Review: UniqueFire HD-016 dual beam Bicycle headlight

Just received my HD-016 "SecurityIng" version from Amazon. Battery had enough juice to run through the modes one time before it died. Will test it out later. First impressions is that it looks good!

(That's my SSX2 package on the left.)

The box is just a generic bike light box. It says "XM-L" and "Natural White" which are both lies. It came with cool white XM-L2's.

BTW - I also received my SolarStorm X2 from Amazon. It did come branded as an X2 and not blank (I know that doesn't mean much, but I like to see it branded). First impressions on it - doesn't seem very bright on high. More testing and teardown on that one to come too, though I won't post it in this thread. In fact, I will just post further details on both lights in "My Bike Lights Thread" linked for your convenience in my signature :) . No promises though on when I'll get to tear downs.

-Garry

I have three different versions of the SolarStorm X2 from three sellers of eBay. One has 720 mA tailcap reading on high, one has 860 mA and one has 2190 mA (obviously the brightest). They all have SolarStorm X2 marks but when I opened them, they have different drivers (though the 860 mA and the 2190 mA are somewhat similar). :slight_smile:

I added 2x R100 resistors to the sense resistors of the 720 mA and changed its lead wires to AWG 22 and it now does 1567 mA. Added an R100 resistor to the sense resistors of the 860 mA and it now does 2883 mA. :wink:

BTW, after reading your thread on diffusing bike lights, all my three X2s now have DCFix on their left lenses. :beer:

Don't want to go too far off topic of the HD-016, but I did measure battery pack current to the X2 (@8.24v) - 0.855A on high :( . I haven't opened it up yet though.

-Garry

I just received my SecurtyIng version from Amazon.



I haven't torn it apart yet, but I've taken current readings and got some beamshots.

Current pulled from 2-cell battery pack at 8.24v:
Off: 0.020A
Flood: 0.663A
Throw: 0.665A
Flood & Throw: 1.410A (Steady, not dropping)

(BTW - I am confident current readings I make are accurate.)

Flood is VERY wide! However the "flood" mode doesn't throw out far at all. I can't imagine "flood" alone being enough to ride with (except commuting where it is used more for "be seen" use. I think I would prefer the reflector be just a tad deeper in order to get a little more throw out of it.

Here are some beamshots. Pics taken with my same manual camera settings at roughly the same location so that my beamshots can be compared one to another. In the first set of pics, the distance to the trees I aimed between is approx. 185 feet (garage is beyond the trees at an undetermined distance - I really need to determine that). Approx. 275 feet to the house off to the left of the trees. (Note: you can barely see the trees or garage in the "throw" pic.)

Flood:


Throw:


Flood & Throw:


Now to my wooded trail spot:

Flood:


Throw:


Flood & Throw:


That wooded shot above really sells this light!

Full size pics can be found in my PhotoBucket Gallery.

Next is a full teardown and mod to XM-L2 T5 5B1's and a resistor modded SSX2 driver to run Flood & Throw LEDs at all times in a High-Med-Low (or Low-Med-High) arrangement.

-Garry

Wow. Thanks for the teardown and time to take those really awesome pics garry. Just want to make me grab my bike and go out here! I think a neutral tint would have been just gorgeous :slight_smile:

Just for the heck of it, let's compare the HD-016 to my SolarStorm X3. Now remember, my beamshot setups are not in exact locations, but do use the same camera settings. Both lights on "full output". SSX3 only received an emitter swap. X3 Current pulled from battery pack = 2.48A vs. the HD-016 pulling 1.41A.

Mouse Out = HD-016, MouseOver= SSX3:

Seems the X3 is wasting 1A more juice for similar level of output. Perhaps it's the setting (scene).

So here is the same mouseover across my backyard:

Ok, the X3 does have more output. I think I can get the HD-016 bumped up though to give me similar output for less current draw (i.e. be more efficient).

-Garry

wow the tints are so different, HD looks washed out. But pics are somewhat confusing for me.
The HD seems obviously better in the wooded shots but the X3 reverses the
order in the backyard shots, to me eyes.

I think that's because the X3's beam pattern is cut short with the wooded sides. Look closely in the distance of the X3 shots to the side of the center spot. I can see some more trees lit up than in the HD-016, not much but I see it. It didn't help that there were more leaves on the trees in the X3 shot and the tint difference throws you off.

-Garry

how many lumens is this really ? and whats its run times ?

Rough ballpark - 900 to 1000 Lumens? I'm basing that on what an XM-L2 puts out per Match's test at 1.4A and rounding down for losses in reflector & lens. Rough guess on run time: 2150mAh (per ledoman's test) / 1400mA current draw = 1.5hr. A "good" battery pack would get you closer to 3.7hrs! OR a good 2 cell battery pack would get you close to 2hrs.

-Garry

I just noticed a clone of this HD-016 as light head only at Lightmalls.

-Garry

Nice find! This clone has better design imo. No silly icons and brand logo.

Well, it would be even better to have fins all over the top and the gaps little deeper. You would gain some more area to dissipate the heat.

I’ve been going through the many threads and so far it seems it’s mostly lottery lottery lottery — there might be something reliably consistently made but I’m not sure what.

Anyone got a summary with a reliable answer?

This is for a family member who’s bicycle commuting in these dark days.
I’m not looking for cheap, or for has-to-be-modified, or lottery.

I’m looking for best I can get reliably.

I’m a bike commuter with a small collection of lights I’ve accumulated over the years.
http://www.action-led-lights.com/collections/bike
sells several brands of lights that would work for them. I’ve bought from a company called Bike Empowerment in California before too that I’d like to recommend as well, but can’t find with a quick search.

Well, we are working on budget lights, right? Anyway, those are quite realiable if you are looking only the light head. Most problems lies in battery packs and chargers.

If you don't want to go cheap and want no hassle then go for some brand ones starting from Magicshine at the low side and Lupine on the high end. Gloworm and Fenix are also brands to look for. If you are in States I would start looking here.

> those are quite realiable if you are looking only the light head.
I wondered because I see so many comments about bad heatsinking

Thanks for the pointers. It’s funny how the expensive ones in the US so often look just like the many clones described here.
That’s why I asked — I know it’s easy to buy the same thing from a US seller at 5x the price, and not get anything better, without knowing what’s inside the lights (and battery boxes)

To me ‘budget’ means value for the money — not “cheap” as in corners cut where you can’t see them.

It most often seems like there will be one good product, for a while — then that’s gone and poor imitations show up everywhere.

Buying the good one while it’s briefly on the market from China seems to be the way to go. Gotta be quick and smart to do that.

Thanks for you reviews and input ledoman and garrybunk! This light looks really interesting. Do you guys prefer the HD-016 or the Yinding YD or X3 (Gearbest ones GJHS recommended) for a bar light?

I like that the leds on the HD-016 are mounted on regular 16mm stars. It would be easy and super inexpensive to reflow the emitters on Noctigons.

Are these the sense resistors to modify here (circled in red below)? Where can I get resistors from? Have you guys done the mod yet?

Yes those are sense resistors. Depends on where you live you can get resistors in local electronic shop or some web based like Farnell. If you have a lot of time you can find them at fasttech.com. The size should be 1206. I didn't mod them. At the moment I have no need to do it since I'm working more on Yinding and KD2 ones.

Depends on what style is your biking. There is no single answer which one is the best. It also depends on riding time, battery pack and terain you have. I don't have X3 so can't say for shure, but for the MTB it seems to be the best for the bar. HD-016 would be more for commuting and Yinding for the helmet. Experimenting with lenses Yinding could be for any task.

Thanks again ledoman. I’ll give the X3 a try first and perhaps will try on of these later.