Boruit Headlamp Review D10 (aka. EHL0628) - King of the Budget Headlamps?

which light you have on the left in the second picture?

20 mm. But 16 will be OK. You just need to extend one of the wires.

You must be talking to me (2nd pic in the O.P.). It’s the BLF Edition SA-22 Starry Light 4xAA, XM-L2 3C.

-Garry

Yeah, the UI can be a little difficult for one person to describe and another to understand. It basically has 3 mode groups: the “Medium & High” that a single click enters, the “Stepped Ramping” which is entered from EITHER the first mode group’s Medium or High, and then the blinky modes entered by a quick Double-click at anytime. From the “Stepped Ramping” mode group, one click brings you back to the first mode group (whichever level you were in prior to entering mode group 2), and then another click to go OFF.

-Garry

One think that may be important to make some decisions about this light (for those who may be interested):
Weight and dimensions:

Just filed a pebbled TIR - the upper lateral edges - and it fits perfectly!
It completely eliminates the hotspot tint shift that the headlamp had originally!
Thanks for the tips on this! :wink:

Sounds like a decent enough light, but I agree, what an absolutely hideous UI.

I’d look into completely stripping the guts from it, using a micro powerbank charging board to keep internal charging, then replace the driver with something decent. If the switch is momentary, maybe pilfer the driver from an e-switch light.

And as long as it wouldn’t mung anything else, bore out the emitter area to fit a real 20mm TIR, vs having to shave down every one I’d want to try/use.

I don’t understand why the UI is so hideous! I mean, do you always need instant access to every possible output? This isn’t a light I would want coming on with a very low level. The average “muggle” can give it one click, have a nice usable output, then click again to turn off.

-Garry

It has a very simple and logical interface. Its charger is assembled at 4057, why and for what to change it?

Yes, he has a fet-driver. Simple and reliable. He does his job well. But if you can make for it an inexpensive driver with stabilization, minimum leakage currents and with a programmable interface, then we will be very happy. Yes, a cool driver for a flashlight for ten bucks :wink:

And yes, switch is momentary.

Who said anything about “instant access to every possible mode”?

I don’t understand why a headlamp would need strobe, beacon(!), other blinkies. Long-clicks, double-clicks, short-clicks, click-from-on, click-from-off, click-from-strobe… good God, talk about convoluted! It’s like 30 people designed the UI, each with his own unique idea of what it “should be like”.

Have either steps or ramping, and just have the damned thing remember its last-used mode. Simple on/off with a click, and whatever machinations to increase/decrease brightness. That’s a UI for a headlamp.

Anyone who puts blinkies into a headlamp should be dragged into an alley and beaten with sticks.

Lightbringer, like you, I don’t like blinkies! And I will not defend this “cheap, bugdet, it’s-good-but-it’s-not-the-ultimate-headlight-in-the-world”!

BUT, the blinkies are all hidden through a “real”, “intentional” double click to activate those modes!

Also, you will always know in which mode the light will turn ON, and that’s on Medium, because that is the only mode that has been memorized in this light!

More than that: if you just want to use the light with 1 mode, you can: single click for ON (turns ON on Medium) > wait more than 2 seconds > single click for OFF. Simple! :wink:

If you want a higher output: single click for ON (turns ON on Medium) > single click for High > Single click for OFF. Simple! :wink:

This is as simple as it can be regarding to that!

For ramping, just press and hold from any regular mode!!
Yes, I would like to ramp up, but this ramps down till the lowest and then goes back to the highest mode. And then goes down again. 5>4>3>2>1>5>4>3>2>1……

And no blinkies in the middle. Just if you want! And if you want, you can select them: double click for Strobe > double click for SOS > double click for Beacon > single click for OFF or double click for Strobe > and when on Strobe, single click for the last used mode! If when on Strobe will make a long press, when you release it, the light will turn OFF :wink:

So, I guess this is not perfect! But it is not a headache to make this work! And you and I know we’ve seen and taste worst UIs than this one :smiling_imp:

Thanks GB, great review. Anyone take a look at the driver for possible current increase mods or have another driver in mind that might be swapped in for different UI and/or a little more output?

UI might not be as abysmal as I thought at first impression, but it’s still a faux-simple. RampingUI is just as “simple” when you think of it, but it actually quite elaborate enough to make people stop and wonder how they’ll get to the mode they want

Well I’ll agree on the fact that the blinkies don’t belong in a headlamp at all; I guess I’m not bothered because they are so well hidden (heck, I didn’t even realize there was SOS and Beacon). No sense continuing to argue on whether or not this UI is perfect or not as many will have their own ideas of what the perfect headlamp UI is.

I’m too afraid to ruin a good light to pull the driver out. I would bet the output could be modded with changing/adding current sense resistors, but honestly I wouldn’t want any more current than it already draws (1.87A on high).

-Garry

For anyone wondering why a headlamp would have any blinking modes, you have to remember all the different uses for a headlamp. Some people, like myself, only use them for close-up work such as out to 5 or maybe 10ft. Other people may use them for walking through the woods or jogging on the street. For a jogger, the strobe or beacon may be considered a safety feature to keep them from being hit by a car.

We now have headlamps with xhp70.2 and 3,000 lumen. What is that for? Who needs it? Lol

And that’s why I do my absolute best to avoid them…

Are people hatin on the boruit? Don’t do that. This is like the best bargain headlight on the market. If somebody wants to hate, they can go hate on all the the truly crappy headlights out there. :stuck_out_tongue:

I’m not hating by any means (well, I hate the UI, but not the product as as whole), it’s even on my aliexpress cart right now, just waiting for me to choose what batteries I’ll try to get from Elfeland since they showed up with free shipping to Brazil (odd, probably won’t ship and I’ll have to ask for a refund, but why not try it?), so I’ll be ordering either this light or the RJ-02 by tomorrow

Well, after making peace with xp-l emitters following a nichia spree, guess I’m a UI snob now

You kidding? I recently changed my name to RJ02. I just despise the sound of this particular UI.