The headlamp is lightweight, comes with 3 AAA batteries, and has a decent headband. There are two white LEDs and one red LED in the headset, aand there's a 3 way switch to change between the red and the white LEDs. Unfortunately, "off" is the middle stop, and it's a bit too easy to go from the red LED past Off to white LEDs, though I only made that mistake only once during the evening. A blast of white light is not good when people are trying to preserve their night vision, which is the main reason to have a headlamp with a red LED. One side of the lamp popped off the headband at one point during the evening, but the other side held until I fixed the problem.
I'm also a hiker and caver. I'd say this light is probably sturdy enough for most night hiking, though I don't know if it would handle wet weather well, and I haven't tried it in really cold weather (temperatures dropped to the 40s during the star party). It's not really suited for caving, as it's not waterproof and it's not strong enough to handle the ceiling bumps typical in this hobby.
Hence the three stars, because it worked reliably, but it's not sturdy enough for some uses, and it's too easy to accidentally switch from the red LED to the white ones.
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I bought this at a Walmart alongside my no-name toolkit and multitool. Well those broke withing nine weeks, under the heavy use they saw in my first year in college (I did a lot of building and tinkering), but not this headlamp. Four years after I got it, having carried it in my pocket and subjected it to a great deal of abuse, it finally gave out (part of the battery case came detached). As I believed this to be a Walmart store brand, I figured my odds of finding an exact model like it were near nil, so I spent two hours fixing it, supergluing the battery case back together and reflowing the solder, having tried to replace it with other brands several times with no success.Having found this offering on Amazon, I'm relieved to know I can get another one if need be, and don't need to spend two hours fixing it.
I've owned pricier headlamps and I've owned ones from companies with more prestigous names, but God willing I will still be using this headlamp in 20 years. From biking, camping, and exploring to a bright head-mounted light when soldering, this map does pretty much everything I need, to to mention redlight for stargazing.
Note that it does not have a blink mode, so that may be a deal-killer.
I know I sound like a shill here, but I just don't have enough good things to say about it.
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It is a good lamp. It does exactly what it should. But I was a little disappointed when we were in the middle of nowhere that my buddy bought a cheap one at WalMart and it was twice as bright as this one. Not used to the lower standard since most Brinkmann products I have owned were top notch. Good for the price though.Honest reviews on Brinkmann 809-1033-0 3 LED Headlamp
I grabbed one, then another of these probably 5-7 years ago, I think from a Walmart in Oregon. They mostly sit on my visor on the passenger side facing down so work can be done at night in the front seat.1. One big deal is that the lenses in front of the two white lights are significantly magnified, which allows a decent concentration of luminescence at 2-3 feet away. Rare is it to find that magnifying design. And when you do, other features fail to be acceptable.
2. Second, the batteries can be removed without taking the apparatus apart from the headband. Surprisingly, most force the user to really monkey around before removing the batteries. With the Brinkmann, I can easily separate the two halves with ONE hand, my thumb pushing on the release, the other fingers pushing against the opposite side for resistive pressure. Voila, out come the three AAA cells. In my case, the alternative would be taking down from the visor each time, meaning unwrapping the velcro strap tied through and around to hold it up there. Ehhh.
3. For some what I call a dopey reason, flashlight manufacturers make the user keep clicking to get through the functions, like from red to white to flashing. I have no desire to see every setting or make the extra clicks each time just to turn the stupid device on or off. This baby has one direction of the switch for each of the two functions. You can see from the product photo. It works just that easily.
One reviewer noted how doing so means you might go too far when shutting either of them (white or red) off, sliding beyond to the next position (which would either be red or white). That could easily be an issue except with the whole thing being so small I find my thumb touches the case while resting on the switch. That contrasting pressure permits a measured movement, perfectly providing exactly the movement desired.
Okay, I just read some guy mention no flashing function. Agreed. I have no want or need for that anyway. But if you do, forget about this unit. Or, better yet, get one of these for another purpose.
It looks like they might be disappearing, as they show limited quantities here at Amazon. Also, Home Depot had them a couple days ago at close-out price. Another sign of impending discontinuation. I bought three from Home Depot, increasing my stock to five. That's two for each vehicle and one for above the bed at home. I attached that one to the wall with skinny screws. Love it.
Thinking it over, I might just get me a few more because things do tend to break in this world. I will be miffed at such a point if failing to properly stock spares and being unable to find anything online or in stores.
Both of my originals continue functioning and have never given me a problem. Yet I read more than one review at Home Depot mentioning them breaking, plus one here. So perhaps later production runs ended up providing an inferior quality. Hope not. On the other hand, lots of people are just too rough with things. If such is the case, I will do well with the three arriving here soon.
Anyway, I thought the flashlight is worth a good review. So many makers get flashlight designs wrong. Not this time. Batteries last like forever too. I use NiMH. They blare the light for hours real bright and then oftentimes remain fairly bright for another entire evening.
Since I have AA / AAA battery rechargers in the car and home (with spare batteries in both locations), changing is hardly a big deal. And the one above the bed, that's been there more than a week because it only gets used for a minute or two while climbing into bed in the dark. I imagine those batteries will last six months.
Only two left on this Amazon listing, one on another Amazon listing I viewed this evening. But as of a few days ago there were some available at other stores when searching with the word Brinkmann. Maybe a few months from now a person will no longer be able to buy even one. I was thrilled to find them after being seriously disappointed for the last couple years seeing none of them at Walmart, Ace Hardware or anywhere else. Thanks to the whole online thing (and finally thinking to search this week), I have one less frustration in life. That leaves just a few hundred or so remaining.
PS: I prefer a light on the keyboard because just about every designer has chosen black keys, which means reflection from the screen fails to show up on them. The resultant dramatic contrast between the screen and keyboard presents a strain on the eyes. Thus, a light for down below. Just in case anyone was wondering.
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I picked this item up at a local store about three years ago. And with a few modifications over time I have used this item reliably over that time. The front plastic lens came off after about the first two months and the light ceased to function from a porly soldered white LED lead, so at that point I replaced the OEM white led's with two of the most powerful 20mm Bright white LED's available on the market from a .com in FL. Next after about a year the Plastic bracket headband clips broke, so I used double sided sticky foam and some epoxy to mount the base of the battery compartment to the bill of a baseball cap. This set up has worked extremely well and reliably since then. I use this set up when working under the house in the crawl space, anytime I need to do work outside at night, It even works very well for additional light when riding a bicycle at night, and yes, in the OR rain. The best part of this lights original design IS the light fixtures pivoting action, which allows you to adjust the light to the height or distance angle where you really need it.
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