Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting headlamp question

Which headlamps have given you long lasting performance? thank you

zebralight....

Black Diamond.

I use headlamps on a daily basis, for years I was a fan of the Princeton Tec Apex. I had 2 of them go bad within a couple of weeks.
Since then I have been using LedLenser and really like them, my favorite model is the H7R, infinitely adjustable from 15 to 600 lumen and 1000 lumen boost if necessary, rechargeable battery life is very good.
If you want something smaller and lighter for backpack only I like the MH4, very dependable

this spring i picked up one of these sofirn headlights. so far it has been fantastic. long battery life and a mix of good throw and wide beam.

https://sofirnlight.myshoplaza.com/...-8b50-ab50b4433172.collection_detail_1.1

I have three Black Diamonds around the house and one in the truck because I use them constantly. It takes a long time for them to fail. Usually, the plastic housing cracks although they will often still work.

Out in the wild, Zebralight.

Zebralight and Petzl Tactikka for me.

thanks guys

Nitecore HC33

This one came in a 2-pack from Costco 8 or 10 years ago. It’s my go-to because it’s bright af and simple. Three settings H M L and focusable. I think the 2-pack was $20. Both still work great.

I use that same model Petzl

Petzl

I've been running a NiteCore HC90 since 2016 and it's been fantastic.

I use it with 18650 rechargeables.

Black Diamond Spot for me.

Zebralight...

Had good luck with Black Diamond. Am now giving nite core with rechargeable AA's a chance and liking it thus far. Battery life of blue earth ? batteries impressive.

My original nitecore was a rock star for hundreds of hours. Then it got flaky and eventually wouldn't shut off.

I ordered a new one, and it was a pos out of the gate. So now I am using a fenix hm65r-t. I like the 18650 headlamps for the battery life and the ability to put out a bunch of light when needed.

most of these work pretty great. even a "cheapy" from Home Depot will suffice.

recommendation I'll give is: 1. try to have your batteries "match" other things in your pack (GPS, etc) if possible to minimize the number of spares. 2. keep a traditional handheld flashlight in your pack in case of emergency. I'm not scared of the dark.... but I'm scared of the dark in the national forest without a light at all. headlamps are somewhat easy to "lose" after daybreak, so having a spare is handy.

Right .... It really depends on what you need a light for. If your just lighting up what you are doing with your hands and where you are walking, there are many good choices and not for big dollars.

We use Pelicans at work for confined space jobs. They work fine and won't break the bank.

I have four of these:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ozark-Trail-LED-400-Lumens-Headlamp/517266765?athbdg=L1300

They weigh very little so I bring two when hunting, a primary and a backup. A nice feature is that one push of the power button gets you high power; you don't have to d*ck around with the lower settings. Same for the red setting. You can go right to it without toggling through any white light modes.