robostudent5000
Enlightened
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2011
- Messages
- 877
i was searching for an inexpensive headlamp to use for backpacking. i wanted it to be under 3 oz and i wanted it to use as few batteries as possible and i wanted a red light option. i looked into the Princeton Tec Byte and the Mammut S-flex, but both seemed to suffer from a number of issues, the main one being that their high modes aren't that high. i rarely night hike when i backpack so 20 lumens and under are fine for me almost all the time, but once in a while i will need the extra punch of 50+ lumens, and it's nice to have that capability on hand without having to pull out my hand held/backup.
eventually i found the Rayovac Remington RMHL2AAA-B Headlight* on Amazon for $13. i looked around for info on the lamp, didn't find much, but found a helpful, positive offsite review of it here. so for $13, i thought why not. (the price on Amazon has gone up a little bit since then - to almost $14.). it's 20 grams heavier than the Byte and 36 grams more than an S-flex, but it's still light enough for me (84 grams on my scale, about the same as a Petzl Tiikka 2 or a Zebralight H51) uses 2AAA like the Byte, and was only $3 more than the cheapest Byte i could find and $7 less than the cheapest S-flex i could find.
the lamp has 2 modes with a hidden blinky mode. single click turns it on on high, another click for low, another click for off. double click at any time for blinky. the LED is a XRE Q2 on a 14mm MCPCB which is screwed down onto a small aluminum heatsink. the optic is a narrow angle TIR that produces a very tight beam - too tight for me. i put some DC Fix on the lens to widen the beam and i like it now - it resembles the beams on the Petzl Tikka Plus 2 and XP 2. both the red and clear flip down diffusers work really well - reminiscent of the sliding diffusers on the original Petzl Tikka XP - and create a fairly even, wide angle flood with only a little bit of glare**. the tilter is very robust and can be a little hard to operate with one hand. the good thing is that it stays put where you put it. i also like that the hinge is located about a third of the way up the side of the lamp body. this way, the lamp stays relatively low profile even when angled down. and it's comfortable.***
i tested runtimes with Eneloops and the high lasted for about 2 hours and the low lasted for about 12 hours. i'd say that the high really is close to 80 lumens as claimed and the low is about 15 lumens. both modes seem to be regulated - i didn't notice a dip in output. the lamp shuts off suddenly when the batteries are depleted.
i've only had the light a couple weeks so i can't comment on long term reliability, but initially the light appears well designed and well made. i took mine apart and was impressed with the build. the work inside is very clean. the plastic seems up to par. and both the lens opening and battery compartment are o-ring sealed. the light is dunkable.
the only thing other than the beam being too tight that i didn't like was the tint of the beam. the stock LED is a WK tint bin which is the coldest bin on Cree's tint chart. the tint is purplish. i didn't like that. so, i desoldered the stock LED from the MCPCB, took an old XRE Q2 WC emitter i had sitting around, and soldered that on in place of the original. now it's a very cool cool white instead of being purple - much better. (If you can get a XRE on a 14mm board and some thermal epoxy, replacing the LED is as easy as replacing the LED on a Princeton Tec Eos. Actually, it's easier because the internals are accessible via two Phillips screws.) you can replace the TIR too if you can find one that's the same size. it's 20mm wide, but it's a couple mm longer than most 20mm TIR's that i've seen, so it may be an odd size.
other than the tint issue and the need for DC Fix to widen the beam, i'm really impressed with this headlamp. many 2AAA headlamps i've looked at have efficiency issues, with the Byte being the worst offender. the Remington Rayovac is pretty impressive in that regard. getting 2 hours out of 2AAA at 80 lumens is about as good you can get, efficiency wise. getting 12 hours of 15-ish lumens from 2AAA isn't bad either. also, unlike some other sub $20 headlamps, there's no obvious weak point in the build quality. the battery compartment opens up similar to the way the old Petzl Tikka XP does - the entire back cover is removable - and there are no small hinges or fragile latches to break. another good thing is that Rayovac, like PT, has a lifetime replacement warranty.
* note 1: this appears to be the same model as the Varta Active Sports Headlamphttp://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...lex-headlamp&p=3604315&viewfull=1#post3604315 (aka Varta Sports Headlight).
** note 2: the combo of the DC Fix and the diffusers create artifacts in the beam that makes it looks like stained glass. it looks kind of crazy on a white wall, but doesn't distract in real use.
***note 3: the forehead pad has a thin layer of closed cell foam padding and is quite comfortable to wear.
eventually i found the Rayovac Remington RMHL2AAA-B Headlight* on Amazon for $13. i looked around for info on the lamp, didn't find much, but found a helpful, positive offsite review of it here. so for $13, i thought why not. (the price on Amazon has gone up a little bit since then - to almost $14.). it's 20 grams heavier than the Byte and 36 grams more than an S-flex, but it's still light enough for me (84 grams on my scale, about the same as a Petzl Tiikka 2 or a Zebralight H51) uses 2AAA like the Byte, and was only $3 more than the cheapest Byte i could find and $7 less than the cheapest S-flex i could find.
the lamp has 2 modes with a hidden blinky mode. single click turns it on on high, another click for low, another click for off. double click at any time for blinky. the LED is a XRE Q2 on a 14mm MCPCB which is screwed down onto a small aluminum heatsink. the optic is a narrow angle TIR that produces a very tight beam - too tight for me. i put some DC Fix on the lens to widen the beam and i like it now - it resembles the beams on the Petzl Tikka Plus 2 and XP 2. both the red and clear flip down diffusers work really well - reminiscent of the sliding diffusers on the original Petzl Tikka XP - and create a fairly even, wide angle flood with only a little bit of glare**. the tilter is very robust and can be a little hard to operate with one hand. the good thing is that it stays put where you put it. i also like that the hinge is located about a third of the way up the side of the lamp body. this way, the lamp stays relatively low profile even when angled down. and it's comfortable.***
i tested runtimes with Eneloops and the high lasted for about 2 hours and the low lasted for about 12 hours. i'd say that the high really is close to 80 lumens as claimed and the low is about 15 lumens. both modes seem to be regulated - i didn't notice a dip in output. the lamp shuts off suddenly when the batteries are depleted.
i've only had the light a couple weeks so i can't comment on long term reliability, but initially the light appears well designed and well made. i took mine apart and was impressed with the build. the work inside is very clean. the plastic seems up to par. and both the lens opening and battery compartment are o-ring sealed. the light is dunkable.
the only thing other than the beam being too tight that i didn't like was the tint of the beam. the stock LED is a WK tint bin which is the coldest bin on Cree's tint chart. the tint is purplish. i didn't like that. so, i desoldered the stock LED from the MCPCB, took an old XRE Q2 WC emitter i had sitting around, and soldered that on in place of the original. now it's a very cool cool white instead of being purple - much better. (If you can get a XRE on a 14mm board and some thermal epoxy, replacing the LED is as easy as replacing the LED on a Princeton Tec Eos. Actually, it's easier because the internals are accessible via two Phillips screws.) you can replace the TIR too if you can find one that's the same size. it's 20mm wide, but it's a couple mm longer than most 20mm TIR's that i've seen, so it may be an odd size.
other than the tint issue and the need for DC Fix to widen the beam, i'm really impressed with this headlamp. many 2AAA headlamps i've looked at have efficiency issues, with the Byte being the worst offender. the Remington Rayovac is pretty impressive in that regard. getting 2 hours out of 2AAA at 80 lumens is about as good you can get, efficiency wise. getting 12 hours of 15-ish lumens from 2AAA isn't bad either. also, unlike some other sub $20 headlamps, there's no obvious weak point in the build quality. the battery compartment opens up similar to the way the old Petzl Tikka XP does - the entire back cover is removable - and there are no small hinges or fragile latches to break. another good thing is that Rayovac, like PT, has a lifetime replacement warranty.
* note 1: this appears to be the same model as the Varta Active Sports Headlamphttp://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...lex-headlamp&p=3604315&viewfull=1#post3604315 (aka Varta Sports Headlight).
** note 2: the combo of the DC Fix and the diffusers create artifacts in the beam that makes it looks like stained glass. it looks kind of crazy on a white wall, but doesn't distract in real use.
***note 3: the forehead pad has a thin layer of closed cell foam padding and is quite comfortable to wear.
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