I bought an Princetontec Apex for a few quid on our favourite auction site - cheap as chips because the battery compartment was a mess (leaked batteries, corrosion, broken off terminals etc), but the headpiece looked ok. The battery case was binned and the headpiece hooked up to an old but serviceable Petzl duo battery case - hey presto, light!
I've no idea how old this Apex is - orange headpiece which says H2O 1m on it, and grey battery compartment. No clue on output, but main beam is adequate and the 4x small leds are plenty bright enough. I did some research and downloaded a PDF from PT which suggests a 275 lumen output, but I don't think it's that strong.
Nevertheless, it was the side LEDS I would be using and the tech sheet suggested 8.5hrs regulated and 100hrs total light (to 0.25lux). so I bunged some fresh alkalines in and switched it on.
It seemed to run fine and bright for about 9hrs, but the next time I came to look at it, after 12hrs, it was extinguished - zero light! This was a bit of a surprise and concern. However, after leaving it a while (I was doing other things, shopping etc) I switched it on again and found....light! It's been burning away for several hours, not as bright, but chuntering along. I assume this is the out of regulation lighting which will steadily fall in output.
The question I have is: is it normal for the Apex to switch off completely after its regulated burntime? And is it normally necessary to switch it on again to access the unregulated lighting? Seems a strange way to operate!
The other disappointment is the awful main beam profile, with a good central beam, then a big black ring, and then some faint peripheral lighting which is not much use to anyone. It's like looking though a big black doughnut! The side LED lighting is fine.
I've no idea how old this Apex is - orange headpiece which says H2O 1m on it, and grey battery compartment. No clue on output, but main beam is adequate and the 4x small leds are plenty bright enough. I did some research and downloaded a PDF from PT which suggests a 275 lumen output, but I don't think it's that strong.
Nevertheless, it was the side LEDS I would be using and the tech sheet suggested 8.5hrs regulated and 100hrs total light (to 0.25lux). so I bunged some fresh alkalines in and switched it on.
It seemed to run fine and bright for about 9hrs, but the next time I came to look at it, after 12hrs, it was extinguished - zero light! This was a bit of a surprise and concern. However, after leaving it a while (I was doing other things, shopping etc) I switched it on again and found....light! It's been burning away for several hours, not as bright, but chuntering along. I assume this is the out of regulation lighting which will steadily fall in output.
The question I have is: is it normal for the Apex to switch off completely after its regulated burntime? And is it normally necessary to switch it on again to access the unregulated lighting? Seems a strange way to operate!
The other disappointment is the awful main beam profile, with a good central beam, then a big black ring, and then some faint peripheral lighting which is not much use to anyone. It's like looking though a big black doughnut! The side LED lighting is fine.
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