As I live in the middle of nowhere and no one gets my hobby, I just wanted to share this headlamp as it slipped by me as I’m not a ledlenser fan.
I have bought at least over 150 flashlights over the last 25 years, not to mention as well, enough headlamps from Olight/Fireflies/Wuben/Armytek/4Sevens/Suplite/Acebeam/Zebralight - there maybe more but the hunt for the ultimate headlamp/flashlight goes on.
I have always liked the idea of self dimming lights to stop too much glare/bounce back.
I have had my eye on one of those Surefire Intellibeam flashlights, but surefire just doesn’t do it for me, and I can’t see any reviews that really show it’s ability. Most say it’s Okay-ish.
All of the lights available these days with a dimming a function are only for up close viewing or as a safety feature to stop melting/burning on contact.
I recently bought a Ledlenser HF8R Signature. Yes I know they are expensive and it’s a ledlenser (which brand I stay away from) except for the tint snobs, the tint is not bad.
The HF8R really works well, it has proper light sensors that dim down when looking at stuff close.
Quick list of the things it can do:
Bluetooth connectability with an App to control it fully.
Using 5 different leds, each tuned for close/med/far for full auto output mode that switches between leds that go from wide/medium/spot hand free, using light meter.
Has red/green/blue leds.
Can do full manual outputs, just how you want it, can program it from the light or app.
Has a dial to focus the light to how you want it manually, and it will remember your last setting.
App has ability to store your preferred settings.
IPX8.
Aluminium for heat dissipation.
Lipo built in battery for ingress.
Can do 2000 lumens, runs for 10 hours at 1000L, assuming thats with auto dimming?
Has a magnetic charger - that can charge while light is on ( so could extend use with a battery bank)
Battery indicator.
I got excited about it and wanted to share.
I only discovered it when looking at the Ledlenser website as I bought a beast of a light from a company called X-Led in 2015 that made some big lights for NatGo exploring some caves.
They contacted me about a new light they are making, of which I am getting that uses 6x OSRAM and 1 x 100W COB for flood and it will throw 2kms with 22500L. They also helped Ledlenser with the design of a new light called XP30R
Thanks for letting me rant…:0)
In the past when I’ve looked at the LedLenser stuff it appears they game the ANSI output rating.
1000lm at 120lm/watt is 8.4W, multiplied by 10hour is 83.3Wh… regular 3000mAh 18650 is 11.1W/h, so this light would need 7.5x 18650 cells to do 1000lm for 10 hours…
I’ve not googled the lamp, but I suspect it doesn’t have the required battery capacity…?
I was also surprised by that 1000 lumen for 10 hours claim!
I tried to find the capacity of the headlamp on LedLenser their site, but I couldn’t find it. I did find the stated weight, which has to be with a battery, since that is build in, and it weighs 194 grams.
Let’s do some math based on your calculated 83,3 Wh and a blogpost by Ecoflow (How To Convert Watt Hours (Wh) to Milliampere Hours (mAh)) which states how to calculate Wh to mAh:
mAh = Wh ÷ V x 1000
So:
mAh = 83,3 ÷ 3.7 x 1000 = 22.513 mAh
A 3000mAh 18650 (30Q) weighs (roughly) 46 grams, but that is with a steel housing and the HF8R (going by it’s look) probably uses a pouch style battery.
I have a 10.000 mAh powerbank here (pouch style battery, plastic housing) which I also did weigh and that came up 218 grams.
Going by the calculated 22.513 mAh battery and the weight of the 10K mAh powerbank, that roughly translate into 490 grams of battery. Adjusting for the plastic housing (although the HF8R also has a plastic housing/other parts), the battery still would probably be around 400 grams.
So, either the calculations are off or LedLenser overstates the runtimes, given that it only weighs 194 grams and could therefore never have a battery big enough to sustain 1000 lumens for 10 hours…
agree… that is from starting output until it declines to 10%… looks like this for example:
so, the LED lenser claim could be technically true if it uses a 6000mAh battery
seems like a nifty featured headlamp… are the LEDs High CRI, and are they powered with NoPWM… like a Skilhunt headlamp?
Yes it has a square battery pack. So far I am happy with leaving it on full auto as it functions well for me, when looking down around my feet it’s putting out about 300 L (depending on the color of what it reflects off - concrete = less - dirt/grass/leaves = more output). Maybe with thermal managing it can do the long runtimes, I’ll do some more testing. I know it has an emergency mode for ultra low output with long runtimes.
Almost all manufactures state something like this, 5000L for 5 hours, but not mentioning any thermal throttling/regulating down. Some say 5000L + 1500L for 1.5H.
Acebeam’s latest light the L16.2 says 2100-1000L - Time 60s+2H, so yes they can blur the line.
Zebralight is known for some of the best regulation lights, take their H600d headlamp with a 18650 and of course less mass, * High: H1 1616 Lm (PID, 2.5 hrs) or H2 1010 Lm (PID, 2.9 hrs)/579 Lm (PID, 3.1 hrs)/305 Lm (5.3 hrs) I guess they try to quote the highest possible output.
Ledlenser might be quoting 10H with all the auto heat throttling and auto dimming? Nothing really is ever perfect for a light nerd :0) like me!
Not Hi CRI unfortunately - but I know someone that could change that 
As I said below us weirdos are never happy…… the general public would say they are, WHAT! Hi CRI???..…. I just turn it on and see things.
It is a nifty light.
I will have to check PWM as the output keeps changing output in tiny increments when up close from bounce back.
Just here to chime in that IHMO $380 is anything but budget lol. You pay so much to get a bit better UI. For runtimes, all others have dissected the BS claim so I digress.
For me, I want simple things. A headlamp get my nod if it has:
- Good emitter
- Good beam pattern (DIY is also okay)
- Efficient, stable output
So when I turn it on, I know exactly how much light and how much runtime I am getting out of this thing. If it modulates on its own trying to be smart, it gives me no confidence of either output or runtime and most of the times it gets it wrong.
Yes budget Ha Ha! But I guess you could say who’s budget?
After the buyers remorse has left (adding up all the headlamp$ I’ve bought and not really happy with most) I’m loving that I can just whack it on and forget and not get blinded or run out of juice for the day. So far it comes very close to my perfect headlamp.
Your requirements:
- Good emitter - I think they are good emitters (it has 7 emitters) - everyone will argue all day long over what is the “right/best” tint
- Good beam pattern (DIY is also okay) I think the pattern is good, not many headlamps offer 3 different or blendable beam shapes that can do flood/med/throw - most dual purpose can only have one or the other. each emitter has its own preset optic for either throw/medium/flood or blend between them. Forgot to say it has vibration to let you know when you change stuff - not sure if it vibrates when it needs charging tho.
- Efficient, stable output - this is efficient IMO
Amateurs! No integrated neural link?
Ha Ha, now thats funny bud!!