Red light headlamps

[Stardaze]

20 hours ago, Pixies said:

The Black Diamond 325 (as mentioned above) is on sale at Wiggle.co.uk for £20.99 just now (for some colours).

Have just ordered one and I'll give a quick review when it arrived.

Have been meaning to buy one soon so thanks for the heads up.

[Pixies]

It has arrived. It's pretty well made and comes with batteries (with the copper coloured top). Very good value for £20

After blinding myself with the main beam, I had to wait a while to test the dimmest red setting! You just need to touch the side of the lamp to activate the brightest mode, which I'll have to be careful of! Otherwise, it's controlled by the 2 buttons on top. One on/off/hold-for-dimmer. The other switches between headlamp, 'side light'  and the red led.

Performing the 'standing in a cupboard' test, the dimmest red setting is fine for the user - but I wouldn't want to be standing face-to-face with someone wearing it. The beam angle is around 90deg, with a sharp cutoff. I'll test it properly in-the-field (back garden) tomorrow.

[PeterW]

On other lights I made a small conic shield for the light so when you tilt the red light downwards... for charts and walking about  It is not visible (and Thus does not dazzle) other people.

Nice little lights.

Peter

[Stardaze]

On 27/07/2020 at 18:31, Pixies said:

It has arrived. It's pretty well made and comes with batteries (with the copper coloured top). Very good value for £20

After blinding myself with the main beam, I had to wait a while to test the dimmest red setting! You just need to touch the side of the lamp to activate the brightest mode, which I'll have to be careful of! Otherwise, it's controlled by the 2 buttons on top. One on/off/hold-for-dimmer. The other switches between headlamp, 'side light'  and the red led.

Performing the 'standing in a cupboard' test, the dimmest red setting is fine for the user - but I wouldn't want to be standing face-to-face with someone wearing it. The beam angle is around 90deg, with a sharp cutoff. I'll test it properly in-the-field (back garden) tomorrow.

Seems to be £26.84? Or the 160 version for £17.99?

Edited July 29, 2020 by Stardaze

[Pixies]

17 minutes ago, Stardaze said:

Seems to be £26.84? Or the 160 version for £17.99?

Some colours were £20. hence the yellow one!

[Stardaze]

10 minutes ago, Pixies said:

Some colours were £20. hence the yellow one!

Must've gone now. Ah well, not sure whether to go for the cheap 160 or the 325 is still heavily discounted at £26?

[Pixies]

Just now, Stardaze said:

Must've gone now. Ah well, not sure whether to go for the cheap 160 or the 325 is still heavily discounted at £26?

I'll post my review later tonight. It's not all positive

[Pixies]

Tried it out in the dark last night. The red light even when on the dimmest setting is still a little bright. It's fine if you were on your own, but as the light source is so small, it's quite intense. So if you (or someone else) were to look into it, it would muck up your night vision. Also, there are 3 tiny blue lights on the side that show the battery charge when you turn it on/off. These would ruin night vision too, if close enough.

So basically, if it's on your head and you're on your own, it's great. 

If you want to hold it and use it as a torch, as well as the above, you have to be aware of what BlackDiamond call the 'power-tap'. This is a tiny sensitive touch-switch on the side of the unit. Just brush a finger against it and it goes into full-brightness, for whichever lamp you are using. So if you are using the red led, it will turn the red led up to 11. I found when I was using it to illuminate the cheshire to collimate in the dark, I hit it a couple of times. Not great.

As a normal head-torch, though, it's fantastic.

I'm not sending it back and will continue to use it. I'll cover up the battery indicators and see if I can somehow disable the power-tap switch (tape probably). I'll think about covering the red led with packing tape if I were to be out with others, though.

If it was full price, I'd be unhappy. For £20 I'm not complaining (well - apart from the above)

Edited July 29, 2020 by Pixies