[Review] NITECORE HC90 (XM-L2 T6 / 5mm RGB LEDs, 1x 18650 / 2x (R)CR123a)

thanks for the review!

btw: at Hkequipment.net with Code “ncusbhl” for 82 $ shipped
was on stock yesterday :wink:

Sorry, not possible for now :frowning:
Already having the HC50, think that the beam profile is 100% identical, with an extra output, and 25 more meters of throw based on power and not reflector form.

Thanks for your comment!

Thank you for the review. So, no PWM like the HC50? What are your thoughts on the robustness of the slider? Looks like it would pick up lots of dirt and debris. I also wonder if it can be re-greased since friction grease has a limited life span. That HC90 looks like some hot action, but that slider just looks a little dicey, especially with the lube exposed on the top. I think I’ll give this model a while and see what people report about the slider after lots of use.

Unlike SWM control rings, this slider doesn’t use friction grease for retaining the position. It has some sort of spring loaded pin inside, so it stops in detents and stay in place betwen the variable output track. The grease is just for smooth operation, and won’t be hard to re-lube with the usual superlube-silicone grease-teflon based grease if necesary.
If I find time, I’ll try to dissasembly the slider and share some pics of its internal contruction.

Thanks for your comment!

very nice review on a very nice headlamp. This is almost everything I would want from a headlamp :-)

Good Day Señor UPz, :slight_smile:
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:arrow: Great review :exmark:

Btw, I have the Nitecore HC90, & I am VERY Happy with its features & functionality.

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Muchisimas Gracias,
Roberta 0:)
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Thanks for the great review!

This headlamp looks very very nice! A bit on an expensive side, but still.. very intriguing.

[Goes to PM section and starts chatting with Neal..]

Edit: Got a good deal, see here.

Great review. I know this is wrong, and should be commenting about the HC90, but would you mind telling me what headlamp that is next to the 18650 here. It's very sexy!

Looks like a Spark SG3 to me.

I really like Nitecore. Like, really. My P25 is by far my favourite single 18650 light (well, on par with my ZL SC600 L2 even though the P25 is only XM-L)

I also have a HC50 which I am more than happy with.

But to me the HC90 looks really cheapo.

Good review. Thanks for sharing.

A color XM-L emitter would have terrible white output. I doubt it could hit 500 lumens even if it was overdriven on a direct bond copper star, and there's very little chance that a big manufacturer will over drive an emitter in a headlamp, so it would still need to have a regular white emitter for decent white light output levels.

I like the slider idea, although a bearing and spring for tension scares me a bit since that can get gunked up and nasty with use. If that's easily removeable for cleaning and replacement, then that's not a big deal. I look forward to seeing what you can find out.

While this light seems like it would be a very nice headlamp, I'm not sure I can buy it. It's too much of a gamble. I tend to hike with my headlamp in my hand, which is easy with a right angle lights like Zebralight and Armytek make. I'd hate to fork over the money for the HC90 to find that I won't use it because it's not easy to use in my hand, which it probably is since that headband looks like a hassle to remove. It's also very heavy compared to its competition, and I'm weight averse. I might give it a shot if Illumination Supply ever has a killer deal on it though. Hopefully the competition figures out how to add a nice UI with stepless dimming without all that weight. Dual or triple buttons would do it. Have a top button like Armytek, but add another button on the bottom. Those will be up/down dimming buttons. If there's a third button on the side it'd be for on/off and changing mode groups.

My point is: Replace the 3 color LEDs with a single XM-L color LED with small aspherical lens or diffuser lens for full flood, but keep the XM-L2 white light dedicated emitter.
Color output will be better (depending on the color, but way more lumens on any) and you will have the extra white flood from the XM-L color.

Never meant to use only the XM-L color :stuck_out_tongue:

That's a really good idea UPz. Have both XM-L2 and an XM-L Color right beside it. I built a flashlight a while back with the Xm-L color, and is was pretty nice. I really liked the red,blue, and green colors that it put out. As for the white, well, I believe I had the int-outdoor driver and was pretty weak, maybe 750mah for each light color. Wasn't impressed at all with the white. But your idea is very good, maybe you should tell Nitecore!

Also, it would be really cool if they could do it in a zebralight round tube format, with anti-roll bezel, and not the square shape the HC-90 is, but still having the XM-L2 in the middle, and the XM-L color right next too it! Now that, I would buy!

Don’t worry, Nitecore is reading this so it is up the them.

I am also waiting for the Intl. Outdoor driver to build my own RGBW light. 8)

Great review as usual, UPz ;)!

Got mine yesterday.

The tint is nice for a CW, so I'm not sure whether to swap in a L2 4D or not. Maybe soon..

As I like very floody headlamps, the hotspot was initially too narrow and bright to my liking.. But that's not a problem, as a small piece of diffuser film (similar to DC fix) on the lens made it much better. Anyways, this light is floodier as stock than my Crelant CH10 and diffuser film works better on this one => HC90 wins, hands down.

The slider UI works very well and the low mode is definitely low enough.

All in all, a great headlamp. Already loving it. :)

bull$hit!

as usual, nitecore FAKES their runtime graphs. same thing happened w/ their HC50. fabricated graphs that aren’t even close to resembling their actual performance.

they have to stop doing this or they’ll lose their credibility :frowning:

I love the HC90. It is too floody for my taste, but I knew it would be that way because of the shallow reflector. The slider is poorly made and controlling precise brightness levels is not great, but it works. The build quality besides the slider is excellent as one would expect from nitecore. Highly recommended.

Could you recommend lights that have a similar control slider, but are cheaper?

Maybe someone knows some but I can’t recall any budget slider-controlled lights.