Silva Alpha vs Petzl Ultra - the ultimate challenge…

Szemhazai

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 1, 2006
Messages
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Location
Wroclaw - Poland
Some days ago I get in my hands two headlamps : Silva Alpha 6 (about 349 € / 500 $ ) and Petzl Ultra Blet 4 (about 299 € / 499$) :santa:

Here you can see what came out from that meeting :D
alfaultra1mq9.jpg


Heads are similar in size, but it is easy to see that ultra is beating the alpha in led's quantity :p.

3x Luxeon K2 TFFC vs 6x Seoul Semiconductors SSC P4

But the claimed output doesn't show that:
540 lumens vs 350 lumens

alfaultra2xw7.jpg

Alloy vs. composite, what will be lighter ? Alphas head weight only 183 g instead 213 g of ultra :ohgeez:

Power source – both are using 7,2V Li-Ion packs but they have totally opposite approach to that case.
alfaacuai6.jpg

Silva is using heat shrinking tube and neoprene - battery pack weights 326g and have 6,9 Ah capacity.

ultraacuiw0.jpg

Petzl instead is using hard composite case - battery pack weights 270g and have only 4.0 Ah capacity.

Additional equipment.
No extras from petzl, but Alpha is very universal headlamp, in addition to head strap you are getting a clip on helmet mount and a handlebar mount. You can easily convert yours alpha into a bike or a helmet light.
alfaextrasln5.jpg


Light output
I was wondering why Petzl is getting only 350 lumens from the Ultra for some time, only 350 lumens from 6 emitters :huh2: After seeing it for the first time in catalogue I was betting that this lamp is overheating and I was right. :cool:

ultravshotultraak7.jpg

On the left, Ultra on high right after turning on, it is giving about 450 lumens - compared it to my quad Cree - then about 10 minutes later… Everything is clear :thumbsdow.

Power consumption and burn time:
Alpha 6
Code:
mode  V-in   I-In     P-In  Calculated burn time.
high   6,8   2,060   14,01    3,64
mid    7,1   1,506   10,69    4,77
low    7,1   0,093    0,66   77,32
flood  7,1   0,572    4,06   12,57
Petzl Ultra Belt 4
Code:
mode  V-in   I-In     P-In  Calculated burn time.
high  7,3    1,250   9,175   3,13
mid   7,6    0,432   3,292   8,74
low   7,7    0,117   0,903  31,88
So, claimed runtimes are ok, then... :naughty:

Let's take it outdoor, there was about 2 Celsius degree outside so both headlamps were pretty well cooled :).

On high :twothumbs
alfavsultrahighpi0.jpg


On mid
alfavsultramidhf5.jpg


On low
alfavsultralowei9.jpg


And alpha's flood (only led is burning) vs ultra low.
alfafloodvsultralowlx4.jpg


Reflective markers are set in a 5 m distance - the light is pointed on 10 m marker.
 
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Re: Silva Alfa vs Petzl Ultra - the ultimate challenge…

Nice but which one would you choose?

Are you actualy saying that the ultra dimms down when it gets hot?

Ifor
 
Re: Silva Alfa vs Petzl Ultra - the ultimate challenge…

Isn't it obvious ? Silva Alpha of course :twothumbs

Yes, ultra dims when it gets hot, when you are running or biking your eyes will adapt to smaller amount of the light. The change take some time and you actualy won't realize that fact. :duh2:
 
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Re: Silva Alpha vs Petzl Ultra - the ultimate challenge…

According to Silva's engineers (yes, I have spoken to them in person) the Silva also dims down when it gets too hot, but they claim that it only overheats if you are standing still indoors. If you walk around, the airflow is enough to keep it cooled. It seems all high power led headlamps behave in the same way: Mila's Nova and Lupine Tesla X also dim down when they get too hot.

After a lot of comparing and thinking, I decided to by a Tesla and I am happy so far. It seems lighter and brighter than the Silva and Petzl at roughly the same price.
 
Re: Silva Alpha vs Petzl Ultra - the ultimate challenge…

Cool beamshots i was hoping someone would show the Ultra!!
 
Re: Silva Alpha vs Petzl Ultra - the ultimate challenge…

Is this a normal ratio of lumens for a Luxeon K2 TFFC vs a P4?

I have some lights with P4s. Am I likely to get 70% more light if I change to the K2?
 
Re: Silva Alpha vs Petzl Ultra - the ultimate challenge…

Is this a normal ratio of lumens for a Luxeon K2 TFFC vs a P4?

I have some lights with P4s. Am I likely to get 70% more light if I change to the K2?

No, I guess you may get less light.

Petzl has lots of leds but underdrives them to get better efficiency and less heat. Less heat means smaller/mor lightweight heatsink and better efficiency means more lightweight battery. For me Petzls approach looks more intelligent than Silvas, and petzls beam looks better too, hotspot is bigger ans it has smoother edges.

I don't think ultra has any heat issues. Of course it dims if you burn it at high indoors for 15 minutes. It would be quite bad idea to heatsink a high power headlamp so well i would not have to dim - all the exta weight just to be able to stay on high indoors without airflow...
 
Re: Silva Alpha vs Petzl Ultra - the ultimate challenge…

Thanks for posting those photos! The picture of the Silva's battery pack gave me a great idea for protecting similar battery packs I'll be using on my caving helmet.

Neat headlamps too. . . .
 
Re: Silva Alpha vs Petzl Ultra - the ultimate challenge…

:twothumbs

Thanks for the review.
 
Re: Silva Alpha vs Petzl Ultra - the ultimate challenge…

Is anyone selling the Alpha in the USA?
 
Re: Silva Alpha vs Petzl Ultra - the ultimate challenge…

Thanks for the test, I was in the shop yesterday and drewled on both of them.

I like the Petzl hardware better, maybe mostly because of the powerswitch which is faster to turn on and easier to dim fast. I hate that one button idea that you have to click around in some sort of light-menu-cycle

I might go for the Petzl one of theese days

UNLESS anyone has a very good point in why not
 
Re: Silva Alpha vs Petzl Ultra - the ultimate challenge…

Nice headlamp,
thank you for the beamshot, everything is clear:)
 
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Re: Silva Alpha vs Petzl Ultra - the ultimate challenge…

whoa - what if you stuck p4s in the ALPHA?
would they be driven too hard you think?
 
Re: Silva Alpha vs Petzl Ultra - the ultimate challenge…

whoa - what if you stuck p4s in the ALPHA?
would they be driven too hard you think?
newer led --> less heat --> better overall
(but in reality there wont be too much difference. Better to change only, when there was a "step" in led. Like Luxeon <-> XR-E/P4, or like XR-E/P4 <-> XP-G, which is on atm)

Nice but which one would you choose?
easy: at those ridiculus prices, search a light housing from metal and build one's own headlamp. One emitter alone, but drive it hard
 
Re: Silva Alpha vs Petzl Ultra - the ultimate challenge…

My friend recently bought an Ultra. We went caving together and it was impressively bright compared to my older model PT Apex. I now have the Fenix HP10 so I'm gonna see how that stacks up to his considering the price and weight differences.
 
Re: Silva Alpha vs Petzl Ultra - the ultimate challenge…

My friend recently bought an Ultra. We went caving together and it was impressively bright compared to my older model PT Apex. I now have the Fenix HP10 so I'm gonna see how that stacks up to his considering the price and weight differences.

itll get smoked, that Ultra is a monster of a headlamp.
 
Re: Silva Alpha vs Petzl Ultra - the ultimate challenge…

Hello,

Somewhat of a newb to headlamps and had a couple questions. I recently picked up an Ultra for trailrunning, caving, mountain resuce, etc.

I was wondering if the Silva provides more throw vs. the Ultra? For the original poster, how do each compare to each other from a comfort standpoint? Anyone know where in the United States I could pick up an Silva? I see a bunch on Ebay, but they're located in the UK.

Thanks in advance!:twothumbs
 
Re: Silva Alpha vs Petzl Ultra - the ultimate challenge…

The useful range of Ultra is about 40 meters, Alfa still gives you the nice spot at about 60-70m.

They are not "comfort lights" if you want a comfort buy the new Tikka XP :). Booth Ultra and Alfa are much to heavy to be comfortable for me, the Alfa headband gives you a better weight distribution, but still you will fell that on your head.
 
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