Who else is excited for the Zebralight H503c?

[viasat]

Thanks for your first impressions,maybe later you cand add more.
My H503c it's on the way to me from nkon.nl,and also it's my first Zebralight,so I'm impatient to see the tint of the Samsung led.
Cheers

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Is this lamp good for close up work?

 

[glimmer]

Being a true floodlight without a hotspot, I think it's great for up close work. High CRI helps too, depending on the task.

 

[moses]

Anyone estimate the lumens you are getting out of this?

I got one of the first ones and returned it promptly as it put out about 200 lumens - too little for me given that other ZL AAs are putting out more than 300. I was hoping closer to 300.... Not sure if I received a defective one but don't think so. I noticed that they never put out the specifications. They emailed me that they were about to do so - and that was a month+ ago but never did. WOnder if it is due to lower than expected output? if this was about 300, I'd get it in a heartbeat.

 

[glimmer]

moses- I would hate to hazard a guess as to the lumens! This headlamp has a very wide flood beam- 120 degrees as you know. It's also extremely even across its spread. This makes it very difficult for me to compare it to my other lights in terms of output, and I have no way to measure it. It's my first floody headlamp too. I bought it because I mostly need a headlamp for short to medium range use. (my first ZL too BTW). Plenty of output for my needs- enough to light up a small room or walk the dog, but definitely not a thrower! My light seems to have been in the second batch/shipment based on when mine came vs. others, and what was shown on their site. Who knows if mine is any different than yours was, but I doubt it. It will be interesting to see the specs when they finally get posted.

 

[P220C]

Running Eneloop Pro and comparing it to other lights using ceiling bounce, a 300-lumen estimate sounds about right. The "hotspot" of 120 degrees is great for close up work, but as would be expected it does not reach out at all. Definitely not an all-purpose beam profile, but it's a great headlamp for bench work, reading, grilling, and camp chores.

 

[koziy]

I got one of these not too long ago and I've tried to like it, but I think it will be catch and release for me. Yeah, it's a really floody beam with no hot spot, great for up close work like at a bench or something,but it's not as useful as I thought it would be overall. I would like one of these as a secondary lamp on my H600d IV, so I could switch between having a big bright 50.2 emitter with a lot of throw and its unfortunate green tint shift, and this nice, evenly tinted flood light.

 

[moses]

Running Eneloop Pro and comparing it to other lights using ceiling bounce, a 300-lumen estimate sounds about right. The "hotspot" of 120 degrees is great for close up work, but as would be expected it does not reach out at all. Definitely not an all-purpose beam profile, but it's a great headlamp for bench work, reading, grilling, and camp chores.

I too did the ceiling bounce test - which takes the width of the beam out of the equation for the most part. Mine tested to be about 200 lumens and I was comparing using a light meter. Perhaps it was defective. If I knew for sure my next one would be 300 lumens, I'll get it again in a heart beat.

 

[Nev]

after a few minutes on an eneloop the 300 lumens will be more like the 185 ish lumens of the next level down , that's why I don't run my H52 on eneloops ,I run it with 14500's & after the 526 lumen burst for 60 seconds it steps down to 300 for almost an hour then steps down to medium ,it's a shame zebralight has done away with 14500 compatibility.

 

[holygeez03]

It's on ZL's website... no specs yet.

http://www.zebralight.com/H503c-AA-LH351D-4000K-Neutral-White-High-CRI-Flood-Headlamp_p_238.html

 

[Candlestick]

Just chiming in, I am looking at getting this just for the updated LED. I have had an H502c for well over 3 years now. It is by far my "favorite" flashligt. It just does things that nothing else I own can. The cri was great, hardly any different from the 219 as far as I could tell even though it was only 80+ back then. The output was only 190 lumens max, I guess it depends on use case but for me it is enough almost all of the time. Enough to spotlight deer, or bats? No, of course not. Bright enough to walk around and work with your hands, or light up a big backyard to moonlight levels? Absolutely. I still use the light daily for writing in my journal and reading. It tailstands so I can set it up pointing at a wall or area. I use the 0.01 level the most late at night/ early in the morning, the 3 lumen level in the evening, the .25 level when writing or reading for extended times. Anything above that is great for walking around outside or working in enclosed areas.

That being said, if you find it not bright enough I would reccomend the 18650 eqivalent, pocket sun. I have one and it is a pocket worklight.

So if you are looking for the perfect close up, pocket reading light, bunker survival light this is the light for you. If you are looking for the smallest brightest light possible then look somewhere else. Funny that 150 lumens out of any light blew minds not so long ago, and now a high CRI 200 lumen tiny light is not enough?

Here are some cousins doing some night drawing in an unlit part of the house.