Armytek Wizard Pro v3 headlamp/right angle review (18650, XHP50)

[Chad Varnadore]

I was testing the light more last night seeing if it would actually get hot in standard high mode. It was still only warm after about 25 minutes, which was when I had to cut the test short as the orange light had been blinking for at least 10 minutes indicating low battery. At first I thought it was indicating warmth, but it didn't feel hot enough to justify orange. I then remembered that flashing orange had multiple purposes, both as a heat indicator and a battery indicator. Sure enough it couldn't do turbo anymore, indicating the battery must be getting weak. According to the literature, orange means less than 25% battery remaining, where red means less than 10%. I was a little surprised that while orange the light had become virtually useless already, as it apparently didn't have the power to cycle anything brighter than twilight modes. I was able to double click into standard a couple times, but couldn't cycle the modes once there. It was fine after charging overnight. Still, I'm thinking that combining heat indication and low battery indication the way they have wasn't the best idea. Aside from being easy to misdiagnose what it means, I'd suspect it might proove too complicated for the electronics over time.

More charging criticism: I charged it again last night, this time using a wall outlet with an AC to USB converter plugged in. It had finally turned green after about 8 hours. But as soon as I touched it (literally, my finger had just slightly made contact) it went red again for anther 2.5 hours, turned green, then red again as soon as I picked it up, then, after about a minute of holding it, it finally went green again and stayed green no matter what angle I held it at. Crazy right? So, unconvinced it was fully charged, I put the battery in the Eastshine charger, which showed it still had about 1/4-1/5 of the way to go!?! It took another 5-10 minutes at 1000mah on the Eastshine to finish charging. No point in even using the built in charging if the Eastshine is the more accurate of the two.

 

[Chad Varnadore]

Is there any purpose to the wristband? The only thing I've come up with is possibly weaving it through the headband cradle for a little extra padding. It seems like the hard plastic would be rather uncomfortable against your bare skin while running at night. That's not something I do, but should I start, I'll probably slip it into the Skilhunt's rubber headband, as I'm not sure I'd trust the light to stay in the plastic cradle for that type of activity.

 

[Kaban]

I ended up purchasing a Tiara C1 Pro. Got it in middle of last week and already used the heck out of it during a camping trip this weekend. This more than enough headlight for me. The modes are very easy to cycle through, the highest turbo mode is incredibly bright, very impressive for such a small light. The charging seems more than quick enough for my needs and the magnetic usb charging bit is very easy to use.

Overall I am very happy with the purchase as well as their customer service. Florence answered all of my questions in a series of emails. I like that Armytek is still using the same anodize coating on their lights. I fell in love with it when I got my first Predator years ago and it's one of my favorite finishes of any light I have.

 

[Chad Varnadore]

I ended up purchasing a Tiara C1 Pro. Got it in middle of last week and already used the heck out of it during a camping trip this weekend. This more than enough headlight for me. The modes are very easy to cycle through, the highest turbo mode is incredibly bright, very impressive for such a small light. The charging seems more than quick enough for my needs and the magnetic usb charging bit is very easy to use.

Overall I am very happy with the purchase as well as their customer service. Florence answered all of my questions in a series of emails. I like that Armytek is still using the same anodize coating on their lights. I fell in love with it when I got my first Predator years ago and it's one of my favorite finishes of any light I have.

Did you get it while it's on sale? I think I might order a Doberman. 50% off is about too good to pass up.

 

[Chad Varnadore]

BTW, my magnetic charging Klarus XT12GT needed a recharge tonight. After fully charging from red to green using the magnetic charging cord the Klarus comes with (it took somewhere between two and four hours) the Eastshine tester/charger - which looks the spitting image of Nitecore's chargers - showed the battery to be fully charged, not just 3/5 to 4/5 charged, like it does when checking the Wizard after supposedly fully charging (turns green) for 12+ hours via their magnetic charger. So there is clearly some charging deficiency with the magnetic charging in the Armytek, beyond just being outlandishly slow. Otherwise, I really like the light, from operation to the cosmetics. Something about just looking at this thing makes me think of old navy diving movies.

 

[shock003]

This is probably going to be moved to the reviews section
Thanks for the great review.
I really like my Wizard pro too. I just wanted to share that my lense had broken. The light did take a 3.5 ft drop off my head as I bent over and land on the tail cap putting a ding in the paint. The lense was not broken untill 3 days later. Either the fall cracked it or the bezel ring was pressed too tightly against the glass.

I wonder too if the textured glass is strong. Many of my headlamps including other Wizards have taken the same fall with o damage.
Anyway, the Wizard is off to the hospital in China.

I too had an issue with a cracked lens. I bought my light (Wizard Pro V3 XHP50 Cool White) earlier this year in March directly from Armytek. (I didn't get the Fin version, but maybe it wasn't out yet) I only owned the light for a couple weeks, and I vaguely recall it dropping from my waist level but wasn't until days later I saw my cracked lens. I have to say emailing them was a PAIN and took many emails to poke them. In the end, I was able to send the damaged light in and get a replacement.
(I have a similar picture as yours, but unable to embed in this thread w/o uploading somewhere else)

 

[shock003]

I want to add a little review myself...ok, my previous thread was about experiencing a cracked lens like another member. Frustrating to say the least. I only owned the light for two weeks max!
But once I got my replacement...
Overall I LOVE this light. The flood is a wall of light. I can use protected high drain (10A) Keeppower batteries AND... per a reviewers recommendation, use unprotected. Both fit and operate fine. I also love the battery life indicator light - important when I am in doubt of battery life.
Others may have a similar debate as I did... some many different companies and some many variations. I looked at Olight, Skilhunt, Nitecore... for various reasons I narrowed down to: Armytek and Zebralight.
I just could not make up my mind between the AT and the Zebralight H600 Mk III. So I bought BOTH. BTW, The Zebralight will fit in the new plastic holder that AT uses. Very smart design for AT and I am so happy the Zebralight fits as well. Why? I can wear it on a headband and quickly remove for handheld use.
Anyway, I LOVE the Zebralight! I have been debating their lights off and on for years and so glad I bought it.
I take both lights with me on all my trips. That way I have a back up or can loan to someone who may need a light for any reason.

Which one do I love better? Honestly: Zebralight. Smaller, sleeker design. Longer run time. I love the UI. Very simple for me anyway...or maybe after using it a while helped. I don't bother going into the further programmed mode settings. I love the default settings. A tad more on the spot side than the wall of flooded light of the AT. But that is fine for me.

With that said, I never regretted buying BOTH. I use and LOVE both. The magnet tail cap of the AT is a nice option. I should mention I debated the center LED designs of Spark and a few others (Fenix). I thought the off-center LED would bug me. Nope. Not one bit. I am hooked. Mainly because of the multi-use of these types of lights.
And, I see the AT is now less money than 6 months ago AND comes with a battery/charger! Just my luck? Ugh. So now there is LESS of an excuse not to buy (BOTH?) for all you out there debating. hah.

My primary use is outdoors backpacking. And I can't tell you the number of times I hike in darkness for many reasons. Especially when climbing mountains and doing 'alpine starts' to bet the sun rise and consequently; the snowmelt.
I use to make my own headlamps that were BRIGHT (900-1300lm in fact) but now, I love the battery/housing design of these lights. Very light-weight and can be hand held in addition to a headlamp. Personally, I prefer Cool White because they are much brighter and provide beautiful, clean white light. They are not at all cold blue, btw. I tried NW in some homemade test lights, and sure... the color is nice, but they feel dim and almost cloudy. When I am outside in a dark forest, I want BRIGHT pure light. Sure, I debated CW vs NW for many many days. I mean, these lights aren't cheap. I didn't want to make a mistake. Sometimes (recently) I think of buying a NW to compare in person because my homemade NW lights are NOT using the exact LED and may look more yellow than what is actually used in AT or Zebra and others. I did build a P60 using a Nichia 219c. Beautiful tint...but again, feels too dim for me.
So I may just stick to my CW instead of splurging on a spare NW version, and I want so many other lights instead!
I wonder if the world needs one more video reviewer... so I can get lights for free to review. Not sure how to start... I suspect I need a following first on lights I own and then get noticed? I have an edge over most all reviewers.... I go into the wilderness often and year round. Hmmm.

 

[Lumencrazy]

First you need to have a following

 

[aginthelaw]

Armytek warranty is alive and kicking. I just received a replacement for a v1 wizard pro that had the lockout issue. I demonstrated the issue in a video, and within hours received a reply the light would be replaced (thanks Florence!) though I really didn't need the latest and greatest, I got the v3 with the fins, usb rechargeable with battery included, brand new in the package. I also got a 2nd battery as an incentive for paying for shipping instead of insisting they cover it (can always use a new buttontop). I've heard that these are lg mh1 batteries, and come without pcb. Did I mention this is the 2nd time they've done this for me?

 

[Tachead]

Armytek warranty is alive and kicking. I just received a replacement for a v1 wizard pro that had the lockout issue. I demonstrated the issue in a video, and within hours received a reply the light would be replaced (thanks Florence!) though I really didn't need the latest and greatest, I got the v3 with the fins, usb rechargeable with battery included, brand new in the package. I also got a 2nd battery as an incentive for paying for shipping instead of insisting they cover it (can always use a new buttontop). I've heard that these are lg mh1 batteries, and come without pcb. Did I mention this is the 2nd time they've done this for me?

The best warranty is the one you don't need to use. Armytek's warranty seems to need to be used way too often imo.

 

[blah9]

Glad it worked out for you. Thanks for sharing. Thankfully I'm happy with my old Wizard Pro Warm but if I wanted a new headlamp I'm honestly not sure which brand I would go for at this point. Eh I'd probably give them another shot because I love mine so much but it is a shame you had to use the warranty.

 

[one5]

Newbie here, but using headlamps for long years.

I'm very disappointed with Armytek's, also with user support. Wizard V3 Pro non-USB stopped working during its second trek in mountains pretty far from civilization. So I've been one week without light. OK, sometimes it happens.

Non-USB version is sold out, so Armytek replaced it for USB version, but without battery. My friend who lives next to my street obtain USB version with 3200 mAh battery - and second battery as an compensation for shipping cost. Florence never explained why they can't send replacement with battery to me also. Instead of that she offered to send (as shipping costs compensation) some parts that I can't use - filters for Predator flashlights, guns remote switch... What for? I have no Predator, I have no guns...

USB version doesn't support 16350 batteries which I used in non-USB version. I have a lot of them, because I use it in Steripen. I should buy a pair of good 18650. This batteries makes my purchase of Wizard Pro pretty more expensive, and I can't use it in any other trek gear.

Replacement doesn't arrived until now, but I think it doesn't matter. I'm looking for better quality headlamp with better user support.

 

[Johns957]

I bought one of these from Andrew Amanda flashlights prior to hurricane season.
I like the light and have had no issue with it. I wrote support with a simple question about operating it.
I never received a reply from. Hope I never really need them.