Zebralight H600Fc Mk IV - First Impressions
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markr6
Flashaholic
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I've always meant to get a pic after all these years but keep forgetting. I'll try to remember today.
But to describe it, you take the lamp out, run the strap thru a slot from the bottom, then thru the round hole then thru the other round hole, then out the other slot. It seems strange but once you do this and reinsert the lamp, it holds the lamp a little tighter (good for running/biking) and also eliminates any pressure on your head since it's just a smooth piece of rubber touching your forehead and nothing else. As it comes out of the box, there's a bit of pressure on each end where the strap runs thru the slots. It didn't bother me too much, but it was certainly something I wanted to fix.
Hi CPF, my first post here...
I have been looking for a good headlamp for some time now and it seems like the ZL H600Fc Mk IV comes the closest to fitting my requirements. So much so, that I ordered one from ZL yesterday, even with the issues mentioned in here, with the oscillating PID and the tailcap.
Nevertheless, I wonder if any of you know if any of these two issues have been solved or improved in current production models?
Thanks in advance.
mobi
Newly Enlightened
Welcome to CPF.
Using an H600Fd Mk IV here. The issues you asked about apply to the "d" as well as "c". I'm writing about a related issue that deals with current flow for the lowest levels.
When the light arrives, it acted erratically. I cleaned the tailcap spring assembly. Apparently some silicone liberally applied to the screw threads of the light had gotten onto the part of the spring that makes electrical contact with the body.
That helped. Still, there was a persistent, intermittent problem with the lower lamp light levels. I attribute this to a cold battery, since in the winter I use the light in a cold environment. What led me to this tentative conclusion is that when I heated up the battery by turning the light on high for a while, then the problems cleared up.
In any case, Zebralight recommends on its website using their ZL battery, and I have four of their 18650's; yet apparently their batteries are part of the problem.
I am a fan of Zebralights. They are the lights I use almost exclusively. ZL is always pushing the envelope to develop better lights. This H600Fd has color popping CRI which makes any shortcomings neglible.
If I need to get new batteries to take advantage of new advancements, so be it. But for now, I'm managing fine with just the ZL batteries.
Edit: Zebralight does not outright recommend using the ZL635 battery. However, the ZL635 is used as the battery they insert into the H600Fd to determine its actual weight with a battery. I take that as an endorsement of sorts. That being said, according to the communication from ZL quoted in the comment above, protected batteries like the ZL635 are considered suspect because of their added resistance. Or perhaps ZL was only referring to inferior protected batteries.
Using an H600Fd Mk IV here. The issues you asked about apply to the "d" as well as "c". I'm writing about a related issue that deals with current flow for the lowest levels.
When the light arrives, it acted erratically. I cleaned the tailcap spring assembly. Apparently some silicone liberally applied to the screw threads of the light had gotten onto the part of the spring that makes electrical contact with the body.
That helped. Still, there was a persistent, intermittent problem with the lower lamp light levels. I attribute this to a cold battery, since in the winter I use the light in a cold environment. What led me to this tentative conclusion is that when I heated up the battery by turning the light on high for a while, then the problems cleared up.
In any case, Zebralight recommends on its website using their ZL battery, and I have four of their 18650's; yet apparently their batteries are part of the problem.
I am a fan of Zebralights. They are the lights I use almost exclusively. ZL is always pushing the envelope to develop better lights. This H600Fd has color popping CRI which makes any shortcomings neglible.
If I need to get new batteries to take advantage of new advancements, so be it. But for now, I'm managing fine with just the ZL batteries.
Edit: Zebralight does not outright recommend using the ZL635 battery. However, the ZL635 is used as the battery they insert into the H600Fd to determine its actual weight with a battery. I take that as an endorsement of sorts. That being said, according to the communication from ZL quoted in the comment above, protected batteries like the ZL635 are considered suspect because of their added resistance. Or perhaps ZL was only referring to inferior protected batteries.
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mobi
Newly Enlightened
I wrote the post above referencing the spring in the cap over two years ago. I've been using the H600Fd Mk IV daily since then, hours a day. I have not encountered any issue with the spring in that time span.
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I recently got the H600Fd Mk IV after a bit of a backorder wait and so far I'm not favorably impressed. My light dims itself down significantly from high after 25 minutes from a fully charged battery. It doesn't like to operate on high when the battery is under 4 volts and dims almost immediately. I have a previous model in the series and it doesn't present with that issue so I wonder if the higher output is a setback. Coorespondances with the manufacturer seems to circle back to "cool it down" but if that is a requirement of use then it's not a useful tool to me. Sending it back for diagnosis.
[h3][/h3]
[h3][/h3]
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fxsniper
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2016
- Messages
- 19
Any news?
I also recently had some similar problems.
I have three headlamps MKIV series and they have not been used much after purchase.
I recently found out that of the three Headlamp the H604d is the one that maintains performance the longest before going down.
H604c is the one with the worst behavior (drops fastest of all three)
H600Fw an intermediate behavior between the two.
I used thermometers, stopwatch and lux meter to test using multiple batteries and also using the same battery on multiple flashlights.
A test at about 21 C ° (indoors) showed this H604c problematic, but the repeated test outdoors with 14C ° and a lot of wind gave different (better) results.
The H604c is always the worst of the three examples but with the wind and the low temperature the times before the stepdown change a lot (for the better)
I tried again at home using also a hairdryer when I see the light go down (cold air used at minimum)
The Zebralights seem very sensitive to air circulation, just a few seconds of hair dryer (even kept away!)
A few seconds of air are enough to see the power increase immediately (visible even without lux meter)
I opened a case with Zebralight cs, the communications were difficult because there are no answers using the email while they are immediate by writing through the account on their site
They say that the PID oscillations are not visible but I see them well, both with the instrument and with the naked eye.
I took advantage of the event to analyze the behavior of my old H602w by doing tests at the 620 lumens level.
Here too it was interesting to see the behavior, constant light for many consecutive minutes and after around 10 minutes (homemade test - about 21 C ° - no fan) the power drops to about 480 lumens but just use the hair dryer at minimum (held away) for a few seconds to see the 620 lumens return immediately.
For H604c I hope to receive clarification from Zebralight, I find it absurd that three lights of the same series purchased a few months from each other have given different results.
This being the case, my H604c can only be used at high power at low temperatures.
I tried to follow the instructions and change the PID value but without noticing any change.
For the moment they told me to clean the contacts but I don't have Deoxit, I'm waiting for their answer to find out if I can use homemade alcohol or a specific WD 40 for electrical contacts.
The behavior of my Armytek is different, they keep the maximum power longer without going down but the new v4 versions have a differently calibrated thermal sensor and will be similar to the Zebra.
I heard from a dealer that there are many complaints about excessive heat but with my Armytek I never got burned :-D
However, I want to clarify that the Armytek Pro is bigger, heavier and also has cooling fins.
The old Wizard Pro V3 has a thermal sensor that intervenes at 60 or 65 C ° while the Zebralights never get so hot, with an infrared thermometer I have always detected lower temperatures (they change depending on the measured point) I do not seem to ever having seen more than 55 ° C
I have three headlamps MKIV series and they have not been used much after purchase.
I recently found out that of the three Headlamp the H604d is the one that maintains performance the longest before going down.
H604c is the one with the worst behavior (drops fastest of all three)
H600Fw an intermediate behavior between the two.
I used thermometers, stopwatch and lux meter to test using multiple batteries and also using the same battery on multiple flashlights.
A test at about 21 C ° (indoors) showed this H604c problematic, but the repeated test outdoors with 14C ° and a lot of wind gave different (better) results.
The H604c is always the worst of the three examples but with the wind and the low temperature the times before the stepdown change a lot (for the better)
I tried again at home using also a hairdryer when I see the light go down (cold air used at minimum)
The Zebralights seem very sensitive to air circulation, just a few seconds of hair dryer (even kept away!)
A few seconds of air are enough to see the power increase immediately (visible even without lux meter)
I opened a case with Zebralight cs, the communications were difficult because there are no answers using the email while they are immediate by writing through the account on their site
They say that the PID oscillations are not visible but I see them well, both with the instrument and with the naked eye.
I took advantage of the event to analyze the behavior of my old H602w by doing tests at the 620 lumens level.
Here too it was interesting to see the behavior, constant light for many consecutive minutes and after around 10 minutes (homemade test - about 21 C ° - no fan) the power drops to about 480 lumens but just use the hair dryer at minimum (held away) for a few seconds to see the 620 lumens return immediately.
For H604c I hope to receive clarification from Zebralight, I find it absurd that three lights of the same series purchased a few months from each other have given different results.
This being the case, my H604c can only be used at high power at low temperatures.
I tried to follow the instructions and change the PID value but without noticing any change.
For the moment they told me to clean the contacts but I don't have Deoxit, I'm waiting for their answer to find out if I can use homemade alcohol or a specific WD 40 for electrical contacts.
The behavior of my Armytek is different, they keep the maximum power longer without going down but the new v4 versions have a differently calibrated thermal sensor and will be similar to the Zebra.
I heard from a dealer that there are many complaints about excessive heat but with my Armytek I never got burned :-D
However, I want to clarify that the Armytek Pro is bigger, heavier and also has cooling fins.
The old Wizard Pro V3 has a thermal sensor that intervenes at 60 or 65 C ° while the Zebralights never get so hot, with an infrared thermometer I have always detected lower temperatures (they change depending on the measured point) I do not seem to ever having seen more than 55 ° C
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2012
- Messages
- 642
Stefano, the H604c is high CRI and warmest LED. That combination = hottest led per lumen produced. So isn't this behavior what one would expect between those lights?
Thanks for the tip but I'm stumped
H604d=5000K
H604c=4000K
Zebralight on the site declares the same lumens for both but with the lux meter I see that the c version has about 7/10% less lux
I don't understand why 1000 degrees Kelvin difference gives a much faster descent.
The descent with the H604d starts much later and is slower.
I posted the details in another thread
The Official Zebralight Thread .
This looks like the place to ask..... Does anybody know if Zebralight is going out of business? Most of their models are completely unavailable in the UK now. And the situation seems to be similar in the rest of Europe. There seems to be a small amount of stock at NKON but they only deal in...
www.candlepowerforums.com
Have you tried to adjust or reset the pid?
Sorry, just read that you did attempt a pid adjustment.
Without any change from pid, its function could be bad.
Either programming or components.
Without any change from pid, its function could be bad.
Either programming or components.
Yes, I have tried both the reset and to raise the PID.
I thought maybe there was some anomaly because I had activated the G6 function but it didn't depend on that - I reset that too.
I also tried lowering the PID but didn't notice any difference.
Let's see what Zebralight replies to my second message.
How many here have ever tried to change the PID? (I had never done it before)
Luckily we are heading for the winter
Zebralight wrote to me to clean the contacts, if this does not solve the problem send to China for repair.
I cleaned the contacts, waited a day or two to be sure of drying and repeated the test.
Everything remained as before, the H604c drops in brightness too soon compared to the H604d
After a few days I was about to pack the headlamp for shipping, even though the hot version was marked with an orange string (to recognize it) I wanted to check that it was the "c" version with the PID problem.
I realized that it no longer works, it does not turn on, it is the first Zebralight that "dies"
I cleaned the contacts, waited a day or two to be sure of drying and repeated the test.
Everything remained as before, the H604c drops in brightness too soon compared to the H604d
After a few days I was about to pack the headlamp for shipping, even though the hot version was marked with an orange string (to recognize it) I wanted to check that it was the "c" version with the PID problem.
I realized that it no longer works, it does not turn on, it is the first Zebralight that "dies"
From an old post but wondering if anyone has a link for a better holder (Armytek?) than the silicone holder that ZL ships with it's lights? I'm looking to upgrade to a H604c from my old ZL (can't even remember the model... long discontinued) and I never loved the silicone holder as it would slip if I was running or bouncing around.
Maybe you just got the rare "bad" one? I hope so (for my sake) as I'm getting ready to order the same one you have...
likethevegetable
Enlightened
When I purchased it from the site, I was able to just get the mount. It looks like the design may have changed slightly with the silicon ring. Can't guarantee this works!
I also hope it's just a bad specimen.
My impression is that the switch is broken, this headlamp was new, before the break I had only programmed G6 and made some reset to try to understand if the thermal problem could be solved.
The H604d is beautiful, the H600 Fc soon drops in brightness but not as the H604c.
I bought H604c, H604d and H600Fc but they were hardly used.
My old H602w has been used a lot and is still solid.
