Who knew headlamps could be so much fun...

We have two head lamps in our house. They were both initially bought to go in our cars for emergency lighting. Well, they both were there for a while, until they got snagged for other purposes. Such as, late night fire wood retrieval. Such as, using it for extra bright light when cooking and detail work during power outages. And, speaking of power outages, using the red light setting on this headlamp as a nightlight in my sons room during a power outage (and yes, it did last the whole 10 hours! By the end of those 10 hours, the white lights no longer worked, but the red still glowed ).

But, most importantly, head lamps get used for when my three-year old decides he and his Dada should "go be sneaky in the dark." They put on their head lamps do who knows what outside in the dark. I'm just happy they're out of my hair!

Oh yes, I forgot, the multi-colored head lamp also gets used for when my son wants pretend to be at a techno dance party. My husband puts on the head lamp and strobes the blue light for "It's the blue room, you're invited, ask for Steve" song. And, then of course, he has to strobe the red light and sing,  "Bwow bwow chicka bump wow. Space magic space, we are flying through space – It’s magic space!" (This is the problem with young kids. You make up a silly song and then, for years afterward, have to keep singing it in just the same way.)

So, as you can see, head lamps can be very useful in a homestead, especially one with kids! LOL!!!

I feel a little ashamed that I only use mine for working in the dark

It beats having to swipe one of the solar powered yard lights on a stake and hold it between cheek and shoulder to see to repair the greenhouse skin that gave it up at 2 am in a sleet storm and it's full of your spring start plants. Because all eight or nine flashlights, your better half latched onto and nobody knows where he left/lost them. A headlamp, lasted three hours. It's been two years and that one has never resurfaced. Some of the flashlights do occasionally surface, but. I make sure to hide a couple of flashlights where he can't find them so I have one for 2 am bump-in-the-night calls....

Nicole Alderman wrote:
Oh yes, I forgot, the multi-colored head lamp also gets used for when my son wants pretend to be at a techno dance party. My husband puts on the head lamp and strobes the blue light for "It's the blue room, you're invited, ask for Steve" song. And, then of course, he has to strobe the red light and sing,  "Bwow bwow chicka bump wow. Space magic space, we are flying through space – It’s magic space!" (This is the problem with young kids. You make up a silly song and then, for years afterward, have to keep singing it in just the same way.)

Ha! Three years later, and my kids still sing these songs. That headlamp doesn't work anymore, but they still sing it. And, when I started making a castle dollhouse, they wanted one of the rooms to be blue.

So, if you ever want to visit the blue room, know that you're invited. You just have to ask for Steve.

No one's mentioned that they're great for reading in bed. Why have to *hold* a flashlight under the covers when you can just tilt your head just right?

I do recall the kids playing flash-light tag in the dark a few times and we didn't even loose any kid permanently!

And who says I can't use it to shine more light on the spot I'm sewing when my sewing machine light just doesn't seem bright enough.

One can never have too many headlamps - one on the arm of the bedroom chair in case their's a power failure, one in my pack so I can see to walk down the hill from the car in the dark, and of coarse one in the garage so we can grab it if there's a commotion outside and we need to see what critter's trying to eat my ducks!

Unfortunately, my boys weren't into dancing.

I got a bunch more of the Veriglow/Loma Creek headlamps recently (a white light for each kids and  a green one for fun). They've come in really handy for illuminating things for pictures (get all four shining at a white fall, and I get some nice ambient lighting at the angle I need).


But, more than anything, these really came in handy in the last two power outages we had. A few days back, we came home from a walk and the kids went inside while I put the ducks and geese away. I came in to find my daughter hysterical because it was so dark in the house. So I turned on three headlamps and took the last with me to get firewood. I came back inside to find both kids happy, with the whole living room blinking white and green. The headlamps have an emergency blinking setting--perfect for a power outage disco party!

We then used them to light both the living room and kitchen by sticking them up on shelves or lamps, pointing at the ceiling. The light bounced off the ceiling and lit up the whole room. I love that I don't have to worry about using them up, because I don't need to buy new batteries--just plug them in after the power outage to charge! Or, if we really use them up (which we didn't), I could have just charged them via one of our hand-crank radios.

These were also a great smoke-free way to light the house during a power outage. My kids came down with a cold during the last day of our power outage, and the smoke from the oil lamps and beeswax candles probably wasn't helping. I was glad to have a no-smoke alternative to candles when we needed it. I actually enjoy the light from candles better than LEDs, and I can see better with candles than LEDs, even if it's less bright. But, it was wonderful having a way to light the house that didn't make my kids' coughs worse!

I am obsessive about my headlamps. I trouble shoot solar a fair bit and more times then not there is no power... Then it gets dark here at 4:30 during the dark times of year so it helps get stuff done. The girls each have one as well and enjoy winter chicken visits while wearing them.  I have them all on rechargeable batteries so not too much waste involved.

Jay Angler wrote:No one's mentioned that they're great for reading in bed.

Many years ago in Japan I and a good friend crammed for over a year for a language certification exam, and we also went on a lot of road trips, taking turns driving and studying with the headlamp. To this day, the first thing I think of when I see a headlamp is endless lists of Chinese characters (and yelling, "don't look at me, you fool, I'm trying to drive here!")

I've used 5 different models of headlamp, and this one from the evil Mart of Wal is head and shoulders ( ha-ha ) above All of them. It's also 1 of the cheapest.

Double A. rechargeable batteries are very easy to swap out and last for years used only in an led headlamp. Keep 3 in the headlamp, 3 in the charger, you'll always be ready.

There are 3 intensities of spotlight beam, and 1 broad area beam. 200 lumens.

The build is very sturdy, each 1 has been dropped at least a dozen times and the only part to break is the hard plastic mount which holds the bands in place. Still, lightweight.

Most importantly to me, the mode switch is a dial rather than a button. You can quickly turn to what you want rather than cycling through modes you don't with a number of button presses. Also works better with gloves! Sure, it turns on in a bag accidentally more often, but just turn 1 of the batteries backwards to prevent that.

You bet it's fun!

I found ours on permies and have to add my cheers for them. Thankfully, after several years use, mine are still going strong. My best use has been for baby goats deciding to be born in the middle of the night!

I recently bought a couple of this style



I like the wide more diffuse light when I am generally moving around outdoors at night. They are a bit antisocial to wear with other people because they inevitably dazzle them, but if you are doing a trip to the woodshed in the dark they are great. Bright, good for illuminating a work area, rather than just where your hands are working.