H501w Or Remix

[pobox1475]

I need a good light for working indoor residential renovation sites. Have wanted the warm Zebralight for a while. Generally prefer warm or neutral over cool, but willing to go either way for this application. Wide/flood beam is a plus. Have a supply of Eneloops AA & AAA's to use. Is the Princeton Tec a better value or should I pony up for the ZL?

 

[carrot]

Princeton Tec makes excellent headlamps. I personally would argue that they are a better value and I would recommend the EOS as another choice. However, Zebralight has found a niche in making small, floody headlamps so if the flood is really important to you, it may be worth getting. Personally, I have not bought any Zebralights due to reliability concerns.

 

[pae77]

The H501w is something really special, imo. Nothing else is quite like it. Pure smooth flood with no hot spot and with a great tint and very compact size. It must be one of, if not the, smallest single AA light ever made. There is also a great convenience in the fact that it runs on a single AA. It's so much more than a headlamp. It's so versatile, I hardly ever use mine as a headlamp, but I can stand it on something, stick it to something with magnets, or clip it to my pocket, shirt, or hat for hands free use. I haven't used that particular PT model, but for close up work indoors (up to about 10-20 feet or so) imo you can't do better than the H501w.

Only negatives, imo, are that it is not optimized to take advantage of 14500's (li-ion rechargeable AA's), and the runtime on high isn't that great. (But it's super easy to carry a few extra batteries for it.) And I have found mine needs to be locked out with an easy tiny fraction of a turn of the battery cap to keep it from self activating in a bag or pocket. And of course, it doesn't throw, but it's not designed to and that's the price for such nice pure and smooth flood.

 

[davidt1]

Well put, pae77.

About the runtime of the H501, some people forget that Zebralight do runtime test with Sanyo 2700mAh, not Eneloop. The Sanyo 2700mAh, with a higher capacity, will run longer than Eneloops. I wish Zebralight will use Eneloop battery in future tests so some people won't be confused.

 

[cave dave]

If you don't like PWM then make sure you try before you buy. They have them in REI at Baily's Crossroads.

The Eos does not use PWM but all the new PT lights seem to use it at a fairly low frequency like 100hz or so. It drives me crazy. Currently I use an EOS if I want something with more throw and a H501w if I want flood.

The PT lights get dimmer toward the end of battery life so you get some warning. The H501 just seems to die suddenly, or you turn it off and it won't go back on.

 

[yowzer]

The Zebralight's better value and an all-round better headlamp unless you need throw (And, honestly, I'm finding even then, I can use a ZL to navigate trails without problems, and would rather pair one with a thrower handheld light for spotting...). Metal instead of plastic, regulation, known tint bin for the 501w, no annoying blue 5mm LEDs, great floody beam, not to mention so small and lightweight you'll hardly know it's there...