Cyclops LED/Krypton Headlamp

[RonM]

Bought this led/incandescant headlamp at Walmart for $19. The three LEDs have an output similar to a Princeton Tec Attitude. Very nice. Runs on 3 AAA batts. The Krypton bulb is brighter than the LEDs, but no by a whole lot, so it's not worth the extra battery consumption. Also, the krypton is focusable, but barely. Can't rotate the bezel out enough to get it down to a spot beam.

The lights are activated by pushing a two sided rubber covered switch. Pushing the right side activates/deactivates the LEDs. The left side handles the krypton. Can switch directly from one source to the other just by pushing the right button. The buttons activate easily, so there is a real danger of this turning on when carried in a pack or bag.

The head pivots, with a plastic lip engaging plastic ridges to hold position. Kind of noisy and cheap sounding, but it will probably hold up fairly well.

All in all, I like the light. Mostly for the LEDs. Came in very handy when preparing my boat for a night sail. Makes me wonder how I got by w/o a headlight before.

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

Water resistant. Princton Tecs are waterproof. If that krypton bulb gets 2 hours out of AAA alkalines, then that makes the AAAs a 1 AH battery. Somehow I don't think so.

Why do these idiots design with AAAs for headlamps??? So you have to spend alot more on the batteries, of course.

I'll take my PT Solo w/LED module over that, any day or night.

Still probably nice for the unwashed masses.

At least it did well for you.

 

[RonM]

I'll take my PT Solo w/LED module over that, any day or night.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">No doubt the PT Solo with LED module is a nice headlamp, but it's also almost 3x the price. Solo at $25 plus LED module at $30 comes to $55 bucks. The Cyclops is only $19. Kind of like comparing a BMW 5 series with a Taurus. Sure its better, but it will cost you.

For a person who only has a casual need for a headlamp, the Cyclops is probably a pretty good deal. For serious hikers, campers and flashoholics...the Solo may be the answer.

 

[Quickbeam]

AAA alkalines have 1125 mAh capacity, if that helps.

I'll use my Rayovac Adventurelite Luxeon Star mod with Lithium AA's.

http://thelightsite.cruxial.com/mods/adventureLite_headlamp_mod.htm

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

Ron, I already had a Solo and was using a 2 LED PR (3 cell) bulb from C. Crane w/2 Lithium AAs. So the PT module was a no brainer for me and better than the jerry rigged affair I was using.

This made my Solo to be the same as the Matrix. If you were to start fresh, the Matrix is cheaper than Solo + Module.

Princeton Tec has the advantage of being truly waterproof, as well as higher quality. Better than Petzl Zoom (mine, at any rate).

Quickbeam, it would be informative if you would post Mah capacities of AAA through D alkalines over in the batteries area. Something I could not get out of Eveready. They sent me a useless booklet with data based on typical consumer applications. My application was anything but typical consumer.

If I remember correctly (I did), the coleman peak 1 expedition headlamp says 12 hours with a .7 AH bulb and alkaline D cells. This would be roughly 8 AH for alkaline D cells, not allowing for bulb rating of 2.4 volts.

I know it is off topic here. But something like reasonable AH ratings would be good info to have around on CPF.

 

[Quickbeam]

Quickbeam, it would be informative if you would post Mah capacities of AAA through D alkalines...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Already taken care of...

But instead of taking up space on CPF where you have to search for it among all the posts, I had posted on my site instead:

http://thelightsite.cruxial.com/qa.htm#batteries

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

Thanks Quickbeam!! I take it the lithium AA acts like a C or close enough, due to chemistry, rather than mere AH?? (runtime of light)

 

[Quickbeam]

The lithium has a flatter discharge curve and has lower internal resistance. For the best example of what this means - go to my Reviews page and click on the "runtime graphs" link under "General Comparisons". Look at the graph for the Reactor with Alkalines and then look at the graph for the Reactor with Lithiums - This is a Luxeon star being directly driven by the cells. 1/2 peak brightness in 1 1/2 hrs for the alkalines, 20 hours for the lithiums.

Also, these runtime comparisons should apply to almost any directly driven luxeon star using the cells indicated (including mods that drive the LS with 2 AA cells directly).