Headlamps

Lisa, For some time the Black Diamond 'Spot' has been a leader on the market. I have a couple and have used them for several years now. Petzl (french) in the 1970's provided the first electric headlamp and was THE name brand for many years. They are a good quality brand. In recent years the american Black Diamond has risen to the top in quality and like so many quality brands it was started by enthusiasts in the use of the gear (Utah based- mountains at their front door). It has a lot to do with the quality of the Luxeon LED which stands over the chinese made LED's. The whole situation is complicated because even a cheaper brand can seem to last a long time or provide an attractive combination of features. Chinese made LED's have a resin which is more likely to fail in a shorter lifespan. It's got a lot to do with how much you use it and how rough you are with it and a degree of luck. The point is the quality brands (which are always copied in time) offer a better warranty backed by a better time tested product. Nb. Halogen may be a bright light but sucks down the juice so much quicker. I can't imagine your application needing Halogen or even incandescant. A 1 Watt Led is powerful enough to give you a good enough beam over tens of metres. Combine it with some proximity LED's and you have a good all round light. I could go on for ages about features but writing in a forum like this doesn't allow the time and you would get bored.

Thanks for that, not boring at all! Its good to learn about something that Im using, especially when its combined with doing something that I love to do. I knew nothing about what I was looking for so this reassures me that what I got should be good for what I need. Cheers :-)

Hi Lisa, warning: Heavy flashaholic rambling ahead! Read on at your own risk, you may become infected and get "into" lights as much as I am... I am always amazed at what marketing does in regards to selling products really well that are not measuring up with what is actually available elsewhere, certainly not by performance and in many cases not even by price. In this case, I feel the strong need to point out the ZebraLight. Ridiculously light, small and powerful, good runtime, reliably waterproof, and - very different from almost all other headlights - they have an 80 degree medium-wide flood beam without any "hotspot" which is absolutely even in light distribution, no darker or brighter areas, no rings. I have no ties with ZebraLight at all, but these lights are incredibly powerful and useful tools at a great price, and I just can't see people buying the plastic rubbish that Kathmandu and many others are hyping as the "latest thing". I have ordered from ZebraLight directly, had excellent customer service, prompt delivery, and have ZebraLights that are now over a year and a half old, have been put through their paces, and look and work like new. http://www.zebralight.com/ Cheers, Matt

And you have no ties with ZebraLight.......???

Of course he doesn't, he clearly said he didn't. In fact, this unsponsored, detached, objective, neutral, open-minded, evenhanded, non-biased, fair, impartial and unemotionally critical analysis of ZebraLight really made me want to buy a hundred of them so that I'll have worthy gifts for all my tramping friends. Thanks for bringing them to my attention. :-)

Nice to see sarcasm is alive and well and living somewhere in NZ............!

Actually a bloke I go tramping with alerted me to a good idea. When faced with a range of choices for products and a confusing range of features and specifications, buy the second cheapest one. I have applied this principle a few times now (not to everything mind you) and generally it works out pretty good.

Mariku, what's your deal?

I know a couple of people who reckon the commodity Placemakers (or possibly Mitre 10?) variety of head-torches are pretty good. I haven't tried them, but also would never have thought to look there without being poked.

I bought a quite expensive lamp some time ago Small lite and even has a red filter. Cost somewhere between 80 and 140 dollars. My son brought home a $10 mitre10 example its still going well on the original batteries. He does rib me mercilessly whenever i come home with a new piece of expensive gear but I just cant help myself some times.