Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/09/15/this-triple-headlamp-can-beam.html
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WAIT! They can make light that only travels 800 yards and then stops? Does the Nobel Institute know?
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Rant Time!
Products like this are the ultimate “I DON’T KNOW WHAT I AM DOING” thing. I mean, I know flashlights are cool and the more powerful the more cool, but…
A weak flashlight with a wide beam helps you see a lot more than a strong, narrow beam flashlight. This blinds you to everything except in the beam, and the contrast keeps your eyes from adjusting. And it hurts the eyes of everyone who has adjusted their eyes properly to see in the conditions.
Not to mention the whole “tactical” aspect of marking the position of your head for anyone within a half mile of your location. A giant, 800M long “THIS IS WHERE I AM” arrow pointed at your head. “HEY LOOK AT ME!!!”
On a night where you have a good moon, you can probably see well enough without a flashlight to function well, even if you can’t read by it. On a clear, moonless night… well, if you look to the skies you’ll see something even cooler than a flashlight.
Seriously, the crappy $1 headlamp at Walmart is more than you need.
The crappy headlamp from Wally World is more than you need for very occasional use. It’s fine until something breaks when you try to change the batteries. Build quality matters if you use the thing all the time. (My headlamp sees daily service in the winter, when daylight is in short supply.)
This thing might have adequate build quality, but it very likely does not.
I like my hiker’s headlamp, from a reputable brand that I won’t mention. It’ll do both tight- and broad-beam, and it’s dimmable, and it’ll do white strobe, solid red or flashing red. I’ll typically turn on the tight beam only in situations like, “I’m night hiking, and the next trail blaze is too far off for me to spot it.” More often, if I’m night hiking, it’s with the broad beam at a fairly low intensity. If I’m doing the camp chores or getting up in the night, red light is where it’s at. Around town (my town lacks sidewalks), I’ll run it on strobe and clip a cheapo red flasher on the strap at the back of my head, or on my backpack, or both. I run it off lithium AAA batteries because those are best from a power-to-weight perspective and my company has an in-house lithium recycling program.
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I’ve been traveling around the west since I retired and get really agitated at idiots walking around campgrounds with LED headlamps which are hardly needed, you can find the bathrooms or water spigot without high intensity headlights. Get off my campsite! Grrr
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