Extraordinary River Rock 4.5 watt headlight

The River Rock 4.5 watt (two CR123 batteries) headlight is nice. But the spot is ridiculous for a headlight, and it is undimmable. So I modified it. I removed the reflector and lens, and moved the led and heatsink to the front of the headlight. It produces a beautifully smooth 1/3 sphere of light, bright enough to read by anywhere the room (within the 1/3 sphere illuminated area). It is brighter all across this super-ultra-wide beam than some lights' spots!

Ok, it is very hot. And the batteries can't last long. And it weighs a few times as much as an e+light. And my modifications were a little extensive; just removing the reflector and lens gives a nice broad smooth beam. And it is blinding to anybody else in the room who glances toward it.

I picked one up on sale for $15 at my local target. IIRC the package rated this light at 135 Lumens. Like stated above the spot is BRIGHT!!!!!

I will not modify it optically but might change out the driver to give a 60% light level.

I will probably will add a 4 C cell or rechargeable battery pack to clip onto my belt as I bet this lamp has a shortish run time on just two CR123 batteries.


I also have the River Rock K2 head light that is rated on the package at 85 Lumens to uses when I don't want the brightness of the 4.5 Watt head light.


The only down side to the 4.5W headlight is every thing in on the front of your head, while the K2 model had the battery pack on the back of your head, balancing the weight...... oh well, I cant have everything, can I?????


BTW River Rock Designs STILL Has not built their website!!!!!!!!!

I just picked one up on sale for $15 at my local Target!!!!!!!


WOW!!!!! the spot is BRIGHT!!!

The package rates it at 135 Lumens..... I wonder who will be the first to test it as I don't have any test equipment.

This light is much brighter than the older K2 model headlamp that River Rock made. I wonder if the K2 is out of production, I ask as the River Rock Designs web site does not exist.......



This is a GREAT headlamp for a low price, the only downside for me is the expensive batteries.... I will have to get some rechargeable CR123s or modify the light to take a belt mounded D or C cell battery pack.

Over all this is a GREAT value in a head light!!!!!

KiteSquid said:

BTW River Rock Designs STILL Has not built their website!!!!!!!!!

Click to expand...

I thought Nuwai designed and manufactured the "River Rock" brand - right?

My local Target had these headlamps on the clearacne rack.

My local Target is no longer carrring any River Rock headlamps.

I bought two of them, one for $7.50 and the other for $10. The first one has a warmer light, but both are nice. I modded the first one to use my old Petzl Duo 4-AA battery pack, so it is a little dimmer but lasts 2.5 hours. I also drilled out the back and added a heatsink because these lights get super hot. The 2nd one is still stock.

Since they were cheap I did try my UltraFire RCR123a batteries in them and they didn't blow out. They get get super hot, which is why I switched to AAs and the heatsink.

I like the light, but it isn't waterproof at all and there isn't really any heatsinking. For the price I paid (including 2 batteries each) I'm very happy. Definitely a nice inexpensive light.

There are a few discussions of this light, but here is a good one here at CPF:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/198589

There is another discussion about this light with a breakdown of the innards, I'm sure someone will post it here.

I get about 2 hours 15 minutes of maximum light (then I change batteries so I couldn't tell you how long the "useable" light lasts), regardless of whether I use the Duracell Ultra cr123 lithiums or the MUCH cheaper Tenergy Propels. I have never noticed either set of batteries getting particularly warm, but then I use the headlamp for bike riding so maybe the air circulation cools them off.

I have the headlamp strapped to my bike helmet with velcro so if it starts raining I can just take it off and put it in a bag in my pack. Then I can just use my handlebar light until the rain stops. It doesn't rain much where I live so I have yet to do this in several months of riding.