Dosun Solar Headlamp

LEDBE
nzbazza

nzbazza

Enlightened
Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
258
Location
New Zealand
Just been browsing through Fenix-Store.com and noticed that they have a new headlamp for sale: the Dosun H-1.

This headlamp has some really interesting ideas, firstly by twisting the bezel one can go from spot to flood, no flipping flimsy diffusers, and also have a eye-shaped flood as well, and secondly, there is a main beam focussed out to 10m and a second beam aimed 1m out.

The design engineers seemed to of thought of most things such as heatsinking, battery level indicators, output regulation, waterproofing (IPX?). No word on light output or runtimes on each of 5 levels.

Details here https://www.fenix-store.com/product_info.php?cPath=91&products_id=487

and the Dosun website is here
http://www.dosun.us/portablelight/index_light.html

it has nice pictures of the different beam profiles


Features
    1. Dosun Bi-Light reflector (patent pending) simultaneously illuminates at one meter and ten meters
    2. Three beam profiles
      • Focused Llight (spot)
      • Eagle Light (cut-off flood)
      • Flood Light (flood)
    3. Five modes of output
      • 1
      • 2
      • 3
      • 4
      • 5
    4. Aluminum heatsink
    5. Battery power gauge
    6. Water proof construction
    7. Digitally regulated constant current
    8. 3AA battery pack
 
Re: Dosun Solar Headlamp at Fenix-Store.com

Looks interesting. Too bad I can't see anything on their website because it's all flash trash.
I agree it looks like they've thought out some important things. Hope to see more detials for this soon.
 
Re: Dosun Solar Headlamp at Fenix-Store.com

Yeah, this does look interesting. Kind of big, but some people don't mind that. 3AA format sounds good.

I've been wondering when more Cree headlamps would come out. I'm looking forward to a review from someone! (Probably won't be me, I've got a Zebralight H30 in the mail right now, and an SSC U star waiting to plug into my Petzl Tikka XP.)
 
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Re: Dosun Solar Headlamp at Fenix-Store.com

judging from the pics on fenix-store.com, the cree is mounted on a half circular stool and the dome oriented horizontally at the reflector rather than parallel with it :shrug:

I'm not sure what kind of beam profile your going to get but its not going to be round. Note also the two different halves of the reflector used

This lights begging for a beamshot test:thumbsup:

Pics rehosted for argument purposes


 
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Re: Dosun Solar Headlamp at Fenix-Store.com

just ordered one to ship via USPS Priority Mail. hope to rcv. it Tues or Wed of next week, depending upon when FS ships it.

i'll Post back w/any salient info.
 
Re: Dosun Solar Headlamp at Fenix-Store.com

half-watt said:
just ordered one to ship via USPS Priority Mail. hope to rcv. it Tues or Wed of next week, depending upon when FS ships it.

i'll Post back w/any salient info.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I look forward to your findings!


I do think the reflector and emitter setup looks interesting. I still think throw/ flood would be better off of a 2-emitter headlamp, but hey if I knew everything...
 
Re: Dosun Solar Headlamp at Fenix-Store.com

i just want to know the lumen rating of them?
 
Re: Dosun Solar Headlamp at Fenix-Store.com

I've got one on the way and with luck it will be here tomorrow. If it is at least as bright as my modified PT Apex, has some usable beam patterns, decent run-times, and very durable/water resistant, I'll be thrilled.

I called Fenix-Store today about it and they were still awaiting a detailed spec sheet, but was told that it "appeared to be a Q5" but they still need the manufacturer's spec sheet to confirm.
 
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Re: Dosun Solar Headlamp at Fenix-Store.com

The beamshots are certainly going to be odd, but perhaps they will be useful. Hopefully my unit will arrive tomorrow.

I'm just so curious that I had to get one to see what it would do. . . and it will be something to play with until Surefire and Fenix release their models. . . .
 
Re: Dosun Solar Headlamp at Fenix-Store.com

Yucca Patrol said:
The beamshots are certainly going to be odd, but perhaps they will be useful. Hopefully my unit will arrive tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily odd as such design concepts have been previously discussed here on the forum.
I'm sure many of you are familiar with mcGizmo's Tri-lobe reflector?
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=138999
Well Evan9162 tried the "bi-lobe" concept similar with what Dosun did. Provided the reflector is positioned correctly for optimal focusing I'd say the beamshots looks pretty good
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=40228

From the looks of it Dosun simply has one side textured to diffuse the spot beam and the other side faceted for throw, it doesn't appear that the parabolic value between the reflectors change so I'm not sure what difference the throw values would be...

Just from the standpoint of looking at the pics I could speculate that the heatsink used for the CREE looks pretty solid, I hope theres a bigger chunk worth of aluminum somewhere around back. ;)

Waiting for reviews:popcorn::popcorn:
 
Re: Dosun Solar Headlamp at Fenix-Store.com

I just received mine this morning, but will have to wait until this evening to post some beamshots and compare it's performance against my modified PT Apex headlamps.

The battery case seals well with a rubber o-ring and thumbscrew, so it should be waterproof. The buttons are raised and easy to feel, and also appear waterproof and sealed to the unit.

The back of the lamp is a solid plate of aluminum, so there seems to be adequate heat-sinking.

It would be nicer if the rotating bezel clicked into place at each of the three different reflectors, but there are some raised ridges to help align the reflectors by feel.

The various beams are certainly odd, and will look strange against a white wall, but might be very useful in real-world situations, but I'll have to wait until tonight to really get an idea of how they will work.

The plastic construction seems quite solid and just a little bit flexible which might be better than being brittle.
 
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Re: Dosun Solar Headlamp at Fenix-Store.com

:popcorn:


Compared to the Primus Race that Szemhazai reviewed (Primus PrimeLite Race - review [Rebel inside]), which is about the same price and also has an alloy head, the Dosun has the advantage [?] of the adjustable focus. Some close-up photos of the Dosun would help me choose. :)

PS: A big disadvantage of the Dosun is that it has 2 strobe modes. :mad:
 
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Depending on the precise LED positioning, it's certainly possible to get a more-than-passable spot beam out of a single LED firing into half a reflector, even a reflector designed for a regular bulb. If you don't want a semicircular beam, the LED needs to be positioned slightly off the 'correct' position, and if done correctly, that can give a fairly circular beam except when very close-up

For a headlight, there's the advantage that if the LED is downward-firing, the light that misses the front of the reflector can give a good downspill of light, as long as the reflector isn't too relatively deep.
Presumably that's what Dosun refer to as 'Bi-Light'?

I've been making/selling caving lights using that geometry for the spot beam since mid-2004.
 
MichaelW said:
It provides 'two modes': via the reflector (which has three profiles), and straight to the ground.
Click to expand...
If that's the core of the idea that they have a patent pending on, unless they filed for a patent quite some time ago, they may have a bit of a prior-art problem if anyone wanted to challenge them.

As far as I can see, once there's the basic idea already out there of using a section of a reflector in a headtorch to get a spot beam with good downspill, having a rotating bezel to bring in different reflector profiles is a pretty obvious step (for anyone who wants different beam profiles), not really any more novel than, say, having a rotating bezel allowing a diffuse film to be brought into a beam.
 
PocketBeam said:
I say you sell them your prior art... Or mention that you will sell the prior art to someone like Maglight. Should be worth a few bucks.
Click to expand...
I think with patents, once something is out there in public and unpatented, that's it. It's not novel anymore.
Anyway, it seems fairly clear that the idea of using a section of a reflector was something that other people were experimenting with at around the same time, quite independently.
 
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