ZebraLight H50 - impressions thread Part 2

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Burgess

Burgess

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Continuation of Part 1. ;)

With a name like ZebraLight . . . .


Wouldn't you expect the strap to be adorned with


STRIPES, rather than SPOTS ? ! :tinfoil:



Hey, i tried the black-rubber "light-shade" last night.


That gizmo works GREAT ! :twothumbs


Now i can have the light aimed "down" in front of me,
and yet still avoid getting a nasty glare in my eyeglasses.


Good thinking, ZebraLight ! :thumbsup:



BTW:

When i'm using this on HIGH, and the battery can no longer maintain that load,
does it then "shut-off", or simply drop to a dimmer mode ?


_
 
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I just used mine for the first "real" time.

I put in an alkaline I had on my desk, went outside at dark and started a fire with my 5yo. We then gathered wood, cut a good green stick, and roasted marshmellows. He decided it was time to go in and play with toys. I got two tiny filet mingon I been waiting to cook, cut some stakes to drive in beside the fire, proped the grill "tripod style" over the fire, cooked and ate my steaks.

High faded some time during that first steak. I just kept eating (man that red meat was good!)

I chunked the alkaline, put in a fresh NiMH, came in here, and started typing.

I was using the "shade" and the "clip/upside down" on the brim of my baseball cap. Worked pretty good. Easy one handed operation in this configuration. I have zero complaints, and will be using my new H50 Alot!

;)
 
Not sure when I will use mine again. I can't find the darn thing. I thought I put it in my backpack to bring it to work to show a co-worker who also likes flashlights. But it's not there and it's not anywhere else I look. Oh well. Usually when I misplace something like this, it eventually turns up, but sometimes not for a long while (I had an old m*g solitaire that was lost inside a chair for YEARS). So I hope my h50 turns up soon. :sigh:
 
Glad to see somebody else lost theirs. Mine didn't work at first so I asked Zebra light to send me another. After another day and a few new batteries it started working just fine. I used it for 2 days and now I lost it. Zebralight has allready sent the replacement, so I guess when it gets here I will be buying another light. :laughing:
 
The Zebra Light helped me spot something none of my other lights did.

...
...

OK... It helped me spot the corroded D-cell in my wireless door bell. The postman tried to deliver my light today, but did not find me at home... except I was at home. After I found the delivery card in my mailbox on the way out I had to find out if the door bell was working. It wasn't, and there was a leaky D cell that had killed it.

I thought leaky batteries were pretty much a thing of the past if you did abuse them or their environment and used good Energizer or Duracells; these happened to be energizers.

Oh well I hope I can repair it. It is only about 2 years old. Original set of batteries. I guess I should have checked on them more often.

So as it is, I won't even see the Zerbra until monday. I'm really looking forward to it.

Check those batteries...
 
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I'm hesitating to jump on this bandwagon for one main reason -- I don't generally backpack alone. When using Tikka+ headlamps, it's a nuisance when one person inadvertently points it directly at another's face, so we try to avoid doing that. It seems to me that it might be annoying to have another person's light shining in your direction just about all the time, which would be the case if everyone had a Zebra.

Worse yet, I'd think, would be to have someone beside you reading at night with a light like the Zebra.

Does anybody have any experience so far with having two or more people using them in close proximity?

c_c
 
I know what are you talking about. I think it could be a problem (but as you said - it's the same on Tikka headlamps).
One good thing is that you can easily turn the headlamp, you could turn it so that it points up (and with the glare shield). So if you are going to talk to someone, you could just point the headlamp to the sky... This isn't possible with a Tikka (as you can't turn the headlamp 360° inside the bracket).
 
As someone who has done a lot of group night hiking I know exactly what you mean. What it comes down to is those who wear headlamps have to remember not to look directly at others to talk.

Something which might help is using the pocket clip with the H50 instead of the headband. At least then the light wont be directed at somebody elses face when turning to talk.
 
Daniel_sk said:
I know what are you talking about. I think it could be a problem (but as you said - it's the same on Tikka headlamps).
One good thing is that you can easily turn the headlamp, you could turn it so that it points up (and with the glare shield). So if you are going to talk to someone, you could just point the headlamp to the sky... This isn't possible with a Tikka (as you can't turn the headlamp 360° inside the bracket).
Click to expand...
I was concerned about what it would be like doing normal camp activities, and not particularly worried about what it would be like talking to someone. The Tikka+ isn't a problem unless someone looks (that is, points his/her head) directly at you. But I'm afraid the Zebra, with its much broader pattern, would be glaring at you even when the other person is looking in other directions, as each of you go about normal activities.

c_c
 
It will shine in others eyes, but because of the nature of the beam (diffuse) it is not the same as a focused beam. It is annoying but not hurtful, especially on low or medium, which is how it will probably be set in the situation you are refering to. I wouldn't worry about it and say go for the Zebralight.
 
I think the glare issue won't be too bad if you use the glare shield and keep the light pointed downward.

Btw my H50 turned up under my bed :thumbsup:.
 
I wouldn't worry about blinding people - the lux rating is so relatively low that I can shine it at myself in a mirror in pitch-darkness and the emitter itself isn't a problem, not even if I look directly at it. That is in start contrast to even the flood emitters on my Apex which, in comparison to the Zebralight, aren't floody at all! I think it's the perfect headlamp for group hiking. :grin2:
 
I see it as less of an issue of "blinding" than "annoying". I also tried the H50 in a mirror and it is annoying unless you point it downward. But pointing downward is the right thing most of the time.
 
paulr said:
I see it as less of an issue of "blinding" than "annoying". I also tried the H50 in a mirror and it is annoying unless you point it downward. But pointing downward is the right thing most of the time.
Click to expand...
So if someone else is walking around the camp and not looking down, their light will be annoying to me. That's what I suspected, and it looks like the Zebra would be a step in the wrong direction from what we're using now.

c_c
 
By "downward" I don't mean "lighting nothing but the tops of your feet". When walking around, most people tend to look at the ground directly in front of them, i.e. downward at maybe a 45 degree angle. The H50 is a wideangle flood so tilting it down will still produce good coverage for walking around. I'm not convinced it will be more annoying in this regard than other lights that also have a spill beam. That said, I haven't actually tried it in such a situation. It will be interesting if they make a two led version (one flood and one reflectored).
 
As I mentioned in my first posting, I'd be interested in hearing from anybody who actually has been in a situation where two or more of these are in use at the same time in close proximity. That would be the situation I'd be in, just about any time I'd be using one.

c_c
 
Curious Character

I understand your request for actual experience; speculation is interesting, but not necessarily the same as actual experience.

I just returned from 2 weeks in the South American jungle, doing medical volunteering. My wife and I each used a Zebralight for 15 days, 4-6 hrs perday in the early morning and evening for cooking, camping and medical records work. (Two other people had Tikka-type headlamps in the same setting.)

I plan to post a more extensive review of the lights we used when I have time.

The Zebralight does project its beam so it can shine in others eyes. So do the Tikka-types. I found the focused beam much more annoying and likely to reduce my dark-adaptation than the wider flood of the Zebralight. Plus, it is so easy to turn the ZL upwards to shine directly upward when needing to meet face to face, and this has the advantage of providing some very broad, general, soft lighting to the physical situation.

From 2 weeks field experience, I find the Zebralight MUCH PREFERABLE to the focused beam headlamps. I judge it to be going in the "right" direction rather than in the "wrong" direction compared to focused beam headlamps.

John
 
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