Fenix Flashlights| Best Headlamp | HL50 Headlamp

First I want to tell you about the Fenix HL50 headlamp (discontinued; recommended replacement HM50R), and why it's my favorite, favorite, favorite headlamp of all time. One of the things that I do with my Fenix HL50 headlamp is, when I get up early in the morning, between six AM to 6:30 AM, I normally get up, and I go into the living room. The first thing I like to do is read, so normally, I will put my headlamp on, then I'll just start reading. I just love reading, so that's the first thing I use my headlamp for.

Usually I use it on the medium mode, because the low is a little bit not bright enough. It's just not bright enough, but the medium is perfect for reading in the dark, so that's what I normally use my Fenix HL50 headlamp for.

And also, another feature that that makes it the best headlamp in my opinion, since I'm a girl, I like it a little bit smaller, and it has dimensions of, let's see ... You can hold it in your hand. The headband and the headlamp itself, the Fenix HL50 headlamp, you can hold it in your hand, and it's not that big, so anyway. I'll give you the dimensions later, because then I'll tell you about all the features of the headlamp.

Reading is one of the things I like to do with it. If I'm sewing, and I'm trying to put a needle, I mean the thread through the needle, and sometimes it's just really hard to do that, it really helps to have the headlamp on, because I have both hands that are free, and I can put the thread through the needle with no problem, or even if I'm using the sewing machine. That is a great thing to use, because like I said, you have your hands free.

The weight of it is only 57 grams, so it's really small, and it really is great, because it basically just, like I said, is very light on your head. And like I said, there is a medium mode, which I use for reading, and for when I'm sewing, and things like that. Anything where I need extra light, and if I were to use that medium, with one battery, I could use that for like, I don't know ... It's nine hours and 45 minutes, so I could use it for 10 hours, not that I want to read for 10 hours straight, or sew for 10 hours straight, but that's how long you would have on the medium mode, to do anything with.

Next, it is waterproof and it is weatherproof. Waterproof means that it can go underwater, and it can go, I think it's like six feet. It's 6.5, six feet submersible, so that means you can even put it underwater, so working in the rain or anything with it, it is great. And the weatherproof means that you can use it at 40 degrees below zero. That's how hearty this light is, so all weather, and waterproof. That's not just water resistant, it's waterproof. You can put it underwater, if you were needing to see underwater for some reason.

You can do that, and like I said, it'll go down 6.5, six feet, and you can use it for 30 minutes that way, because that waterproof thing is called an IPX-8 standard, which you can go two meters for 30 minutes. Once the 30 minutes is up, I don't know whether there's too much pressure there or how it is, but 30 minutes ought to be long enough to get done what you need to get done.

This Fenix HL50 headlamp is so versatile, making it the best headlamp from Fenix Flashlights (in my opinion). You can use two different kinds of batteries. It comes with a little sleeve. Without the sleeve, you would use a three volt, CR123 battery. It's a little, short, fat battery, and if you wanted to use a AA battery, which these CR123 batteries do not leak or anything like that, and they give you a little bit longer runtime. If you use a AA battery, there is a sleeve that fits into the barrel, and then the cap fits right on top of that. So the AA battery will work great.

I would suggest that you use rechargeable batteries, because you can use rechargeables. Let's say you put your Fenix HL50 headlamp into the glove box, because you want to have it there in emergencies, like if you have a flat tire, or something goes wrong while you're out on the road, or something like that, and it's in there for two months. By the time you take it out of the glove box, it won't come on, and the reason is because it's been sitting there, in the glove box, with the cap on and everything, with the battery in it, and AA batteries tend to leak after about three to four weeks of not turning it on.

The reason it is is because AA batteries are active all the time, so they're building up energy inside, and if you don't turn it on to release the energy, then what happens is the battery begins to leak, and it starts eating the inside of this Fenix HL50 headlamp. So, then, you have to do a cleanup job, to get the corrosion out of there. Sometimes you have to even file down the inside, because it has bubbled up, the aluminum on the inside, which reminds me, that's what they're made of.

They're made of a very good grade aluminum and stainless steel, so you want to make sure that, if you're going to store your Fenix HL50 headlamp, you want to be sure, and if you're using AA batteries, take that AA battery out, or use lithium AA batteries, because those do not leak, or use rechargeable AA batteries, which do not leak. That's very important, if you're going to leave it in, let's say your glove box, in your toolbox, in your sewing basket, or anything, more than two or three weeks.

Or, if you're going to leave it sitting places, then be sure to turn it on. Turn it on every week or so, or If an extended period of time has gone by take the battery out. That's the best thing to do. Okay?

So I'm going to tell you about some of the features of the Fenix HL50 headlamp. One of the features is that it has a burst mode, which is 350 lumens, for this little, tiny Fenix HL50 headlamp, and the burst, it is really a bright light for as small as it is. What you do, if the light is off, you can press and hold the button for about two or three seconds, and the burst mode will come on. Now, when you normally turn on the headlamp, the Fenix HL50 headlamp, you will push the button and let it go, and it comes on.

The level that it comes on in is high, and when you touch the button again, it will go to medium. Touch the button again, and it will go to low, and while it's on, if you hold the button down two to three seconds, it will go into burst mode. Excuse me.

Now remember, in burst mode, you have to be holding the button down. It's not like you can hold the button down, it goes into burst, and it's going to stay there. The burst mode, you do have to hold it down, in order to keep that burst mode on, whether it be when you started with the Fenix HL50 headlamp was off, or if you started while it was on. So that's one of the features, where you get that 350 lumens for your Fenix HL50 headlamp.

Another good thing about it is that if you wanted to, there's a little bracket, that holds it, and then there's a small ring, that holds the light to the bracket. If you take the tail cap off, you can take the flashlight, the little Fenix HL50 headlamp, out of the ring, and you can use it, and put it in your purse. You can use it in your pocket, and it's really small. In fact, it's so small you want to be careful you don't lose it! So anyway, that's another good feature about it. It doesn't have to be on your head to be able to use it. You can take it off the headband, and you can use it any place, so that's another feature about it that makes it the best headlamp!

So I'm going to tell you about the modes, and how the specs on your low, medium, high, and burst. The low mode is four lumens, which could normally give you 150 hours. The medium is 60 lumens, and that could give you about nine hours and 45 minutes. The high will give you 170 lumens, and you get about three hours out of that, and again, the burst. Remember it's 365 lumens, but you have to hold it down in order to get it to stay on.

Now, there's another feature about Fenix flashlights, is that you could be out in the woods, hiking, or camping, or anything like that, at night, or walking in the late evening, or even if you're in your neighborhood, and you're walking around the neighborhood, and taking a walk. If your battery goes low, your flashlight is not going to just instantly go off. Your Fenix HL50 headlamp, as it drains your battery, it's going to lower the lumens on your light.

So for instance, if you're out, and you've got it on high, and then you see it bump down to medium, that's telling you that your battery is draining a little bit, to where it can't hold the high lumens, but now it'll be on medium, and as it drains the battery more, it'll go low. Then, before it finally goes out, it'll give you a flash flash flash, telling you that that battery is going dead on that Fenix HL50 headlamp, and you better put another battery in. Have a spare on in your pocket, or in your purse, or something like that.

That's one of the good features, you wouldn't be out hiking, or out ... Of course, if you were out hiking, or camping, you would want to have some extra batteries in your pocket, or in your backpack.

So anyway, those are your lumens, and your timing, and those lumens and times, they go with the CR123 battery. With the nickel-metal hydrate AA batteries, that's a rechargeable one, you would get less hours with a AA, because a AA is not strong as the CR123, but you'll still get some good times, because on low, three lumens, you'll get 110 hours. On medium, you get six hours and 20 minutes. On high, you get 150 minutes, and with burst, when you use a AA, you don't get 365 lumens, you get 285 lumens, so there's another advantage for using the CR123s.

One of the other features is that it has a regulated output. That means that it maintains a constant brightness level. You know how some older flashlights, they kind of go in, and come out, and go in, and come out on the brightness levels, which could even make you dizzy, but it maintains that constant brightness. And there is a protection of the reverse polarity, to protect from improper battery installation on your Fenix HL50 headlamp.

The reason for that is, you know, sometimes you just can't see that plus and minus on each end of the battery, so you might put in the negative towards the head, and when you put the negative in towards the head, that's the wrong way it goes, and some lights, that will ruin the flashlight. On your Fenix HL50 headlamp, it will not run your headlamp. You will just turn your battery around, put it back in, and it works great. So that's one of the functions that's really good, on the Fenix HL50 headlamp.

The all-function switch in the head, for easy and fast operation. As I said, there's only one button. You don't have to search for two or three buttons. There are some flashlights, unlike the Fenix HL50 headlamp, you have several buttons, that you have different levels. You might turn it on with one button, you turn it off with another button, and you have another button to hit for modes. This is just one button. Press it once and it comes on. Hold it down to turn it off, and you click it just to make it go to the different modes.

Now, the way the levels are, when you turn it on, it's going to turn on in high. Then it's going to go to ... I'm sorry, it turns on low. Then it goes to medium, high, and burst. So that's the order of the brightness levels.

And, these Fenix flashlights, the Fenix HL50 headlamp, that is made with a quality aluminum alloy and stainless steel. That's what helps you for it to be waterproof. It has a little O-ring around where you put the cap on, which causes it to be waterproof, and you'll get an extra O-ring. You don't want to put that extra O-ring on it, because there's one that comes on your Fenix HL50 headlamp.

I've had people who have called and said, "My light doesn't work. My Fenix HL50 headlamp doesn't work." What happens is they have put that extra O-ring over the other O-ring. They didn't realize there was one on there, so it was too tight of a fit, and you couldn't get it screwed all the way down, so therefore, the light didn't work. It happened to be that they put that extra O-ring on top of the O-ring that comes with it, so don't do that.

It also has a premium Type III hard anodized anti-abrasive finish. You know, you can see it in the catalog, it looks really good, or on the website. It just looks really good, and the glass lens, that's one the Fenix HL50 headlamp, that is a toughened, ultra-clear glass lens, with anti-reflective coating. Now, that coating makes it so it doesn't reflect light and things like that, so that's good, also, if you're using your headlamp, and you happen to run into someone who's got another flashlight.

We've already talked about the waterproofing. Here are the specifications, as far as size. I'll give it to you in millimeters, and then I'll give it to you in inches. First, the millimeters, it's 63.8 millimeters. I don't know if you know what a millimeter is, but it is so, so little. It's about 1/16 of an inch. So that's how long it is, which in inches, it's 2.51 inches, so see, it's about two-and-a-half inches is what it is. That's all the bigger it is. It also weighs 57 grams, which equals 1.83 ounces. It doesn't even weight two ounces.

Now, that's not including the battery. The battery's going to be a few ounces more, so remember, the batteries that you can use in the Fenix HL50 headlamp, those are the three volt CR123 battery, or you can use a nickel-metal hydrate AA, which is a rechargeable battery, or you can use the lithium AA battery, or you can use an alkaline AA battery.

Now remember, the alkaline AA battery is the one that has the possibility of leaking. If you're not going to use it, take the battery out. So if you do use the AA nickel-metal hydrate rechargeable battery, you have to probably buy a charger to go with it, so you can charge your AA battery.

So this is why I love the Fenix HL50 headlamp, and I hope that you will check it out, and see how it looks, see all the features that I've told you about, and just know that I think this is the best headlamp out there!