New Energizer headlamp

[Elmer Fudd]

Lowe's is selling a new Energizer headlamp:

3 AAA (included)
1 watt LED (11 hour)
2 low power white LEDS (50 hour)
2 low power red LEDs (75 hour)
Pushbutton switch

Same general configuration as the previous 6 LED headlamp.

$19.97

Have not tried it yet but it looks to be an improvement over the previous version.

ETA - have opened the package and tried it. Pushbutton cycles 1 watt, red LEDs, white LEDs. Unit seems thicker, pivots away from head to angle light down and expose back of battery compartment cover. Door is not gasketed, but has an ever so slight lip inside and seems to fit tightly. I have used both the 3 LED and 6 LED versions a lot. This unit addresses the lack of a high power beam. I wish it had a different switch configuration, perhaps a different switch for each mode, although this would cost more. The 3 LED slider switch has always looked to me to be a problem to accidentally turn on, although this has not happened to yet. Cycling through modes seems awkward and wastes power turning on the 1 watt LED every time.

The potential weakness of this headlamp might be the plastic hinge/ratchet mechanism. It does not seem very strong. Otherwise first impressions from me are favorable.

 

[Marduke]

Target has had this headlamp for at least 6 months, probably longer.

http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/HD5L33AE.PDF

 

[Elmer Fudd]

Yep, that's it. Thought it was a new item :mecry:

 

[PhantomPhoton]

It's always intrigued me, but I haven't bought one yet to try it out. I would like to know how easy it is to get inside and put good LEDs in there. But then again being 3xAAA it really isn't worth the effort imo.

 

[Garand]

I bought one of these Saturday morning at Lowe's. I really like this light. It will become my primary headlight.

 

[jbieszke]

heres my 2 cents worth, the energizer 6 led headlamp is nice, not perfect (but what is), I use this headlamp 4-5 days out of the week, it has very good runtime, I have found that the 50 hr mark is not realistic 20hrs is where I change my batteries (about once a week) dont drop the light unless you want the back to come flying off and chipping, headband is comfortable it has a slight pressure spot in the front, and try to stay out of the rain water seems to run behind the lens, the 2 spots seem to be ringy and kind of annoying, but I lightly scuffed the lens with a scotchbright pad just enough to diffuse and that seems to work very well, but its a good light with long runtimes, for general lighting its hard to beat the value.

 

[MorePower]

I see the spec PDF lists 5 hours continuous use to "end of useable light" for the 1W LED. I wonder how bright "useable light" is? Since it's a 3 AAA light, I'd assume it just has a resistor, or possibly relies on the internal resistance and voltage sag of AAA cells to avoid frying the LED, so that 1W LED will rapidly tail off into a dim glow from it's initial "45 lumen" output.

 

[guyg]

Just got one from Target today. Will be using it tomorrow nite. Definatly brighter than the 3 led it will be replacing. Will give fuller report this weekend when I get home.

 

[degarb]

Good throw (actually respectable) and enough battery life to not be annoying. So, I velcro mount it on my torch head lamps on the theory that it adds a few lumens, will kick in more as the batts draw down in the torch, offers more spectrum, and expands hotspot of a 1 watt light to the size of a 3 watt.

At the weight, size and battery life, v. extra light, it is worth a battery swap every 20 hours. (2007) Big, improvement in the lens over last (2005)model

 

[degarb]

Good throw (actually respectable) and enough battery life to not be annoying. So, I velcro mount it on my torch head lamps on the theory that it adds a few lumens, will kick in more as the batts draw down in the torch, offers more spectrum, and expands hotspot of a 1 watt light to the size of a 3 watt.

At the weight, size and battery life, v. extra light, it is worth a battery swap every 20 hours. (2007) Big, improvement in the lens over last (2005)model

 

[guyg]

Compared it to a 2 year old 2 led unknown brand headlamp. The 1 watt single IS bright! The next is the 2- red led lamps. They compare closly with the 2 white in my old lamp. A softer, difused light good at arms lenght. Last is the 2- white leds. Good working lights here at the range I am using. Think of rolling a 24 foot square tarp in the dark. The cycling through the three stages is annoying, but Ill get over that. If I get two years out of it , I`ll be more than happy.