Olight H2R Nova Quick Review (New Improved Tailcap Available Now! See post #32)

[rookiedaddy]

Re: Olight H2R Nova Quick Review

@proceed5, Thanks for reporting on the problem and how to replicate it.
Will forward the report to Olight and see if I can replicate the issue with my sample.
Thank you Sir.


Update 3pm:
testing my sample twice by:
1. fully charged the H2R.
2. double click the button to bring the unit to Turbo.
3. leave it running for >50 mins
4. double-click to enter Turbo again (H2R already stepped down).
5. double-click to enter high.
6. repeat step 4 to step 5 five (5) times.
7. click to off.
8. click to on.
9. repeat step 7 - step 8 ten (10) times.
10. seems OK.

@proceed5, note that the above does not discount the issue with your H2R, as it only shows 1 way of testing by myself using a different unit. results could be very different if you are using my sample as there are variables like speed of double-clicking, speed of click-on and click-off, operating temperature, etc.

also, I can't hold the head with my 2 fingers after 50 minutes of continuous runtime as it's running hot, really hot, really burning my finger kind of hot.

 

[proceed5]

Re: Olight H2R Nova Quick Review

Hi Rookiedaddy,
Thank you for your efforts in testing as well.

I ain't kidding, my H2R has been behaving like what I have typed above since I purchased it from the Favourite Distributor.

You see, in Headlamp mode, while walking, due to the "press and hold" and "double click" methods of changing modes and disengaging from turbo, I needed 2 fingers to rest on the body and another index finger to press the switch, if I use only one finger to press the switch the headlamp would move from its position.

That is why I have said to Favourite Distributor, for a Headlamp, I really dislike lights with "press n hold" functionalities. For me, while walking, I prefer to change modes by just clicking like a Fenix or Nitecore.

Haha, the H2R's heat generated after Turbo or repeated Turbos are still bearable

Ok, I shall try out the H2R again tonight.

 

[rookiedaddy]

Re: Olight H2R Nova Quick Review

I ain't kidding, my H2R has been behaving like what I have typed above since I purchased it from the Favourite Distributor.

yup, I believe that. will talk to the local distributor too.

That is why I have said to Favourite Distributor, for a Headlamp, I really dislike lights with "press n hold" functionalities. For me, while walking, I prefer to change modes by just clicking like a Fenix or Nitecore.

I kind-a dig the dual button and the dial (e.g. SureFire, Petzl) for mode changing with headlamp.

Haha, the H2R's heat generated after Turbo or repeated Turbos are still bearable

You obviously have a higher tolerance of heat resistance than me... hahaha...

I've reported the issue to Olight and asking for assistance to forward to their engineer for further findings, will update here upon receiving any feedback...

 

[proceed5]

Re: Olight H2R Nova Quick Review

Hi Rookiedaddy,
Thank you for your assistance, much appreciated.

I used my H2R earlier tonight. Started on high mode, after a couple of minutes I had to turbo for short periods, double clicks to turbo and double click again to get back to normal high mode = no issues.
Most of the trail required high brightness and the usage of turbo were short to identify moving subjects ahead and then switched back to high.
At approx 40 minutes, similar problem occurred. I turbo the unit and let it be on turbo for a while and double clicked to return to normal mode. But the first click had switched the unit off. As such, I had to click again to turn on the light, but this time round the light turned on to Turbo (last used memory) ... and the unit started getting very very very hot (quote you as saying "burning hot") and it somewhat just shut down completely .
The unit could not be reactivated for approx 20 seconds, I had to - from off, Long press to enter Moonlight and Press-n-hold to get back to normal mode.
Seemed like some kind of thermal protection or some thing somewhere tripped .

Query:
Would it be possible that the unit has built in some kind of protection circuitry need be thermal protection and/or over-discharge protection ?

 

[Lampas]

Re: Olight H2R Nova Quick Review

Apparently someone ignited steel wool with the tail. you can find it on youtube, if you like!
I think its quite unlikely that something shortens the thing in your pocket, still makes me a little uncomfortable just to think it could happen.
In maukkas review he writes that there is Over Current Protection at 27 amps according to Olight.

 

[proceed5]

Re: Olight H2R Nova Quick Review

Apparently someone ignited steel wool with the tail. you can find it on youtube, if you like!
I think its quite unlikely that something shortens the thing in your pocket, still makes me a little uncomfortable just to think it could happen.
In maukkas review he writes that there is Over Current Protection at 27 amps according to Olight.

Thanks Lampas,
Yes watched that igniting steel wool video.
I have been using my H2R as a Headlamp.

27 amps over current protection. Hmm, it would be impossible for my stock standard unmodded unit to hit 27 amps, correct ?
So, something else must have tripped.

 

[rookiedaddy]

Re: Olight H2R Nova Quick Review

@proceed5, reply from the engineer, he suspect it could be the battery problem as it cannot supply enough power to H2R.

some explanation from the engineer about the H2R "normal" behavior.

translate to English (NOT using Google translate): H2R model's firmware has built-in secondary (or 2-level) low Voltage alert, when battery power is low and close to depleted, it will flashes to alert the user. It will either flashes once every minute or twice every minute, for details please refer to attachment. Do confirm with customer that before flashlight turned-off, does the unit flashes? if there are, meaning the battery power is low.

and following is the attachment...

translated to English...
Battery low Voltage alert:
<= 3.2V, flashes once every minute (off 0.5S)
<= 3.0V, flashes twice every minute (off 0.5S)
<= 2.7V, light will shut-off.

So the question is did you notice any flashes?
I've also inform them that battery is fully charged.

You may want to consider sending your unit back for them to troubleshoot further... :candle:

 

[proceed5]

Re: Olight H2R Nova Quick Review

Hi Rookiedaddy,
Thank you so much for your kind help in sending the message to Big O. It is very good to have you to troubleshoot because you speak their language and could easily communicate with them.
Big Xie Xie

Confirmed, no flashes.
It shut down immediately and the duration of the shut down was approx 20 secs before I could reactivate the unit to turn On (please refer to my post on Sunday 30th July 2017 - 01:52AM).

Ok I will arrange with the Favourite Distributor to have my H2R sent back to Big O. No other alternative.

By the way, earlier tonight I borrowed the Distributor's First set of Reviewers H2R (that you were supposed to review a month back), and the reviewers unit's NW LED is so much nicer in Warm White tint, as compared with my unit's NW. Mine is more Neutral than Warm (think of H1R kind of tint temperature).

And, I have borrowed the Reviewer unit's H2R tail cap to test. I am now waiting for the battery to fully charge.

Will inform you of the result of my test.

H2S = I want !!!
R18 = I want !
M2R = after reading the products' brochures again = at this juncture it is not my cup of tea, because Turbo only delivers 750 lumen and Turbo-S 1500 lumen for less than 1.5 mins.

 

[proceed5]

Re: Olight H2R Nova Quick Review

Hi Rookiedaddy,

My report after tonight's test of my H2R with the other Tail Cap from the reviewers unit:
I am going to type this message to you in total disbelieve !! ...
Swapped to the other Tail Cap = result = P E R F E C T H 2 R !!!

Finally tonight I was able to enjoy a very bright 2000 lumen headlight ! (without the unit shutting down by its own at approx 40 minutes mark).
Started on high, and minutes later, I could operate the light with double-clicking to enter turbo, could double-click to exit turbo, and repeat, and all the while the unit performed flawlessly. Turbo was On Demand.

How on earth could a tail cap make it or break it ? ... its like W.T. Crap is going here Olight ?

Remark: Dear Olight & Favourite Distributor, I desperately need a New H2R Tail Cap. Otherwise this tail cap from the Reviewer unit will not be returned .

 

[rookiedaddy]

Re: Olight H2R Nova Quick Review

...reviewers unit's NW LED is so much nicer in Warm White tint, as compared with my unit's NW. Mine is more Neutral than Warm (think of H1R kind of tint temperature).

hehehe... I know, right? :naughty:
btw, I normally communicate with manufacturers in English too (hey, me no speak nor write good English, me grammatically sucks), only occasionally when it comes to technical info, in fear of loss-in-translation, I ask to communicate in their native tongue.

...My report after tonight's test of my H2R with the other Tail Cap from the reviewers unit:
I am going to type this message to you in total disbelieve !! ...
Swapped to the other Tail Cap = result = P E R F E C T H 2 R !!!

Finally tonight I was able to enjoy a very bright 2000 lumen headlight ! (without the unit shutting down by its own at approx 40 minutes mark).
Started on high, and minutes later, I could operate the light with double-clicking to enter turbo, could double-click to exit turbo, and repeat, and all the while the unit performed flawlessly. Turbo was On Demand.
...

Glad you manage to troubleshoot the light. :thumbsup:
Hopefully this is the exception and not the norm.

 

[elcidroyale]

Re: Olight H2R Nova Quick Review

Wish they sold the headband separately. The design with magnet and minimal strap is ingenious! I don't want a new headlamp, just the strap!

 

[rookiedaddy]

Re: Olight H2R Nova Quick Review

Met with Olight representatives today and received an updated H2R tailcap that addresses the "shorting" feature. I brought some fine steel-wool along to test and I can now confirm with certainty that the new improved tailcap can no longer spark-start a fire using steel wool!
I also believe the new improved H2R tailcap is available from Olight's distributors worldwide upon request.

side note: using this new improved tailcap, it "seems" that the charging is also slightly faster. This is after my first charge using the new tailcap observations on the Micro-dok. So will probably need more test and other reviewers to chime in to verify... so far so good! :thumbsup:

 

[proceed5]

Oh good .
Finally I will be able to get new tail cap so that my unit operates correctly without shutting off.

 

[rookiedaddy]

Finally I will be able to get new tail cap so that my unit operates correctly without shutting off.

yeah mate, I hope it solves the soft-touch-to-off issue too.

 

[proceed5]

yeah mate, I hope it solves the soft-touch-to-off issue too.

Hi there rookiedaddy,

I have returned the best Tail-cap for my H2R which was the "Reviewer's Unit's Tail-cap" That worked so fine with my unit.
And, since the Olight Engineers flew in to the country last week and handed to the distributor a bag load of newly re-designed H2R tail-caps, I have swapped to the new H2R Tail-cap ...

here's my report after having used the new so-called redesigned tail-cap ...
I have just finished my hour-long walk and found that,
hmmm, the problem got worst.

As usual, I switched on to high brightness and walked. While walking, I wanted to switch brightness and hence all I did was to touch the Blue Ring next to the power switch and the unit switched off.
What is going on with my H2R.
I am speechless

Need your kind help. Could you please do me a favour and write to Olight again on this.
What should I do ?
(a) send my unit back to the Distributor and have the Distributor send it back to Olight China for a thorough check up or replacement, I pay for the DHL Express courier to China and back from China; OR
(b) just give my existing unit to charity ?

Thank you so much and Best regards

p/s.
Oh and, in your email to Olight, could you highlight to them that, even 1 rotten unit would severely affect the goodwill and trust their users have in the brand, and I have had so much confidence in the past with this brand and in just 1+ year, I bought in excess of 40 units of Olight flashlights and this H2R is the only good unit that is giving problems.

Its a shame that a bling nice blue striking flashlight could switch itself off by just touching the blue ring.

 

[rookiedaddy]

(a) send my unit back to the Distributor and have the Distributor send it back to Olight China for a thorough check up or replacement, I pay for the DHL Express courier to China and back from China; OR

very sorry to hear that you are still having problem with your unit.
Agreed. I do think the unit needs to send back to distributor and in turn in the hands of Olight for further investigations.
Yes, will communicate with Olight and the distributor and highlight the issue.
Thank you for reporting back and sharing your use case. :thumbsup:


small update:
@proceed5, spoken to Olight and the distributor, you have a new replacement unit waiting for you with the distributor. You can leave your current unit with the distributor and they will take over from there.

 

[ScottJ]

Re: Olight H2R Nova Quick Review

Met with Olight representatives today and received an updated H2R tailcap that addresses the "shorting" feature. I brought some fine steel-wool along to test and I can now confirm with certainty that the new improved tailcap can no longer spark-start a fire using steel wool!

Thanks for all the help here. I have an H2R on the way, it should show up in today's mail. Thanks to your info I've e-mailed Olight to ask for the new safer tailcap. Since my light is brand new, is it possible it shipped with the new tailcap already installed? Is there an easy way to tell the new type from the old, visually?

Scott

 

[rookiedaddy]

Re: Olight H2R Nova Quick Review

Hello ScottJ, there are no visible differences between the old and the new H2R tailcap, not sure if Olight will make any visual changes to the packaging or the light itself. A more reliable method is using an amp-meter (or a multimeter with DCA) to check the current reading at the tailcap (the new tailcap should be ~3mA) or use the steel wool to see if it lights up the steel wool... I'm using a bi-pin 2D Xenon bulb (3D/4D will do fine) to short the contact to see if the bulb lights up... if it doesn't, you are using the safer tailcap.

 

[wrcsixeight]

Re: Olight H2R Nova Quick Review

I have had the h2r nova for about a month, and have used it a bunch in the natural white.

Having had a NitecoreHC-50 I was used to sswapping out batteries and having the separate chrger nearby, but found the tailcap charging to be a nice feature. Take light off move tailcap near charger and snap, charging.

I primarily have been using mine in a workshop, with all sorts of magnetic things laying around.

The charger portion will often get stuck to a razor blade or a hacksaw blade, and the green light turns turn red. I try to avoid this but .... I make more of an effort to keep the light itself away from ferrous objects.

I was wondering about my tailcap, and stuck my tongue on the contacts. Certainly not like sticking one's tongue on a 9v battery, but can definitely taste the current. Got mine through Amazon.

I've noticed the occassional flash off/on for a half second when put on turbo, but have had no issues with the switch not responding. The modes did take some getting used to after the Nitecore hc-50 though.

I do kind of miss the red led option, but moonlight mode seems to preserve nightvision pretty well.

Turbo is employed regularly, and sometimes, though rarely, even needed over 'high'.

I much prefer it to the HC50 and it can certainly maintain high for much longer than the HC50 could provide its 585 lumen turbo.

The light color also does not make wood look greenish like the HC50 does, when it decides to actually work.

I've used other 18650s inside of it but not tried to charge them within it. Not sure how it would know the difference but I am no pro.

 

[khaleeq]

Re: Olight H2R Nova Quick Review

Excellent review. Some have reported the NW as 5000Kish. Is there a way to know before hand if the NW version will turn out to be Warm or Neutral? Apologies if it has already been answered above, as I have skipped the majority of discussion. I will buy right away if I am sure I will get the warm tint version.