Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - Head lamp ideas

Last winter when I started riding I did not have enough cash to buy a light setup....I needed one to ride this group ride I wanted to attend so I improvised. I taped a LED flashlight to my helmet...I know I know.....very FRED of me but I wanted to ride....well to my amazement no one noticed (or at least they did not say anything) it worked great....it was brighter then most of the other lights....it didn't last very long before it went to power save mode...(50% brightness I think) but it was sufficient for my group ride. The flashlight was a gift, probably cost 10 bucks....

So time for a light is coming up again and I am thinking of doing the same thing....the greatest part about this is the rest of the year I get to use my flash light and I like that...so I am planning on getting a nicer flash light....Surefire or something like that....hopefully brighter and better power management....

Has anyone done this? I also would like some other option other than tape to get it on the helmet...I used electrical tape and it did not look bad but took to much time...and riding days and nights it was a bit of a pain putting it on and off....I might just get another helmet..we will see...maybe there is something better out there....

Thanks!!!

A couple of ideas for mounting flashlight to helmet on a more temporary and less Fred-ish basis:

1) the Fenix website sells bike/helmet mounts called bikeblocks and lockblocks, which use a u-shaped mounting for the flashlight and velcro to secure to a bar or helmet. Depending on the design of your helmet one or the other should work.

2) you might try using a large rubber band or perhaps hair crunchy and use it to mount the light in much the same way as a Dinotte headlight is secured to handlebars using an O-ring.

Check your local Wal-mart and see if they have any Mag-Lite 2 AA 3-watt LED flashlights left. They've been on clearance sale for $19 in my area. That 3-watts is not the rating of the LED! It's compared to a standard flashlight with a 3-watt filament bulb. It is a nice light for the price however and worth the money. It has an adjustable beam pattern making it a very good all purpose light. It will run for 2.5 hours on standard AA alkaline batteries. I mounted my Mag-Lite to the handlebar using 1/2-inch EMT conduit hangers.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r154/n4zou/Hpim0305.jpg
Be sure to glue some bits of old inner tube rubber to the interior parts of the conduit clamp to promote a form grip and prevent scratching your flashlight.
I also drilled a small hole in the battery cap and used a section of old fiberglass tent pole to make an external battery pack adaptor as can be seen in the photo below.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r154/n4zou/batteryadaptor.jpg
2 D size batteries will last much longer than 2 AA batteries!

Check your local Wal-mart and see if they have any Mag-Lite 2 AA 3-watt LED flashlights left. They've been on clearance sale for $19 in my area. That 3-watts is not the rating of the LED! It's compared to a standard flashlight with a 3-watt filament bulb. It is a nice light for the price however and worth the money. It has an adjustable beam pattern making it a very good all purpose light. It will run for 2.5 hours on standard AA alkaline batteries. The batteries are very easy to change out unlike some other flashlights. I mounted my Mag-Lite to the handlebar using 1/2-inch EMT conduit hangers.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r154/n4zou/Hpim0305.jpg
Be sure to glue some bits of old inner tube rubber to the interior parts of the conduit clamp to promote a form grip and prevent scratching your flashlight.
I also drilled a small hole in the battery cap and used a section of old fiberglass tent pole to make an external battery pack adaptor as can be seen in the photo below.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r154/n4zou/batteryadaptor.jpg
2 D size batteries will last much longer than 2 AA batteries!