Sorry, I forgot this yesterday. I'm afraid I don't have time to do this test this week either.
Anyone buy the Armytek Tiara A1 or C1 yet?
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Sorry, I forgot this yesterday. I'm afraid I don't have time to do this test this week either.
FWIW, I have Prime A1 Pro Warm, which should be the same driver as the Tiara, and find its specs quite badly exaggerated (2000 mah Eneloop)... or I have a particularly inefficient and/or faulty sample:
- 0.15lm/90day mode; I get 0.02 lms in my lightbox and a 12.5ma tailcap draw (~7 days)
- 1.5lm/200hr mode; I get 0.4 lms and a 20.5ma tailcap draw (~100 hrs)
- 10lm/25hr mode: I get 6 lms and ~16 hrs, or about the same as my N219 D25A. My Neutron V2, SC52 and S15 nearly doubled that runtime. All lights are in the 5.5-8 lms range (despite spec claims), and were run side-by-side.
- 0.15lm/90day mode; I get 0.02 lms in my lightbox and a 12.5ma tailcap draw (~7 days)
- 1.5lm/200hr mode; I get 0.4 lms and a 20.5ma tailcap draw (~100 hrs)
- 10lm/25hr mode: I get 6 lms and ~16 hrs, or about the same as my N219 D25A. My Neutron V2, SC52 and S15 nearly doubled that runtime. All lights are in the 5.5-8 lms range (despite spec claims), and were run side-by-side.
I tried to measure the current in my headlamp, but I came into conclusion that the DMM interfered with the actual current draw needed. Have you tried to run the flashlight e.g on 10 lm level and see if it runs 20+ hours?
Yes, that was my last bullet point above.
I am comfortable with the DMM readings, they triangulate well with the actual runtimes I got on several other moonlight mode lights (which are posted in that ZL runtime thread above).
Oh, ofc. I thought you got that 16 hours estimate based on tailcap current.
Let's see if I remember to turn on my headlamp when I get back home tomorrow and see if it runs more than 16 hours. Unfortunately I don't have a lightbox.
divestoclimb
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My A1 arrived in the mail late last week. Initial thoughts for trail use:
- it's noticeably bigger than AAA headlamps made by Princeton Tec, Black Diamond, Petzl in its longest dimension, and with the mount design takes up about the same amount of space in the other two dimensions.
- weight of light, mount, strap, and an Eneloop is 103 grams. Armytek's weight specification of 48 g must be excluding the mount and strap as well as the battery. This makes the headlamp slightly heavier than my Black Diamond Cosmo, which weighs 92g with 3x AAA Eneloops, although it makes up for it in weight savings of spare batteries.
- I got to take a trail walk after dusk one evening with it and the beam is quite impressive. Main1 level is acceptable for trail use, and I found all I needed to do most of the time was bump it up to Main2 for a couple seconds to get a look reasonably further ahead. Main3 felt ridiculously bright for lighting up large sections of the route ahead, and at Max I can see everything. The spill is quite nice, I feel like I have a better ability to pick out details with it. Use on a glacier or a talus/scree field is going to be fun!
- No complaints about switch operation, at least with bare hands. It won't turn on easily in a backpack even without using the manual lockout. That is one of my biggest peeves with Black Diamond's lights.
- I got a glimpse of myself in a mirror wearing the thing. I look like a Borg drone! Definitely not a fashion statement, but if it's dark out no one will notice right?
Hi divestoclimb and welcome to the forums!
I turned my Tiara A1 on at Main1 yesterday around 11pm UTC. It has run over 22 hours now and I think I'm starting to notice decline in output. Yet, I'm still able to move around in the dark house using the light as well as to cycle through all the modes including turbo. I am using a 2000 mAh Eneloop that I charged right before I started the test. Based on this experience I can say for sure that it runs at least for 20 hours before any notable difference from the initial output.
@reppans: Are you sure your battery or flashlight isn't defected?
edit: I got bored so I stopped the test running the light on turbo for 1 min 30 sec after which the output seemed to be same as on Main3. After that the internal voltage meter gave me only 2 blinks (0.2 V, really?). I put the battery into charger which showed the voltage under no load was still 1.21 V. Also, my headlamp is V1, not V2.
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Guess my sample is defective... ran it twice. What ma do you get on your ff1 and ff2 tailcap measurements? My battery meter doesn't work either... or rather it only changes after the light has already stepped down (NiMh).
Edit.... guess we may be apples to oranges... I have a Warm Prime V2 Pro.
Edit.... guess we may be apples to oranges... I have a Warm Prime V2 Pro.
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divestoclimb
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Seeing some scary runtime numbers like mhanlen's 4 hours got me worried, but I'm approaching 8.5 hours on my test so that's a relief. It'll make it through one night!
Now I want to make sure I know how many nights the battery will last so I know how many cells to pack on longer trips, or if I should consider 14500s.
Now I want to make sure I know how many nights the battery will last so I know how many cells to pack on longer trips, or if I should consider 14500s.
Worry not! That 4h10min by mhanlen was for Main2. I think he didn't have time to wait that 20+ hours
garbman
Newly Enlightened
Hi there
i see that there are two Tiara's A1 PRO XML out here.
The "old" one has 550 lumens output and the "new" one V2, that it has 420 of the led lumens.
is it the same model or there are more differences that I can't see.
am I missing something?
thanks
i see that there are two Tiara's A1 PRO XML out here.
The "old" one has 550 lumens output and the "new" one V2, that it has 420 of the led lumens.
is it the same model or there are more differences that I can't see.
am I missing something?
thanks
There are some other differences too. IIRC v2 doesn't have battery voltage meter. V2 is 13 g lighter (reference: manual) and it has a anyard attachment hole. The manual of v2 doesn't describe how to turn on the beacon or strobe so I'm not sure if they're gone with the voltage meter too. Output seems to be lower with same runtimes in v2 but this may be due to a better calibration of measuring equipment.
Woods Walker
The Wood is cut, The Bacon is cooked, Now it’s tim
Not sure I am seeing any real advantage in the pro version for the 1XAA. Is the headband still too tight etc? Been looking for a headlamp with a firefly mode and drop resistant and the normal version has it but my tolerance for buggy UIs etc is low.
Woods Walker
The Wood is cut, The Bacon is cooked, Now it’s tim
I was reading through this thread. What the heck does that cryptic mumbo jumbo mean? Was anyone ever able to find a rosetta stone or enigma machine to uncode that?
I believe it means your going to get a firefly mode but it might not be the same as someone else's firefly mode or the manufactures specs. I read somewhere that it can be difficult to get consistent outputs on very low light levels. So you are going to get a little light, they are just not sure how little.:shrug:
Woods Walker
The Wood is cut, The Bacon is cooked, Now it’s tim
All my Quarks seem to have the same sub lumen brightness. How hard can it be?
Gaffle
Enlightened
I read somewhere that the older version was lumens at the LED. New version is more of a OTF rating.
I collect sub-lumen lights and this appears to be very difficult to achieve based on how far off spec many of my sub-lumen lights are - and my Armytek Prime Pro A1 is hugely off (although in my favor for once
). I don't claim to be an expert, but I'm beginning to believe companies like FourSevens and ThruNite actually calibrate their sub-lumen modes to individual emitter Vf efficiency, similar to what HDS does, and that's how they achieve consistent sub-lumen outputs, sample to sample. I believe others just use a fixed sub-lumen current which has more output volatility, sample to sample, depending upon emitter Vf efficiency.
Woods Walker
The Wood is cut, The Bacon is cooked, Now it’s tim
I collect sub-lumen lights and this appears to be very difficult to achieve based on how far off spec many of my sub-lumen lights are - and my Armytek Prime Pro A1 is hugely off (although in my favor for once
I will add that to the other reasons why I often pack 4/7 lights.
To be honest with me it's actually not all that important. For a headlamp I prefer the following.1. Reliability is king. How many lights just go
for no reason or are so buggy as to be not worth buying given other options.2. Water/weather proof.
3. Mode spacing with a good usable long running medium and power saving low.
4. Durability which isn't the same as reliability or weatherproofing.
If a firefly is bit bright that's not so important to me but dang....It's gotta work as intended.
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I will add that to the other reasons why I often pack 4/7 lights.
If a firefly is bit bright that's not so important to me but dang....It's gotta work as intended.
Hehe, I'm a low lumen mode spacing snob
- an efficient and "bright" 0.3-0.5 lm moonlight, along with a good 3-5 lm low, are my top priorities and what I use 90+% of the time. Even coughed up for an HDS (despite disliking the CR123 platform) to ensure that spacing after so many disappointments with bad low lumen specs from various manufacturers.
