Dorcy 41-2093 Weather Resistant Adjustable LED Headlight Flashlight Review

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List Price: $12.99
Sale Price: $11.30
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I'll get the good out of the way first... The light really is 42 lumens on high, and that's hard to find in a $11 light. The light has four modes, and come on in the following order with each press of the switch: high, low, red, green. Then off. You have to cycle through all of the modes to turn the light off. The red LED (the bulb itself) is the same bulb as the green LED, with all the others being white. While the red and green use the same LED bulb, the green light comes out higher than the red one. The light came with three Dorcy Mastercell alkalines. The housing is nice and flat, which I like. The headband adjusts to almost any sized head, and is a flow-through design. Mine came in black, which I like.

Now, the bad (for me). To change the batteries, you have to loosen the headband. Then the battery door slides down and out. With the batteries fully inserted, the battery door bulges out. The pivoting mechanism on the light is weak, and moves with very little pressure. The white LEDs are bright like I said, but they have a blue tint on both high and low modes. The center portion of the light pivots down so you can adjust the angle of the light. There's no ratcheting system like most headlights; it's just friction. It's the loosest headlight pivot that I've ever used, and it can't be tightened. It might not flop around by itself, but it's pretty close.

The worst part is when the light is turned off, it drains the batteries by leaving the LEDs at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock positions on very low. I thought this was a low battery indicator at first, but several different sets of batteries have the same result. Turns out, this is a "find me" feature not listed, so you can find the headlight in the dark. That means that even when the light is off, it's draining the batteries by leaving these dim lights on. To fix this, I have to stick a piece of cardboard between one of the batteries and its contact point. Now when I want to use the headlight I have to find it, loosen the headstrap, remove the sliding battery door, remove the battery, take off the cardboard, put the battery back, put the battery door back on, and then retighten the headband. Argh!

If it weren't for the "find me" feature and the loose pivot adjustment, this would be a great budget headlight. It will be a back-up for my daughter now. I'll say that it's better than nothing, and if the two problems above were fixed, it would be really nice for camping. Until then, it's a flawed back-up.

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I have been using this headlight for 2 weeks now, and about 3 times a week. I would say the total "on" time has been 2 hours. At this time I am very pleased with this headlight. I am a person that does not and will not buy junk stuff. This light is quality, and it's inexpensive. What I am most pleased with is:

1. The light is bright. When using it in the attic I can easily see 10 feet plus. This is all I ask because the purpose of this light is primarily up close. I have a seperate Black Diamond outdoor climbing light if I want to see 50 feet or more.

2. The high and medium settings are both great. For up close work the medium setting is more than adequate, and I use this setting the most.

3. The light is small and comfortable very important for a single strap headlight.

4. The quality and construction appears very good. The on-mode-off switch operation is excellent. The strap and strap tabs are very good. The battery cover seems a little flimsy just make sure you line up the tabs properly and it will be fine. I expect this on such a small light. No problems so far.

5. It uses AAA batteries a HUGE advantage over specialty (expensive) batteries.

As far as battery life goes, I can't say because the light is still shining bright. I am a big rechargeable battery guy, so this won't be an issue for me.

I give it 4 stars because I rarely give out 5 stars. I would give it 4 1/2 if I could. This is a great buy.

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It's a good area light, it doesn't have a bright "hot spot" like other lights. It's bright, but doesn't project very far, about arms length. It makes a good work light because you really don't need light beyond your reach.

I use this at work almost every day. I like it because it's not big and bulbous, I can get my head into tight spaces with this.

Because it has 8 LED's instead of one, it eats batteries pretty good. I usually use the medium setting (4 LED's, still plenty bright) until the batteries start to die. then go to high. I go through about a pack of batteries a week, at least. If you buy this, I would suggest rechargeable batteries.