Hello all,
Today I am reviewing a headlamp from Thorfire. It is sold through Amazon here. The description on the website is as follows:
Product Description
Size Name: Powered by 18650 Battery
Camouflage Headlamp
This product is an indispensible tool for those who work or play at night or poor vision area. Runs via 2 x 18650 batteries (Not included) to provide super bright illumination for outdoor activities like hiking, camping, fishing, running; it can also be used as an emergency light or trouble light with its strobe mode.
Sensor Operation
Equipped with a responsive sensor in front of the light to capture your gesture, and thus to turn ON/OFF the light with a simple hand wave! This function can be activated by pressing the sensor switch near the power button.
Sensing Distance: 100-300mm
Sturdy and Slim Design
Feel free to take it anywhere with you without worry about the space occupancy or its weight, because it only weights 85g. Secure and adjustable headband ensures the most comfortable fit without bobbing.
Backup Power Bank
The 18650 battery pack is also capable of being used as a backup power bank for your Smartphones and tablets with a 5V/1A output via USB charging cable. It can be recharged with the DC adapter.
Package Include 1x Headlamp 1x Micro USB Charging Cable 1 x Battery Pack (18650 Batteries Not Included)
This is the box the light came in.
Everything came decently packaged. Included was the headlamp with headband, battery box, charging cable, user manual, and the oh so usual “Happy” card.
Closeup of the battery box. It takes two 18650’s in parallel and gives decent runtimes on all modes. I was able to get about 4 hours on high before it drained my batteries (Samsung INR laptop pulls, so not too much capacity to begin with.)
Here is a shot of the charging ports on the battery carrier. There is the plug in to charge the batteries and the USB out for charging other stuff. The charger is advertised at 1A, but I was only able to measure about 500mA. Again, maybe because of the type batteries I was using, haven’t tested with higher output batteries yet.
Closeup of the light with the headband. The lamp assembly swivels down about 45 degrees so you can adjust where the light is aimed without having to adjust the headband.
Here are the two switches. There is a power switch and a sensor switch. They are both electronic type switches. The light has a sensor function where you can wave your hand in front of the light to turn it on/off. It works well enough as long as you are not using the light to get a closeup of your work. It can be turned off just as easily by getting the front of the light close to any object. This is fine as long as you stay far enough back form anything, say about 5 feet. The light has three modes and no mode memory, High, Low, and Strobe. You must cycle through them to turn off the light, except when in sensor mode in which case waving your hand in front of the light just turns it on and off in High.
Picture of the XP-G2 R5 emitter
Here you can see the sensor in the corners.
Beam on a beige wall about 5 FT away.
The light is nice with great run times due to the 2x18650 battery arrangement. It is lightweight and comfortable to wear since the battery pack can be clipped to your belt or backpack. The charging functions make a handy backup phone/device charger in the event it’s needed. There is one major con with this light, though. There isn’t a single o-ring to be found anywhere! This is fine if you plan to use the light in dry conditions, but if there is any rain in the forecast, you may want to leave this one at the house! The bezel, lens, reflector and body of the light are plastic while the insides are aluminum.
In conclusion, for this price point I would feel comfortable recommending this light to anyone looking for a decent headlamp. The light isn’t waterproof or even resistant, but for a work light or a camping light I can say it is a good offering. The high mode is a good level to not be too bright when working up close to something and the run time makes it very handy for long hours. The sensor function can be very handy if your hands are dirty or full and you need the extra light.
Thanks,
Tru3s1lv3r
