LEDAdd1ct
Flashlight Enthusiast
Looking forward to pics of the LEDs for emitter identification!
New HL from Petzl: Pixa series
- Thread starter Yucca Patrol
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Szemhazai
Enlightened
It is Cree XP-E - bin unknown, judging from the color difference between to pixa's - no tint sorting.
OK, it actually arrived today! Initial immediate impression was "Woah, this thing is huge and heavy!". There is an XP-E in the flood side but due to the tight lens, I can't make out emitter on the spot side (but most likely XP-E as well).
Bolster, you're gonna be disappointed, the flood has a subtle hot spot in it. I'll grab some shots later for you.
Cheers,
Tim
Bolster, you're gonna be disappointed, the flood has a subtle hot spot in it. I'll grab some shots later for you.
Cheers,
Tim
Pixa 3 Beamshots @f2.7
Flood (1/13" | 1/80") - below set is shifted from center to highlight the hotspot:
Duo (1/13" | 1/80")
Note that the spot beam is not centered and the spot is running at perhaps half power.
Spot (1/13" | 1/80")
I plan on conducting a review of this HL in the coming weeks and will post when ready.
Cheers,
Tim
Flood (1/13" | 1/80") - below set is shifted from center to highlight the hotspot:
Duo (1/13" | 1/80")
Note that the spot beam is not centered and the spot is running at perhaps half power.
Spot (1/13" | 1/80")
I plan on conducting a review of this HL in the coming weeks and will post when ready.
Cheers,
Tim
Bolster
Flashlight Enthusiast
Woohoo! Thanks for the beamshots. I'd have no problem with such a minor brightness in the center, looks good to me. Pretty neutral colored beam is it? It feels pretty chunky, you say? I think the beam combo mode is well thought out, with beam high and flood low, sort of like how a bifocal glasses lens works. Looking forward to your review! Thanks for taking point on this light!
Oh...one more thing: could you measure beam width & distance from wall? Then I can work out beam angle calculations. Thanks!
Oh...one more thing: could you measure beam width & distance from wall? Then I can work out beam angle calculations. Thanks!
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22" width beam measured 2ft from the wall. Using protractor = roughly 56 degrees. Yes the beam is neutral but definitely on the cool side and not warm by any means. Although it's only been a few hours, I'm really digging this HL!
Bolster
Flashlight Enthusiast
Trigs to just a scootch under 50 degrees. Either measurement puts it close to the Minimus for beam angle. Thanks for the measurement!
LEDAdd1ct
Flashlight Enthusiast
Thanks for the beamshots!
Yucca Patrol
Enlightened
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2008
- Messages
- 954
Today I received my Petzl Pixa 3 from Karst Sports.
I purchased it to be a very rugged backup for caving and it definitely appears that it will serve this purpose very well.
It is a chunky piece of rubberized plastic, a little bigger than I expected, and feels very solid. It really looks like a lot of thought was put into making this a durable piece of gear and they got a lot of things right. The battery compartment is sealed with an o-ring that has 3 ridges, effectively making it perform like 3 o-rings. This, along with the ATEX/HAZLOC rating suggest that this lamp will handle the sort of wet and wild treatment cavers will put it through. The knob to select the different modes is nice and chunky and very easy to manipulate with gloves.
The lamp can be rotated 180' so that the lens is facing backwards, protecting it from an impact that might happen in a caving pack. Even better is the fact that the light cannot be accidentally turned while on in this position. This is a huge plus in my book. It also appears that the battery case cannot be accidentally opened when the light pointing straight ahead during use.
It does have one minor flaw in my opinion. The documentation makes a pretty big deal about how well they designed it to have a wide flood beam on the low and medium settings. However, I estimate that the flood beam is somewhere around 60 degrees (sorry but I left my compass and protractor in my 6th grade math class so I'm not going to measure it exactly). I compared it with a Fenix HP10 and an Energizer Hard Case and both of the other lamps had a wider beam. Ideally, I'd prefer something at least 90 degrees and perhaps a bit more than that for flood.
Lastly, it could be brighter than 50 lumens on high, especially if someone wanted to use it as their primary caving headlamp, but as a backup it is more than perfectly serviceable and still very comparable to lamps we all thought were pretty darn bright a few years ago. And by not going full blast, it will have very long run-time, which is very desirable for a backup caving lamp.
Perhaps Petzl will take all the good stuff from this lamp and make a "Pixa 4" with a separate 4xAA battery pack and 150 lumens on high? Now that would be a stellar piece of gear!!!
In short, this is a great headlamp, mainly for it's use of 2xAA format and very durable waterproof construction. I can see it being very popular with cavers as well as construction/industrial professionals. If you are looking for the brightest thing out there and do not require extreme rugged construction, you might be disappointed. But if you are looking for something that is going to survive incredibly harsh conditions like wet and muddy caves and runs for a very long time on just 2 AA batteries, it's a winner.
Edit: One comment on the excellent beam shots above. You'll see that the spot is not centered at the middle setting. This is not a flaw. It is intentional and functional. You adjust the headlamp so that the spot is pointing straight ahead. This then allows the flood light to be angled toward the ground, allowing the floodlight to illuminate your immediate vicinity while walking while still shining the spotlight straight ahead. I consider this to be one of the most innovative and functional aspects of this lamp. This makes is so that you only need to move your eyes and not your head to see both near and far, and this is especially beneficial for your neck if wearing it on a helmet for extended periods of time.
I purchased it to be a very rugged backup for caving and it definitely appears that it will serve this purpose very well.
It is a chunky piece of rubberized plastic, a little bigger than I expected, and feels very solid. It really looks like a lot of thought was put into making this a durable piece of gear and they got a lot of things right. The battery compartment is sealed with an o-ring that has 3 ridges, effectively making it perform like 3 o-rings. This, along with the ATEX/HAZLOC rating suggest that this lamp will handle the sort of wet and wild treatment cavers will put it through. The knob to select the different modes is nice and chunky and very easy to manipulate with gloves.
The lamp can be rotated 180' so that the lens is facing backwards, protecting it from an impact that might happen in a caving pack. Even better is the fact that the light cannot be accidentally turned while on in this position. This is a huge plus in my book. It also appears that the battery case cannot be accidentally opened when the light pointing straight ahead during use.
It does have one minor flaw in my opinion. The documentation makes a pretty big deal about how well they designed it to have a wide flood beam on the low and medium settings. However, I estimate that the flood beam is somewhere around 60 degrees (sorry but I left my compass and protractor in my 6th grade math class so I'm not going to measure it exactly). I compared it with a Fenix HP10 and an Energizer Hard Case and both of the other lamps had a wider beam. Ideally, I'd prefer something at least 90 degrees and perhaps a bit more than that for flood.
Lastly, it could be brighter than 50 lumens on high, especially if someone wanted to use it as their primary caving headlamp, but as a backup it is more than perfectly serviceable and still very comparable to lamps we all thought were pretty darn bright a few years ago. And by not going full blast, it will have very long run-time, which is very desirable for a backup caving lamp.
Perhaps Petzl will take all the good stuff from this lamp and make a "Pixa 4" with a separate 4xAA battery pack and 150 lumens on high? Now that would be a stellar piece of gear!!!
In short, this is a great headlamp, mainly for it's use of 2xAA format and very durable waterproof construction. I can see it being very popular with cavers as well as construction/industrial professionals. If you are looking for the brightest thing out there and do not require extreme rugged construction, you might be disappointed. But if you are looking for something that is going to survive incredibly harsh conditions like wet and muddy caves and runs for a very long time on just 2 AA batteries, it's a winner.
Edit: One comment on the excellent beam shots above. You'll see that the spot is not centered at the middle setting. This is not a flaw. It is intentional and functional. You adjust the headlamp so that the spot is pointing straight ahead. This then allows the flood light to be angled toward the ground, allowing the floodlight to illuminate your immediate vicinity while walking while still shining the spotlight straight ahead. I consider this to be one of the most innovative and functional aspects of this lamp. This makes is so that you only need to move your eyes and not your head to see both near and far, and this is especially beneficial for your neck if wearing it on a helmet for extended periods of time.
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vtunderground
Enlightened
Give it a 90+ degree flood beam, too, and I'll pay whatever they want for it.
Thanks for the review.
LEDAdd1ct
Flashlight Enthusiast
Thank you for the writeup. This definitely whets my appetite for trying the Pixa One, since I prefer flashlights for distance and 5mm floods for "local" activities. Your comments on the build quality and probable durability are definitely heartening.
*thumbs up*
*thumbs up*
Bolster
Flashlight Enthusiast
Glad to get more info on this light. Like LEDAddict, I'm also very curious about the Pixa 1. The beam width of the Pixa 3, which has been estimated by various methods in the 50-60 degree range, is a little limiting. I consider 60 degrees the bottom number that a floody beam "should" be. That's just my opinion. I'm wondering if the frosted diffuser of the Pixa 1 will open the beam up a little more.
One thing I'd like to see is the light held in the hand or a closeup on the forehead. Almost every report so far mentions the larger size of this lamp, and for some reason I didn't get that impression watching Petzl's videos...maybe they used people with really big heads to make it look smaller?
But a comparison shot, showing the Pixa next to a known quantity like a Zebralight would be instructive. Thanks for the writeups!
One thing I'd like to see is the light held in the hand or a closeup on the forehead. Almost every report so far mentions the larger size of this lamp, and for some reason I didn't get that impression watching Petzl's videos...maybe they used people with really big heads to make it look smaller?
But a comparison shot, showing the Pixa next to a known quantity like a Zebralight would be instructive. Thanks for the writeups!
I must confess that when I first noticed this, I was like "WTH" but after using it a bit, it became apparent that this was completley intentional and as you've said, an EXCELLENT idea! HOWEVER, to your other point about the flood beam being acute in nature, not sure how much of a benefit this could have had vs. a wider flood. Nontheless still a great idea.
When I have time, I might look into swapping the optics on the flood to see if it can be widended.
EDIT:
Ask and ye shall receive, I was going to include this in the upcoming review but I'll grab a side-by-side shot for you later tonight.
Cheers,
Tim
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vtunderground
Enlightened
I found photos of the Pixa 3's insides here:
http://forum.fonarevka.ru/showthread.php?p=35410&language=en
I like how easy it looks to disassemble, and it looks easy to replace the optics too... but is there really zero heatsinking? And upgrading those LEDs would be beyond my skill level.
http://forum.fonarevka.ru/showthread.php?p=35410&language=en
I like how easy it looks to disassemble, and it looks easy to replace the optics too... but is there really zero heatsinking? And upgrading those LEDs would be beyond my skill level.
Bolster
Flashlight Enthusiast
That shot's worthy of a photo studio. Many thanks!
I guess it's about the size I expected it to be, with 2xAA in it!
I guess it's about the size I expected it to be, with 2xAA in it!
@VT: Thx for the link, after seeing those pics, curiosity got the best of me and 4 torx screws and a gentle pry later, I easily removed the battery holder/board. Those LED's will definitely be a challenge to replace:
There is defintiely no heatsinking whatsoever and adding any will prove to be quite a challenge. The back of the board sits flush against the battery holder so there's really no where to add any mass:
EDIT: Also, the dual optics are formed in a single piece so I'm not so sure those can be easily replaced either...
There is defintiely no heatsinking whatsoever and adding any will prove to be quite a challenge. The back of the board sits flush against the battery holder so there's really no where to add any mass:
EDIT: Also, the dual optics are formed in a single piece so I'm not so sure those can be easily replaced either...
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Bolster
Flashlight Enthusiast
As my German mother would say to me, "Nicht fur das finger-poken." Seems almost designed to curtail modifications. What's up with no heat sinking?
LEDAdd1ct
Flashlight Enthusiast
No heat sinking on a power LED is not cool.
Perhaps your forehead is supposed to be the heatsink? :shakehead
Perhaps your forehead is supposed to be the heatsink? :shakehead
Yucca Patrol
Enlightened
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2008
- Messages
- 954
Considering that they do not have these LED's running full blast, the lack of heat sink is probably not that big of a deal except to someone who wants to mod it
