XTAR H1 Commander Headlight (1x 14500 or 1x AA) Review

XTAR's brand new H series of multifunctional headlamps is available in two versions:
The H1 Commander which utilises either a 14500 Li-ion cell or a AA Alkaline or rechargable cell.
The H2 Commader CR which utilises either a 16340 Li-ion cell or a CR123A Lithium cell.
This in-depth review will cover the H1 version.

XTAR is a well respected company and their lights are certainly no exception to the rule. This H1 Commander Dual Light Source headlight is another clear example of the quality and design we've come to expect.
From a price standpoint the H1, while not the cheapest light in it's class, does fair very well indeed - especially when considering the advances in technology that this H1 clearly takes advantage of.
It's good to see that this particular light is deliberately designed to utilise both the 3.7v Li-ion 14500 cells alongside the all too common trusty AA 1.2-1.5v cell.
So many times have I seen 14500 cells used in a light when it's clearly not designed for the higher voltage and the all too familiar smell of component smoke shortly thereafter. Some have been lucky, but usually it's only a matter of time.

The driver in this H1 light uses a voltage sensing circuit that cleverly controls the output of the light so as not to overstress the cell. It also controls the cutoff (shutdown) voltage, so the worry of over discharging a cell is completely diminished.
XTAR have utilised the already legendary XP-G2 R5 Bin emitter driven at a respectable level, so the sheer amount of output for a light in this class is a sight to behold.

If using the 14500 Li-ion rechargable cell, the H1 will allow a higher output 4th mode (Turbo) and this is where this light really excels.
If using a standard AA cell, the driver circuitry detects the lower cell voltage and boosts the voltage to the emitter. The modes with an AA type cell are limited to the default 3 modes; Low - Med - High.
With a manufacturers claim of 120 Lumens on the highest setting with the AA cell, this brings the H1 more in line for the most part with it's main competitors.

The light comes supplied in it's own dedicated see through packaging, and is well packed inside with little chance of courier damage unless crushed.
The basic specifications are clearly visible prior to opening the packaging.

Here is the light as it arrived. First, a look at the front

And a look at the packaging from the rear. XTAR were kind enough to send a 14500 Li-ion cell for testing purposes

The packaging contents includes the following:
• The flashlight
• The headband strap
• One spare Tailcap O-ring
• A lanyard
• A very detailed English instruction manual
• An XTAR warranty card

A visual representation of the dimensions can be seen below.

Looking at the H1 from the front shows the elegant styling, XTAR haven't gone overboard trying to make this light look like something from the space age.
They chose to stick with a clean, simplistic and ergonomic design.

Something we don't usually see is the second 'Red' LED right under the main LED, this 'Red' LED has some very beneficial uses (more about that later) but it was never going to be easy to design this light in such a way that it doesn't look like a fish out of water in the flashlight world, or an ugly duckling so to speak.
I personally think Xtar have done a remarkable job at making this light very appealing to the eye. It has a real quality look without being pretentious in any way whatsoever.

With the H1 on it's side we're able to get a little closer for some shots in finer detail.

External Observations
First off are a couple of images to highlight the profile of the H1 and the nice matt finish

Here we can see the well machines grooves around the back of the head and on the battery tube.

Despite the lack of any texturing on the grooves around the battery tube, they do offer a nice feel of grip when using the light in hand.
They also help to provide additional heatsinking for the body of the light.

The switchless tailcap is completely flat and perfect for tailstanding.
No magnetic base on the H1, but it would be a perfect additional feature for XTAR to consider on later editions

Looking directly at the business end of the H1 shows the Cree XP-G2 emitter with it's plastic centering disc, although strangely the emitter isn't quite perfectly centered despite the disc.
Another noticable factor is the base of the reflector does seem to have an excessively large opening around the emitter, and the emitter itself is fairly deeply set below the base of the reflector.

I can't help wondering if this contributes to the fuzzy hotspot edges, more so than I would expect from the Orange Peel reflector alone.

The bezel around both LED's are Stainless Steel and very well machined.
The lens for the main LED is glass with a very good anti-reflective coating. The lens for the Red LED is either Acrylic or Polycarbonate.

A closer look at the bezel of the main emitter shows the machining quality. Also visible in slightly more detail in this closeup are the indents for a dedicated tool needed to remove the bezel.
The green lens seal is compressed very well and glows when the light is powered off.

The purple hue of the Anti-Reflective coating on the glass lens can be seen when catching the light at just the right angle.
In fact, this lens is so crytal clear that it really does look like the rubber seal is sat above the lens, but the reality is.. it's underneath the glass

The following image shows a close up of the Aspheric dome and surround for the Red emitter

I'm very impressed with the overall fit and finish on this light. The machining is the best I've seen to date and even with a very fine toothed comb, there is quite literally not a single flaw to be found.
The anodizing is type 3 and is very evenly applied with a nice matt finish and no shiny patches or missing areas between grooves. It's not without it's faults though..

There are a few chips in the anodizing around the areas where the pocket clip attaches to the light.
This was apparent upon opening the package for the first time and looks to be due to the fitting of the pocket clip when manufactured.

Also on the other side

The anodizing elsewhere on the light is flawless though. A general idea of the anodizing quality can be seen in this next image.
This also gives us a chance to take a closer look at the laser etching. The edges are a little fuzzy under closer scrutiny which is quite noticable on the main logo.

Under normal circumstances you would see me completely strip a light of it's internal components in my reviews, but XTAR do indeed glue their lights closed.
Despite my valiant efforts I was unable to get a look inside at the heatsinking arrangement, although XTAR do claim that the heatsinking is very substantial.

So I spoke with XTAR and their design engineer kindly sent me their final internal design drawing.
The emitter inside the H1 is mounted direct to the main body of the light. What this achieves is the best possible thermal transfer of heat away from the emitter.
This arrangement can be clearly seen in the design drawing below

With the design drawing superimposed over the actual light, it gives a much better visual representation of exactly how the emitter is mounted.

This next image (a zoomed portion of an earlier image) shows in more detail the machined grooves which help airflow across the surface of the head section in order to dissipate heat.
The grooves themselves are well machined and relatively deep.
With the light running on Turbo until stepdown at 5 mins (more about that further on) the head of the light does get very warm without any noticable drop in output.
This is a clear indication that the heat generated by the emitter is being comfortably transfered to the outer body of the light.

After seeing the internal design, coupled with the heatsinking potential of the flashlight body, I feel 100% comfortable running this light on maximum output for prolonged periods

The switch has a good positive feel with a clear audible 'Click' when depressed and the rubber boot cover has the XTAR logo moulded in which is a nice aesthetic feature.
I wouldn't go as far as to say the boot rubber is too thin, but more so the top of the switch button feels kind of pointy underneath which makes the rubber move and squidge around.

This isn't too much of a problem if not a little disconcerting as the H1 has a narrow body, but I should imagine it would feel noticeably more pronounced on the H2 version of this light.
There is a H2 review coming up so I will await to see if this is mentioned at all.
A wider switch button would definitely be a welcomed tweak.

The lanyard supplied with this light is made to a higher standard than most similar sized lanyards I've seen.
I must admit though, my hands are pretty chunky and I do struggle to fit a hand in the loop.

With the supplied lanyard fitted through the hole in the top of the light, it looks like this..

Another shot of the lanyard fitted, this time a full view

The beauty of having the lanyard hole at the top of the light means that when fitted it doesn't interfere with the light's tailstanding capabilities. A definite plus from me there!

The pocket clip is made from spring steel and it's very strong.. dare I say it maybe a little too strong! because it's very difficult to clip and unclip the light from a pocket without using two hands.
The clip push fits onto the light which takes considerable force, especially when removing. The benefit of this though is that the light does feel very secure and I really don't ever find myself worrying if it will detatch itself.

I do not believe the black colour is any kind of metal treatment or infused finish due to the shiny gloss appearance and several chips to be found. I'm fairly certain the clip is paint finished.

If we take a look at the tailcap, we can see that the machining and finish is very good indeed with a criss-cross chequered knurling for extra grip.
This does actually work very well to make the surface slightly abrasive and easy to grip when removing the cap to replace cells.

Here is a close up image of the machined chequered knurling on the tailcap

Internal Observations

Since I was unable to strip the light there isn't a whole lot of internals to observate except for the following..

With the tailcap removed we can take a look at the threads here. They are very good quality threads and are also fully anodized, this helps tremendously to reduce wear when replacing cells.
I really couldn't tell if the threads were square cut or not by eye, from certain angles it looks like they are then catching the light from a different angle says they're not.
It was with more luck than judgement that I managed to grab a fairly decent macro shot and it appears that they are almost square but not quite.

Nevertheless, they do feel ultra smooth and were nicely lubricated from the factory.
The rubber O-ring was also lubricated correctly and provides what feels like a very good watertight seal with excellent resistance when tightening the tailcap.

Besides the wear resistance of anodized threads, the other very useful feature they offer is the ability to lock out the light from it's voltage source.
This can be especially effective and also important with lights of this type that use Electronic switching as they usually draw some standby current when the light is off.

The base of the battery tube can be seem here which makes contact with the inner tailcap connection plate when the tailcap is fully tightened.
Also worth mentioning here is the noticably thick tube walls for extra strength and rigidity. The extra mass of metal also really helps to wick away the heat from the head of the light.

Here is the tailcap itself removed from the light, the threads are fully anodized here too as expected.
The tailcap spring is very strong and is Gold plated to prevent oxidation and improve electrical contact.

The spring sits inside a well, which it fully retracts into when compressed by the base of the cell as the tailcap is tightend.
Despite the lack of top spring there is no cell rattle whatsoever even when shaking the light vigorously.

This leads me on to the cell fitment and configuration with some points I would like to mention.
If we take a look at this next image, it shows the base of the cell fully inserted into the tube.
What this emphasises is that with the XTAR 14500 'Unprotected' cell, it's pretty close to the end of the tube so there's absolutely no way a protected cell can be used here.

XTAR states that when using a rechargable 14500 Li-ion cell, the voltage sensing circuit in their driver will automatically switch the light to low mode at 3.0 Volts and shut it off completely at 2.75 Volts.
I quite literally haven't had the time to test this yet but I do fully intend to and I will update this review with the results.

If this is the case though (and I strongly suspect it will be) it means that the need for protected cells in this light is unnecessary due to the overdischarge protection built into the driver circuitry.

XTAR's reverse polarity protection is a cleverly designed mechanical feature.
This next image (pictures courtesy of XTAR) will highlight how this works by physically preventing contact with the driver's center positive connection point if the cell is inadvertently inserted backwards.

What this does mean though is that Flat Top cells cannot be used.

The Driver & Interface
At the heart of any good light is a good driver with a good interface and I must say I do like what XTAR have done here.
The interface on the H1 is very intuitive and easy to use so I'll try to explain how it works.

AA Cell
• First press - Low mode
• Second press - Med Mode
• Third press - High Mode
• Then back to - Low mode

14500 Li-ion Cell
• First press- Low mode
• Second press - Med mode
• Third press - High mode
• Fourth press - Turbo mode
• Then back to - Low mode

Either Cell Type - Red LED
• First Double click - Constant on
• Second Double click - SOS
• Single click - Back to Low mode (main LED)

Turn light off
• Press & Hold 1.5 seconds (from any mode)

*note* When the light is turned on it will 'Always' come on in Low mode

I'm almost certain that the driver in this light uses full linear regulation as there is no visible PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) in Any mode.
When using Turbo mode, the light will step-down to high due to a built in 5 minute timer. The light can always be forced back to turbo for a further 5 mins.

My verdict is that it's a great interface. I do like it a lot but there is one thing I would like to see in the next revision of this light.
It would be great if XTAR gave the option of turning on the light to Maximum output by pressing and holding the switch for 1 second.
Due to the compact nature and angled design, it's a perfect light for a Lady to carry in her purse or handbag.
With the added ability to turn on the light to it's highest level, the H1 could serve as a great deterent device for a lone female to carry at night.

Drive current.. All measurments taken at the tailcap.
These charts (drawn to scale) will hopefully give a fairly good visual representation of the drive current and spacing between modes.

The modes are very well spaced with a very nice lowest mode which is perfect for enclosed spaces or for camping at night.
The XP-G2 driven at almost a full 1 Amp in Turbo mode (using a 14500 Li-ion cell) is going to be right in the ballpark of the claimed 330 Lumens Output after losses.

You're probably wondering why I haven't mentioned the Red LED. Well I could write a ten page essay about this but I'll try to give a general explanation of it's benefits and some applicable scenarios.

The Red LED, it's benefits & Applicable uses
Is the red LED just a gimmicky feature with no real use ? it's all too easy to dismiss it as just that so let me try to explain why I think it's a very useful feature to have.

It's a huge can of worms that I'm not willing to open due to various ongoing debates, but the generally most accepted consensus is that Red Light Preserves Night Vision.
The human eye can take from 20 minutes, up to an hour or more to adapt to very low ambient light conditions and the part of our eye responsible for 'night vision' are the Rods.
Rods are incredibly sensitive to light, particularly light intensity and the slightest amount of light intensity (when compared with the adapted light level) will reset the Rods (night vision is lost)

Some will say the Rods cannot see red light so they are not affected, while this isn't completely true.. Rods do actually see red light, what is true is that red light affects the rods to a much lesser extent.
What this means is that when using a red light, night vision is restored at a considerably faster rate when compared to using other wavelengths of light (Blue, Green, White etc)
Red light used at lower intensities will give us a sense of almost immediate night vision restoration.

I've tested this myself quite thoroughly using the H1 and for me, the night vision restoration times are dramatically improved when comparing the Red LED with the Main LED on it's lowest setting.
There are many useful applications and scenarios where the Red LED is a valuable asset to have in a flashlight.

Star gazers and Astronomers often use a red light for setting up their equipment to preserve night vision
Military organisations worldwide use red lights to preserve night vision
Hunters often use a red light when hunting and stalking at night to preserve night vision

The applications are almost endless. I will try to give an indication of the level of intensity of the Red LED in my beamshots a little further on.

The Headband Holder
The headband supplied with the H1 is made of a well padded soft and flexible material, it doesn't scratch the skin at all and is entirely non abrasive.
Here is a picture of the soft material with XTAR's own logo embroidered in

Looking at the adjustment straps at the rear shows that the plastic adjusters do not push against the skin, this is a plus for long term wear comfortability.
The adjusters themselves are a very snug fit around the strap and grip very well. This means that once adjusted, they do not move unexpectedly.

As with any head strap that doesn't employ a center top strap, it translates to having to have this style of strap slightly tighter than perhaps one normally would.
Because of this, I found that after a few minutes of wear, the strap began to feel uncomfortable on my forehead.
This is because the back of the rubber slots (of the light holder) are fairly narrow at the point where they press againt the skin.

I fully realise that any headstrap direct to head is going to cause long term comfort issues, but if XTAR made these portions wider, it would be bearable for substantially longer.
This next image shows these two rubber portions that make contact directly with the wearer's forehead.

The light quite literally just pushes through the rubber retaining rings as seen in the image below. Once there, it's a very tight fit and most definitly will not move or twist unless considerable force is used.
To adjust the the angle of the beam up and down, you just grab the light and 'very slowly' twist. If you try to twist it too fast, the rubber rings will grip tight and it will not move.

I personally do like the tight fit in this area because you know that once it's set, it's going to stay put.
Also, please note the pocket clip, with the clip removed, the light will push much further into the rings making it more central on the wearers head.
This isn't a burden for me so I just leave the clip in place.

Here is a slightly wider viewpoint of the light fitted inside the rings ready for head wear use.

*word of caution*
If like me you decide it would be cool if the rubber rings were sat directly either side of the emitters then please do try it like I did.
However, due to the shape of the light in that area, it will not allow up/down adjustment.

When you 'Struggle' to remove the light after realising it wasn't such a good idea after all..
Please be sure to lock out the light with the tailcap in order to avoid several blinding Arc-Eye incidents coupled with swear words.

Before moving on to the beamshots, let me leave you with an image of the H1 Commander in two modes of illumination.
On the left is low mode with the main LED and with the Red LED on the right

Beamshots
The beam profile of the H1 is very clean with no artifacts at all, this is down to what looks like a very good quality reflector with an Orange Peel texture.
The spill is very wide and very even.

Earlier in the review I mentioned the slightly fuzzy hotspot.
This isn't really a criticism but more of an observation because for a light this small and with the relatively narrow reflector, the H1 does throw remarkably well despite the additional wide spill beam.
I can only imagine that with cleaner, crisp edges to the hotspot that this light would be even more astounding if that's possible.

Hopefully this next image will highlight my observations of the hotspot.
This image is taken @ 1 meter from the wall. I've also darkened down the image slightly on the right in order to highlight just the hotspot itself without the spill beam.

Since the highest BIN XP-G2 emitter is utilised in this light, I expected somewhat more of a cool tint.
I guess due to being driven at a lower level (when compared with the XP-G2's full capabilites) it gives a much more pleasing natural tint.
This next image shows the comparison of some shrubs between natural daylight and illumination from the H1 on max output.

The reds and yellows seem very bright and the green is definitely not the washed out grey I would expect from a cool tint emitter.

Normally I would offer a mouse-over comparison for the outdoor beamshots, but in this case since I'm comparing three output levels I've chosen a .gif format.
The image quality does suffer slightly and in real life it's somewhat brighter than portrayed here but it still gives a good indication of the different output levels.

I've chosen Med, High and Turbo for this comparison. The low mode is actually so low that it didn't register without overexposing the ISO settings.
You'll notice the big jump in output from high to turbo mode and also the clean spill beam with no artifacts whatseover.
The Apple tree is 35 meters from the H1 in this comparison

Lastly for the beamshots I've tried to show the beam intensity difference when comparing the lowest mode of the main LED vs the red LED
I decided our junk shed was a likely candidate, and the type of place where you may consider using both of these modes.. so please excuse the junk!

XTAR H1 Commander Low mode (3 lumen) vs Red LED (identical camera settings here)

Final Conclusion
The XTAR H1 Commander is a very nice light indeed. It is very well constructed and is extremely solid.
The size is perfect for EDC use and the output is staggering, especially when taking into account that the H1 is not all that much larger than a single 18650 cell that most of us use in our 'small' lights.

One thing which always concerns me with small lights is the heatsinking arrangement and more often than not you'll see small lights like these driven at pitiful levels to accommodate the poor thermal capabilities.
What XTAR have done here is really thought about the design in this area and given every possible chance for heat transfer away from the emitter by mounting it directly to the body of the light and designing the light in such a way that the entire light itself becomes the heatsink.
It's a rare thing for me to say about a production light, but I'm more than comfortable with running this light for as long as the cell can take it in it's highest output mode.
If I hadn't seen the design drawing, I would have been very wary about using turbo mode for any more than 30 seconds at a time.

This light does have stacks of strong points in many areas and those of you who are already familiar with my reviews will know I make no bones about pointing out any flaws.
There genuinely is nothing 'Bad' per se about this light other than a few minor alterations and a possible few upgrades that I would like XTAR to consider in later editions.

Remember though guys, this isn't what you should consider a budget light and rightly so. Once you hold it on your hand and begin to use it you will clearly see why.
If you are looking for a light in this class and price range then you really should seriously consider H1 Commander because I guarantee that you will not be disappointed.

I categorize this light as Highly Recommended

Thanks for reading guys, and if you made it this far.. you truly are a Flashaholic!

Spas out

Not even one person comment on this review? Dang... thanks Spasmod for a great review! I really hope you can do some runtime test. Xtar flashlight aren't really famous for their driver design, and a lot of their previous model use PWM for low and med mode. I would like to see how they holding up this time with their current control driver. Thanks again.

yeah fantastic review! I especially like the superimposed image! way to think outside the box

Nice review, I really like your outdoor beamshots with daylight comparison. and the photography was really good. I will have to look into this headlamp but I've spent my flashlight money for this month.

yea, i also really liked the review. The only thing is xtar h1 is the same size as the zebralight h600 with half the lumen output, but not half the price. I do like the 14500/aa battery option. Zebralight has several options as far as emitters and programable modes. I am glad to see another angle light option though.:thumbsup:

Been looking at this light quite carefully because ive always wanted something like a H52 but zebralight won't make it in the next decade. This looks interesting, however I still want one in neutral.

Thanks very much for the kind words guys. It's what makes all the effort worthwhile, since I'm a relatively new reviewer and none of you know me it means a lot!

I'll do the runtime test most likely this evening and update with the results. There's a couple of other things I forgot which I'll test also.

Thanks guys

Nice review

Spasmod said:

none of you know me it means a lot!

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i'm outside mowing your lawn...

tobrien said:

i'm outside mowing your lawn...

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LOL I wish you were.. it takes nearly 2 hours to mow that lawn with this tiny mower

Nice review. I'm glad you bring up the comfort level because for me that's the most important. All these silicone tube holders have the same design flaw as you mentioned. Those 2 end rubber points that are the pressure points that dig into your head. Zebralight, Spark also suffer from this. I would like to see the manufacturers make the holder run the strap behind the light so that the center of the holder is the actual pressure point. It would be a more substantial area that can increase the comfort level.
When I look at Armytek new headlamp, I noticed that their end area is wider. That would be another design choice.

I always wonder which is better for night vision. The red led on this vs zebralight's sublumen levels.

The fins behind the head makes sense but I feel like the fins on the body don't. I am wrong in thinking that it barely helps shed any heat. In exchange it's just extra weight added to the light. Actually I feel that the fins are not thin enough to really help. My impression is that it's mostly cosmetic.

f22shift said:

The red led on this vs zebralight's sublumen levels.

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Although I do not have any hands-on experience with this particular headlamp I do have experience with red LED lights in this lumen range and I can tell you that they would both have the same effect on night vision.

Very nice review Spas, I look forward to seeing more from you! And I love reviewers who put the battery type in the thread title, very convenient, keep up the good work. :thumbsup:

weekend warrior said:

Very nice review Spas, I look forward to seeing more from you! And I love reviewers who put the battery type in the thread title, very convenient, keep up the good work. :thumbsup:

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Thanks for your support weekend warrior :thumbsup:

WOW what a review!! Thanks for all the work!

markr6 said:

WOW what a review!! Thanks for all the work!

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Thanks Mark :thumbsup:

Great review. Very detailed. Thanks!

Nice review :thumbsup: I'm tempted by a H2

Speaking as a big Zebralight and moonlight output fan... the addition of the red LED makes this a really interesting sounding headlamp and not just another clone. Now where's a neutral or high cri version?