i originally posted this at the "other place", but i don't post there anymore and i don't trust their servers, so i've decided to repost an edited version of the review here. some of the info has been updated and it now includes links to merchants because i can do that here without getting banned!!
intro:
i wanted a budget headlamp for backpacking that was under 3 oz, used as few batteries as possible, had a red light, was waterproof, and didn't have visible PWM on the low mode. i looked into the Princeton Tec Byte and the Mammut S-flex, but both seemed to suffer from a number of issues, the main ones being that they are not waterproof and that their high modes aren't that high. i rarely night hike when i backpack so 15 lumens and under are fine for me almost all the time, but once in a while i need the extra punch of 50+ lumens, and it's nice to have that capability on hand without having to carry an extra hand held just for that purpose.
eventually i found the Rayovac Remington RMHL2AAA-B Headlight (aka Varta Sports Headlight) on Amazon for $13. i looked around for info on the lamp, didn't find much, but found a helpful, positive review of it on backpackinglight.com's forums. for $13, i thought why not. (the price on Amazon is $22 right now; it goes up and down). it is 22 grams heavier than the Byte and 36 grams more than an S-flex, but it is light enough (84 grams on my scale, about the same as a Petzl Tikka 2 or a Zebralight H51) uses 2AAA which is a format that i like, and was only $3 more than the cheapest Byte i could find and $17 less than the S-flex.
features:
the lamp has 2 modes with a hidden blinky mode. single click turns it on on high, another click for low, another click for off. double click at any time for blinky. the LED is a XRE Q2 WK on a 13mm MCPCB which is screwed down onto a small aluminum heatsink. the optic is a narrow angle TIR that produces a very tight, very throwy beam. both the red and clear flip down diffusers work really well - reminiscent of the sliding diffusers on the original Petzl Tikka XP - and create a usable flood with only a little bit of glare. the tilter is very robust and can be a little hard to operate with one hand. the good thing is that it stays put where you put it. i also like that the hinge is located about a third of the way up the side of the lamp body. this way, the lamp stays relatively low profile even when angled down. it's very stable and it's comfortable even for long term wear.
performance:
i tested runtimes with Eneloops and the high lasted for about 2 hours and the low lasted for about 12 hours. the lamp shuts off suddenly when the batteries are depleted on both modes. i'd say that the high is probably around 70 lumens and the low is maybe a little more than 10 lumens. both modes seem to be regulated - i didn't notice a dip in output on either mode - and while there is PWM on the low mode, it is virtually undetectable. i couldn't tell when shone on running water and could only barely tell when shone on a fan.
i've only had the light a few months so i can't comment on long term reliability, but so far the light appears well designed and well made. i took mine apart and was impressed with the build. the work inside is very clean. the plastic seems up to par. and both the lens opening and battery compartment are o-ring sealed. the light is dunkable.
the one thing that i really didn't like about the headlamp was the tint of the beam. the stock LED is from the WK tint bin which is the coldest bin on Cree's tint chart, rated at up to 10,000K! the tint is purplish. i didn't like that. so, i desoldered the stock LED from the MCPCB, took an old XRE Q2 WC emitter i had sitting around, and soldered that on in place of the original. It was a mild, but noticeable improvement. If you can get a XRE on a 13mm board and some thermal epoxy, replacing the LED is as easy as replacing the LED on a Princeton Tec Eos. Actually, it's easier because the internals are accessible via two Phillips screws. you can replace the TIR too if you can find one that's the same size. it's 20mm wide, but it's a couple mm longer than most 20mm TIR's that i've seen, so it may be an odd size.
conclusion:
other than the tint issue, i'm really impressed with this headlamp. many 2AAA headlamps i've looked at have efficiency issues on the high mode. the Remington Rayovac is pretty impressive in that regard. getting 2 hours out of 2AAA at 70 lumens is about as good you can get. getting 12 hours of 10-ish lumens from 2AAA isn't bad either. also, unlike some other sub $20 headlamps, there's no obvious weak point in the build quality. the battery compartment opens up similar to the way the old Petzl Tikka XP does - the entire back cover is removable - and there are no small hinges or fragile latches to break. another good thing is that Rayovac, like PT, has a lifetime replacement warranty.
