Favorite/best headlamp?

[Superdoo]

I am an LED light seller and have been for about 5 years. I've been selling/gifting the Sofirn D25... over 50 in two years here in Kansas to hunters, Amish barn builders, and farmers. It's a 100% hit with zero failures in a few years.

It is the best made headlamp money can buy (and comes with a good battery- unlike 99% of the garbage sold on ebay, etc.). I'm passing thie info without selling anything here as they are just recently available IN THE US!

They have "milled and polished" aluminum reflectors, and a REAL waterproof USB recharging port (not a rubber thing, but sealed o-ring access- easy as hell- with an LED light thet goes red to green telling you when charged). These are the guys who OEM for some of the stuff mentioned above BTW.

H25L(D25L) Powerful 1000 Lumens Rechargeable Headlamp

Specification:1. Bright Nice Beam: With dual LH351D LED 5000K 90 High CRI, the headlamp delivers 1000 lumens with a comfortable nice beam. Featuring 5 different modes: Low, Medium 1, Medium 2, High, Turbo, 2. USB Rechargeable: Designed with a hidden USB port, the headlamp is rechargeable.3...

sofirnlight.myshoplaza.com

I highly suggest the "5000k" option. Buy two.. they ARE cheap (right now- on sale). You'll thank me later.

PS. buy WITH the battery- unless you have a stash of GOOD 18650 batteries already.

Wow! That is the same headlamp as the PEAX!!!! Only difference is no red LED.
Good find!!!

 

[Superdoo]

Here's a side by side of the PEAX vs SOFIRN D25LR.
It looks like the PEAX has a locking function and the SOFIRN doesn't say that it has one. SOFIRN doesn't list the run times either.

 

[Zappaman]

Wow! That is the same headlamp as the PEAX!!!! Only difference is no red LED.
Good find!!!

As a dealer I buy wholesale (25+ at a time direct from China). Like I said, been at the about 5 years...

Up until 4 months ago it ALL shipped from China (2 weeks to 4 months- crap shoot). But these prices are REALLY good for a US distributed light of this quality. (*as of last month, no tax charged either but I'm guessing that may have changed-- or will soon).

With the current discount (shipped), they are right at what I sell them for (I sell local only). A VERY good deal at the moment, but that's because they just got back from a month off (Chinese new year just ended).

If you look more at the site, they have versions with red LEDs. They cost less if you buy out of chine- but might tale a while to get. But you WILL get them... eventually sometimes

Run times are based on the battery. These guys ship a VERY decent 3kmah battery (I've sold over 100 in the 18650 in several models they make).

I've yet to have a failure with a battery and one light (out of approx 75 in inventory) had an issue. Sofirn replaced it on my next order.

IF YOU WANT TO BUY THE BEST LANTERN ON EARTH today... check out the "LT-1" (designed by several engineers on the BLF Forum, and made by Sofirn). Dropped mine 7 ft up off a ladder onto solid concrete- scratched it.

Sofirn BLF LT1 Anduril 2.0 Rechargeable Lantern【Ship From USA】

This link is only for people located in USA, order will be sent from California. If you want to buy together with other models, please make sure they are all shipped from USA. 🔦Emitter: 8 x LH351D(4 x 5000K 90CRI + 4 x 2700K 90CRI) 🔦 Long Runtime: powered by 4* 3000mAh batteries, the maximum...

www.sofirnlight.com

These guys make the real deal. Tell them "ZappaMan from Kansas" sent you

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

Have a couple of Petzl lights and am happy with them. No experience with Fenix but there’s a lot of love for them on this site.

But the good ole Energizers from the hardware store work extremely well. No issues with running them in a variety of environments.

 

[mthayr]

Wow, I just picked up TWO of the Sofirn D25LR (90 CRI main LED and SST20 DR 660 nm Red secondary) with batteries for $36... less than half what the PEAX cost.

When I read the release from PEAX I thought, will no one ever learn that "better" light has more advantage than just "more" light (wishing for a High CRI option over higher lumens)? The only way this could be any better is if the secondary driver was a green instead of red... if they did, I'll give these to the kids and buy two more! Will have to see how they stack up to the Armytek Wizard Pro I've been using (Nichia 219C LED).

 

[mustang50]

Black Diamond Spot 300 works well for me.

 

[HaydenLane]

I’ve had 3 Black Diamonds (and a bunch of random cheaper brands), and I prefer my Petzl Tactikka to all of them. I’ll probably try the new Peax to compare.

 

[Agross]

Wow, I just picked up TWO of the Sofirn D25LR (90 CRI main LED and SST20 DR 660 nm Red secondary) with batteries for $36... less than half what the PEAX cost.

When I read the release from PEAX I thought, will no one ever learn that "better" light has more advantage than just "more" light (wishing for a High CRI option over higher lumens)? The only way this could be any better is if the secondary driver was a green instead of red... if they did, I'll give these to the kids and buy two more! Will have to see how they stack up to the Armytek Wizard Pro I've been using (Nichia 219C LED).

Yeh , with the additional discount code on their site I had to give em a try. The ones my son and I have are old, big and heavy. For that price I figured what the hell.

 

[Zappaman]

Here's a side by side of the PEAX vs SOFIRN D25LR.
It looks like the PEAX has a locking function and the SOFIRN doesn't say that it has one. SOFIRN doesn't list the run times either.

Locking functions get confusing- but work fine. But when you sell about 20 different models even I get lost. But as these lights can burn a hole in your pocket (on higher settings), locking IS important as a good habit.

A MUCH easier way to immediately lock ANY (quality) LED light is to simply twist the tail cap 1/4 turn. This physically breaks the electrical path while having the convenience of taking a 1/2 second (on any quality light). When you re-tighten the cap- GOOD lights will STAY OFF (even if twist-locked while it was "on"... it won't come back on. It WILL stay off *until you switch it on again). This is the case with the D25.

Run time is based on battery. The Sofirn ships with a solid 3000mah capacity battery. The highest capacity 18650s can get up to 3500mahs. But some higher capacity batteries may lack RMS current to drive some larger lights (at the highest level). This isn't really a a concern here though.

If you want the extra run time, you can buy the after-market 18650s in the higher dollar 3500mah range for sure. I like "18650Battery.com" for small lot orders- check out the Panasonic high capacity battery if you want the best. 18650battery.com is a solid seller. They don NOT sell counterfiet "fakes", and they also DO now sell some decent Chinese stuff that is recently available (*for less than the top four makers now).

 

[wapitibob]

I was interested in the peax till I saw it was a rebranded sofirn and twice the money.

Looks like the usa white/red version is only 500 lumin?

 

[Zappaman]

Yeh , with the additional discount code on their site I had to give em a try. The ones my son and I have are old, big and heavy. For that price I figured what the hell.

Sofirn USUALLY mills their own aluminum- but they don't in this case with this light. They buy the body dies (like all these guys selling VERY similar lights here do) from a single mfg. source-- then they load it with their driver (control card) designed for the head, and mount their choice of LEDs. As they DO make most lights they sell in house (and OEM for several brands you've seen out there), the QC at Sofirn is outstanding-- second to none.

The LED's used by Sofirn are top line, not reject LEDs used by many sellers (think eBay again). On this note, the different models of this headlamp (on their site) will also include the D25s- which uses dual SST-40 LEDs and is closer to 6k in color- brightest of them all at 1200 lumens (real lumens BTW).

The ugly BLUE cheap lights hit over 7k kelvin and look like those BMW "purple" lights you might see on the highways at times. I guess some people like purple- I like between 5-6k Kenvin for almost any (white) light in an LED.

Good luck!

 

[Superdoo]

Once you guys get the SOFIRN's and they check out, someone should throw the link up on the "Cheap stuff that works" thread.

 

[Zappaman]

I was interested in the peax till I saw it was a rebranded sofirn and twice the money.

Looks like the usa white/red version is only 500 lumin?

Compare to others... colored lights have less lumen output capability because they are "dark" lights to start with. AND a lot of incorrect advertising in "spun out" in this regard too. You need a larger reflector and LED for long-throw color (or IR).

The sofirn will give you good output (for it's size) compared to anything out there-- despite the "ratings" you might see.

 

[Zappaman]

Once you guys get the SOFIRN's and they check out, someone should throw the link up on the "Cheap stuff that works" thread.

I'm SURE I did--- but it was a while back. I almost did no do this though... since (although the cost little compared to others), they are not a "cheap" product. I am also a dealer but never chose to sell here

I want to help them out as a company because they have done me "right" for a lot of years now.

I built my first gun lights using their host kits- NOTHING made does what they do. But its a complicated endeavor and still costs a bit to build a super rugged'ized gun light that weights a lb, is 1 1/2" wide at the head and makes 1000 yards on a dark night (through a good scope).

 

[doc holiday13]

Nitecore NU32 soo far seems great. Low cost option for sure but I don't have anything negative to say about it yet.

Also I have a black diamond something .. takes 3 AAA batteries and has red light option. I actually like this more than the Nitecore because there is 1 button and you change light color with button presses and you don't have to "scroll" through the brightness level like you do with the Nitecore

 

[gexpro]

Wow! That is the same headlamp as the PEAX!!!! Only difference is no red LED.
Good find!!!

well i'll be a SOB... PEAX got me good. *facepalm*..

love the trekkers though..

 

[dmike]

I didn't have good luck with the COAST brand. Looked good and rugged, but something was up with the battery terminals, and the rechargeable pack was unreliable. Most used is the Duracell brand from Costco, nothing sexy, but seem to work. They've got several beam & flood settings and a red light.

Whatever the brand... I'd have a few, headlamps like to grow legs and run away.

 

[Zappaman]

I thought hard (4 years back) about OEM'ing this light (and a few others) to sell online like some brands mentioned in this post have done. But Instead decided to keep it local.

The problem is that I KNEW one day the actual manufacturers would break into the US- legitimately (not eBay). Sofirn is doing JUST that as of about 4 months ago (and Amazon for a few years now). There are a few others that will follow shortly.

Remember: you have to sell (below cost) sometimes to get market share and you can bet your arse that's what's happening-- right now. So you might grab em' while you can-- this cheap.

I bought FOUR LT-1 lanterns to finally replace my Coleman's (from the 80s). They look like something NASA built... the Andural II program they come with IS the gold standard amoung ALL makers. They are built like tanks and they are the last lantern you'll buy (they even come with spare parts for the O-rings and the switch cover-- which will last 20 years with a touch of silicon grease every few years - definitely worth checking out too!

BTW: BLF (Budget Light Forum) is a GREAT place to learn about these lights if you want to go down the rabbit hole.

 

[TheTone]

I was interested in the peax till I saw it was a rebranded sofirn and twice the money.

Looks like the usa white/red version is only 500 lumin?

Gotta find a way to pay the influencers pushing there stuff somehow, repackaged and jacked up prices will do it

I was looking at a fenix but now I’m not sure it isn’t also a sofirn

 

[HaydenLane]

Gotta find a way to pay the influencers pushing there stuff somehow, repackaged and jacked up prices will do it

I was looking at a fenix but now I’m not sure it isn’t also a sofirn

It’s really no different than LOW making scopes or Mack Bros making cans and actions. There’s a million other examples, but you get my point. Way too many products being made by someone whose name isn’t on it to let that stop you.