I'm looking to buy a new light for my dad's up coming birthday. I've read a hand full of threads dealing with the light topic. what I cant seem to find is how the LED performs vs. the standard 5100 series head. My Dad will be 70 this fall and he still uses a OLD D cell mag light. We use small surfire LED head lamps for walking lights and love them. In our area, it's nice to be able to turn the small walking light way down low to "sneak" past a house or two. These light are fine for walking, but the LED cast's a flood not a nice tight beam rendering it useles at the tree. I'm looking to get him the brightest most consentrated beam possible in a bumb cap. What are these "spot" lights some manufactures are listing with there packages? Are they better than the head lamps? Do the LED head lamps cast a beam or a wide flood. I'm thinking a box light light might be to bulky for his taste.

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In my opinion I like the 5100 head in summer months because it throws a yellow light as opposed to bright white of a led. Pop covers are a must for led and most don't have a dial to adjust beam. Newer models I believe like the bright eyes have a dial but I have not seen one in the woods. One thing you need to ask about is longevity of the battery. The new hard hat lights with battery attached to back have a limited amounts of charges before it goes bad. A belt light led charged correctly should last you 20 yrs and 5100 should last 10+... A lot of choices and variables to look at. Maybe someone else could explain it better. I have a 21v three bulb led that throws more of a flood bright white and also have a 28v cajun 5100 that has a five click switch and works great in thick trees or summer use. Hope that helps.

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I have a bright eyes led, love, bought used on eBay for about half price. I would Def go with an led light.

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Thanks for your replys. I know what you mean with the more yellow light of the traditional bulbs heads. I guess it's all what you get used to using. The LED would be nice for battery comsumtion, I spend a long at a tree making sure I dont leave one behind, if the truth be told I'll climb what trees I can in the summer to be even more sure. I dont want to send the wrong signal to my dogs.


1.) Do most heads have the same plug in that conects to the battery? So maybe I could change between a LED head or 5100 series as I wanted

2.) I've never used the pop covers, what do they do for you

3.) It seem as though most everyone that goes LED and Bright Eyes is happy with there light. Is the beam a nice tight spot or sort of a flood

To my limited knowledge you can buy a led head that plugs into battery pack like a 5100. Not sure how good they work. I do know that my 21v led had to have minor adjustments made due to the fact of it being a 5100 originally. Seems like the resisters had to be replaced?!?! Might have just made that one up. Pop covers come in blue green yellow red etc. Inexpensive and "pop" onto your lense so coons might look better.

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