I placed an order 20 days ago, through Amazon, for an Xtar H3 Warboy, sold by SkyBenTrade. I’m still waiting for delivery, but that is another story.
Last night I saw an add for a headlamp by Nitecore, the Nitecore HC30, on the BangGood site. I had not seen this lamp before, and the specifications are very similar to the Xtar H3. Both headlamps claim 1,000 lumens, and they have almost identical lumen outputs at five brightness modes. Both specify IPX8. Both take 1x18650 (the Nitecore can also take 2xCR123).
These are the main differences I could spot. The Nitecore HC30 quotes a slightly longer beam range at 162m v 157m for the Xtar H3. The Xtar H3 quotes significantly longer runtimes in all but the 1 lumen mode. The Xtar H3 quotes 28 hours at 70 lumens, and 2.9 hours at 1,000 lumens. The Nitecore HC30 quotes 15 hours and 15 minutes at 70 lumens, and 1 hour at 1,000 lumens. These are very big differences. As they both put out the same number of lumens, it might be suspected that Nitecore gets its longer range from a more tightly focused beam, and as they both put out the same number of lumens, and have virtually the same brightness modes, I wonder why the runtime figures are so different. The Nitecore specifies a 3400mAh 18650 for its tests. Xtar don’t seem to specify what capacity battery they used. If they are using different capacity batteries, this may make any comparison of the runtimes meaningless. I hope we can find out what batteries Xtar used for their tests.
The Nitecore also has a few extra features:
Strobe mode.
Beacon mode.
SOS mode.
Can take 1x18650 or 2xcr123 (the Xtar takes 1x18650 or 18700).
There may be some other important features on either lamp, but the ones above caught my attention. At time of writing, the Nitecore is slightly more expensive (at Bangood). If the Xtar really does give significantly better runtimes, then on the face of it, the choice is between lower price and longer runtimes for the Xtar H3, and slightly longer throw and more “disco” modes, but higher price, for Nitecore CH30.
Personally I lean towards the longer runtimes. However, until we know what battery Xtar used to test the H3, it is still an open question as to whether the Xtar H3 really does have significantly longer runtimes.