Fenix HP25R review

[narmattaru]

HP25R was provided for review by manufacturer. Here is an official product page.
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Stated characteristics

Headlamp comes into accurate paper box.

Package includes headlamp itself, 18650 battery, manual-warranty, micro-usb cable and a pair of clips to attach cable to headstap.

Battery case on the nape is connected with the front part by thick cable and is made of plastic, which is reasonable choice for cold weather and weight. After couple of hours spent in fridge cable is still flexible, like in normal room temperature.

There is regular green\red indicator. I like this pair of light-reflective stickers.

Rubber plug seals usb-port quite tightly.

Cover of battery box moves smoothly on threads and connects to it quickly and easily enough to replace battery right with headlamp on head.

Front part, lamp body, is made of aluminium. But at first time I thought that was plastic, to be honest. There is a small cover above buttons – great idea to prevent occasional activation.

What about LEDs – we have pair of white light Cree XM-L2 U2 with shallow OP reflector (strange decision for spotlight) and neutral light Cree XP-G2 R5 with TIR-optics for max flood
There is also small red light LED what i welcome in each headlamp.

Here is what i`ve seen after disassebling lamp body.

Heat transfer is simple for spot light – heat moves from back part of aluminum pill right to lamp`s body back side.

What about flood light – electronic board consumes heat and that`s it. Not a great idea to my mind.i think Fenix could make aluminus pill for XP-G as well. At least XP-G produces not that much heat in max mode.
I measured about 45 celcius both with and without back cover of lamp body (at spotlight max mode) . So looks like heat transfer works.



HP25R has 60 tilt mechanism with good fixation of angle.

UI
Simple, once you tried it a couple of times, you can easily get used to it.
There is no strobe, btw, only SOS. And red LED has the only blinking mode. I find this qiute bad idea.
Beacon white light, or red-white signal light will be a nice feature that we don`t get for some reasons.
Ok, 2 buttons at the top of front part of headlight are responsible for flood and spotlight.
To start sportlight you have to long press button with 4 parallel stripes and then adjust brightness with short clicks. If you want to check battery level, you have to quick press it. If spotlight blinks 3 times – there is more then 70% left. If red and white start to blink – 30-70%. If only red light blinks – less than 30%. If you don't turn indicator on, but red light is still blinking – battery is close to 0.
The same is for another button which is responsible for floodlight.
When light is on, quick press starts red light.
There is memory mode.


Luxmeter shows
XP-G : 4-36-147-404
XM-L2 : 260-872-2280-4480

I also checked Skilhunt H03F and got: 900lux in flood mode \ 2460 in spotlight mode. Both in max brightness. Just with and without light-diffusing cover.

I consider that 1000 lumen is nothing but a number. Amperage and temperature also tells me the same.
Yes, it still bright. But I don`t take "1000 lumens" seriously.

OK, see stepdown.
2,5hours of runtime promised for XP-G.


Quick decrease and then 1h40min at one level, then decrease again and 25 min at this level, then decrease one more time and 8 hours of working in this dim brightness.
Ehh, I hoped that 350 lums is mode that can get honest runtime in specification. But here we have quite less. Of course, battery with 3000-3500mah will performs a way better.

1.5 h promised for XM-L2

Quick stepdown once again for 1.5 hours, then 15 min at next quite bright mode, then 50 min in something "ok, I see what`s around" mode, and then falling to something really dim, I suppose that is something like 4-5 lums.

Here we see traditional difference between promised and real runtimes. But stabilization is ok, that`s is batter then workin in the same mode and then sudden signalization that there is 1-2 min left. Stepdown modes will let you to work or at least not to fall.

And here is the coolest feature of HP25R. It fully supports being powered via microusb-cable.
So you can remove battery, plug cable to 10 000 mah powerbank and you get huuuuge bonus to runtime. If this is 20000 mah powerbank – you can forget about darkness for days.
Fenix made a simple but great decision with this feature. It`ll help a lot outdoor, I believe.

Amperage:
XM-L2 U2 - 0.067-0.253-0.814-1.386A .
XP-G2 R5- 0.17-0.8-0.35-1.025A

There is no PWM shimmering in light, though I hear some buzzing sound in lowest mode of both spot and floodlights.

Floodlight is veery diffused, with no hotspot at all. Light temperature is good, convenient for eyes.
hp25r spot

flood

skilhunt h03f flood

spot

Spotlight is quite colder, have good throw to about 50 meters distance on max mode.

There are some video indoor, take a look at the end of youtube video

BTW, red light is quite dim. Just for 1-1.5 meters distance.


OVERALL
Yes, I like it. I had a chance to make some repairing work at home with this light on, and can say that it feels ok on head + spotlight is great for near field work.

+ comfortably feels on head.
+ 3 sorts of lights and good brightness modes.
+ micro-usb charging feature (that you don`t often meet in headlamps)
+ full support of working with external powersources!

- no beacon
- I don`t see 1000 lumens here. May be 700-800 for short time. Still bright, yeah. But not 1000.

 

[LightWalker]

Excellent review!

 

[kj2]

First of all, thanks for the review

Received this headlamp for review as well, but I noticed it isn't possible to combine the flood and spot together. It's just the flood or the spot, no combo possible.
Something that the Fenix HP25 does do.

 

[Joe Talmadge]

Thanks for the review! Good observation on the heat sinking (or lack thereof) on flood.

I have a general question for anyone reading -- how are you all feeling about strapping an 18650 to your head? This isn't a loaded question, I'm wondering what people think about it. I know those little electronic cigarettes, with batteries far smaller than an 18650, explode and do some serious damage to people sometimes. But is the fact that this is a high-quality light with a high-quality cell, enough to make this a complete don't-care? I think it is, I've never heard of one of these lights having a problem in use -- although we HAVE heard about Li Ion batteries venting with flame while in use (not only on the charger, where it's more common) in the past...

 

[kj2]

It can be risky, but when you're using a quality light with quality battery you should be fine.
But it is something to think about..

 

[Lexel]

There seems to be an error in your review

you say heat and light seems to be 1000 lumens but measure only 1.3A at the battery

 

[narmattaru]

hm, where have you seen this?

here are quotes from review

"I consider that 1000 lumen is nothing but a number. Amperage and temperature also tells me the same.
Yes, it still bright. But I don`t take "1000 lumens" seriously."

"- I don`t see 1000 lumens here. May be 700-800 for short time. Still bright, yeah. But not 1000."

 

[zs&tas]

Great review of a headlamp im interested in, flood for walking around and spot for navigating. Very detailed thank you for taking the time.
Re 18650 on the head, quality cells i dont see an issue. You would be extremely unlucky, also looking at the ' pipe bomb' idea it would blow out to the sides and away from you , much less dangerous than an e sig in the mouth !

 

[Woods Walker]

Thanks for the review!

 

[zs&tas]

Narmattaru, i would be interesting to know the weight of the head lamp, and then the battery compartment to determine weight distribution, compared to say an intergrated batt\light unit on the head ?

 

[narmattaru]

got it, try to weight it tomorrow.

 

[narmattaru]

this is about 120 head - 135 battery compartment (with battery)
these number slightly moves as i move headlamp

but mostly both parts are well balanced

 

[cancow]

Not bad, but a 18650 headlamp makes no sense imo. You want something light and that has common batteries. I am supprissed headlamps even come in this configuration.

 

[zs&tas]

Thanks , i have just measured my nitecore hc30 in the silicone holder at around 115grms.
For me its ok most of the time but if im moving around alot it will pull the headband around.
The fenix seems well balanced and more steady. Of course there are lighter all in one units but at least with the fenix you get to choose throw (which makes the head bigger) or flood options where as other lamps you are pretty fixed in what they can do.

 

[Garnett]

Hi there. Thanks a lot for this review, it helped me decide to buy one.

Can you (or any other owner) comment on the max battery dims this torch will allow. I want to use something like a Keeppower protected 3500mAh cell, but I'm unsure whether it'll fit.

 

[Loverofthelight]

Thanks for the useful review!

 

[narmattaru]

well
all i have is 18650 ga and HE4
and they fit perfeectly.

 

[playwithme]

Thanks for the great review!

 

[degarb]

I bought the hp30r v2. They claimed 12 hour runtime on the full work day runtime setting, but it only gets 6.66 hours.

Fenix does not actually physically test the runtime, but do some math. They screwed up all of the runtimes by about 5 to 20 percent. But, was an obvious math error that had them off by nearly half on the main full day setting.

The fenix lumens and lux readings matched or exceeded the specifications--just not the runtimes. In Fenix's defense, most light sellers are slimy demons that slither up from the sewage pits to lie about their runtimes. But the last I checked, all lights have zero lumens when the battery runs out. Each battery change costs money, which is important information if you are the guy writing the checks.


No review is worth reading without verifying the runtimes on the box!!!!!

A single 21700 putatively has 5000 mah, and the luminous can get 187 lpw. This might squeeze out 397 lumens for 8 hours, only if it's driver is 92 percent efficient, which is nearly impossible at only 3.7 volts! Linear drivers (the most common single cell driver with flat output) are only 70% efficient, which would mean it would only get something like 6.5 hours, not 8 hours--which would cost a boss something like $1500 per year in worker downtime and extra smoke breaks.... A buck driver can be 92 or even 95% efficient, but usually needs like 2 volt above the led fV. I doubt that the led has a forward voltage of 1 volt, lol.... Had they chosen a 2s18650 and their efficient buck driver, they would be getting easy 10 hours at 400 lumens. (The 2s18650 headlamps I made 6 years ago were extremely comfortable and easy to forget that they were on the head--and wouldn't weigh noticeably more than a single 21700.)


If you could please test thus light's putative 8 hour mode, and tell us the real hours in regulation, it will greatly appreciated.


My money is on 6.4 hours to 6.66 hours, then it will probably drop to 60 percent for 15 minutes, then pen light for another 15, then extinguish to blackness.


[Rant warning : If you have not thought about runtime, then you don't really use the lights. It would be like buying a car and not caring about the range, fill time, possible grid collapse, future energy monopoly, or absence of refueling source.... I get that you might usually have certain usage patterns, but I don't get thinking about future usage.]

I would actually consider buying this light if it actually got 8 hours at 4800 candela, and 400 lumens. If Fenix had the option to change the rear battery pack to a 2p1850 (with an extra 1800 mah( they might get a runtime that covers 80-90% of a real work day.

The other problem I am seeing with my hp30r is that the spot led color rendering is horrible and needs to be a better. My 2015 xpl v2 emitters, v6, 70 cri 4000,4500,and 4750 Kelvin, are way better. There are s5 xpg emitters at 80 cri, 4750 Kelvin, that get 189 lpw. I am not sure if any changes since 2015 in the xpl, I think they went backwards in efficiency when they changed to v3 xpl.... I am seeing only reports of luminus poor color rendering at lower currents like .1C. Luminus seems to be chosen because of the cheap price and high current ability, which I will care about once battery capacity doubles at the same weight.