eGear X-Flare Pro Focus Control HL-400 (Preview w/pics & initial runtime)

I've been pining for a MOAH (Mother of all Headlamps, or at least as close to it as fiscally possible) for a while now and two non-custom ones in particular that I really like are the Silva Alpha 6 & Petzl Ultra. However, one look at the asking price for each and I needed to adopt the stance of "Look but don't touch!" (as with a lot of the nicer things in life).

Recently I came across the eGear X-Flare Pro Focus Control 400 and after a bit of searching, landed one for an excellent deal. Here is a preview of this headlamp (I'll convert into full review as time allows).


MFG SPECS
Case Material: High-Impact ABS Plastic
Size HxWxD: Headlamp: 3.7" x 2.6" x 3"
Battery Case: 1.2" x 3" x 1.7"
Weight w/batteries: 12.4 oz.
Bulb: 3x Rebel 100 White LEDs
Brightness: Up to 375 lumens
Modes & run time: High: 25 min
Medium: 1 hour
Low: 9 hours
Flashing: 80 hours
Beam Distance: 360 feet
Battery: 4.8V 2200mAh Ni-MH rechargeable
Water Resistance: Water resistant IPX4


DESIGN / FEATURES
The light features a triumvirate of Rebel 100's:


There is a nice big rotary knob that selects one of 4 modes and always in this order: H - M - L - SOS:


Nice chunk of heat-sinking w/vents all around:




TINT & BEAM PROFILE
Beam width is just over 18" at a distance of 2 ft from the wall and IMO, I think this should qualify for the flood list even though it's just a tad under 60 deg. (I measured 50). The beam is just a tad smaller all around than the Pixa 3's flood mode.


L: 1/13" | R: 1/80"


The beam is reminiscent of the HL501 and nearly flawless except from some imperfections around the outer edges due to the three Rebel 100's.


INDOOR SHOTS
High (flood)


High (spot)


Med (flood)


Med (spot)


Low (flood)


Low (spot)


For details of the shots and comparo vs. many other lights, check here.


RUNTIME

x = time in min. / y = relative output

The blue test was flawed and cut short as the lamp was getting quite hot so I turned on a fan, thus the upward trend starting around 30 min. The red test was conducted with a fan on at get go. So it looks like runtime on H (provided it can be kept cool enough) is regulated at just over an hour and then it goes into some weird PWM mode which was also cut short due to the 10K data point limit on my light meter. While the red line seems to portray that the lamp is ramping up and down, to my eyes it's actually steady at roughly a thrid to quarter of output on H. Will rerun this again in the future.


IMPRESSIONS
My initial impressions are that this is a very bright, solid and well crafted HL and certainly ranks as one of the better bang for the buck especially considering it comes with rechargeable batteries & charger.

More to come...

Cheers,
Tim

Re: eGear X-Flare Pro Focus Control HL-400 (Preview w/pics)

Thanks for the info, I was looking at this on e-gear's site.Where did you get it?

Re: eGear X-Flare Pro Focus Control HL-400 (Preview w/pics)

Looks like a really nice headlamp at a reasonable price. Looking forward to your impressions!

Hopefully the headlamp can survive a nice dunking.

Re: eGear X-Flare Pro Focus Control HL-400 (Preview w/pics)

Based on the runtimes (Off of the eGear web site), I'm guessing it's regulated (Still a rare sight in headlamps, but even rarer is actual heat sinking!), and from that beamshot, it's got an incredible flood beam considering the 3 LEDs. No cloverleafing or other artifacts. Nice.

Way too bright for my tastes, though. Having a super bright high mode is good at times (For both "look at this!" playing and real use), but I'd like to see the medium and low a lot lower. I don't like blinding the people I'm out with when hiking in a group at night... I've found that a relatively dim light (A ZL on medium or even low) and a bright handheld spot light is the best combination for me. But for folk who go for the super bright light on their head and don't want to pay an arm and a leg... we might have to mop up some drool.

Re: eGear X-Flare Pro Focus Control HL-400 (Preview w/pics)

@carrot - it seems like it's pretty water resistant but I think the adjustable lens would prevent it from surviving a dunking but let me look into that... (or not) =o)

EDIT: Had to go lookup what IPX4 meant again (Protected against splashing water - Same as IPX-3 but water is sprayed at all angles.) and agree this can likely survive that but again, given the adjsutable lens, I don't think it well do well beyond that.

When I first got involved with this hobby a few years back and was solely doing the "lumens chase", I didn't care for low modes. My only objective in evaluating a light was how bright it was.

Now after spending a fair amount of time w/various lights/headlamps and analyzing beam patterns and brigtness in various settings in actual use, I've come to really appreciate low modes that don't mess w/your night vision and to your point yowzer, that won't blind people around you w/its use.

However, I have enough HL's that provide great lighting w/various low/med modes, the purpose of this was to be able to tan myself and others in the dark. ;o)

All kidding aside, it really is one bright headlamp. I'm still working on the review and will take a bunch of comparo pics w/outdoor shots as well.

Cheers,
Tim

Re: eGear X-Flare Pro Focus Control HL-400 (Preview w/pics)

Initial runtime posted. Was going to wait to post it along w/the rest of the review but given some questions cropped up around it, I decided to put it up now.

Cheers,
Tim

Re: eGear X-Flare Pro Focus Control HL-400 (Preview w/pics)

Hows the testing going, any outdoor pics?

Re: eGear X-Flare Pro Focus Control HL-400 (Preview w/pics)

Hey beast, sorry not yet. Have been busy writing two other reviews first and have put this on hold for now. I did get a chance to use it during camping over the memorial day weekend and must say it was overkill and a bit bulky so it was ditched in favor of other HL's. Will try to wrap up this review in a few weeks.

Cheers,
Tim

Re: eGear X-Flare Pro Focus Control HL-400 (Preview w/pics)

Quote: "I think this should qualify for the flood list even though it's just a tad under 60 deg. (I measured 50)." Agreed! Sorry I did not see this earlier. This is a fantastic light; wish I owned one too!

Re: eGear X-Flare Pro Focus Control HL-400 (Preview w/pics)

Any new info on this headlamp? I'm interested in some comparisons to other headlamps, how is the real world use outdoors, is it comfy to wear, etc. Thanks in advance --

Re: eGear X-Flare Pro Focus Control HL-400 (Preview w/pics)

Sorry for late reply, missed this update. Unfortunatley work has been absolutely brutal so I haven't even gotten around to writing this up. Still have a TK21 to wrap up before I get back on this one.

Gotta say, the heft is definitely felt after a while and I scrapped it in favor of smaller/lighter headlamps. In terms of output... WOAH! but then again, you really don't need all that much while camping. I hope to continue this review at some point in the future, just not right now.

Tim

Re: eGear X-Flare Pro Focus Control HL-400 (Preview w/pics)

Days to weeks, weeks to months, months to a new year! Wow, where does the time go?

As a quick update, I've attached new indoor shots on max flood/spot to OP. You can click on this link to get an idea of how it compares to other lights. I unfortunately do have other lights to review ahead of this so again this is on hold but will keep trying. If there is anything specific you'd like to know in the meanwhile, just ask.

Cheers,
Tim

Got a DB error while submitting this and while I see my reply, it hasn't bumped the thread strange...

If somebody wants to compare it by beamshots - I get it in my hands in the meantime
As usual 10M outdoor on gravel path and 3m indoor white wall:
http://www.light-test.info/index.ph...=category&layout=blog&id=39&Itemid=59&lang=pl

Oh wow, very nice Szemhazai! Thx for sharing. It's great to see how well this HL compares to the Petzl Ultra and Silva Alpha (especially given the price point).

Just one question, is there any chance the pics for the eGear XPF is actually underexposed? The reason I ask (and yes I know there is a seasonal difference between the time you took the pics vs. Ultra/Alpha), the lights for the buildings in the background don't seem as bright. I realize that some of it is likely obscured by foliage in the eGear pic but doesn't seem to account for that big a difference that I'm seeing.

Cheers,
Tim

The difference in light is visible only for very low cloud cover over the city, but the photos parameters are always the same - the biggest difference is caused by wet gravel / dry gravel. Thats why i've left inside beamshots in the comparision - sometimes I simply can't wait for my gravel path to get dry.

This headlamp is awesome. I have had it for over a year and have used it for LE, SAR and lots of other stuff. Still goin strong, very comfortable, would by another if I lost or broke it.