For most of my fishing career I used various small handheld flashlights (often clamped in my teeth) to tie on flies and find my way out of the woods. Recent improvements in LED lights have led to using a headband which seems to do a better job of shining where I’m looking than one on a hatbrim. Saturday night I took my hat off to swat at some very mean mosquitoes and realized that I could see much better that way. The light had been reflcting down from the hatbrim into my eyes. I turned the hat around so the brim was in the back and had a much easier time finding my way back to the car. From now on I’ll turn the hat around when I put the headband on.
I always put my headlamp band over my HAT, above the brim.
I use a light which attaches to my ballcap brim.
I’m really nearsighted and need light closer to my eyes than a hatbrim’s length away to tie on a fly. I use a hatbrim light for some things but use one that goes around my head below the hat for fishing. The light reflecting down from the brim was making a lot of glare on my glasses.
The brim on my hat is too big to wear the headband over, and its a full-brim, which precludes turning it around. My solution is to hang it around my neck and only use it when I need it. You’d be surprised how well your eyes can adjust to moonlight if you give em a chance.
When fishing at night and needing a light to work by I have switched to using red LED attached via a strap to my head. Haven’t really noticed any reflection off of my hat brim but will check next time out. Eyes adjust much easier and quicker with red light. I still use a small flashlight for walking in and out of areas although the small flashlight is now LED also.
I had one of those LED lights with the elastic strap to go around your head & I noticed that the hat brim would block my view. I started wearing the band around my neck & it works out fine, The light is right where I tie my fly on with no glare,