Princeton EOS II vs. Dorcy 3 watt 145L

I am up in the air on which headlamp to get for hunting/fishing. According to all reviews the EOS has a good bright beam, but read one post that said the Dorcy is very bright as well.

Has anyone done a side by side comparison between these two lights?

Or can someone tell me what the run time is on High and Low on both? Also which one is brighter? Being that they are both about the same price I am kind of leaning towards the Dorcy since it claims to be almost 3X brighter.

If some one would please post the pros and cons of both I would be greatly appreciative.

Thanks,
Robert

Both are great headlamps for night fishing which is what I use them for. I really don't care which one I grab on my way out the door. The Dorcy is brighter but not by a huge margin. They both have a really nice mix of spot and flood. If you need a low-low, go with the EOS. The two modes on the Dorcy are pretty close in terms of brightness. The switch on the Dorcy is much easier to operate quickly. The EOS is more compact but I really don't notice any difference when wearing them. The EOS is regulated the Dorcy is not (Not a big deal to me). I run both of these with LSD rechargeables. If it matters, the switch broke on an old EOS I have and PT sent me a brand new one free of charge. It's a tough choice between these two so, BUY THEM BOTH!!!!!!!

Thanks fishx65 for the reply. Since they are about the same as far as brightness which is better on batteries? I will probably use the light on high most of the time anyway. Also what kind of run time do you get out of the LSD rechargeable?

Thanks,
Robert

I'd say you can start to notice them both dimming around the 2 hour mark on high with rechargeables. I've never done a good runtime test. I did run the Dorcy for about 40 hours on a set of new alks a few weeks ago and it still had usable light. I would guess that the Rebel EOS would run a little longer at max output because of the regulation. I think the Dorcy would be about perfect if it had a lower low. One other thing to consider, when these headlamps are both on high, the Dorcy requires two clicks to turn it off (gotta cycle through the low mode). The EOS is one click off from any mode. The Dorcy also uses a carrier so battery changes are a little slower.

rkersh409 said:

Thanks fishx65 for the reply. Since they are about the same as far as brightness which is better on batteries? I will probably use the light on high most of the time anyway. Also what kind of run time do you get out of the LSD rechargeable?

Thanks,
Robert

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One of the nice things about the PT EOS in addition to being regulated is that it's actually designed to run on NiMH and 1.7v lithium primaries.

Assuming that the Dorcy is direct drive, the higher current (despite lower voltage) of NiMH might hurt it over time, although it might be quite some time before you notice. But it varies from light to light, some direct drive lights you can get away with using NiMH for quite awhile, maybe even indefinitely. Heat-sinking helps.

Speaking of rechargeables/NiMH batteries, which are the better ones to look for?

rkersh409 said:

Speaking of rechargeables/NiMH batteries, which are the better ones to look for?

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Generally Sanyo Eneloops are one of the better options right now. They even perform a little better than most other low self discharge cells, maintain higher voltage under load. There are also some re-labeled Eneloops under other brand names such as Duracell PreCharged, Sony Cycle Energy Blue, a few others.

Make sure that they have white tops and are labeled "made in Japan", especially with the Duracells. Some of them with black tops labeled "made in China" are actually re-branded Rayovac Hybrids, which are still an ok 2nd choice, but you might as well get the re-labeled Eneloops for the same price.