Just over a year ago I bought a Princeton Tec headlamp off the Internet in the USA. It featured three separate 5mm L.E.D's for near too illumination when tackling up, plus an ultra powerful single Luxeon L.E.D for long range work. It proved a cracking headlamp but set me back over £60.

I shouldn't have been surprised when we came across this almost exact copy from China.

It offers a three watt side emitting focusable L.E.D which is extremely powerful and you can spot your rod tips a good 40yds away in the beam, plus being focusable its proved perfect for picking fish out in the surf just prior to landing them. I've also used this headlamp on the rock ledges where light output and maximum illumination is essential and found it powerful enough for most situations, especially bassing.

Fishing Discount Store Luxeon 3 Watt

You also have the option of switching to three high-output 5-millimeter L.E.D's for baiting up and tying rigs on which throws out a wide pool of light to fully illuminate what you're doing, but that also has an excess of power for fully lighting up narrow cliff and beach paths in the dark.

It runs on 3AA batteries and will last around 120 hours using only the illumination L.E.D's, but also 25 hours straight on the single long range L.E.D. The L.E.D's won't break like bulbs and have a life expectancy of hundreds of hours, so no spares to worry about. Its all in weight including the batteries is around 8ozs.

The general construction is excellent. The batteries are housed in a plastic casing using a rubber membrane to stop water ingress. This is opened via a simple flick up tab, so it's easy and quick to change batteries. The head band is elasticated, comfy and fully adjustable.

The headlamp proper is a tough plastic body, but with a rubberised focusing head. The headlamp hinges on a tight fitting so that you can angle it to suit.  The on/off switch is a simple press once to activate the illuminators, and press again for the long range L.E.D. The focusing adjustment also allows a very tight beam ideal for spotting fish and locating your shock leader at night when reeling in.

VERDICT
We rate it ideal as a main headlamp for general beach fishing and bassing giving stacks of power in both output modes.

It's also cheap enough and light enough to be bought as a powerful back up headlamp if you prefer a more powerful beam when fishing deep water rock ledges and the like at night.

I can't tell any difference in performance or quality between my original Princeton and this headlamp from Fishing Discount Store.

Mike Jr also fished with this lamp and agrees we can't fault it. It's a cracking piece of kit!

PRICE
The retail price for the Fishing Discount Store Headlamp is just £18.95 plus £1.95 postage. For an extra £3 they come with high power rechargeable batteries.

That's a whopping £35 cheaper than I paid for the Princeton just over a year ago with no difference in performance.