What is the best headlamp for fishing at night? My main need is to have enough luminaries be able to video with my head-cam. The one I have now is only 30 lumens. It's not enough to light up the fish when I'm landing it, or even when it's in the net. Any suggestions?
Buy and try a Petzel. I have two of them and thye work great.Nice and bright and will work for your head cam.
Get something with more than one brightness setting that also allows switching between spot and flood lighting. I use a Petzl Myo hybrid most of the time and find that being able to switch between LED for close up stuff and xenon for longer range spotlighting is invaluable. Some newer LED-only models offer comparable spotlight performance, but it depends on the lens design. The lux rating is more important than lumens because lux takes into account the area over which the lumens are spread (i.e. flood vs spot). You need a lamp that allows you focus those lumens into a tight spot pattern if you want to film anything at any distance.
I use a Petzl Tactikka (the one with the camoflage band) and it works well for all my needs. It has a red flip up filter in addition to the white light so you can use the red light and maintain your natural night vision. And it lasts 120hours on 3 AAA batteries.
I have couple of headlights (okay a few). My favourite is the Petzel Zipka. It has a retractable cord so no band. This allows you to either wear on your head, wrist or strap to anything you want.
I am not going to say it's the best! for fishing (or video) because I personally haven't done a thorough comparison but the Petzl Tikka XP 2 has had good reviews and works well for me. It is 80 lumens on Hi with 4 white light modes; Hi/Lo with sliding diffuser, + flash and a red LED with flash. I like the red light to read by that doesn't disturb a buddy's sleep and preserves night vision for star gazing. I picked it up a couple of years ago at an REI sale for $40 and change but see it has gone up in $$ since then.
I'd also check out bicycle lighting systems. You'll spend more money, but you'll get something that will sport some fearful illumination. Many are now helmet mountable, so rigging up something you can wear should be straightforward. If you're gonna be doing a lot of video, it might be worth the extra cash.
Blue collar solution would be the Energizer unit: http://www.amazon.com/Energizer-HDL33AINE-6-LED-Headlight/dp/B000MGGT66/ref=pd_sbs_op_3 I even dropped mine off a bridge abutment nearly 3 stories, and it's still working. Not as fancy as some of the other suggestions, but at $20 she'll go. If you're not keen on Amazon, they're available at Lowes and most any construction safety supply store.
You guys don't get it do you. If it is dark out, there are only two alternatives....turn over and go back to sleep OR you are already late for the "cocktail hour". Life is really simple when you get your priorities in order!
Those are great suggestions guys, thanks for posting them. But constructeur, your avatar is just plain freaky man.
I have a bunch of different Brunton head lamps that are awesome. Made in Wyoming. Well designed and crazy bright.
I'm gonna say it again- for what you're doing, a bicycle system is the way to go. Check this one out; 300 lumens for about $90.00 http://www.niterider.com/rechargeable-new/minewt-mini-300-usb-plus-new/ CORRECTION: just found on Amazon for 70 bones.
I'm sure that would "light up my life", but do you mount that thing to your head? I'm afraid I'd have a neck strain, with my head cam and that light mounted to my hat at the same time. That thing weighs more than twice as much much as my fly rod, and that's without the batteries in it. I don't know, I may have to see if one of the local bike shops carry them. Maybe it's not as bad as it seems. I guess I could mount it to my pack or something. After all, 300 lumens... that there is some light!
Sorry, didn't realize the link didn't have the pic. Here it is on a helmet. I use one for mountain biking, no problem.
