River Rock headlamp impressions

I like this little light overall, but it is not for everyone I suspect. Here are my thoughts.

Pros:

-Very small.
-Very comfortable - in fact, I think this is it's best feature. The straps are soft, small and easily adjusted. The center strap helps too.
-Plenty of light for household use. Nice hotspot with usable sidespill.
-High and low settings with seemingly decent runtimes on 2 AAAs.
-Nice price

Cons:

-Very blue light - quite a bit bluer than the RR lantern with the Jupiter LED.
-Low setting could be lower. Reading in a dark room is easily done, but the hotspot is a touch too bright if directed onto the page. The difference between high and low could be greater IMO
-For outdoors, I might try something a bit whiter and brighter.

That's about it. If you need a simple, cheap, household headlamp, this could work for you. If you are a serious user or use the light outdoors quite a bit, I would look elsewhere.

I think you can open it up and change the resistor value to set the low mode lower

i'll be making a post about the river rock headlamp soon... =) but I agree.. I really like my RR headlamp

You can unscrew the head some and defocus it for closer work or wider hot spot. Still plenty of engagement left to keep it from falling off - and probably still waterproof too.

I grew tiresome of the small hotspot size and the blue tint. My PT EOS has more sidespill and a more usable beam and has become my go to headlight when I'm going to wear one for a while, for example to work on a vehicle. The EOS is also much better outdoors. Got my EOS through an eBay vendor for about $31 shipped...

For quick use and pocket carry I still prefer a Zipka+

The RR headlamp has been relegated to backup status and hangs from a hook over my workbench, for those times when I forget the EOS and don't have a Zipka in my pocket. I've also stopped recommending it to friends, pointing them to the Zipka+ instead...

I have one of these lamps. the output is nice. similiar to my Matrix 2.
having two modes of output is nice.

for only $15 bucks the lamp is a great deal, good brightness and long runtime in one tiny lamp.

the led in mine is only slightly blue.

i would recomend this light for anyone who needs a small inexpensive headlamp. this is a great loaner light, if it doesnt come back, oh well.


the Zipka+ cost about $40 bucks. and is a 4 led lamp. quite different then the single led RR .5W Headlamp.

any fixed focus smooth reflector will give a spot with side spill. the head can be unscrewed for more of a flood.

Some good replies here. Thanks for the tips.

I too wanted a PT EOS, but I was in Target, liked the RR lantern and figured what the heck. I will try to defocus it a bit. The hotspot was a bit annoying when reading. I suspect that a pure flood type light would be the best bet for reading...maybe a PT Quad...

kbog said:

The hotspot was a bit annoying when reading. I suspect that a pure flood type light would be the best bet for reading...maybe a PT Quad...

Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. I'm very pleased with my RR given the price, and gave a couple as gifts. But I can't read with it. I'll try the defocus thing. But I too am wondering about the Quad. There's something about multi LED lights that turns me off, but I can probably get over that.

An update. I tried to be happy with this light. I tried using it for hiking at night - it's just not bright enough for this task. For reading or vehicle maintenance the spot is too small and bright - I found myself constantly adjusting the lamp to get the spot onto what I was working on deep in the bowels of my Land Cruiser. So...today I sputtered the reflector with Rustoleum Clear Enamel and the beam is much improved. It's now a useful light for vehicle maintenance. The throw, which wasn't that great to start with, is diminished, but the spill is brighter, wider, and the beam overall is more even.

The reflector and lens are easily pushed forward through the bezel and then just pop back in again, both without tools.

I did try using the light with the reflector and lens removed entirely and the beam is so diffuse that it wasn't bright enough even at close range. It would probably be fine for reading in a very dark room in this configuration, if there wasn't anyone else around you, as the spill is pretty much 180 degrees.

Even though this mod improved this light, I remain underwhelmed. I won't buy another or recommend it to anyone.

easily the most bang for the buck headlamp. seems to me an excellent backup headlamp or two to stuff in your pack. even if you have a super cooool headlamp like Stenlight.

largest drawback to RR headlamp is lack of lumens. even on high beam, output is marginal at best.

for totally dark enviroments it would be fine. two stage switch seems to be one of the best. very reliable so far. too early to tell yet.

My recent purchase of a Black Diamond SPOT has relegated the RR headlamp to back up duty. The BD simply beats the tar out of the RR in almost every category (except water proofness).

Still, I like the RR light for a cheap easy to use light.

Are there any differences between the RR and the Sl Enduro ?

Who is the real builder of this (great) light ?
I saw another light looks same as the RR or the Streamlight for: Euro 9,95 !!!

maxilux

maxilux said:

Are there any differences between the RR and the Sl Enduro ?

Who is the real builder of this (great) light ?
I saw another light looks same as the RR or the Streamlight for: Euro 9,95 !!!

maxilux

Click to expand...

I can't answer any of those questions. Was that helpful????:shrug:

Sorry.

Thanks, i helps not much.

It is a great light, but i want to know the real builder.
In the moment i know 3 headlamps with the same look.

maxilux

streamlight
river rock
???

whats the third? thanks!

You got in Germany

http://www.elv.de/Main.asp?Menue=Shop&SessionId=00212171510125332057

Please look at the price there.
I think it is the same as the Sl and the RR.

I believe the maker is SK in Hong Kong.
I used textured write-rite on the lens as a diffuser and like it much better. It is still to blue for my tastes. But I bought it for emergency car use. I thought there was a huge difference in high and low beam on mine running on alkalines. Then I switched to Lithiums and the low was almost as bright as the high. Weird Huh?

Thanks, but what is SK.

My Streamlight isn´t to blue.
Can it we that there are different LED´s in the SL and the RR ?

if you use nimh the low is really low compared to high... i prefer it this way... it is a nice water resistant headlamp with decent output... i gave one of them two my brother and my dad... gave them lithiums so it would always work and wouldn't fail on them when they need it most

after seeing my brother put a 2d maglight bulb in a 4d light... i desided to make it easy for him

Hi, I saw this headlamp at Target a few days ago on sale for $10.48 so I couldn't resist buying one. Mostly because I heard good things here about it. Mine like others mentioned also has the blue tint. But I must have gotten one with a sub-standard led in it because the beam also has a yellowish brown blotch in it. This goes away if I losen the reflector about 3/4 turn. Which then leaves it a bit loose. Because of this I'll probably take mine back for a replacement. I agree with others on the low beam, I think its a bit to low for most uses. I think it may be ok to navigate in total darkness if battery conservation was an issue. Or to use as a nightlight if your eyes are dark adapted. For anything else I find myself using the high beam which seems ok for most tasks. For me the spill on high is ok for tasks an arms lenght away.

On the plus side it is very compact. Enough so that it competes with the coin cell lights. You won't have to buy the smaller batteries which will save you money. The weight with batteries is only 3.8 oz. This may be good for people who do ultra light backpacking. Or others like hunters who may get stranded after dark and want something compact and lightweight to reduce a load carried all day long. Also the headband is decent too, it has a center or top strap. It can easily be taken of and used on another headlamp, say the EOS which doesn't have the top strap. This alone can justify the cost especially if you find it for $10.48. Because of the light weight and the quality of the headband I believe you can run or jog with it and it won't bounce around. I'll probably get a replacement rather than a refund.