That's an awesome headlamp I love it, thanks for sharing.
Any chance you can unscrew the reflector and take a picture of the guts, if there is any chance of breaking it don't bother.
And how low is the "low" setting? Still useable walking around a backyard? More like use for inside a tent? Too dim for anything but reading a book?
-Garry
The low setting will beat a lot of headlamps.
With my track record I better leave well enough alone.
That's cool, I have taken stuff apart to take pictures to post and broken stuff before I wouldn't want that to happen. I just thought you might have had it apart already. I totally understand.
E1320, Don't forget _the_'s quick take on the same light. Now I'm wondering between that second one linked in post #1, or the one Int'l Outdoor sells. Why couldn't one of them be a Hi-Med-Low! Leaning towards the Ebay one. Hope it's output levels are good (not hard driven and not too low).
So ILF, I guess with what you said above, that low is still a decent level of output useable outdoors (that's how I read it). Any guess on Lumens?
-Garry
Yes. The low is still very useable.
Hi ILF,
How is your charger? Have you tried it yet?
Mine is rated at 400mA, but I tested it delivering only about 250mA (in parallel -> 125mA / cell)
Sure it's "safe", but slow as ****.
Other than that, I'm starting to like this headlamp. A lot!
Did you check the terminating voltage on batteries, did it end charging at the right time?
I'm very much looking forward to your impressions of that next one when you receive it. It looks more compact and appears to have a more durable tilt mechanism, but I'm concerned that the small optic will not perform that well.
About the tilt mechanism of the headlamp you're reviewing in this thread, what's your impression of it? I have an XRE headlamp with very similar construction. Mine has what I assume is the same tilt mechanism, which broke after only a few uses. Basically, the part that protrudes from the base to interrupt the gear shaped part from turning freely (the swivel gear-stop) broke off. After it broke, it would only go full up or full down, but couldn't stop anywhere in-between. This XML light being heavier, I was afraid the same thing was likely happen even faster.
Here's the part that broke (pictured with my resistance hack fix) that I'm talking about:
Maybe that won't happen to this XML headlamp though, after all, it's not just OK, it's UltraOK.
Yes, quite. Both cells were 4.22V straight after charging.
And re-plugging the charger worked as it should: Red light (& 110mA) for a second, then turns back to green (& zero mA).
I just ordered that second headlamp (link in post #1). I sent a best offer of $24 and they came back with $26.50. I bought it and the estimated delivery says "On or before May 7th per eBay Fast 'n Free". Really? How can they ship it to me that fast? I'm assuming it's coming from China or Hong Kong. Oh well, if it does I'll be surprised.
Now about running on 4AA's rather than 3AA's. Do you think this is just burning off the extra voltage of the 4th cell? Or is it bucking the extra voltage and really gaining in runtime from the added 4th cell? Or is it perhaps using a 4th cell to be able to run on alkalines? I know we can't know for sure without someone getting it and testing it, but what would be your guess?
-Garry
My guess would be that under the load of an XML, they're expecting the voltage of the 4AA to sag quite a bit and the thin wires and all the contacts to add a fair amount of resistance, and so they've probably used a regulator, not a buck driver. I'm also guessing that they regulate it to 2A or less to keep from burning your forehead. Judging by the size and the plastic construction, I wouldn't expect the LED to be driven at 3A anyway (for which you'd need 4 Eneloops, alkaline AAs wouldn't cut it). Actually, an XML driven to 2A from 4 alkaline AAs would make for a very nice headlamp, IMO. I'm mostly curious about the output from the optic on that one.
Ok, I wouldn't expect it to be driven to 3A, and I don't want it driven that hard. I liked the floody beam profile shown in the photos. The battery contacts do seem a bit low quality.
Even if the 4th battery isn't adding much (ie. a waste and could have been driven on 3AA), at least it's easier to deal with charging 4AA's instead of 3AA's!
-Garry
I tried to add 4th AA battery to my cheapo XR-E(XP-E?) headlamp and at first it was really brighter, got really HOT and after some minutes beam became purplish, so I turned it off and never tried to use 4xAA again with it.
I was using Eneloops and it seemed like it wont take long for the led or driver to burn down.
Sounds good.
I will have to keep this option in mind when asked again for high-output headlamps.
that second one w/ aspheric looks like it slides out of its mount. If that's true, and it will tilt farther forward than they show, I'll have to buy that.
I want to be able to wear it in the harness on my head but also mount it to the brim of a hat.
I've modded a couple single AA flashlights from reflector to aspheric and for my purposes (and when the emitter is the right distance from the lense) that makes a perfect beam for ~20ft and under - ie not so wide as to waste light, and no hotspot that makes your eyes adjust or makes you turn your head so the hotspot isn't on what you're looking at.
nice find!
hopefully it is well made, and it is easy to add a removeable extension cord so I can have the option of pocketing the batteries.
I sure hope it comes that quick, gary. I'm sure you'll let us know. If its good I should have time to get one for a gift (memorial day).
I just bid one at $20.50 from ebay. It looks like the same as your pic!
Well you know you got am impressive headlamp when your 20yr old son says get me one dad. So dad did. I'm loving this headlamp.
What I wish they would do is put a Keygos KE5 head with XM-L emitter and drive it about at 2.5 amps. That would be one impressive headlamp.
The flashlight gods were conspiring again tonight while I was grilling some steak. My backyard flood bulb blew, so I quickly reached for my headlamp reserved for bar-b-que, which promptly fell apart as I tried to change from zoom to flood (not the one I showed above with the repaired tilt, that one stays in the car). Before fixing the BBQ headlamp, I sniped one of these lights that the OP is about. Here's hoping I don't kill the tilt on that one. I guess I'll retire the BBQ headlamp into the wife's car.
*edit*
I forgot to ask... do the batteries go in serial or parallel? The seller never shows that in the pictures and the operating voltage isn't mentioned. I'm hoping serial, so I can use LiFePO4 cells.