proportionally more time. I have used the Zebra light for well in excess of an hour and it has never dimmed or died. It does get warm or hot to the touch after about 30 minutes.

The Zebra uses only one battery and the Fenix uses two on that belt pouch arrangement. It would seem to me that the Fenix would way outlast the Zebra with double the battery power? It shows that it will last over 3 hours at 500 lumens. That is a hella bright light for over 3 hours! It also has a USB output to charge a phone which is a nice feature.

I'm no fan of the belt pouch and the cord that will tangle in everything I walk past and yank the light off my head. Been there more times then I care to remember! I detest those cords hanging and dangling between the light and the batteries. Even the first Black Diamond iCon lights came with the belt mount, but that changed in about 6 months to the battery in the head strap only for them too!

It does work better when you route the cable under a coat or jacket. But that cord still seems to rub on your neck or hang up on things.

That Fenix light at 500 lumens for over 3 hours with the option of 900 when needed is a darn good design. I would like to know how long the 900 lumens will stay running. I think it will overheat before is runs out of juice. Probably why they don't list a run time, because they have no idea what the ambient temp is where it will be used.

The Zebra light is a solid Aluminum tube and heat sink unit. Likely dissipating heat much better and allowing them to provide a functional run time standard. Both have great light output and plenty of engineering time put into the design. We are so lucky to have these available now!

JJ,

Thanks for the heads up, will take a look! 30 plus years ago I started with Petzl who I think has been left in the dust, started using black diamond but I've had two fail in a year and the output doesn't compete with other brands, and then tried the fenix hl30 which I have been really impressed with and planned to buy another for a family member this winter. But after seeing the spec's on the lights mentioned above I may have to re-think this.

Regarding the fenix hl30; i've been equipping everyone in my family with one as I like the idea of everyone using a light that uses the same batteries (AA). Rechargeables are OK but prefer AA's as I have no way of recharging batteries when out in the woods for a bit. And I do like the SOS that fenix has as one of the light selections.

Have you ever tried the 'blue' lights that are supposed to make blood stand out? I've not.

Jerry

The Cool White bulb from Zebra is much better then the "natural" white in my view. Both work okay, however I have a better ability with the brighter settings using cool white then when using the brighter settings with natural white.

I have used the blue, and to my eye not seen any advantage or improvement. Everyones vision is a bit different with colors though. For me the brightest light is usually better. Especially with blood that is still wet. It just seems to reflect or appear better to me.

I was a huge proponent of the AA strategy to keep all the technology using the same power supplies. The amount of power with AA batteries cannot compete with the 18650 batteries. I do have a three slot AAA sleeve that will mimic the single 18650 Battery in size and function. They do not run as long, but it's a good option to use the 18650 battery and still be able to run with the AAA batteries in a pinch.

If you get the 18650's with a dual battery charger or a vehicle charger and keep a few on hand, it's a far superior power supply for a super bright power sucking light.

I have the Zebralight H600W MkII in neutral and it is the finest headlight I've ever used! If you go to www.illumn.com and order it there shipping is free and if you enter code "Illumination" they will knock 15% off your order. I'd get the light and a couple of the Panasonic NCR18650B's. For a charger I'd recommend one of the following (I have both and they work really well as battery packs for recharging):

http://www.fasttech.com/products/0/...-102-universal-usb-smart-charger-version

http://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10002784/1381305-enb-enb-tri18650-1a-3-18650-li-ion-battery-usb

Pick up a solar panel and you could have unlimited power anywhere for small gadgets!

I really love my Ay Up 700 lumen light.

http://www.ayup-lights.com/lighting-kits?product_id=1

The King of headlamps has to be The Lupine Piko 4 but the price tags is also very high.

http://www.lupinenorthamerica.com/piko-4-smartcore.asp

Read this.

www.outdoorgearlab.com/headlamp-reviews/ratings

At one time, I thought I needed a headlamp that lit up half countryside but after trying 4 or 5 different headlamps, I've found that I'm quite happy with the performance of headlamps with 75 to 90 lumens or even a bit less. They work well at high elevations in the mountains of CO and on the flat sandy trails in OK. I just want to get to where I'm going without announcing my arrival to half the world.

Walking out in densely populated bear and lion country in total darkness, it's quite comforting to light up half the countryside or more!

When you hunt til dark and see cougars on your trail cameras several times a week, and listen the wolves howling, and see bears every single trip into the mountains its kinda nice to have a high beam headlight pointed where ever you are looking.

It's equally nice to have those crimson trace grips on the .44 mag! Last night my wife and I sat in the tree stand til dark. About the time we were going to climb down, a smaller bear of 250ish was being chased by an absolute monster bear of 7 foot plus. The canyon ridge we were sitting on that funnels game past us is quite steep. The smaller bear was cornered between the big bear and the steep cliff. He ran right up the tree next to us. We were now looking face to face 6 feet away at this bear in the tree right next to us. The bigger bear was circling around clicking it's teeth and woofing. This continued for about 5 minutes. By this time it was very dark and the near full moon was not high enough to see very well.

We sat until the bear went back down the tree and departed. However we never did figure out where the giant black beast wandered off too. Our narrow forest cattle trail up to the over grown cat road is a few hundred yards long. There is not enough light short of the noon day sun for that walk out! Continuing on down that cat road for a 1/2 mile to the ATV where all the lion photo's are taken on the trail camera was not a relief to the situation. Every grouse that busted and cow that crashed through the brush was quite alarming in the now complete darkness!

Yeah...... I like bright lights!

BluMtn

That is a lot of lights reviewed!

I have two black diamond icon lights. which is the top pick of this review. However they are not even in the game when compared to the equally priced Zebra light!

The light output of the Zebra light which is 5 times more lumens output ( 1090 VS 200) and double the run time, simply blows the icon away! I think they reviewed the typical consumer REI- cabelas- sportsmans warehouse- type retail sales only.

The Fenix, Zebra light and Lupin models just leave every one of the models tested in the dark!

The H600w MkII can be programmed to give "0.01 Lm (5.5 months)".

Pretty neat, but I would really like to know why anyone would want to do that.

JJHack, I've hiked and hunted all over CO where mountain lions and black bears are plentiful. I have also hunted the Rosebud Sioux reservation in S. Dakota where mountain lions are a fairly common site. My hunting buddy and I have seen several while hunting. We have a small population mt. lions and black bears in OK as well. I've hiked in before sun up and have hunted till dark many times. I've had to make my way back to camp after sundown more times than I can count. I have never felt "under-lighted" with a 95 lumen headlamp. But, I do agree that a 44 mag is a great sidearm and a Crimson Trace is a nice addition.

I can see the benefit of more lumens in open country, but do you have any issues with light splash back in cliffed in areas or light barked woods? Wouldn't seem to be too different an issue than being inside a house and shining the light on a light colored wall.

Biggs, I suppose having been knocked down and getting bitten and clawed has much to do with my concern over bears in the dark. Prior to that I was pretty unconcerned as well. That event however changed my perspective.

Also working in ADC and having to identify cause and time line of livestock predation is an eye opener. Seeing that a 100lb cougar kills a 1200 pound steer puts my 175lb body mass In the starter portion of the menu.

Sherp,those 1000 lumens illuminate the forest like car headlights.