Primus PrimeLite Race - review [Rebel inside]

Szemhazai

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 1, 2006
Messages
839
Location
Wroclaw - Poland
primuslogolb6.jpg
Primus PrimeLite Race
dimensions : 47 x 62 x 40 mm + 90 x 70 x 28 mm
weight : 196 g
power source : 4xAA
water resistance : IPX7
light source : Luxeon™ Rebel - 140 lumens
range : 125 m / 95 m / 70 m
burn time : 3 / 7 / 20 hours
primeft8.jpg


Impressions

The lamp is made appropriately, you can see that a designer has spent some time on it, shaving the weight where he could. On the head cold alloy (instead of plastic) is a nice surprise. Inside there is a smaller brother of oldie Lux III – the Rebel.
primussx2.jpg


Headband :
- inner side, rubber stripes to improve head hold.
- outer side, two reflective stripes for improved visibility of user
- two movable eyelets allow to move cable from the headlamp to the back of the head.
- headband is long enough to put it on bike helmet so xxxl size ready ;)
primusbeltte3.jpg


Battery holder :
- a solid piece of plastic, locked by a screw
- thick rubber seal protecting against water
- NiMH rechargeables fit in and still there is some space left
- after screwing nothing is rumbling inside and the holder is sealed
primusbatterypj5.jpg


- steel clip allows to carry the holder on a belt or on the headband (after fastening the wire). It doesn't look like it is going to break easily.
primuscliphj3.jpg


Weight :
With the set of rechargeables (4x GP 2500) it weights 316 g, head with the headband and some cable - 96 g.

Waterproof :
IPX7 – means that you can put this lamp 1m under the surface of water and not to destroy it. Seals in battery holder and in the head guarantee it.

Review

Lamp is modular and easy to assemble - after unscrewing the head cover you can take out a module with a driver, a led, a reflector, a heatsink and momentary switch.
primus2nj3.jpg


After unscrewing the reflector, you gain direct access to the led :
primus3id5.jpg


Led is soldered on a small mcpcb board that is screwed to the module body – which together with a reflector fulfill a function of the heatsink. The contact area between the module and the alloy head cover isn't too big but it allows to distribute heat.

After unscrewing three additional screws and unsoldering two thin wires from the mcpcb, you can get to the driver :D. Unfortunately there is nothing to see from the outside - and the spring is only a clamp.
driver1vs1.jpg


Some work with your screwdriver and here it is ::
driver2wt7.jpg

Producer removed every marking from the driver chip :(.

Measurements and operation.

Lamp is turn on /off by pressing the switch for two seconds (the same way as in Silva/Brunton), now by clicking you can choose between three lightning modes : low (it is already on) about 50 lumens, mid about 90 lumens and high about 140 lumens.

According to the packaging you can use lithium batteries i.e. 1.5V lithium batteries not 3.0V or 3.65V – 14500 cells that are available on the market. Good boost driver should work fine with this range of voltage but it does not. I tried to connect it to 8.4V Li-ion pack, but at first it didn't start and then it started by itself, working in short circuit. It didn't allow to change the mode or be turned off. I was lucky that it was not damaged during the experiment.

Some measures, from new alkalines 6.44V without load:
Code:
V-in    I-In    P-In    V-led  I-led  P-led    Eff.
5,89V  162mA   0,95W    2,95V  172mA  0,51W    53,2%
5,64V  327mA   1,84W    3,19V  373mA  1,19W    64,5%
4,69V  653mA   3,06W    3,42V  718mA  2,46W    80,2%

From NiMH's - 5,09V without load:
Code:
V-in    I-In    P-In    V-led  I-led  P-led    Eff.
4,82V  164mA   0,79W    2,92V  160mA  0,48W    59,1%
4,46V  324mA   1,44W    3,14V  335mA  1,05W    72,7%
3,66V  684mA   2,50W    3,38V  660mA  2,23W    89,1%

How it light ?

There are not too many competitive headlamps on the market that are supplied with a new generation leds. On the European market there is only Petzl Myo XP so Primus will be compared to it.

Myo vs. Primus - High
myoprimushighqr4.jpg

Mid
myoprimusmidzz2.jpg

Low
myoprimuslowpw5.jpg


Bike

I wasn't able to get bike clip for it, but it is available for 10$ extra:
bikeclipkt4.jpg


It provides very similar beam to the CatEye HL-EL530.
Primus (Rebel in mid mode) vs. 530 (SSC P4 bin U)
el530primusmidum3.jpg


Summary.

On the American market the shelf price is 80$, on the European 70 Euro - very similar to the Petzl MyoBelt XP.

The difference between power levels of rechargeables and alkalines is quite small, so you can use NiMH without loosing light output, it is in favor of environment and your wallet. When using it in the mid mode you only need to remember to charge the cells after 7 hours of use.

To summarize, this headlamp has everything - power supply (4AA cells instead of 3 or even AAA cells), heatsink, water resistance and light :) Long range will be an invaluable help when you will be moving and combing woods or mountains when looking for a point or a trail. A real burn time allows calculating how many cells you need for a next night adventure or how much time is left till you will be out of light.

Great headlamp :twothumbs
 
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Re: Primus PrimeLite Race - review [Rebel inside].

wow! :twothumbs Thank you. It looks very well made, better than anything else.
I see the beam is much more focussed than the Petzl Myo XP, so maybe the Myo will be better in some situations.
 
Re: Primus PrimeLite Race - review [Rebel inside].

Szemhazai,

Fantastic review of what looks like a very nice headlamp. It's good to see new generation LED's finally creeping into manufacturers lineups.:twothumbs
 
Re: Primus PrimeLite Race - Review. [Rebel inside]

Thanks for the excellent expose, Szem. Your's was a real "scoop" in new news. Nice, clear, detailed photos, too. Looks like a nicely engineered and constructed light.
 
Nice review of a nice looking light.

I'd like to see a much, much, much lower low mode and some sort of diffuser. Even if was a separate snap on piece.
 
How is the regulation on this light on high? By chance, do you also have a PT EOS to compare with? That's what I currently use at work and while it's decent, I'd much rather have something brighter and further throwing.
 
not sure what happened to the Thread. it appears to be gone. there was a Thread several weeks ago that had a number of Posts about this particular headlamp. some good info there also, IIRC, but not up to Szem's initial Post in information quality/quantity, IMO. however, there might be something useful there?

EDIT:

ok. just located the Thread. here's a link:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?p=2479743#post2479739


just scroll to the top to get to the OP's Post.
 
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Interesting light. Lots of info in this mini review, great job Szemhazai :thumbsup:
half-watt, your lengthy post in that other thread you linked to was informative also.
 
Thanks for good review.

Don't you have any need to change the luxeon rebel with p4 u1 or u2 bin ?

If mod is worth a try, i'm going to do that.
 
For what ? :candle: You allready have Rebel 100 there, so by replaceing it witch the SSC U1 you will achieve nothing and you have to replace or drill the original reflector. :thumbsdow
 
does this have a better quality feel than the myo?
i would think the myo would be more versatile with its lower low and diffusor lens
 
How is the regulation on this light on high? By chance, do you also have a PT EOS to compare with? That's what I currently use at work and while it's decent, I'd much rather have something brighter and further throwing.


Hello all,

Newbie surfacing here after laying low for quite a while. Princeton Tec has a new Rebel "Eos Work Headlamp" rated at 80L with a low and a high mode only available from Bright guy. Their Eos Tactical is a great light and the filters eliminate the hot spot for close range work but it has the same output and throw of the original Eos. The tactical would be fantastic with the Rebel installed if it retained all of the modes of the original with the increased output and throw. Hopefully, PT will incorporate the Rebel into the other Eos offerings to have a phenomenal all upfront headlamp for backpacking and bushwhacking. I think that it's time for me to start modding!!!

The Primus light would be fantastic for very difficult trails and bushwhacking but would be overkill for most hiking and backpacking although, which one of us really doesn't want a brighter light, I guess that's why I always carry two.

I keep hoping for the ultimate light but there always seems to be a trade off somewhere.
 
Any idea why BrightGuy is the only one who carries that EOS II light? I also saw a post about an EOS II Bike that comes with a bike mount and has a headband (the normal cloth one) and has the Rebel LED. That's the one I want. The big bike conference is next week and maybe it'll officially be released there.

--Matt
 
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