Wool beanie with built in light

[Alaskajohn]

I have posted in other threads about the value and need for those of us who live where it gets cold and stays dark to have headlamps.

This past fall, a friend of mine suggested the below wool beanie with a built in headlamp and I purchased with some skepticism and used it this past winter. This thread is a short review.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CJJS2FCW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Pros:

-Held up well with about 4 months usage wearing almost daily. No signs of wear or falling apart.
-Charge held up well. I charged in Nov when I bought it, and for kicks and grins I plugged it in in mid Jan to recharge even though it showed no signs of needing recharge.
-Since I need a wool beanie, I was wearing it each time I needed a light. With my other headlamps, I wasn’t always wearing them when out due to their heavier bulk and size.
-The low profile headlamp never got it the way, and turning the light on and off was easier with gloves on than any of my other headlamps. No need to take off gloves.
-light can be removed if you need to wash the beanie. Light can be recharged while attached to the beanie.
-large enough for my big head.

Cons:

-I wouldn’t consider the wool beanie “heavy weight” and when it was -30 or so, I would have a heavyweight wool beanie on. But perfect and comfy down to about -20.
-While the light was adequate for most purposes, such as illuminating the parts of the snowblower needed when replacing warn shear bolts. When high power for illuminating large areas such as a dark barn, the light might not be bright enough.

I am glad I got the beanie as it was always on my head with an easy to turn on built in light. Well worth the price. I am still a bit skeptical of how many years the light will last, but the beanie looks like it is well enough made.

 

[dademoss]

I have posted in other threads about the value and need for those of us who live where it gets cold and stays dark to have headlamps.

This past fall, a friend of mine suggested the below wool beanie with a built in headlamp and I purchased with some skepticism and used it this past winter. This thread is a short review.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CJJS2FCW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

View attachment 125697

Pros:

-Held up well with about 4 months usage wearing almost daily. No signs of wear or falling apart.
-Charge held up well. I charged in Nov when I bought it, and for kicks and grins I plugged it in in mid Jan to recharge even though it showed no signs of needing recharge.
-Since I need a wool beanie, I was wearing it each time I needed a light. With my other headlamps, I wasn’t always wearing them when out due to their heavier bulk and size.
-The low profile headlamp never got it the way, and turning the light on and off was easier with gloves on than any of my other headlamps. No need to take off gloves.
-light can be removed if you need to wash the beanie. Light can be recharged while attached to the beanie.
-large enough for my big head.

Cons:

-I wouldn’t consider the wool beanie “heavy weight” and when it was -30 or so, I would have a heavyweight wool beanie on. But perfect and comfy down to about -20.
-While the light was adequate for most purposes, such as illuminating the parts of the snowblower needed when replacing warn shear bolts. When high power for illuminating large areas such as a dark barn, the light might not be bright enough.

I am glad I got the beanie as it was always on my head with an easy to turn on built in light. Well worth the price. I am still a bit skeptical of how many years the light will last, but the beanie looks like it is well enough made.

Thanks, got one on order . If it's colder than -20, I'll be curled into a small ball waiting for spring

 

[Aerindel]

I a huge headlamp fanatic. Literally the first thing I put on when I get out of bed, last thing I take off.

And yeah, I picked up this habit in Alaska.

However, I don't see the point of integrating one in a hat....I just put it on over my beanie (when I wear one)

 

[Alaskajohn]

I a huge headlamp fanatic. Literally the first thing I put on when I get out of bed, last thing I take off.

And yeah, I picked up this habit in Alaska.

However, I don't see the point of integrating one in a hat....I just put it on over my beanie (when I wear one)

I was always bumping my head getting in and out of my side by side with the typical headlamps due to their larger size. Due to this I wasn’t always wearing them having them stuffed in a pocket somewhere or left at the compound. For me this was a nice, always on my head beanie and not having to worry about bumping my head. I still use my nice Petzl 600 lumens headlamp if I really want to light things up. But no way I could turn that on with thick mittens. What I posted is a nice compromise to have an alway ready light I could turn on in the cold dark Alaskan nights.

 

[Aerindel]

I started out with petzls but gave up on them years ago. The price per lumen was just ridiculous. I have half a dozen of these and I really like them. Some are five years old by now and on their third headband (the elastic eventually goes) but I've never had one break.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NJ9PCJC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Haertig]

A friend gave me a lighted beenie like this because his daughter (who he actually bought it for) wouldn't wear it. Turns out, I wouldn't either. I doubt that light even put out one candlepower. It was a joke. And even putting out that meager amount of light, it's rechargeable battery would only manage about an hours worth of any lumens before going 100% dark.

Now, I'm sure this particular beenie was just CCC (Cheap Chinese Crap) and there are others that are actually worthwhile. But I would recommend that you watch what you buy. Especially off of Amazon. Many of their offerings are no longer any good, they are flooded with CCC these days. FWIW, my beenie looked just like the one in the picture above. But the Chinese are really good at making stuff "look like" a different more reputable brand that is actually good. Be especially aware when you see 35,000 five star reviews for a lighted beenie on Amazon. There probably aren't that many people on the entire planet who have one of these things. And when the 35,000 five star review ones only cost a few dollars ... beware!

I would try the one that Alaskajohn links to, since he has reviewed it and we have an idea of it's quality based on something a real live trusted person is telling us. But based on my experience with the beenie my friend bought and I "inherited", a random choice of a cheap one off of Amazon is a crap shoot. Probably more crap than shooting. The one I ended up with (now in the trash) was not wool. Maybe woven rat hair, I don't know.

 

[Aerindel]

a random choice of a cheap one off of Amazon is a crap shoot.

The beaut of amazon is that you can buy and return as many things as you need (usually) until you find a good one. In my experience chinese crap can sometime s be totally junk, or hilariously overbuilt and you never really know until you try it out.

 

[Haertig]

In my experience chinese crap can sometime s be totally junk, or hilariously overbuilt

Even within the same box! My wife just bought a desk lamp. The lamp itself is actually really good (so far). It has cool capacitive touch buttons for on/off, dimming, color temp, etc. And they are very responsive. But the remote control that came with it? It is totally laughable. Like you really need a remote control when it's a lamp that you're probably sitting 3 feet away from. The lamp even has a USB port to charge your stuff with. I told the wife to never plug anything into that USB port that she wasn't willing to destroy however...

 

[backlash]

I would buy one but I wouldn't be able to find it next Fall.
I would put it somewhere so I could find it again and it would never be seen again.
It would have been handy when I went night walleye fishing a couple of weeks ago.