My Favorite Headlamp

I’ve used several headlamps over the years, now, and they differ in quality and characteristics, but they perform a unified function. To light up your way! My favorite headlamp I’ve ever owned is the Supfire headlamp I have now.

Why I Love The Supfire Headlamp

Story time

I remember one time me, my brother, and my dad went spelunking (caving) in the Uinta mountains. We didn’t really have gear for the venture and so we borrowed some from a friend who had an uncanny ability to know his way underground. He had some old incandescent headlamps that were extremely dim and finicky.

Because the lights were finicky, we also had flashlights with us, which, while you are spelunking, are not ideal at all. I remember crawling around with a flashlight in my mouth in that cave just so I could see. If ONLY I had the headlamp I’m about to rave about.

Since then, I have experienced LED headlamps, which are now a commodity. LED headlamps are an incredible step-up. I’ve used several headlamps over the years, now, and they differ in quality, dramatically. I know it sounds silly to rant about my favorite headlamp… but there are many options out there so I’ll pass on why I like the Supfire.

Rechargable

This is by far my favorite part about this headlamp. Every other LED headlamp I’ve had uses AAA batteries, which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s another thing to pack and consider when going camping (or working around the house).

It’s actually best to store your batteries outside of your headlamp, because many times headlamps will slowly drain your batteries. So, if you leave your headlamp alone for a long time, then when you go to use it, the batteries are dead and you have to replace them. It’s not the batteries, it’s the headlamp!

The Supfire has a micro-usb charging port that you can use to charge your headlamp. Even though the battery will likely die by itself if you don’t use the headlamp for a long time, you can just recharge it directly instead of wasting 3 more AAA batteries. I haven’t done a direct benchmark on this, but it has lasted for at least 3 hours of light without needing a charge.

Variety of Light Modes

The Supfire headlamp has plenty of modes that come in handy while camping. It has a high brightness white light mode, and a dimmer white light mode, as well as a red light mode including a flashing red light mode.

For more information about why a red light mode comes in handy, click here.

There’s also an interesting mode that was actually really useful when we last went camping. It’s a Temperature Sensor Mode that will turn the headlamp on or off if you wave your hand in front of the headlamp. When you are working with people around your campsite, it’s really discourteous to shine your headlamp in people’s faces. You can easily switch the light on and off by waving your hand in front of your face to prevent blinding people. Cool!

Plenty Bright

Yeah… This light is rated at 500 lumens. In terms that I can understand, when you look at the light, it feels like you just took a peek at the sun. The high brightness mode seems REALLY bright to me.

Caveats

The Supfire headlamp all around is really good. It’s definitely an inexpensive headlamp (less than $20 at the time of this writing), but the quality and build of the headlamp seems decent and I hope it lasts me. But, with anything inexpensive, the longevity of the lamp is in question. I’ll try and update this post with its lifespan as I experience its limits.

Also, the red light mode is not very bright. It’s not uncommon for headlamp manufacturers to tack on the red light feature, and although I like the LED formation of the red lights, it doesn’t seem very bright to me. In total darkness, I’m sure it would be helpful, though.