Fenix HM61R ticking all the boxes?

[DRW]

• the interface is water-tight; no rubber cover is needed

I think if you look into it you'll find the rubber cover on Fenix lights is more of a dust cover. I've seen comments from Fenix indicating the at least some of their lights are waterproof without the rubber cover.

.. Apple laptops have similar pull-away magnetic charging ports too?...

Yes, I'm pretty sure that's where I first saw magnetic charging connectors. I think they are a great idea, but a laptop and flashlight have very different use cases. I never carried a laptop when I was a cop, but I always carried a flashlight.

I would always choose this port over a barrel connector charging port.

I agree.

I would always choose this port over a USB connector charging port.

As I mentioned previously, I would prefer a USB C (or micro) port. Since the charging cable is about $6, I picked up two extras, one for the truck, one for the office, one for the kitchen (normal charging area), and one for my hunting pack.

 

[DRW]

I wonder why you'd get the HM61 today when the HM65R-T is lighter and brighter?

It doesn't have RED, the two levels of RED is important to me as a hunter.

 

[DRW]

It is again offered for sale as "used but in very good condition" at a slightly lower price. Amazon always buys things in large stocks and has very high profit margins no losses for him

Cleary, you don't understand how Amazon works (from the sellers side of things). It is a conglomeration of sellers, much like eBay. The difference is eBay never competes with it's sellers. Amazon does compete with it's sellers, where it attempts to monopolize commodity items.

Someone lost money on the return, but you are right it wasn't Bezos. It was likely one of the many independent sellers on Amazon who lost the $$.

 

[Stefano]

Cleary, you don't understand how Amazon works (from the sellers side of things). It is a conglomeration of sellers, much like eBay. The difference is eBay never competes with it's sellers. Amazon does compete with it's sellers, where it attempts to monopolize commodity items.

Someone lost money on the return, but you are right it wasn't Bezos. It was likely one of the many independent sellers on Amazon who lost the $$.

This even if the item is "sold and shipped by Amazon" ?

 

[DRW]

This even if the item is "sold and shipped by Amazon" ?

That's Amazon competing against it's sellers.

I don't see any Fenix lights "sold and shipped by Amazon" on the US site. However, I will admit that I don't have the patience to check every listing. Every listing I checked indicated fulfilled by Amazon, that means a third-party seller owns the inventory and pays Amazon to distribute and ship their products. That third-party seller is the one who looses money on the cherry picking scheme.

 

[Stefano]

That's Amazon competing against it's sellers.

I don't see any Fenix lights "sold and shipped by Amazon" on the US site. However, I will admit that I don't have the patience to check every listing. Every listing I checked indicated fulfilled by Amazon, that means a third-party seller owns the inventory and pays Amazon to distribute and ship their products. That third-party seller is the one who looses money on the cherry picking scheme.

Here on the Italian Amazon I only buy lights if sold and shipped by Amazon, this gives me the maximum guarantee of replacement and/or refund.
Also useful when a specimen with an unconvincing tint occurs, I can ask for a replacement, observe the two specimens together and then keep the best one and return the other.

 

[Stefano]

I took some photos even if I don't have an ideal place to take beamshot (these photos don't satisfy me very much) I used a fenix HL60R and the HM61R. It is easy to distinguish them because the HL60R is neutral (about 4500 K) while the HM61R is cold (about 6000 or 6500 K) In the first two photos I used the level of 400 lumens for both, in the following photos the turbo for both (HL60R = 950 lumens against the 1200 of the HM61R)
The photos are animated GIFs, I set a slow delay between the two photos.

 

[Stefano]

Tonight I walked the HM61R using the Turbo level.
Great brightness but after a few minutes it decreases a lot (outside temperature 18 ° C - slight wind) - I also noticed a slow and steady descent but immediately.
I wondered if the thermal sensor actually intervenes at 65C ° as the manufacturer declares or if it intervenes at lower values as it seems to be in vogue lately among many brands.
Always walking I have seen that when the brightness drops a lot and it is turned off for about 30 seconds or 1 minute when it is turned on again it delivers the maximum brightness again.
At home I used the lux meter (Turbo level - temperature in the house 22.5 ° C - no ventilation) - it starts to drop immediately but slowly.
After 60/70 seconds from switching on there is only about 3% less, then it starts to go down much more quickly.
After 2 minutes from switching on we are at 30% less but it remains stable up to about 3 and a half minutes when it goes down again but at this point the sensor intervenes more energetically because I see it go up and then go down.
After 5 minutes it drops to about 50% of the initial value and then rises to about -40%.
I then took a hair dryer (cold air) to see how it reacts to the flow of air.
It is not immediately reactive like the Zebralights but slowly rises to about -25% of the initial value - I kept the air cold for about 1 or 2 minutes but without seeing the initial value again.
All in all an acceptable behavior for a very small headlamp.
From reviews seen on the web in better cooling conditions than tonight I would have seen about 800/850 constant lumens.
Maybe I would have preferred a slightly larger size (or cooling fins) to have a constant brightness for some more time.
But maybe I am spoiled by the results I have with the old Wizard Pro V3 but which has larger dimensions and also the cooling fins

 

[kreisl]

Are you describing the Turbo level performance thru words? ✨ 😎 👍

Btw it was measured by Zeroair in beautiful detail and posted in graphical format:

I keep using my HM61R every effing day, without fail. And i appreciate the compact form factor and the magnetic charging and the tail magnet and the lighting-while-charging feature more and more. Still the best 18650 angle headlamp out on the market imho, even though i never tested any other models lol.

 

[Stefano]

Are you describing the Turbo level performance thru words? ✨ 😎 👍

Btw it was measured by Zeroair in beautiful detail and posted in graphical format:

View attachment 27930

I keep using my HM61R every effing day, without fail. And i appreciate the compact form factor and the magnetic charging and the tail magnet and the lighting-while-charging feature more and more. Still the best 18650 angle headlamp out on the market imho, even though i never tested any other models lol.

 

[Stefano]

My test is without cooling so very complicated to describe with Google translate
I am sure that with wind or low temperatures the behavior of the Headlamp would be as shown in the graph.
After the fun it was convenient to use the magnetic charging.

 

[kreisl]

Since the charging cable is about $6, I picked up two extras, one for the truck, one for the office, one for the kitchen (normal charging area), and one for my hunting pack.

In our country the pinche geman fenis dealer charges more like €10 mas shipping (sku: FEE30RLadeka), the cable is supposed to be compatible with Fenix E18R, E30R, and HM61R.

The current price of the AX alternative [sku: 4000571189305], marketed by Trustfire, product model TrustFire MW1 USB, is higher:

The sales page $11.73 shipped clearly states compatibility with E18R E30R HM65R [sic].

Ah now i also understand why the headband's plastic holder is formed like it is. One could mount it upon the headbandless plastic holder for helmets, the Fenis ALG-03 V2.0 (compatible with HL55, HL60R, HM60R, HM61R, HM65R, HM70R). €6.50 mas shipping, aha.

To me, the plastic holder, the plastic helmet mount are toy-like quality and not suitable for real duty or long-term work. Not professional quality. Seriously what my grandmums would expect from "Made In China"-quality! On the positive side, the parts are super light-weight and can be replaced for "little" money (for a professional worker, €10 for a critical spare part is relatively little money me believes).

 

[Labrador72]

I have no idea if if the HM65R Super Raptor 2 is steadily regulated as version 1, reading some tables it would seem not ..(700 lumens for 3 hours or 500 lumens for 4 hours).
For this reason I preferred SuperRaptor 1 (I don't know if it is out of stock) I like more version 1 (with spot led XM-L2) because it has a flood light with 130 lumens instead of 70 lumens.

The SuperRaptor2 was designed to be geared towards trail running and other outdoor sports.
That's why the SuperRaptor2 headlamps from the first batch didn't have mode memory and always start on the lowest level too.
It is supposed to be steadily regulated.

The SuperRaptor2 seems to have a design very similar to the HM65R ShadowMaster which is another HM65R% special edition for the UK market: The SuperRaptor just has a flood light instead of the red lgith and the sport-fit headband instead of the standard AFH 02 headband.

IMHO, the UltraRaptor2, at least those from the first batch, are the best trail and utlrarunning headlamp Fenix has ever released to date.
The best places to buy them online in Finland are scandinavian.com and varusteleka.com: both stores have excellent customer service.