Well, I exchanged the ZL H50w for a H501w. The 120 degree H50w was too broad for my liking. I received the ZL H501W yesterday. It was obviously a returned item they repackaged and sent to me. But no biggie, someone else will get my return
The H501w's UI was much better than I expected.
See below for full manufacturer specs.
A couple hours after sunset the experiment began.
I read an earlier post that stated the pocket clip was useless.
Without going into great detail, I'll simply state "I totally agree!!"
The light itself is almost to heavy with the narrow headband. But it worked well
The first test was a walk down my very dark street. I do not know if it was the broadness (80 degrees), the 80 lumens, the neutral light or some combination of the three, but, Like the H50w, the light is so shallowly recessed I got the glare the from the emitted light to the point where it hazy out and the broadness of the light affect my vision.
IMO, this is not an outside light.
For me its best use is inside. The lowest useable setting for a pitch black garage is 15 lumens and even that was pushing it. I had to bump it up to full power (80 lumen) for it to be a useful light when wanting to scan and identify items.
In the house (or tent, car etc) was a different story. At medium power 15 lumens worked perfectly to make my way around the house, to different rooms.
Opening drawers, looking in closests, under the bed, absolutely perfect!!
Once I got to looking at close up detail I bumped it down to the lowest (2.7lm) setting. This allowed me to see things close up with out being blinded.
When the wife and I went to bed, I used it for reading while trying not to disturb my wife's slumber. Again, excellent lighting. The pages were well lit, text was highly visible and the broad flood allowed me to simply move my eyes when going to the next page, instead of turning my head. I crossed checked with a Quark AA2 on moonlight. The hotspot had to be moved in order to see the next page.
This particular unit has a slight "flicker" I noticed while reading. If it was there in a higher mode while roaming the house it was not noticebable. I tried to ignore it but I couldn't. Just too darned distracting and even a bit fatiging on the eyes. I sent ZL an email, before starting the review, explaining the problem and requesting an exchange. I'm sure the flicker is confined to this particular sample and not indicative of the Zebralight line.
A cut and paste from the Zebralight H501w page:
Main Features and Specifications
The H501w's UI was much better than I expected.
See below for full manufacturer specs.
A couple hours after sunset the experiment began.
I read an earlier post that stated the pocket clip was useless.
Without going into great detail, I'll simply state "I totally agree!!"
The light itself is almost to heavy with the narrow headband. But it worked well
The first test was a walk down my very dark street. I do not know if it was the broadness (80 degrees), the 80 lumens, the neutral light or some combination of the three, but, Like the H50w, the light is so shallowly recessed I got the glare the from the emitted light to the point where it hazy out and the broadness of the light affect my vision.
IMO, this is not an outside light.
For me its best use is inside. The lowest useable setting for a pitch black garage is 15 lumens and even that was pushing it. I had to bump it up to full power (80 lumen) for it to be a useful light when wanting to scan and identify items.
In the house (or tent, car etc) was a different story. At medium power 15 lumens worked perfectly to make my way around the house, to different rooms.
Opening drawers, looking in closests, under the bed, absolutely perfect!!
Once I got to looking at close up detail I bumped it down to the lowest (2.7lm) setting. This allowed me to see things close up with out being blinded.
When the wife and I went to bed, I used it for reading while trying not to disturb my wife's slumber. Again, excellent lighting. The pages were well lit, text was highly visible and the broad flood allowed me to simply move my eyes when going to the next page, instead of turning my head. I crossed checked with a Quark AA2 on moonlight. The hotspot had to be moved in order to see the next page.
This particular unit has a slight "flicker" I noticed while reading. If it was there in a higher mode while roaming the house it was not noticebable. I tried to ignore it but I couldn't. Just too darned distracting and even a bit fatiging on the eyes. I sent ZL an email, before starting the review, explaining the problem and requesting an exchange. I'm sure the flicker is confined to this particular sample and not indicative of the Zebralight line.
A cut and paste from the Zebralight H501w page:
Main Features and Specifications
- <LI style="LIST-STYLE: disc none outside">Light Output: Constant ratio output level spread. Current regulated.
- High: 80 Lumens (2.3 hours) or 7Hz strobe
- Med: 15 Lumens (19 hours) or slow (2Hz) flashing
- Low: 2.7 Lumens (3.5 days) or 0.3 Lm (21 days) Moonmode
- 0.74 oz (21 gram)
- 1.45 oz (41 gram) with an alkaline battery
- 2.22 oz (63 gram) with a battery and headband
- Diameter 0.75 inch (18.5 mm)
- Height 2.75 inch (71.2 mm)
<LI style="LIST-STYLE: disc none outside">Battery Shelf Life: Over 150 years under parasitic drain
- Features
- Electronic soft-touch switch, with a 200,000 cycle operating life
- Smart user interface provides fast and easy access to all brightness levels
- Recessed impact resistant LEXAN polycarbonate lens.
- Precision 3D machined casing from premium grade Alcoa aluminum bar stock, light weight with superior structural strength.
- Electrically conductive aluminum body provides inherent EMI/RFI shielding.
- Durable natural hard anodized finish (Type III Class I)
- Battery power can be locked out by slightly unscewing the tailcap to prevent the unwanted activations
- Waterproof to IPX8
- <LI style="LIST-STYLE: disc none outside">From Off
- Press and hold to cycle through Low, Med and High, release to set.
- Click to High, click again quickly to cycle through Med, Low and High.
- Click to Off.
- Press and hold to cycle through Low, Med and High, release to set.
- When High
- Double click at any level to toggle between two sub-levels. Sub-level selections are not memorized after the light is turned Off or through battery changes.
- One black silicone holder with headband
- One glow in the dark silicone holder
- Removable pocket clip
- Two O-rings
