A friend of mine does dog sledding at winter time.
She has borrowed my Skilhunt H02 for quite a while and likes it.
I’m now looking for a new headlight for her.
-It will be used winter time, +5 to –15 degrees celcius.
-Needs to be powerful, somewhere around the 900+ lumens mark.
-Ideally it should have no stepdown timer.
-Spill is the most important trait. She would prefer a little bit wider spill than the TIR version of Skilhunt h02 gives.
(The throw is good though)
-Runtime is also a factor. Which of course stands in contrast to the need of high lumens.
Preferably it should not have a separate, wired battery compartment, but that just might be necessary.
Any suggestions would be welcome.
Not sure about price range, but probably less than $150
Olight H35 Wave should be in budget, 1500 lumens/2.5 hours, 550 lumens/8 hours, 150 lumen/24 hours run times.
No step down.
Loads of flood/spill but a good bit of throw due to the high lumen output.
3 neutral white xml-2 leds so not to harsh a tint.
The 5200mah battery pack is also a power bank so can be used to charge mobile phones etc.
The fact that it has a separate battery pack also means the pack can be placed inside clothing & thereby possibly keep it warmer than if it was on your head exposed to the cold ?
I have had one for a while now & the fact it has no step down can be a big plus sometimes
There is also the Olight H25 wave which has the same battery pack, a little cheaper, again no step down, with 1 x neutral white xml-2 led & 800 lumens/5 hours, 250 lumens/12 hours, 35 lumen/60 hours run times.
I think that either of these lamps, providing you can accept the separate battery pack, would work well.
They are both good quality & well built :+1:
I don’t know anything about dog sledding. But if your looking for a self contained head light with no extra battery pack, you might at least take a look at one of these Nitecores.
I have all three, but the last one I purchased; the HC60 : has become my favorite. I like them all mind you, but there is just something about the HC60 that puts it first; for me anyway.
The others are the HC50 & HC30.
Edit to add:
If interested, contact M4D M4X for money saving ‘Codes’. You’ll be glad you did… :+1:
Where are you getting that info from Lexel ?
I have an H35 wave & have never noticed it step down ?
This is the run times from the Olight site
mode 1 mode 2 mode 3
1500 lumens 550 lumens 150 lumens
2.5 hrs 8 hrs 24 hrs
No mention of step down & says 1500 lumens for 2.5 hours ?
Die Lampe soll nach ~7,5Minuten auf ~800Lumen runterregeln. Als ich das gemessen habe, hat sie das einmal nach ~9,5Minuten gemacht und bei der zweiten Messung nach ~6,5Minuten, was auf eine Temperaturregelung schließen lässt. Die Lampe wurde bei der zweiten Messung auch schneller wärmer, da sie noch nicht ganz abgekühlt war. Der Test fand bei ~25°C Raumtemperatur ohne Kühlung statt. Die Lampe ist sehr gut geregelt, bei der Messung blieb die Leistung so gut wie konstant.
I still haven”t seen mine step down, having said that it has not been used in anywhere near 25C temperatures, maybe 10C max.
In fact I am going to turn it on on max in my kitchen now & watch to see if it does step down :+1:
Well 25 minutes so far & unless the step down from 1500 lumen to 800 lumen is imperceptable to the human eye mine is still on high.
Head unit is quite warm to the touch but not hot.
Battery pack was fully charged.
I will leave it running & see what happens
Both the Nitecore and the Olight seems to be viable options. You give some, you loose some in both cases. Compromises.
As long as there’s no timed stepdown i guess it’ll be fine. It will mostly be used in cold, windy conditions anyway, so the chances of it regulating because of heat are not so high.
I’ll talk to my friend again.
I see that that review is from over 18 months ago, I wonder if they have altered them at all as mine is about 3 months old & I know it was from a fresh batch into the UK ?
45 minutes in & the metal housing of the lamp part is hot but not to hot to touch, still no step down.
I also have a Nitecore HC60 & it is a very nice lamp & very very comfortable to wear (I have only just got it a few days ago & used it just the once so no long term experience but it does seem very well built).
The HC60 beam is narrower than the Olight although it does have quite a bit of spill.
The claimed throw of the HC60 is 117m compared to the Olights claimed 200m.
The Olight is much more powerful but not as comfortable IMO (the HC60 is the most comfortable head lamp I have ever worn).
In the specs for the Nitecore it says “Features advanced temperature regulation (ATR) ?
It depends what you want from the light but if it is lots of power & long run times (even if the Olight does step down to 800 lumens which I have still not seen) & you can live with the remote power pack I would say the Olight is the better lamp.
My Olight has now been running on 1500 lumens for over an hour & it still hasn”t stepped down.
The housing is hot but not to hot to touch.
I would guess my kitchen is about 18-20C.
I am going to turn it off now
Below is basically a copy of a PM I sent to a friend last night about the HC60……
~`
As far as the HC60 goes I checked it out after I saw what was being discussed on the thread.
Mine does step down after about 25 minutes on Turbo in a 75 F room with no air flow or air movement. It is really not perceivable to the eye (or at least my eye) as it does not step down a complete mode.
It just drops a few lumens and I have to be watching the beam on the ceiling to see the micro-second blink when it does it.
First time it reduces power is two “blinks”, about 1 second apart.
Second reduction is about 5 minutes later with 1 “blink” reduction.
No more reductions after that.
I seriously doubt that in a cold environment, wearing it outdoors and moving; that there would be little if any reduction.
I’ll have to volunteer to go to Norway as a test dummy and learn to dog sled to verify that.
I found the chart below done by Budda in This Review of the HC60. It is a pretty good review with some good internal pictures of the HC60.
Mine did not seem to follow the graph below however. It was much longer before it stepped down the first time.
.
Testing the thermal regulation system / Nitecore HC60
.
PS: If you look in the thread you will notice Budda tests more lumens that is claimed by Nitecore. This does not surprise me as Nitecore is usually pretty conservative in their published ratings it seems.
As it’s supposed to be a headlight (for wearing on top of the head) I think maybe the SRK will be a little overkill when it comes to size and weight. (Trying to picture it! )
But being able to keep the battery pack warm is absolutely a good point. Actually haven’t thought about that. Thanks.
Another issue is the flood. As stated in the OP, my friend would like a light that is even a bit more floody than the Skilhunt H02. (I don’t actually know the angle on the Skilhunt).
The LED is going to keep it warm as long as the flashlight is in active use. When it is not actively used, i suspect the battery may get cold enough to freeze (in harsh, low temperatures). As far as I know, lithiums don’t really like that(?)
