Herman30, No fear, I have no intent of putting something that's likely to "kaboom" on my head! Using a cheap headlamp with good batteries is one thing, a cheap headlamp with cheap batteries is quite another.

haertig, Yup!, it's definitely quite bright indeed though I don't think it's double what a car headlight can put out. As Tjin pointed out eBay lumens don't seem to be very accurate, I've been looking at these types of headlamps for a while and I've seen some claim to be 10,000, 20,000 and even up to 50,000 lumens!!

I am a fan of good, dependable lighting, especially in headlamps. I have had way too much experience with the cheap stuff to compromise.

My go-to light is a Zebralight 600, which is spendy (90 bucks plus the 18650 battery) but it is solid and dependable. Puts out n honest 1000 lumens (ANSI). It is a very popular light with cavers, who absolutely must have a dependable light source, and often two are mounted on the helmet..

10,000 lumens is absolutely ridiculous. Even at 1000 lumens, the tradeoff is shorter runtime. Generally, lower lumens for longer runtime is a good deal. 200-300 is usually perfectly adequate.

I strongly agree with you hikermor, in this case however the headlamp has a secondary role as "project fodder" for some ideas I have.

While engaging in this thread, my thoughts turned fondly to the first headlamp I ever used during my first summer of fighting fires in 1957 - a Justrite powered by four D cells (which often leaked). When it was working, it must have emitted a rousing 10 lumens.

The stuff available today, even the marginal iteems, impresses me greatly...

Hikermor
Thanks for the memories I am slightly younger. Take care Dave

Must be tired: I first read that as "cadavers"...;-)

Well, if(when) I had to journey to the underworld, that would be the light to have.....

And as part of your banishment to the underworld, they make you use that 6000 lumen beast as your middle of the night dark adapted eyes go to the bathroom light. That would indeed be ^&(*%!

(My middle of the night light is on it's 1/2 lumen setting - and even that sometimes seems too bright!)

This is an excellent point. When eyes are adapted to darkness, very little or no additional light is needed to travel or perform many tasks. With clear skies, especially at altitude in a non-urban setting, you may not need any additional light.

Ren, I bought the Samsung batteries you linked to, they seemed to be about the average price. Hopefuly they should be here in a few days.