Headlight problems!

[Pnut]

I have a box full of headlight, both cheap and expensive, sitting on my shelf. They all work fine, but the problem is with their headbands. The elastics in the bands have all deteriorated and won’t stay on my head anymore! Is it
Poor elastics or is my head too big!?!?

With some of the cheaper ones,I just cut off the straps, glued magnets to the back, and use them as small task lights.

[RevolverRob]

Hmm, I have a 10-year old Petzl and Fenix sitting here and neither of them have any major problems. But I could see that being the reality, especially if you sweat a lot. I assume the acid and salt from sweat will break the elastic down quickly. Unfortunately, elastic is a wear item with a limited shelf life.

Petzl offers replacement headbands for their lights: https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/He...and-ACTIK-CORE - That's a standard 1" wide headband used on things like the Tikka headlamp and most other common lamps. - Measure yours and if they fit, I'd order a few. They seem to be the best headbands out there.

Looking at their website they guarantee them for 3-years. So, I would guess that's the expected life cycle for them.

I like the idea of glueing magnets to the back and using them as work lights though...especially older ones as you update them...hmm...

[UNM1136]

I had one of the Petzle Minis that had the retractable cord as a headband.I liked it, using it around camp before and after legal hunting hours. It was a little light on the lumens while hiking, but I was hunting, so it was probably a good thing. Also if I needed to check a topo map.. Now that I recall upon hearing your issue that might be a really, really good system. It ran on coin batteries and was super mall and super light.

My son, 6-7 at the time decided to see what would happen if/and/or his round nose scissors would cut the cord. Ruined.

I glued hook velcro to it and now I use it on a ball cap or jacket with a velcro field for reading the course of fire before calling it, and for scoring targets. Also makes it super easy to find on a velcro field in a range bag or backpack. Next month it will be on a backpack with the red strobe setting as kind of a re cyclops cats eye patch as we hike in and out outside of legal hunting light on her first elk and deer hunts..

And I bought a second one which has a traditional headband😒. But the head band does have a small, almost useful survival whistle. 🤪

Amazon lists a slightly larger, much brighter one with the retractable cord headband.

pat