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Flashlights, Headlamps, etc., & Batteries

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  • Flashlights, Headlamps, etc., & Batteries

    Hi! We are new to the site but have read some very informative and interesting post and have seen some awesome finds!! How exciting!!
    We do night hunting also. We have bought a few different lights that a couple seem good. We have went through the batteries! We have tried about 6 different kinds and have just started trying the energizer rechargeable. We can’t make a good call on those yet, haven’t used them enough.
    So what are your opinions?

  • #2
    I have no opinions. My wife won’t let me have one. She also doesn’t let me leave the house at night, so I don’t get a flashlight.
    Wandering wherever I can, mostly in Eastern Arkansas, always looking down.

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    • SDhunter
      SDhunter commented
      Editing a comment
      Thanks for the laugh Jethro! I needed a good one

    • Jethro355
      Jethro355 commented
      Editing a comment
      👍

  • #3
    I just looked at what I've been using, mostly for bottles at night and the metal detector. Energizer Recharge, says Universal.... AA. I know they lasted with a newer quality led headlamp for as long as I could. I have rechargeables for all sizes.
    Other brands I think cost more and didn't have as many sales. Tried all kinds rechargeables...there's a couple of white Panasonic Enloops in the battery bin.
    Professor Shellman
    Tampa Bay

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    • #4
      One of my favorite threads on arrowheadology was the headlamp/flashlight thread. A wealth of information and reviews there from people who used them.

      I switched to night hunting in the desert because of the day time vs night time temps after seeing some of the great basin hunters do it and swear by it. I kind of went through all of the stages of a headlamp addiction pretty quickly, as do many of us.

      The long and short of it is that you should research Lumens and battery types:

      Lumens measure light. Common flashlights might be 15 lumens up to 100 lumens or so, which is pretty dim. When you start to get above 500 lumens you get a shocking amount of light output. Get near 1000 lumens and The lumen difference comes from switching from bulbs to LED chips.

      Batteries, I don’t pretend to understand amperes and electricity, but AA batteries might get you up to 2000 ampere hours (MaH), nicad AA won’t go as high but last a lot longer and are rechargeable. Then there are an entire range of specialty rechargeable batteries that are the difference between lawnmower engine and corvette engine. 18650 MaH batteries are what many of the midrange and better headlamps use.
      The 18650 batteries look like a giant AA battery and are fully rechargeable. There are many different qualities of batteries, but the cheapest Chinese ones simply don’t have the power that they claim on the package. It takes a lot of juice to power the bright LED chips. They aren't too expensive so I bought a couple of different types off amazon and returned the ones that were crappy.

      There are a lot of videos on youtube that show the difference between regular flashlights and 1000 lumen lamps, I posted one that demonstrates it fairly well.

      I started out with a basic handheld Maglite DD flashlight that I had gotten from work one year in a gift basket. It was big, long, could bash in a car window (I know this from experience when I locked my keys in my car one time while changing my tire on the side of the road), and the batteries lasted a long time. It wasn’t very bright, it got heavy to carry, and eventually you get beamed in the eye when picking up something, etc. A fine flashlight to have in your truck, but not really ideal for a hike or camping. Headlamp vs handheld was the way to go.

      I switched to a headlamp that we got for camping, nice but not bright enough. I bought a $50 or so rechargeable headlamp that went up to 500 lumens, and that was an absolute game changer. I could focus the beam on the ground in front of me, but it only lasted a couple of hours and it had a super convenient when at home but not convenient outdoor USB charger. It has a bunch of different settings that I never used.

      I switched to a Fenix 1000 lumen headlamp that uses 18650 MaH batteries, I only got an hour or so of full power per battery, but I could carry a bunch and hunt all night long. (Occasionally stopping when the lamp overheated.)

      I ended up getting a Cree 1800 lumen that I use when focused hunting, and my Fenix when just walking between sites or when the brighter light is too bright.

      I also carry a UV light because I like to see scorpions and it really lights up shell beads and some materials on my sites.

       
      Hong Kong, but from Indiana/Florida

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      • #5
        That’s about as informative a flashlight post as I’ve ever seen.👍👍
        Wandering wherever I can, mostly in Eastern Arkansas, always looking down.

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