I need opinions! what do you look for in a headlamp?

[Spark85]

I 'll admit I use the meijer brand batteries. Do not know if that matters in battery life. However 1 hour or 2 still is not adequate imho. My sten is brighter on high not turbo than the apex on the 3 watt spot and will last around 25 hours compared to 1-2 hours. Again I know the apex is around 70-80 dollars and the sten closer to 400. If you are going to do much caving at all I promise you will never be sorry you bought the sten. I cannot count the times I regret buying the apex and not the sten in the first place. But the apex is a nice backup light! I have a friend whose apex went out in Wayne's crawl in IN. Not an ideal place to lose your light. I will concede if you are not going to be doing tough caving (the sten is built like a tank but really small in size) and not lengthy trips then go with the apex. If you are going to be doing long trips greater than 8 hours and tough caving and you can afford it buy the sten. I was able to see the floor of the Rumble Room from the upper ledge with my sten. I'll leave it at this " I LOVE my Sten "

[Leclused]

I'm a big fan of using a headlamp with at least a pair of LEDs for moving around caves in the dark. Like the title of the topic says, it's now something I "look for in a headlamp" ever since I first tried an Apex 3 years ago. My current headlamp is a fabricated one with a 3W spot and 3W flood LED, retrofitted into the body of an old Petzl Duo. It was designed and constructed by another of our forum members, with some small tweaks added by me. It uses regular alkaline or rechargeable AA batteries (yay!) and has a similar beam to the Sten but is a little brighter than the original Sten. Unfortunately it only has a high and max setting, so battery life is OK but not great. But maybe it will inspire me to experiment with further designs in the future.

I must say that is mostly cave with my Sten R70 on 3 or 2. "3" allows me to see everything and I can scout every hole / crack easily. I switch to 2 when working in a dig because that's enough. The turbo is only used to lit up pitches or chambers.

Once you are used to have plenty light, even when just moving around in a cave, you never want to go back to less. My previous lamp was
a 14 led Duo with 1 watt led replacement of the halogen. I was pleased with it until I switched to my sten.

[trogman]

Headlight: Sten. The new Premium version is great. It is a bit pricey, but I feel like it is worth it. I've got the LG750 battery, and it's nearly impossible to run the battery down. But it's still small and light enough to mount on the back of my helmet. My days of a waist-mounted battery pack are long-gone!
Handheld flashlight: The new 3watt LED maglight is great. I got one for Xmas, and it throws out a great beam. In addition, I am still using the original batteries that came with it! I have been on many ridgewalking and caving trips, and have used this light off and on very frequently; I can hardly believe I still haven't had to change batteries yet.

Stephen Brewer (The Trogman)