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Something that will sit in the rucksack but if the worst was to occur would be bright enough to get us to a campsite or down off the hill.
Maybe bout the £20 mark or even cheaper.
Alpkit would be a good place to start. I Think they have some on offer at the moment too
https://alpkit.com/collections/lighting
Alpkit every time, good kit, good people
Sport pursuit had a load of black diamond ones at various prices.
The one I got is pretty good.
I just bought a smart book light from Cocoda, and this caught my eye
Alpkit
The only headtorch that ever let me down was an Alpkit, although also bought one as a gift for a friend and that seemed to hold up fine. I think budget electronics (budget anything really) are luck of the draw to a degree, whether you pay £10 or £20. My Alpkit SIM delaminated also, on the first outing. Spectacular camping wreckage as I didn’t have a backup! Probably just unlucky! I bought Cocoda again as am mightily impressed with the booklight. Will possibly grab one of their rechargeable headtorches for backup/to save on batteries
Black diamond not alpkit... several failed on us.
Cheers all, that muon looks to be the ticket. Bright enough for emergency, but with lower modes for around camp.
I've got a couple of other cheap led offerings in the house but they're pretty basic and not really bright enough. None has ever let me down though.
Don't like the idea of a rechargeable headtorch. If it runs out then I'd be ****ed. Always have 3 AAA in the rucksack.
THREAD HIJACK
Could anyone recommend me a shit head torch?
By this I mean, I want something to use to read in bed without waking my OH, so it needs sufficient illumination but no more to light up a magazine which is arms' length away, and ideally no greater spread. I have a Led Lenser which is generally ace but far too bright for this application even on lowest settings. Anything above mentioned here already likely to fit the bill?
^ As linked in my post. £8.49? Wouldn’t say it was shit though going by the reviews? It goes down to 50 lumens.
How many lumens for reading in bed?
On average, 25 to 50 lumens per 10.8 sq. ft (1 m2) of the book surface is enough for reading without eye strain. Keep in mind that only lumens of light focused on your reading area are counting. Brightness is the level of light that falls in your eyes while reading.
If that’s not low enough use a neat layer of cheap parcel tape over the lens (I’ve done this before it works very well and makes a warm light too)
Or...how about a book light? I recently bought one of their book lights for the same reason you mention and was so impressed with it I then bought one as a gift.
Also now use ours for a general bedside light and soft mood-light for late drum practice shenags, clipped on my stick caddy. The clip is good and so is the base-stand. The touch on/off function doubles as a dimmer if you hold your finger on it. You can also choose three different hues warm/cool/natural(mixed). I find the lowest brightness to be just soft enough to cover a large paperback read. Bigger books or different situations require selecting a higher setting. It has a memory default for last brightness setting used,
Lost my Alpkit headtorch so, having already got some 18650 batteries and a charger, bought a cheap Cree head torch from Hong Kong for £4.26 including delivery back in 2018 and it's turned out to be best head torch I've had...use it for everything from diy, sewing, bike maintenance, night dog walks etc and it's been ace.
Can't find exactly listing but loads (cree t6 xm-l) that look the same on eBay like this...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353290764516
(Although battery box takes 2 batteries, always just ran it with one battery)
Cheers all, that muon looks to be the ticket.
I've got an alpkit muon it's awesumz and currently £11. no spot but the flood is massive. only concern is it wont be waterproof so whether it would fail in heavy rain
A decent one, though 'cheap' is anything from the Unilite range.
I've used them for the last 6 years, almost every day at work, there is one in my pocket at all times.They last around 2 years, before the elastic straps get too manky and stretchy.
I use the replaceable battery ones, as it is a right pain if a rechargeable fails during working hours. Reduced to £17, I'm ordering 2 more today.
This is my current one:
Unilite head torch.
I have 2 petzl bindi in the house somewhere, but I'll be ****ed if I can find them, so bought 2 alpkit qarks to use - they are bloody brilliant. 30 quid a pop though, so maybe over budget. Rechargeable battery, but can be run on aaa too.
Don’t like the idea of a rechargeable headtorch. If it runs out then I’d be ****ed. Always have 3 AAA in the rucksack.
The alpkit quark has a rechargeable battery that if it runs out you can use 3xAAA with instead; best of both worlds - no unecessary battery waste but you can still keep some emergency batteries on hand if needs be.
Worth checking out some of the energiser headtorches, had various outdoor brands in the past and bang for buck energiser are very good with higher outputs than some of the outdoor brands.
Got a couple of vision hd+ as my go to head torch, 350ish lumen output (think there is a 400 lumen model now) running on 3xAAA. Think they were around £15 or so from memory and came with batteries which seemed good value and best option when I was looking.
Edit: from a quick search https://www.batterystation.co.uk/energizer-vision-hd-focus-led-headlight-315-lumens-batteries-included/ 400 lumens (ignore the 315 reference in the title) for £12.74 delivered not to be sniffed at....
Sport pursuit had a load of black diamond ones at various prices
I got one too. They are still on the site
Petzl tikka can do just about anything and is reliable. I've got a 15 plus year old tikka plus that has outlasted a couple of budget and a black diamond head torch that is also in the house. Go a new one at work as last 2 cheapies fell apart and the old zoom is heavy on the helmet and less bright than a modern torch. It does normal light and a super bright mode that is useful in industrial cellars. Less then £30 and will last ages.
For a 'shit' headtorch for reading in bed the old petzl micro is easily the best. Warm light from the old school bulb disturbs your sleeping companions less, more than enough light to read by or find a campsite toilet in the dark and runs fine off cheap supermarket AA batteries or standard rechargeables. Batteries on the front of the head so no battery pack pillow irritation issues either. Reliability yet to be proven as ours are only about 25 years old. Still for sale too, which was a surprise to me:
http://www.davronline.co.uk/product/petzl-hands-free-lighting-micro-classic-head-torch
I find most rechargeable headtorches just don't hold charge for long enough and when you need them they are half charged or flat. I prefer putting some duracell in one as I know it will be there in an emergency.
Lifesystems do some good value reasonable quality torches. I've had the old intensity 250 for several years as a general round the house emergency light and its still going fine. It was about 25 quid. They do an intensity 500 for about 40 quid at the moment with options for rechargeable or alkaline.
Cyba Lite Egg Headlamp
best head torch ive had since my petzl tikka got stolen several years ago.
good size, light, useable light, not got 27 modes, not got 18 leds, not got separate battery, good battery life.
also not in stock, which is less useful.
I've had a box of 50 Alpkit head torches for work before. Great things, but ours were definitely at the budget end of things and the plastic all started breaking in a couple of seasons. That said we were handing them out to kids most weeks and they were abused heavily (the torch, not the kids).
Our family all have Tikka's of varying ages. I've just got a shiny new one after my maybe 12 year old one was lost by middle_oab at scouts... Mine is the new model and has some good additions such as a small glow in the dark part so you can see the torch in a tent, better battery box etc.
It was a toss up between the Petzl tikkina, Black Diamond Astro 250 and the alpkit muon.
All priced within a couple of pounds of each other but the alpkit won out in the end.
Quite happy with the £10 rechargeable one we got from Toolstation in an rush. Red led mode is acutlly pretty useful for creeping round a caravan at night and the sensor mode works quite well and is actually quite useful when your hands are covered in lambing mess! Only 150 lumen but it has a nice central bright beam with good throw to see sheep >100m down the field and a lower brightness flood around it so you get peripheral vision.
Nicely, thanks all.
Decathlon do a few - I've had no issues with one of these
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/trek-100-120-lumens-usb-rechargeable-head-torch/_/R-p-302568
The Alpkit torches were on sale on Boxing Day. Had a good look through them, initially thinking I'd get a Qark. But there are a few reviews complaining that the supplied rechargeable battery isn't great and you can't buy them separately.
Long term with all LED lights, I'd argue that the battery is the most important thing (LEDs last forever-ish). So, I opted for the cheaper Alpkit Viper instead and bought charger and some rechargeable batteries (also essential post Christmas due to the kids new toys). The Qark will take AAAs and from the reviews it seems it would be better value if they sold it cheaper without the rechargeable battery.
Ive got to throw in a shout out for the hope R4 and hope headtorch strap thing.. yes its not what your after but i got it about 8 years ago now and its just great.
Just about to take the dog for his last run of 2020.. he knows what time it is when he spots auld hope teaddthingy getting waved about 🐾
Another vote for Black Diamond after disappointing Alpkit fails. Longer lasting and better quality. As with both of these makes and Petzl, I find that the elastic straps need replacing after a couple of years.
For reading in bed, or just messing about in the tent, the cheapest decathlon ones have a nice diffused light.
Can’t see the one I had but this worth a try.
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/onnight-50-30-lumens-battery-powered-bivouacking-head-lamp-black/_/R-p-128205?mc=8364416&c=BLACK
For occasional use, the Black Diamond Iota that Sport Pursuit is selling for 20 quid is good. Very small, surprisingly bright, rechargeable. It's not as bright as a Petzl Bindi or whatever BD replaced it with, but it does the job.
As a fisherman I really like the Nitecore NU25. It has a red light that saves my night vision but is bright enough to see with. Class bit of kit usb rechargable about35 quid
nitecore.com
We've got half a dozen Alpkit Vipers, excellent basic head torch, normally carry two as they're so small and light a second one is easier than taking spare batteries.