Not hate, just observation and reality. It’s a finicky design.
Right from the beginning you had the little doodad that would go flying if you accidentally unscrewed the tailcap. Plus reliability issues with the inner tube not making a good connection, a host of other problems that are well-documented right here in various threads.
“Wellp, you can take it apart, clean’n’scrub the ends of the tube and all contacts, relube everything, snug up all the rings, put it back together, make sure the cell isn’t too short or too long, try it again, and it should work just fine!”
And I’m all like… “are you kidding me??”.
I saw the nice sales on the FWs every now and again, and still to this day… nah, pass.
Just to add, I want a light that could be slapped together by someone in the factory who’s drunk, and it’ll still work right out of the box. Cleaning, relubing, etc., would be a bonus, not a necessity.
I liked my FW3A before it committed suicide, entirely on it’s own. Lots of people have had great luck with them, but read through any FW3A thread and you will see lots of people with sometimes major issues. Many of those issues appeared after the lights had worked just fine for some time before. They can be fun lights when they work, but they’re probably not suitable for any situation where you have to depend on them.
The Olight is a narrow beam. However the Astrolux FT01/Mateminco TK01 has a wide almost flood profile. It’s an XHP50.2 in a 37mm head. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czFI0GYmvbA Banggood list it as a flood. Armytek started off with rock solid lights and epoxied electronics, had some quality control issues. They seemed to be back to building durable lights again. Zebralight also building good lights. SC600Fc Mk IV Plus 18650 XHP50 Floody 4000K High CRI Flashlight has a frosted lens just for extra flood.
Nope, “hating” on something (or someone) implies it’s unjustified.
If it’s justified, though (eg, documented reliability problems), then it’s not “hating”, it’s a simple warning.
You really wanna send someone into a dark cave with a light that might crap out because the tube unseats itself, or ramps up uncontrollably and can’t be shut off?
Troglodytes are hard on gear. True caving lights are way expensive. The few cavers I know like Zebra lights on the inexpensive end. They have not had any QC issues, but some have died. They don’t care for all the extra modes. They set it once and never change them.
But none of them are flashaholics and don’t really know the many alternatives.
They also carry a minimum of 4 light sources on long excursions.
The camping name brands are not well though of because they can’t take the abuse.
They are going to get wet, smooshed in mud, and banged around quite a bit.
If the light and mount can’t take that, it’s not in the running.
All the Best,
Jeff
I see you’re in New Zealand… is it because of the shipping cost?
Frankly, Zebralight built their name on headlamps. They do not make the brightest lights, nor the most trendy features, but they are solid and very efficient. When caving EFFICIENCY is important, although you should also invest in watertight casings for extra batteries.
I have a Thrunite TH20. It's not particularly bright but I would say it's a wonderful alternative to Zebralight. Very solid, well made, and it takes a simple AA cell. Plus, the firm silicone bracket is very comfortable for head-strap mounted use. Use this for your close-range viewing and then a handheld for spot.
On the cheaper front, consider a Sofirn D25L. It's an 18650 headlamp with dual LH351D emitters. Nice tint. It's VERY cheap. I got mine with coupon code for $17 shipped to USA (not sure how cost would work out for NZ). You could get one as a backup light, if you favor others. For this price, it would be well worth it. Note that the price includes a 3000 mAh 18650 cell! And this has built-in USB-C recharging.
I love my FW3A’s. BUT I would NEVER trust them as a primary light in a cave, mine, or any critical enviroment.
While I have never had any problems with mine, I have never dropped or used them knowingly in a critical enviroment either. And would NEVER choose to do so.
As Lightbringer has mentioned… the design is truly finicky. He is correct.
It IS NOT a design to possibly bet your life on… as far as I am concerned anyway.
I don’t know if you have a specific site in mind that is all close-up or something, but for declines/drives/ore passes/tunnels etc, I found a thrower was invaluable - bright flloody light bounces off the walls/roof near your eyes, so you struggle to see detail at a distance.
Re. The convoy S2+, they’re not a single light, you can have any emitter or variable number of chips, these will have an effect on lux, lumens, runtime etc…
Main issue with Zebralights in cave is fragile front lens. many cavers break it. Zebralight do replace it but this service takes a lot of time
Unfortunately the D25 is not waterproof what makes it irrelevant for caving.
Although seems strange at first, the backup light for caving need to be a lot more reliable than the main light. The backup can be less bright but must be super reliable so it will survive whatever destroyed the main light
meeshu, I finally noticed you are a Kiwi!
Passed through NZ back in the mid 70s on my way home from Antarctica. Traveled a bit on both islands.
Just a stunningly beautiful land.
The Warrior X Pro has a beam angle of about 12°, so it is a narrow beam. The Astrolux FT01 has a beam angle of around 20°. This beam is more a standard or maybe a medium beam width. I would consider flood beam angle to be around 30° and greater.
Still researching Armytek lights at this time.
I don't really like Zebralight lights as they are of an slightly unusual design with a tricky UI, and the lights do not have mode memory.
I looked into the SC600Fc Mk IV Plus anyway just to see what it's performance is like. Unfortunately there seems to be a lack of technical information for this light with only lumens given. There is no information on throw, runtime, and candelas. So this light definitely is eliminated due to lack of information.
If you’re not familiar with armytek and you look at their site there are a few very similar looking lights. Look specifically at the Wizard C2 Pro warm headlight. 70° spot, 120° spill with no defined transition. You can choose to operate it in the basic mode or the advanced mode. Or if you want a 21700 battery look at the wizard C2 Pro MAX warm which is pretty new.
I don't really like Zebralight lights due to their style, awkward UI and lack of mode memory.
Looked into the Thrunite TH20 headlight. It appears to have a good wide beam at around 44°! Good! But it has a ramping output between firefly and turbo modes, to give the light effectively three output levels (firefly, "infinity", turbo). I prefer lights with preset levels rather than fooling around with ramping modes to set brightness levels.
So the TH20 is not really a good contender at this time.
Regarding the Sofirn D25L, due to lack of technical information, this headlight's performance can't be determined. So this light has been eliminated for consideration, for now.
