RayOVac Highbeam headlamp at Costco (item# 185790, LUX3AAHDLT-B)

Itchrelief

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Hello all, I'm new to flashlights and headlights so I am not very well versed on the terminology, so please bear with me.

I was at the Norwalk, CA Costco this morning and I passed by a headlamp for sale that was missing the price placard. I forgot the brand and name of the lamp, but I think it had Rayovac batteries so I am assuming it was made by, or at least repackaged by, Rayovac.

I think it said it used 3AA cells, said it had something like a K2 LED, put out 85 (?) lumens, and had some sort of compartment at the back of the headband for a rear-facing light, I am assuming so that if you are using this thing in a situation with vehicle traffic, you don't get run over. I also seem to remember it advertised itself as being waterproof.

http://www.rayovac.com/flashlight/lux3aahdlt-b.shtml seems to be fairly similar to the specs I remember.

Has anyone seen this thing and know if its any good and what the price is? Sorry if this has been covered before, but my search skills are fairly poor.

Thanks.
 
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ve7mdt

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Re: Anyone know what the LED headlamp at Costco is? (possibly Rayovac brand)

Friend bought one in Bellingham, WA Costco. He said it is the Rayovac Luxeon K2 headlight. He also said that it is brighter than all his LED flashlights (he does not own anything above a 3W Luxeon). It is $14.99 and a very good deal. It is not available in Costco Canada yet.

Because of using 3 AA instead of AAA, they put the compartment in the back, and then adding red LED on the back as well.

K2 is bright but not as efficient than Cree CE from what I read, so they must use AA to keep it going, but adding to the weight and size.

If you are looking for brightness (like my friend) then this is it. If you are looking for size and weight, then may be some 1W Luxeon might be be enough (like the Princeton Tec EOS that I have).

I don't post much here, I was searching for review of the same thing and cannot find any mentioning. Can't even get a search result because nobody said anything. For some reason your post did not come up in the search.
 

Itchrelief

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Re: Anyone know what the LED headlamp at Costco is? (possibly Rayovac brand)

Thanks for the info. My Costco is wants 15.79 for it (they finally got the price placard up).

Unfortunately it was only "water resistant" according to the packaging. Does your friend have anything to say whether water seems to bother it or not? I was thinking about putting it in the glovebox in case I ever have to change a tire or put on tire chains when it's snowing out in the mountains, and didn't want the thing to start going crazy on me because the snow melted and started dripping into the electronics.

The price still isn't bad, and it doesn't have to be wonderful just for changing tires and putting on chains, considering I normally wouldn't be out in the middle of nowhere in a snowstorm at midnight anyways.

I guess it isn't a real aficionado's light, therefore the lack of reviews? Maybe the fact that the red LED is on the back instead of the front?
 

f22shift

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Re: Anyone know what the LED headlamp at Costco is? (possibly Rayovac brand)

is this the same as the river rock k2 headlamp?
which has a 85 lumen rating and a back 3aa holder with rear led.
 

hiredgun

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Re: Anyone know what the LED headlamp at Costco is? (possibly Rayovac brand)

I just purchased one today. Costco in Silverdale, WA. It was the first item stacked next to the door--I couldn't miss it. For under $16.00 I had to try one. The headlamp has four modes, Max bright, moderate, low and strobe/flash. The rear has a red light/bar with on and strobe/flash. I'm not much of a good reviewer, but for the money it is an outstanding value. I will post some links to pictures at the very least for you all (I'm also not a great photographer either).

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/hiregun/IMG_3523.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/hiregun/IMG_3521.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/hiregun/IMG_3520.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/hiregun/IMG_3518.jpg
 

f22shift

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Re: Anyone know what the LED headlamp at Costco is? (possibly Rayovac brand)

I just purchased one today. Costco in Silverdale, WA. It was the first item stacked next to the door--I couldn't miss it. For under $16.00 I had to try one. The headlamp has four modes, Max bright, moderate, low and strobe/flash. The rear has a red light/bar with on and strobe/flash. I'm not much of a good reviewer, but for the money it is an outstanding value. I will post some links to pictures at the very least for you all (I'm also not a great photographer either).

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/hiregun/IMG_3523.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/hiregun/IMG_3521.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/hiregun/IMG_3520.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a234/hiregun/IMG_3518.jpg


yeah that's the riverrock k2, $25 at target. under $16 is a steal for this IMO:sssh:
 

NotTooBright

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Re: Anyone know what the LED headlamp at Costco is? (possibly Rayovac brand)

I bought one of these over the weekend because I figured it was worth $16 to try it out. Very bright! It's definitely a spot light. Kind of round-ish with a flattened top. Nicely angle-adjustable, but not exatly a light-weight with the 3 AAs in there. The battery comparment has an o-ring seal, so I'm thinking that rain/snow wouldn't be an issue at all. I wouldn't swim with the thing, though.

Very nice for the $. Oh yeah, it's regulated - so the brightness should last through the life of the 3 AAs.
 

MorePower

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Re: Anyone know what the LED headlamp at Costco is? (possibly Rayovac brand)

I wouldn't call it regulated; not by a long shot. On high with 3 alkaline cells, there's a typical sloping discharge curve. Using Nimh cells, the curve should be quite a bit flatter.

Still, it ran 3 hours to 50%, and 9 hours to 25%, with continued (albeit very low) output past 12 hours. Intermittent use would improve these runtime numbers, of course, as would use of the lower output levels.
 

NotTooBright

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Re: Anyone know what the LED headlamp at Costco is? (possibly Rayovac brand)

The packaging stated that this was a regulated headlamp - so that the light would remain at full output even as the battery voltage drooped. Did you find that not to be the case?
 

MorePower

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Re: Anyone know what the LED headlamp at Costco is? (possibly Rayovac brand)

The packaging stated that this was a regulated headlamp - so that the light would remain at full output even as the battery voltage drooped. Did you find that not to be the case?

Not the case at all. On high output, there was a steadily dropping output curve, which pretty much matches what you'd see from an alkaline cell. If you were to use Nimh cells, the output should be pretty constant.
 

HWman

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Re: Anyone know what the LED headlamp at Costco is? (possibly Rayovac brand)

I just bought Costco's (item 185790) Rayovac headlamp (LUX3AAHDLT-B) for just under $16 plus tax. It appears to be the same as the headlamp on Rayovac's web site (http://www.rayovac.com/flashlight/lux3aahdlt-b.shtml), but the Costco packaging is silver/blue instead of silver/green.


Description:

It has a K2 LED (no mention of Luxeon on the packaging) in the front and a single red LED bar (about 1.5 inches long) on the rear battery pack (3AA).

There is a center elastic strap for the top of your head. It can be removed by sliding the strap out of the narrow gap in the retaining bracket (on the front headlamp and rear battery pack).

The front LED housing has pivots at the bottom, so the top of the housing rotates downward. The power cord enters the housing at the left pivot point. The five mode (Maximum=100%, Optimum=50%, Economy=25%, strobe light (close to two times per second), and off) push button switch is on the top.

There appears to be an anomaly in the front switch because the first press sometimes does nothing. This fault occurs only on the first press (never when changing from one mode to the next). The anomaly has occurred as frequently as two cycles in a row and, maybe, fifteen cycles later. The only consistency appears to be that the light is off for at least a few moments (up to minutes) before the failure to turn on.

The single red LED "bar" on the battery pack is operated by a push button switch below the power out cord on the left side of the battery pack. There are three modes (on, strobe (less close to two times per second), and off). Unusually, the LED must always operate through the three modes (i.e. - OFF to ON to STROBE to OFF to ON to STROBE to OFF).


The red LED is mounted subsurface, pointing perpendicularly from left to right. The clear lens reflects the light dimly out the back. This contruction is a problem. At 45 degree angles, the light is dim from the left side and bright from the right side.

In the United States, riding along the right-side curb means the rear facing red LED is ten times brighter from the sidewalk side than the street side. Regardless, it is a single LED so don't expect that much help in any case. Indoors, in a dimly lit room, the red LED light is rather dim anyway.

The right side of the battery pack rotates counter-clockwise to open. It requires a lot of force and I get the feeling that it might break sooner rather than later. A thin clear plastic thread slides in and out with the lid so you won't lose it (at least until the thread breaks).

The two outside batteries go in positive terminal inside and the middle battery goes negative terminal inside. A set of Eveready 2500 mAh NiMh batteries were a tight fit. I had to push them in, but they still slid out when shaken.

The package claims DC-DC "Regulated circuitry provides maximum light output throughout entire life of battery". I switched between alkalines and NiMh batteries, but I didn't notice any difference. If I had two units, I could make a better comparison.

The package claims "up to 20 hours of continuous runtime", water resistant, 85 lumens, and lifetime warranty.


Use:

Please note, it is always rather bright outside in my neighbor hood. I have a hard time distinguishing the intensity of the dim portion of the beam.

The central portion of the beam is shaped like a hybrid between a square and a circle. The edge is irregular when pointed on a flat wall, however, this was not noticeable when walking around the yard. The transition from the central portion of the beam to the spill was not harsh (like the original Inova X1 or River Rock 1AA). The beam itself is impressively uniform and, this morning, I don't remember it having any hotspots that I noticed.

There is very little spill (i.e. - it is rather dim) outside the central portion of the beam. It is useable (nothing like the original Inova X1, but more than the original River Rock 2AA); I did not get the feeling that I had tunnel vision. The spill is very dim compared to the MagLED 4D's outside edge.

Outside, the Rayovac headlamp (LUX3AAHDLT-B) uniformly lit up a moderately wide area (of six feet wide at about 20 feet away). The MagLED 4D's central spot was several times brighter, but it was only about 1.5 feet wide. Under 20 to 30 feet, the Rayovac is clearly the winner (depending upon your application).

My reference test is to illuminate the house across the street. The Rayovac headlamp covers the house but is dim by CPF standards. The outlines become bushes (not criminals hiding). Again, remember that I don't go into night vision because there is sooo much ambient street lighting. The MagLED 4D lights it up nicely and casts strong shadows; it is clearly the winner here.

I get the feeling that Rayovac is like a movie camera light panning around the yard. Even though I haven't ridden a bicycle in decades (it's too dangerous with California drivers...), I think this light might be suitable for night riding (of which I have no experience with a good light). It is both bright enough and has a width that might eliminate surprises leaping out of the darkness.

I tried searching the tomatoes and eggplants for pests and was very pleased with the uniform lighting. At about two feet, the tomato leaves were too bright. I thought that I made a mistake by running the light on high. My mistake! The light was on low (25%)!


Caveats:

On the lowest light setting (25%), the strobing of the LED (to achieve the light output reduction) is distinctively noticeable on quickly moving objects. For example, if I quickly wave my hand in front of the beam, I can see dozens of fingers partially frozen by the stroboscopic effect.

After only one night, I am not sure whether I have a mild stress headache and I see the stroboscopic effect or whether the stroboscopic effect caused eye strain and a subsequent mild headache.

This headlamp is much heavier than the Princeton Tec EOS. Additionally, the bulky mass of straps, cables, and plastic boxes can be problematic. The construction is not robust but not entirely flimsy either. I especially have doubts about the cable entering the front housing at the pivot point. I suspect that wire is a weakness due to frequent rotation, vibration, and the occasional snagging.


Conclusions:

After only one night, I love this light. Iff "it is the same as the River Rock" [I hate that phrase], it is a good value at $25. However, for $16 at Costco, the Rayovac headlamp (LUX3AAHDLT-B) is a steal.

When weight and size are not a problem, I will take this headlamp over the Princeton Tec EOS without hesitation. Especially since I love AA batteries...
 

kevinm

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Re: Anyone know what the LED headlamp at Costco is? (possibly Rayovac brand)

Anyone have the Costco item number?

Thanks,
Kevin
 

HWman

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Re: Anyone know what the LED headlamp at Costco is? (possibly Rayovac brand)

You could read my post above and find it there...
 

Brlux

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Re: Anyone know what the LED headlamp at Costco is? (possibly Rayovac brand)

I picked one up the other day and have some observations. It is definatly an excelent headlamp for the price. and by far the best thing you will find for under $20 or perhaps even $30.

Cons
The package claims the light is regulated for constant brightness and even claims to contain a DC/DC converter which would be preferable to a linear regulator. Being the curious being that I am I took it compleatly apart as soon as I got home. It definatly doesn't have a DC/DC converter as that would require an inductor which it doesn't have. It seems to only have a PWM circuit which is used to give the differnt brightnes levels and has no effect on the highest level. I don't see how the claim of regulation is anything short of a compleatly false. The heat sink for the K2 is a small piece of aluminum which probably doesn't have much more than twice the surface area of a star board. It is also compleatly incased inside the plastic housing so there is not much heat transfer to the outside world. The PWM dimming is to low of a frequency and is very notacable and anoying to use.

Pros
There is limited use of orings for water resistance but I would not submerse the light in water. The rear flash is kinda nice. The beam is quite bright on high and tightly colomated which unfortunatly has no spill to the beam. I really like that it runs on AA which cost about the same as AAA and have about 3 times the power of AAA.
 

ve7mdt

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Re: Anyone know what the LED headlamp at Costco is? (possibly Rayovac brand)

Sorry about posting the wrong price, my friend (often) gave me the wrong price (as he's not an accurate kinda guy). The price posted by others is correct.

I'll be going to the US and trying to buy a couple of them, as it's not available in Costco in Canada (yet).
 

Brlux

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Re: Anyone know what the LED headlamp at Costco is? (possibly Rayovac brand)

I have an update on the waterproof characteristics of this light. I went snorkeling and playing in the ocean with a backback on. I accidently left this headlamp in the bottom of my bag and it was in the water for over an hour and a half. It spent most of that time at a depth of less than a foot with a maximum depth of probably 2 feet. When I got out and realized it had experienced the adventure with me I was shocked to find it had absolutely no water in it and still functioned perfectly. I had even completely disassembled and reassembled it the day before so I would have expected that to have compromised it's water integrity but alas it did not. Another thumbs up for this affordable headlamp.
 

Itchrelief

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Re: Anyone know what the LED headlamp at Costco is? (possibly Rayovac brand)

I would have expected that to have compromised it's water integrity but alas it did not.

Kind of a love-hate relationship with this thing I take it? ;)

Thanks everyone for the information. I think I'll pick this up the next time I'm at Costco. Should work just fine for what I am planning to use it for.
 

NotTooBright

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Re: Anyone know what the LED headlamp at Costco is? (possibly Rayovac brand)

Cons
The package claims the light is regulated for constant brightness and even claims to contain a DC/DC converter which would be preferable to a linear regulator. Being the curious being that I am I took it compleatly apart as soon as I got home. It definatly doesn't have a DC/DC converter


The lack of a regulator on this lamp is really starting to bug me. Isn't it illegal to state something so specific on the packaging which is completely false?? My curiosity got the better of me yesterday and I connected this to an adjustable power supply. As soon as the voltage dropped below 4.5V, the light started to dim. It was honestly somewhat heartbreaking.
:shakehead
 

Brlux

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Re: Anyone know what the LED headlamp at Costco is? (possibly Rayovac brand)

It is called the Highbeam if anyone is interested.
 
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