# Cap Lights



## Pacecar (Apr 21, 2010)

Where's the proper forum to discuss cap hat lights? Some of these are pretty neat, up to 30 lumens, different led colors, swivel features, etc.


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## cistallus (Apr 22, 2010)

This seems like an appropriate forum to me - the cap is the mounting for a lamp on your head - a headlamp.

I've only seen baseball-type caps that are pretty much novelty items, with relatively small low-power LEDs in the bill. Have you found something better?


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## Hondo (Apr 22, 2010)

I have done this a lot, with a clip-on light. The Gerber Infinity Ultra was my first "ready to use" solution. The Arc AAA is much lighter, though. For higher performance, I have made a complex fixture to attach an LD01 or LF2XT. The apparatus consists of a wooden closepin and a rubber band. Most of the labor involved was attributed to sawing the closepin handles shorter. A very handy solution, when I am wearing a hat anyways.


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## cistallus (Apr 23, 2010)

Hondo said:


> ... a wooden closepin and a rubber band ...


Thanks for the inspiration! Not many small lights come with a reversible clip that allows them to clip to a brim forward-facing, been looking for solutions.

This is a good solution with common household materials. Just tried with an unmodified plain wooden clothespin, works pretty good with my LF2X, would probably work well with my Mini 123. The grip is OK but could be better, maybe there are better clothespins that will grip tighter.


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## GlobalPlayer (Apr 23, 2010)

The ITP A3 EOS has a reversible clip, so you can attach it to the cap;
I use this very good and simple solution often while running at night during winter


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## fishx65 (Apr 23, 2010)

Good thread! We don't seem to talk about cap-lights on here very much. Being "hair challenged", I usually wearing a baseball cap. I've got a few of the clip-on style cap lights but they all seem to run on coincell batteries and have angry blue tints. I went on a night fishing adventure last week and forgot my trusty EOS headlamp but I did have one of my 1AA Energizer Cree lights in the truck. Clipped it on the bill of my old baseball cap and it worked awesome! Much brighter then the EOS and easier to operate.


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## Hondo (Apr 23, 2010)

cistallus said:


> The grip is OK but could be better, maybe there are better clothespins that will grip tighter.


 
If you want "infinite" grip, try this: Get a small (4-40 or 6-32) thumb screw from the hardware, and a nut. Jamb the nut all the way down the screw as a load applicator. Now drill a clearance hole in one side of the closepin between the fulcrum and the pinch point. Then drill a smaller hole the rest of the way through the other side of the pin so that the screw can be threaded into it (ideal if you actually have the tap for the screw size to run through, but not absolutely necessary).

Now after you clip it on, you can crank the thumb screw down, and the nut will apply pressure to the two halves of the pin, making it absolutely "loss-proof". Adds a bit of weight, and a few seconds to the installation/removal time, but it is going nowhere. I have found that with the older closepins I have, the fairly strong metal spring and the rough wood surface on the hat brim hangs on tighter than most metal clips I have, without the thumb screw mod.


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## Pacecar (Apr 23, 2010)

Normally, the best button battery cap lights are up to 14 lumens.

Recently, I found a Cyclops Orion 5 white led cap light (button batteries) that advertised 150% brighter on the label.... but it really seemed to be much brighter than that! Not yet shown on the Cyclops website. Appears to output about 25 lumens. I like this simple, lightweight cap light. Seems like this particular model sold out at the store in only a couple of days, and haven't seen it restocked yet.

Then there's the Browning NightSeeker PRO, which has a single Nichia 0.5W white led for 26 lumens, plus some weak color leds (either red or green). The Nightseeker PRO pivots, but it is clipped under the bill of the hat.

Seen the Energizer Trailfinder PERFORMANCE cap swivel light, with 3 leds outputting 30 lumens. Also has a couple of small red leds. This cap light pivots above the bill of the cap. Has anyone bought this light and can comment on its performance?


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## JAS (Jun 5, 2010)

I have a cap light. It is rechargeable via a USB cable. It has a total of four white LEDs and two red LEDs. It isn't a bad light, but I, too, want to know if anything better is available. I would like another rechargeable, if possible, and brighter. I think it is a Master Vision 6 LED Rechargeable Cap Light


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## Solscud007 (Jun 5, 2010)

Actually you guys should buy the Larue Tactical Ball cap. it has a sleeve or a hole where the bill meets the cap. You can slip an E1B thru the hole and secure the light. there is no way for the light to come out.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/259961&highlight=Larue


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## JAS (Jun 5, 2010)

Thank you for the tip. I have added some URLs for those that want to read more.


http://www.laruetactical.com/

http://stores.homestead.com/Laruetactical/StoreFront.bok

http://stores.homestead.com/Laruetactical/Detail.bok?no=322

http://stores.homestead.com/Laruetactical/Detail.bok?no=7

http://www.surefire.com/

http://www.surefire.com/maxexp/main...=6&prrfnbr=24511&sesent=0,0&search_id=2084566


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## Solscud007 (Jun 5, 2010)

if you check out the link in my post, I mention that this hat can use any flashlight. not just the E1B. however there is a caveat. The lights that work best with the Larue ball cap have to be short. or the two-way clip has to be as log as the body of the light. So like the new LX2 clip on an E2DL could work.

I have a solorforce 2way clip on my SF 3P and it works just fine on the hat.


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## JAS (Jun 5, 2010)

Thanks for the update. Do you have any idea of any less expensive lights that might work well with a cap like this? As much as I love Surefire, if I can get a less expensive light for this application I would be interested.


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## defloyd77 (Jun 10, 2010)

Pacecar said:


> Seen the Energizer Trailfinder PERFORMANCE cap swivel light, with 3 leds outputting 30 lumens. Also has a couple of small red leds. This cap light pivots above the bill of the cap. Has anyone bought this light and can comment on its performance?



Sure can, just got it at Wally World an hour ago for 14.88, the very first thing I noticed is the way you put the batteries in, there are 2 red tabs that hold 2 halves together that you pull outward, they're kind of hard to pull outand I don't feel they go outward enough, there's not much clearance between the half that pulls away, I'm not too confident that these will not break. The clip itself seems pretty sturdy with plastic on the top and metal for the bottom and it doesn't feel like it's going to fall of easily (later I'll do some :rock: to see if it stays on) and has 4 swivel positions 0, 30, 60 and 90 degrees and it seems to stay in each postition pretty well. 

The switch is a reverse clicky, but it's purely mechanical, you have to actually click it to change the modes, half pressing just turns it of momentarily. This also means if it's clicked without batteries, it might come on in high or any other mode when the batteries are replaced.

I'll comment later on the red mode, which comes on first, when my eyes are adjusted to dark to see how pleasant it is to use. The white LED's use small aspherics which gives it a pretty nice circular moon beam in the middle and there is a pretty decent amount of artifacty side spill. The output of the white LED's is also not too shabby, I'm willing to be this uses the Nichia GS as Energizer uses them in a lot of their other lights and the 30 lumen claim seems pretty accurate. There does not really seem to be too much of a difference between low and high, I'll charge up some of my NiMH's and make sure that this is actually how the modes are spaced and not low batteries.

I honestly don't know weither or not I reccomend this light, I definately need to play with it more. I'm sure I left some details out, so anything you want to know, just ask.


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## JAS (Aug 8, 2010)

I am also looking for a bright LED caplight, preferably LED. What is the brightest one available?


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## obriencr (Aug 8, 2010)

Reverse the clip and try the ITP A3 on the brim of the cap.


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## JAS (Aug 8, 2010)

Thank you for the tip. I have never heard of that brand before. My attention was sort of drawn to the iTP R01, since it is rechargeable. It looks like the:

A3 is Size: Length 66.5 mm *Diameter 14 mm, 

R01 is Size: Length 126mm (4.96'') x D 30mm (1.18'') 

As much as I might like the brighter and rechargeable R01, is looks like it is bigger than the A3. 





http://www.itplight.com/


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## romteb (Aug 9, 2010)

Pretty much every single AAA light with a reversible clip will make an excelent cap light.

I, for exemple, use this Akoray K-102 with a fenix clip on caps


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## d1337 (Aug 15, 2010)

I really like the county comm Maratac AAA. It has a great reverse-able clip that holds the light to the brim of a hat. The killer feature though is that it is small enough to keep on my key-chain everyday. When I need hands free light I just clip it to my hat and I'm all set. It will put out 60 lumens on high or run for about 30 hours on low. :twothumbs


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## d1337 (Aug 15, 2010)

JAS said:


> Thank you for the tip. I have never heard of that brand before. My attention was sort of drawn to the iTP R01, since it is rechargeable. It looks like the:
> 
> A3 is Size: Length 66.5 mm *Diameter 14 mm,
> 
> ...



The size difference between those two lights is massive. The entire A3 is much smaller than the battery is the Ro1. You can just use rechargeable AAA LSD batteries in the A3 eos to make it rechargeable. Also good to note that the A3 eos "upgrade edition" is much more useful as it has three modes.
http://goinggear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14_19&products_id=255


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## ironhorse (Aug 21, 2010)

The Sunwayled L10R works very well clipped to the bill of a hat. However the light does not remember the last level used and it always comes on high. This makes it an okay light and not a great light.


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## whippoorwill (Aug 29, 2010)

Pacecar said:


> Normally, the best button battery cap lights are up to 14 lumens.
> 
> 
> Then there's the Browning NightSeeker PRO, which has a single Nichia 0.5W white led for 26 lumens, plus some weak color leds (either red or green). The Nightseeker PRO pivots, but it is clipped under the bill of the hat. small red leds. This cap light pivots above the bill of the cap. Has anyone bought this light and can comment on its performance?


 
I have this light and it is the best cap light I have found. Runs on a single AAA battery. I have the green leds for hunting. I bought mine from Wholesale Hunter on line for less than $13. It comes with 2 leds, green or red. Fairly good runtime. 4 position switch, one 5mm led, two or main led and off. Nice light. Beats the coin cells by a mile but does not have a lot of extra weight. Can be switched from hat to hat, which is a big advantage to me. Throws plenty of light for navigating in the woods early or late.


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## ama230 (Aug 29, 2010)

There is the so lite from countycomm.com which has a swivel. I have a few of these and gave some away to friends and family due to them needing a small light for general purposes. Great little light.

Also there is the photon rex which you could get to stick to bill by any tape. Its brighter than any cap light and its rechargeable internal battery is chargeable by any battery 3v or less. Its 40+lumens of bright white light at batteryjunction.com for 17bucks. 

Then there is the photon freedom which is really bright with just a single 5mm nichia gs k1 warm led. Has a great ui and can be dimmed and has all types of modes and you can get the led in any color. It runs on two 2016's and has a max runtime of 100hrs on low. It comes with a clip and a neck lanyard and keychain and can be had for 8 bucks at battery junction which is a steal and has a great warranty. I haven't had to change my batteries yet and Ive had the light for a couple of months and use it every other day. Absolute best bang for the buck! hands down

I can see why you guys don't like using a flashlight on the end of a bill since its rather heavy and clips are sometimes too loose.

Then there is the maratac aaa which is super light and super bright and can be adjusted med-low-high and takes a single aaa. Runtime on medium is more than adequate for the 20 lumens. On a single energizer lithium AAA will make the light feather weight and have awesome run times. Available at www.countycomm.com/aaa

Hope this helps,
ERic


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## ama230 (Aug 29, 2010)

whippoorwill said:


> I have this light and it is the best cap light I have found. Runs on a single AAA battery. I have the green leds for hunting. I bought mine from Wholesale Hunter on line for less than $13. It comes with 2 leds, green or red. Fairly good runtime. 4 position switch, one 5mm led, two or main led and off. Nice light. Beats the coin cells by a mile but does not have a lot of extra weight. Can be switched from hat to hat, which is a big advantage to me. Throws plenty of light for navigating in the woods early or late.



That light definately has a nichia regal led in it. It is a power led and is .5w. It does have one of the best color renditions out there as it is nichia. I have a light that uses the same led and the sucker is bright and is a great brightness to size ratio.:twothumbs Looks like an awesome light for the price of 13 bucks or less. Is it water proof?


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## Scoutnhunt (Aug 30, 2010)

Glad to stumble on this thread ......... use the clip on cap lights frequently. Especially at the hunting camp from mid Sept - Jan going to the stand in the early morning before daylight and coming back after dark during deer season. And again from early March through May during turkey season.

Can't beat the low level LED clip on lights for that application. Also use them on the boat at night when we're out in the ocean fishing. Great to have hands free.

I've resorted to having 3-4 of the cheap lights from Wally World on hand and just ordering the 2218 or what ever the correct batteries are off of eBay from reputable dealers there. 

The batteries usually last a reasonable period and when I start to notice fade they get replaced. Not a high tech system, but it works.

Funny that I own 4 Surefires and have put in an order for a HDS but use cheapo cap lights. Looks like there are some good ideas here that might change my habits.


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## rajalexi (Oct 27, 2010)

I love CPFlovecpf

I think a cap light should be very small and bright enough for the work you are doing. I haul gas for a living and am at a lot of gas stations at night so I need a bright floody light so I can see if any fittings are leaking. But I need both of my hands free to do my work with the heavy hoses. I glued a little piece of fabric to the bottom of my cap bill and slide a BEZEL DOWN flashlight into it. It works perfectly! I love my ITP A1 EOS,http://www.batteryjunction.com/itp-a1-flashlight.html I just wish it was a clicky instead of a twisty. But I will trade the hard on off for the size and brightness any day. Here is the link to a simple tutorial on what I did if anyone is interested: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/3575403#post3575403

If anyone knows of a clipped light less than 3.8 inches long putting out over 120 lumens with a clicky I would love to hear about it.


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## AnAppleSnail (Mar 2, 2012)

The local Wal Mart had some hatlights on sale for $5 and I couldn't pass them up. They're meant for walking trails at night, and so are floodier than I thought I'd like. But then hanging curtains this week (Drilling and driving screws) the focused beam worked quite well. The advances in even 5mm LEDs since 2009 have made caplights much better for the money. The one I have runs on coin cells, but I'm considering giving it a plug and switch to use coin cells or a 4xAAA pack. I think I could stick such a pack on for much more runtime...


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## lwknight (Mar 18, 2012)

I do maintainence work in a power plant where it is common to see guys with headlamps mounted on their hard hats.
These lamps will work just fine on baseball caps too. They have tried just about everything under the sun.
So far the Coast H7 from lowes beats all the rest hands down. Bright crisp light that in infinately adjustabld from 3 to 196 lumens and
focusable from a smooth 90 degree area light to a small hot spot good for 100 meters.
The best part is that the battery pack mounts on the back so you don't have all the weight up front.

I use mine almost daily and its permanantly fixed to my hard hat. It gets plenty of abuse from EDC in tight places that
I have to go.


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## JAS (Nov 26, 2012)

I was giving some thought to one of the new Klarus rechargeable lights, but I wonder if even the smallest Klarus is too big for a cap light?


http://www.klaruslight.com/plist.php?id=49&lge=en


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## iTorch (Dec 3, 2012)

you guys are aware of these right? local camping store sells them but I love my Tilley... www.solarlightcap.com/


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## eh4 (Dec 4, 2012)

I clip my ZL H51Fc to the bill of my cap all the time, works well for me and clips in my front pocket when not being used as a cap light. Makes for a great little angle head flash light too.


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## Bicycleflyer (Dec 15, 2012)

Love the idea of this thread,

I too am seeking a good cap light. Presently I have one of those "panther" hats that I bought from Lowes. Love the lighting options, but there is now an issue I don't know quite how to address. with the wires and LEDs permanently affixed to the hat, it cannot be machine washed and I am not very good at hand washing. I wish the lighting wires and fixtures were removable for cleaning.

I recently bought an energizer model that clips to the top of the bill and uses a single nichia LED and coin cell batteries. Put's out good light and is useable but looks kinda goofy during the day. I try to keep the hat and light together because I WILL leave it if I remove it. 

I am going to look into that Remington model mention above.


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## Mr Floppy (Dec 17, 2012)

Bolster said:


> *Baseball Caps*: So far I've found baseball-style caps just not very good for secure headlamp mounting, with their long bills that get in the way of the beam.



I had one of these:






It had 3 5mm LED's and used 3 AG13 batteries. Hacked it up





Voila. Currently fits the L0P, E01 and E05. I know that there are things like this out there but I got the light for free and when the batteries drained, I couldn't be bothered to get more.


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## ThrowerLover (Jan 7, 2013)

(Removed. Couldn't post pics.)


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## ThrowerLover (Jan 12, 2013)

I was looking for a headlamp or clip-on light - all were way more expensive than I liked, especially since, like everyone else here, my issue is definitely NOT a shortage of sources of illumination. It was 3 o'clock in the morning and I couldn't sleep, so I made this homemade ball cap clip using a wire hanger, vise grips, and small strips of silicone wrap tape (sorry - no duct tape). Y'know, necessity may be the mother of invention, but frugality is the boyfriend and insomnia is the cheap whiskey. And this is the trailer-park trash that was spawned.







I call it the Bubba Clip (because I refuse to name anything after Honey BooBoo), but, let's face it - this thing is the most creative use of a wire hanger in a trailer park since . . . well, let's not go there. It works with my Mini CR2 (180 lumens) and allows me to twist the light on and off with one hand. It works on any cap, it's cheap, it clamps the light very securely to the brim, it's cheap, and it stores perfectly in an old prescription bottle (so it won't get bent when not in use). It doesn't bounce around when jogging (if you're foolish enough to do such a thing). I've since ordered the Lucky Line 40601 Belt Hook Key Holder from amazon.com to secure to the light with o-rings like someone suggested. That will probably work as well and be smaller and more portable, but I have this one right now and I've already used it several times. Plus, did I mention it was cheap? Of course, a black wire hanger and a small black rubber tube (instead of the silicone tape) would look better, which I'll do if I make another one for a different flashlight.

Ha-ha. "if"? Make that "when". I sleep a lot less than I used to, and I have a TN31mb on the way. 

I might need a bigger hat.


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## JAS (Jan 12, 2013)

Interesting. I still think if some company mass produced some cap lights with higher lumen output than those currently available, that they would sell.


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## Pacecar (Jan 12, 2013)

Well, I started this thread. The best light I've found is the iTP EOS A3 upgrade version that has been discontinued, but still available at LightJunction. It comes with a snap-on reversible clip. Just reverse, and snap-on the clip, and it is the perfect cap light. Don't buy the Olight EOS I3 which replaced the iTP, since the Olight clip is not reversible.


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## ironhorse (Jan 12, 2013)

That hanger hat clip is brilliant.


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## ThrowerLover (Jan 12, 2013)

Thanks. I'm thinking about making one for my Xtar Wk21. It's brighter and has an RCR123 in it. Since it's also a twisty, it should work just as well. I'll post some pics if/when I make it.


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## Bolster (Jan 12, 2013)

ThrowerLover said:


> I was looking for a headlamp or clip-on light -...this thing is the most creative use of a wire hanger in a trailer park since . . .



I LIKE it. Put a prom dress on that trailer trash and take her out. All you need is a length of electrical heat-shrink tube, a candle, and you can just squeeeeeeeze her into that tight dress...should look very professional when done.


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## JAS (Jan 14, 2013)

ThrowerLover said:


> .....I was looking for a headlamp or clip-on light.....I might need a bigger hat.....



I was thinking more about this today, so I measured the bill of one of my baseball caps and it is about 3 inches from the front to where it attaches to the crown. The more I think about this, the more I wonder if I could make a "universal" cap light holder. Perhaps some hose clamps and some sort of clip. 

ThrowerLover, by any chance have you tried you light a little bit further back towards the crown? I am just wondering, as far as weight and balance goes, if it would work better a bit further back?

I would really like to use something like the Klarus RS16 because it is rechargeable. The length would probably stick out past the brim, but I am wondering if this is just way too heavy at 90 grams (excluding battery). I have seen some headlamps at around 6 ounces, but it might be more of an issue of balance than weight with a caplight.


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## ThrowerLover (Jan 14, 2013)

I just made another one for my Xtar Wk21 which weighs 67 g.




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I did everything the same except that I slipped four small pieces of plastic tubing onto the wire instead of the silicone tape wrap. I tried Bolster's idea about the black prom dress, but decided a see-through was sexier (actually, the heat shrink tubing wasn't grippy enough). Two key things aside from the obvious: 1) for a twisty, the back part of the flashlight needs to be clamped against the bill of the cap so that it won't spin, and 2) the front part needs to be accessible and it helps if it's free to turn without rubbing against the cap. In your case, I'm curious - won't that clip (or "clamp" as Klarus calls it) reverse to that other similar groove that's closer to the head of the light? If so, the RS16 looks perfect for attaching to a cap's bill, especially since it has a sideswitch (I only made that one for the Mini CR2 because it's a light that I carry with me at all times). But if you can't reverse the clip, then I would set the light back as far as I could. I really don't think weight will be an issue. BTW, some of the wire hangers are heavier than others - if you go that route, use the heaviest gauge one you can find.


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## eh4 (Jan 16, 2013)

ThrowerLover's clip is great, I love it. Minimal and elegant. 

What the anglehead Zebra Light H51F (floody) light allows for is an uncentered mount under any ball cap simply using the clip. This puts the diminutive weight of the light right by your head and does away with any leverage x mass issues that you might notice when mounting a light of any appreciable weight at the end of the bill. 
I don't think that my trick would be as satisfactory using a non floody lensed model though, there is always a couple seconds of initial fiddling required to center the off center light source, floody though it is.


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## psychbeat (Feb 25, 2013)

ThrowerLover said:


> I was looking for a headlamp or clip-on light - all were way more expensive than I liked, especially since, like everyone else here, my issue is definitely NOT a shortage of sources of illumination. It was 3 o'clock in the morning and I couldn't sleep, so I made this homemade ball cap clip using a wire hanger, vise grips, and small strips of silicone wrap tape (sorry - no duct tape). Y'know, necessity may be the mother of invention, but frugality is the boyfriend and insomnia is the cheap whiskey. And this is the trailer-park trash that was spawned.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




wow this is awesome- I lost the old style zebra clip i was using with my mini123 and had made something similar
to this but WAAAYY uglier.

Im going to try and copy this right now.

just got my mini123 back from an emitter swap (XPE2-4000K)
will make for a perfect spot to go with my H60W which is worn on my neck.

THANKS!!!


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## psychbeat (Feb 25, 2013)

XPE2 POWER!


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## defloyd77 (Feb 25, 2013)

Just for the heck of it, I made a Bubba clip (genius idea btw) with a 6 inch NiteIze Gear Tie, not too bad but a wire hanger's the way to go. I tried the GT with my D25A clicky, it felt pretty secure, but don't think I'd run with it.


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## ThrowerLover (Mar 4, 2013)

I made a new clip setup that works nearly as well, but is way better for me in terms of portability (I keep the Bubba Clip in my truck). I bought a Lucky Line Belt Clip from amazon:




I cut it with a Dremel and stuck a piece of felt inside of it on the flat side:





At a hardware store, I bought some Velcro that looks like this:







and cut it into a piece that would wrap around the Mini CR2 a little more than twice, and put a piece of something grippy at the inside end of it (so that I can turn the light on with one hand without the Mini spinning around):






That o-ring is a GITD, and the Velcro looks worn because I carry it all of the time. The Velcro was cheap enough that I can make another one when I need it, but I've carried this for several months and it still works as intended.


I cut the Velcro long enough to wrap around my finger for a task light:



(I cut it 6 1/4 inches long, but if you'll never use it this way, you can go shorter and it will reduce the additional diameter added to the light).


And finally, the Velcro will also hold the clip:




and attach to my cap as a cap light:





If absolutely necessary, I can even slide the temple of my glasses through the o-ring, wrap the Velcro around it, and use it without a cap:



It's not as elegant or stable, but works pretty well, especially with heavier glasses.


The clip disappears in my pocket with the Mini CR2 (with an RCR2 battery), my lip balm (it is bone dry out here in West Texas), and my bottle opener (well, technically it's a small Swiss Army knife with a bottle opener, blade, Phillips and straight blade screwdrivers, file, scissors, toothpick, and ink pen, but mainly it's a bottle opener ). It's like having part of a bug-out bag with me in my left pocket all of the time!


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