CREE XR-EHEADER P4 Headlamp from kaidomain

[krushed]

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone has this headlamp or has tried it. It's a CREE headlamp that runs on 3xAAA with a low, high, and strobe mode. Any comments about it? What do you think of the build quality/reliability? I've never ordered anything from kaidomain or dealextreme.

Link

 

[ttay1977]

I have one that uses a similar body but not Cree that was purchased from Dx. The reflector is loose and rattles inside, and the beam pattern is not uniform. It feels a little bulky on the head. It was cheap and it works but I don't think I would buy one again.

 

[fastenuff!!]

I have both the Cree and the SSC versions on order from DX. I will post as soon as They arrive!

 

[krushed]

Looking forward to hearing about them!

 

[Robatman]

Just got the cree version today. Build quality is average, typical of a real no name headlamp but the throw----- its somewhere inbetween the P3D on turbo and high. The beam flood/spill is the ugliest i have ever seen, and I'm not really picky. Its very noticeable in outdoor use (not one to admire on a nice white ceiling shot-huge rings but who cares)

The meduim is only a shade under the high, this could really use a low.

I'll be getting the SSC version in the hope there is a bit more useable spill, this thing is almost all throw.

Robert

 

[LA OZ]

The quality of the DX and Kai Cree headlamp are below average. But this is what you get for what you paid for.

 

[krushed]

Bummer. If they just paid a little more attention to the details I think a lot of these things could be fixed for minimal effort.

 

[dreamfly]

Are those regulated? Don't look like it from one graph on DX.

 

[mdocod]

usually 3xAAA stuff takes advantage of the fact that when using 3xAAA cells, you don't need hardly any regulation or resistor, you can basically just direct drive an LED. I have learned over the years to avoid 3xAAA setups because the lousy little battery carriers stink, AAA cells are hard to insert and remove without a pointy tool, and power density of the 3xAAA carrier is terrible, making bulky flashlights with minimal runtime. A single AA has about as much energy as a 3xAAA carrier in a much smaller form. A Sub-C NIMH, which takes about the same amount of space, has double the energy. A 18500 li-ion cell also has about double the energy and fits into a smaller space.

 

[Scott Packard]

I'm not very impressed with mine. The switch really goes low/high/strobe/off and you see all those modes whether you like it or not. Low feels like medium. Mine has some throw but oddly a lot of spill, so I can balance my checkbook without really paying any attention to where the bright dot is pointing. The headband and the foam stuck onto the case of the light stinks after wearing it for 10 minutes and makes my skin itch. Maybe if I take the reflector off, which is very easy to do, it will make a decent book-reading light.

The only headlamp I have to compare it to is the Ray-O-Vac Highbeam, which has optics instead of a reflector. The ROV has a bright spot and little spill, is heavier, is harder to use to balance a checkbook and is impractical as a reading light (too focused for close-up work where my eyes will bounce all over a page). The ROV has high/med/low/strobe and once I choose a mode I can click "off" without going through the rest. The ROV has a much higher quality feel than the XR-EHEADER. It somewhat smells too but my skin doesn't itch.

 

[[email protected]]

Got mine a week or so back and it's a bright light for the money. First thing I did was put a strip of diffuser film on the lens which made the beam floodier and much less ugly. This lamp has enough lumens that the loss through the film is not very important. The body is exactly the same as a Dorcy I've used as a headlight at work, under trucks for a couple years and the Dorcy, while never impressing me with great build quality, has never malfunctioned even with somewhat rough treatment and nasty, drippy Winter conditions, so I expect decent reliability from this one. Lower low would be nice and I could live without the strobe, but no real complaints after affixing the film. Got the SSC version too, but only the low mode worked. Shipped it off to Miami , will see what happens. SSC beam was much less ugly than Cree. Dave