Bolster
Flashlight Enthusiast
I requested a Spark SX5 Neutral for Christmas and I apparently fooled Santa into thinking I was a good boy this year, because he (or rather 'she') delivered. I was beguiled by the SX5's bright advertised lumens, its long runtime, and the fact it can be powered by three of the cells I've standardized on, Eneloop AAs. (It may also be powered by a wide range of other cells, of which the li-ions give impressively longer runtimes).
As regulars to the CPF Headlamps subforum know, I use my headlamps for hand work, that is, working on cars, on houses, on fences, and so on. The most used range for me is from 18" to 6 feet. So when a forumite reported that you could remove the reflector of the SX5 and turn it into a directional flood, I put the SX5 on the want list. Upon receiving it, I almost immediately removed the reflector and have used it as a flood ever since, so I'm not able to report on its throwing capacity, other than to say: with the reflector, it throws like a traditional spot/spill handheld. Recently I made a white paper ring to go around the inside circumference of the light's body, to eek out a few more lumens than the dark olive-drab anodizing allows. I would like to paint the interior of the screw on bezel white, also. It would be nice if Spark would simply paint any part that potentially receives lumens, white. I can think of no good reason to waste lumens on dark anodizing.
Mounted on my Elios climbing helmet, the SX5 perched happily, but I eventually remounted the SX5 onto a bump cap. Reason being, the Elios works better as a lie-on-your-back, stay-on-your-head helmet, so my Spark SD52 was a better match for it, since it has no battery pack on the back. On the bump cap, I simply have an easy-to-wear, easy-on-and-off headlamp, which is very handy and fast into action.
The view of the SX5 trigs to 82 degrees. That's essentially the same field of view as the much-loved Zebralight H501. I've gotten so used to the wide field of view of the ZL H502 (120 degrees) and the Spark SD52 (115 degrees), that the SX5 took some adjustment…the field of view seemed a bit narrow when working in tight places in an attic, head wedged into a narrow crevice. But, when standing further off, the 82 FOV is lovely and very useful. Lucky that this is what the SX5 naturally gives us with the reflector pulled!
I find I use the lamp mostly on level 3 (of 5), which is the 55 lumen setting. Here it will run for 14 hours on 3 AAs before needing a refill. Occasionally, I bump it up to level 4, 170 lumens (gives 4 hours on AAs). It's plenty bright at 170, usually more than I need, and I seldom ever use the top level of 320 lm, which, like the 170 setting, is often too bright at close ranges, but handy for viewing across a room. The 320 setting is not that much different from the 170 setting, frankly, and hardly worth the shorter runtime. The sublumen mode is simply something to click through, as I can't think of when I'd need sublumens for a work helmet mount. Shocking though this may be, I actually don't wear a helmet for reading in bed or checking on the sleeping kids. [EDIT: Works great as a "find me in the dark" light or nightlight.]
For tight-quarters attic work, the SX5 in its stock configuration (light up front, battery pack in back of the head) is NOT ideal. This is me crawling under the joists: thwack, thwack, thwack…that's the sound of the battery pack hitting every joist along the way. I actually wrapped the battery pack in tape to keep it looking unscratched. However, to my amazement, the wire cable between pack and light has not caught on anything yet. Perhaps the fact I taped it down tight to the helmet with masking tape has something to do with that. Am contemplating buying the extension cable and wearing the battery pack at my waist.
Tint is nice. A little more warm/rose than the SD52, which always struck me as dead neutral. My apologies for the photo…this house has light beige walls, so we can't see the actual tints. This shot is only good for comparison between the two. Also I'm using a cheapie instamatic that does auto-everything, including color balance, so this is a junk beamshot. It does capture the wide beam of the SD52 next to the more modest beam of the SX5.
As regulars to the CPF Headlamps subforum know, I use my headlamps for hand work, that is, working on cars, on houses, on fences, and so on. The most used range for me is from 18" to 6 feet. So when a forumite reported that you could remove the reflector of the SX5 and turn it into a directional flood, I put the SX5 on the want list. Upon receiving it, I almost immediately removed the reflector and have used it as a flood ever since, so I'm not able to report on its throwing capacity, other than to say: with the reflector, it throws like a traditional spot/spill handheld. Recently I made a white paper ring to go around the inside circumference of the light's body, to eek out a few more lumens than the dark olive-drab anodizing allows. I would like to paint the interior of the screw on bezel white, also. It would be nice if Spark would simply paint any part that potentially receives lumens, white. I can think of no good reason to waste lumens on dark anodizing.
Mounted on my Elios climbing helmet, the SX5 perched happily, but I eventually remounted the SX5 onto a bump cap. Reason being, the Elios works better as a lie-on-your-back, stay-on-your-head helmet, so my Spark SD52 was a better match for it, since it has no battery pack on the back. On the bump cap, I simply have an easy-to-wear, easy-on-and-off headlamp, which is very handy and fast into action.
The view of the SX5 trigs to 82 degrees. That's essentially the same field of view as the much-loved Zebralight H501. I've gotten so used to the wide field of view of the ZL H502 (120 degrees) and the Spark SD52 (115 degrees), that the SX5 took some adjustment…the field of view seemed a bit narrow when working in tight places in an attic, head wedged into a narrow crevice. But, when standing further off, the 82 FOV is lovely and very useful. Lucky that this is what the SX5 naturally gives us with the reflector pulled!
I find I use the lamp mostly on level 3 (of 5), which is the 55 lumen setting. Here it will run for 14 hours on 3 AAs before needing a refill. Occasionally, I bump it up to level 4, 170 lumens (gives 4 hours on AAs). It's plenty bright at 170, usually more than I need, and I seldom ever use the top level of 320 lm, which, like the 170 setting, is often too bright at close ranges, but handy for viewing across a room. The 320 setting is not that much different from the 170 setting, frankly, and hardly worth the shorter runtime. The sublumen mode is simply something to click through, as I can't think of when I'd need sublumens for a work helmet mount. Shocking though this may be, I actually don't wear a helmet for reading in bed or checking on the sleeping kids. [EDIT: Works great as a "find me in the dark" light or nightlight.]
For tight-quarters attic work, the SX5 in its stock configuration (light up front, battery pack in back of the head) is NOT ideal. This is me crawling under the joists: thwack, thwack, thwack…that's the sound of the battery pack hitting every joist along the way. I actually wrapped the battery pack in tape to keep it looking unscratched. However, to my amazement, the wire cable between pack and light has not caught on anything yet. Perhaps the fact I taped it down tight to the helmet with masking tape has something to do with that. Am contemplating buying the extension cable and wearing the battery pack at my waist.
Tint is nice. A little more warm/rose than the SD52, which always struck me as dead neutral. My apologies for the photo…this house has light beige walls, so we can't see the actual tints. This shot is only good for comparison between the two. Also I'm using a cheapie instamatic that does auto-everything, including color balance, so this is a junk beamshot. It does capture the wide beam of the SD52 next to the more modest beam of the SX5.
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