Best rechargeable headlamp

[Carrot Farmer]

Look no farther…

Peax!


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[disquek]

Do you guys have a link to a 18650 battery(s) on Amazon that you like? There are a ton of them. Hard to tell which are good ones.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Do you guys have a link to a 18650 battery(s) on Amazon that you like? There are a ton of them. Hard to tell which are good ones.

Panasonic if you can find them, I don't see them on Amazon anymore. Samsung are supposed to be really good also but there's a lot of knock-offs of both of those on Amazon so gotta be careful. I've just been using Fenix batteries lately, they work PDG.

 

[disquek]

If you're going on a week long trip in mid season, are you guys bringing enough 18650s to last the trip, or are you recharging them from a power bank?

I had planned to bring a AAA powered BD Spot and 20 AAA lithium batteries. But Ive seen those BD headlamps really draw down a set of AAAs quickly. So now I'm thinking of switching.

 

[scattergun]

If you're going on a week long trip in mid season, are you guys bringing enough 18650s to last the trip, or are you recharging them from a power bank?

With this kind of runtime on the HM65R’s low floodlight, which is used most of the time, I haven’t even had to use my spare battery yet:



The output and efficiency of these little things is insane.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

If you're going on a week long trip in mid season, are you guys bringing enough 18650s to last the trip, or are you recharging them from a power bank?

I had planned to bring a AAA powered BD Spot and 20 AAA lithium batteries. But Ive seen those BD headlamps really draw down a set of AAAs quickly. So now I'm thinking of switching.

I probably wouldn't unless I planned on a lot of night movement. I DO carry a lightweight Black Diamond Storm 400 to get me back to the truck in case of a headlamp failure of some sort, so that's my backup plan. The Fenix uses the same charge cord as my phone so if I have anything to charge the phone I can always charge the headlamp with it as well.

 

[disquek]

Thanks! This is a backcountry trip. No power. So I dont have the luxury of a recharge unless I bring a power bank. Hence the initial lean towards AAA.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Thanks! This is a backcountry trip. No power. So I dont have the luxury of a recharge unless I bring a power bank. Hence the initial lean towards AAA.

If you're gonna bring spare AAA's then you may as well bring a spare 18650. The whole battery and headlamp will be more efficient and power for power I bet mathematically you end up carrying less weight with the 18650's.

 

[disquek]

Great ... another hundoe gone. lol

 

[ScreamingPotato]

I probably wouldn't unless I planned on a lot of night movement. I DO carry a lightweight Black Diamond Storm 400 to get me back to the truck in case of a headlamp failure of some sort, so that's my backup plan. The Fenix uses the same charge cord as my phone so if I have anything to charge the phone I can always charge the headlamp with it as well.

I forgot to mention that I use rechargeable Eneloop batteries in the backup headlamp, they seem to work well when I've used it in the past (left my Fenix in the truck). I'm a tightwad with batteries for some reason so always hated having some half-used alkaline batteries, I'd wear myself out deciding to replace them or not lol. With the rechargeable I don't have that problem, charge fresh and go.

Ditto for me.

I bring a spare 18650 but very rarely use it on the average 3-7 day hunts. At the house I can use the HM65R for at least 8+hrs with both lamps on high without running a full battery down. However, I also use a small Fenix CL09 lantern in the tent that cuts down on the need to run the headlamp. Although battery type is a major factor—with lithium being more capable than alkaline, ultimately run times are dependent on the user. I think the beauty of the HM65R is the versatility of having a spot and flood light which enables less drain on the battery when you can select the right light and lumens for the job.

Man having the flood option is really really nice, didn't even understand until I had it as an option. My old Fenix light only had the spot and it was great all the time, but the new one with the flood option I end up using flood 90% of the time. Fair warning though, I dunno what the stats say but high power flood seems to be as much drain on the battery as high power spot. I've only ever used high power flood when trailing blood in silly conditions though.

 

[Holocene]

Used Fenix for a long time and loved the ruggedness and power.

Mine died after 10 years of service, and I just found the Nitecore NU25. Revelation. It's super light, clean, and has the most intuitive lock sequence I've found.

If I was still doing a lot of blood tracking many times a season (like I used to when whitetail hunting), it would be nice to have more lumens like the Fenix provided.

But now that I'm in the West, I'll trade grams for lumens when I can get it.

 

[JNDEER]

Yes and no it seams. Basically they did some upgrades and a bigger battery in the peax. But they’re pretty much identical otherwise. Whether it’s worth 3x the price is up to the buyer. I’m not convinced it is

Mindful Hunter (mindful reviews) did a review on this exact topic. It is worth a listen on youtube.

 

[UpTop]

Mindful Hunter (mindful reviews) did a review on this exact topic. It is worth a listen on youtube.

I saw that. Really good review. Made some fairly decent arguments for the peax, but also didn’t completely compare apples to apples where the peax has an upgraded battery which you can purchase for the Sofirn for fairly cheap. The peax does edge it out in general but I’m not convinced that it’s 3x better

 

[dtrkyman]

I have good luck with Samsung batteries, I think they had the highest mah when I bought them. But honestly I have bought some generic tent lights and fans that came with batteries and they all work well.

 

[Benjblt]

I’m going to echo the 77 outdoor. There is NOTHING beating it for the price. A gentleman just did a review on it vs the peax. And while the peax came out on top it’s 3x the price. For my needs I wasn’t convinced I needed to pay more for the very slight advantage

How long does a charge last?

 

[cwpepper]

If Red Light effectiveness is a priority, Peax is hard to beat.

If Weight is a higher priority than the effectiveness of the red light I’d take a close look at the Nitecore NU25 UL.

I have tested both and went with the Peax as I like to hike in early with a quality red light.

 

[SonnyDay]

I know this is an older thread, but thought I'd keep the rekindling going...

As near as I can tell from all the suggestions, the Fenix line is the only one that can support a rechargeable battery and a CR123. I'd be hard pressed to buy a headlamp that can't also run on CR123s. It's just too nice of a backup option given the other gear I have that also uses this battery.

I have had a few issues with my Fenix headlamps over the years, and would consider something else.

Has anyone run across a non-Fenix headlamp that they recommend that has a rechargeable battery but can also run on CR123?

 

[kcm2]

Peax. Bright enough on white, but it also has a good bright 200 lumen red beam.

 

[Carrot Farmer]

Peax. Bright enough on white, but it also has a good bright 200 lumen red beam.

I have a shoebox full of “other” headlamps… none of them have what I call a red Spotlight, all are flood style.

On the crappy trails we walk-in on, it’s nice for my Flinstone feet to not be stumbling over rocks/sticks all of the time


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[SmellinElkyFresh]

+1 for the HM65R. Headband is the most comfortable I've used (once you get it dialed in) and runtime is great.