Need a replacement for my Primus PrimeLite Daily Plus

Hi

The hinge on the headband attachment on my headlamp broke when my two year old son threw the headlight to the floor. So now I need a replacement that's more durable!

The PrimeLite Daily Plus has been perfect for me. I use it almost daily for working on my car, various tasks around the house like working on the electricity in the attic, hiking, fetching firewood etc. It's great for these sort of things. I've also used it for biking, but the throw really wasn't enough for that. The battery life has also been very good!

So I want my new headlight to have the same amount of flood when needed, but also better throw when I need that (biking). And the same or better battery life as the one I'm replacing. I want the batteries on the headband. Either in the lamp itself, or at the back of my head. I want a single headband, not one where there's an extra band going on top of your head. I want the lamp to be adjustable in hight, but it also has to stay in whatever position I put it, even when running with the headlamp.

These are the specs of the headlamp I'm replacing:


I was thinking of replacing it with the Primus PrimeLite Compact Adventure:


The compact adventure seems to have a sturdier hinge, and better throw thanks to the Luxeon led. But also the same good flood using the five regular leds. But this headlamp model is now something like seven years old. So I was wondering if there are any other headlights out there that could match my needs. Maybe with a more efficient Cree led than the Luxeon in this headlamp.

The PrimeLite Compact Adventure would cost me about $80 including shipping (to Sweden) and taxes. That's pretty much what my budget is. Maybe I could stretch it up to $100, but no more than that! If the headlamp needs special batteries, like 18650, the price of that and a charger has to be included in the $100 too ($7+$10 on DX).

Thanks in advance!
//Tobbe

Petzl Tikka XP 2? seems like that would work - has spot, flood, and is light weight enough to run with. that should be in your budget.

I haven't tried any of the newer Silva headlamps, but they seem okay. and they're Swedish.

Thanks for your suggestions.

The Tikka XP2 and the PrimeLite Compact Adventure were both featured in a test in a Swedish hunting magazine almost two years ago, and the PrimeLite won. The full test in Swedish: http://www.primus.se/Archive/Documents/Primus Dokument/Test Pannlampor-Svensk Jakt.pdf Found a review of XP2 here on the forums as well: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?240780-Tikka-2-XP-review. the reviewer doesn't sound super thrilled...

The Silva Ninox looks promising. Here are some stats: (Not sure if it's any better than the PrimeLite Compact Adventure)



Please keep the suggestion coming!

if you use your headlamp a lot, i think it's best to have more than one headlamp. for working on things up close, pure flood headlamps like the Zebralight H501 are unbeatable. for close use there's just no substitute for pure flood. for any kind of outdoor motion activity, a headlamp with a throwy optic and battery pack in the back for balance is the best. those have more battery capacity for burning longer at higher outputs and do better at minimizing bounce.

if you want a single headlamp that does everything well but may not be spectacular at any one thing, there are headlamps like the Black Diamond Storm. the Storm is regulated, has good battery capacity, throw, and flood, but the trade off is weight. i think it weighs over 110 grams with batteries. lighter all in one headlamps like the Petzl Tikka XP2 usually trade off for lower brightness and lack of regulation.

one thing to consider is that the electronics on older headlamps like the PrimeLite Daily were very simple and incredibly reliable. sophisticated circuits, like the ones in Zebralights, Sparks, and Fenix's, seem more prone to malfunction. so if reliability is your main concern, you might want to stick to something older, simpler, and proven.

the headlamp i use the most right now is a pure flood Zebralight. it's incredibly useful for anything that doesn't require me to see more than 10 m away. i think you kind of have to know what you're getting into with Zebra's as they aren't for everyone. but i would recommend taking a look at them.

I've looked in to the zebraligh headlamps before, they look very interesting! My concern was that they weren't floody enough with just one led, but from the sound of what you're saying that will not be a problem The remaining concern then is battery life. This 18650 model seems to have decent run time: http://www.zebralight.com/H600w-XM-L-18650-Headlamp-Neutral-White_p_82.html but I can't fit that in my budget I'm not sure the other lamps, like this one: http://www.zebralight.com/H51w-Headlamp-AA-Neutral-White_p_46.html that only runs on a single AA will provide the runtime I expect. It would be easier to figure out if I knew how many Lm the 48cd in my current headlamp corresponds to.

other headlamps that use 4 5mm LED like the Primelite Daily - Princeton Tec Fuel, Petzl Tikka 2 - are rated at around 40 lumens. the output on those lamps dip to about 30 lm after like the first hour, so you're probably used to having about 30 lumens on the high setting. that's my guess.

regarding the AA Zebra's, you would also have to get Eneloop batteries and a charger to go with the headlamp. high output headlamps that use single batteries like the Zebras should not be used with alkaline batteries.

Thanks for the Lm numbers. So 40Lm is plenty bright. For any close up work I usually run my lamp at medium out of the available high-medium-low settings. What I need then is a bit more throw than the rated 26m of my current headlamp.

I already have pretty good NiMH AA batteries and a quick charger (20min, individual logic for each cell, cooling fan etc) for them. They don't have the long shelf life of the eneloops, but other than that I think they're fairly good.

I kind of wanted an 18650 headlamp because of the longer runtimes. But thanks to Bolster's excellent "To Consider Before You Purchase a Headlamp" guide I no longer want that because of the safety concerns. (I don't want a battery exploding on my forehead!). That thread also made me decide that I want a headlamp with the batteries in the lamp unit. Not in a separate battery pack.

So now the choices are down to 3xAAA, 1xAA or 2xAA. 2xAA would be really nice for the added runtime, but I can't find a headlamp with flood+throw (simultaneously or separately) with 2xAA.

So the main contenders now are:

Primelite Compact Adventure
+ red light
+ Available in Sweden
- old inefficient luxeon led
- unregulated
- unnatural white

Silva Ninox
+ Longer runtimes (I think) than the Primelite CA
+ red light
+ Available in Sweden
- unregulated
- unnatural white

Zebralight H51w
+ regulated
+ natural white
+ uses AA, for which I already have rechargeable batteries
- no red light
- can't buy in Sweden
- short run times


Anything I'm missing that I need to think about? Any more models of headlights I should consider?

if the Black Diamond Storm is available in Sweden, you should add that to your list. here is a link to Szemhazai's review.

regarding Li-ion batteries, i think the safety concerns are overstated. as long as you have good cells, a good charger, and a lamp that won't over discharge the cells, you should be fine. many members here have used 14500 and 18650 lamps without incident. i think the only real issue is cost. a good 18650 headlamp, good cells, and a good charger would be above your budget.

regarding 2AA headlamps, Petzl's Pixa line uses 2AA batteries. i don't know whether they would fit your needs. but they exist. also, Spark makes a pure flood headlamp that uses 2AA batteries. if you want more info, search the forums for Spark SD52.

I'd suggest you look at the Zebralight H51Fw and H51Fc as well, it has some flood and some throw, so might be a better match to your needs. The H51Fc is more efficient at lower illumination levels.

robostudent5000: Thanks, those are excelent suggestions! Both the Black Diamond Storm and the Petzl Pixa are available here Didn't think there were any 4xAAA headlamps. Should help with the run times!

Just to be able to figure out the total cost here I have another question: Would my 2500mAh Varta batteries (about 5 years old now, but not used very much) and my 15min quick charger for them work with the Pixa headlamp? Would eneloops be much better?

This is the charger: http://www.en.varta-consumer.com/en/Products/Chargers/Power-Line/15Minute.aspx#15Minute

I looked at the Spark SD52 earlier today, but it's a pure flood light. I don't think it has enough throw for some of my uses. (Even though I'm sure I'll use flood 90% of the time, I still want the throw option.)

Gregozedobe: Those are listed as pure flood lights, are they not? But you still think they have usefull throw?

Tobbe said:

Just to be able to figure out the total cost here I have another question: Would my 2500mAh Varta batteries (about 5 years old now, but not used very much) and my 15min quick charger for them work with the Pixa headlamp? Would eneloops be much better?

This is the charger: http://www.en.varta-consumer.com/en/Products/Chargers/Power-Line/15Minute.aspx#15Minute

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i'm afraid i don't know the answer to that. sorry. maybe you could ask in the Flashlight Electronics/Batteries forum.

I just placed an order for the Black Diamond Storm! Thanks for all your help and input robo! It's going to be real fun testing it out once it gets here beginning of next week

Tobbe, you will be happy with the BD Storm. A lot of great information comes from these guys around here. Everyone has their favorite HL and usually recommend what they have experience with. I could not function without CPF. Anyway, good luck. I have been using the BD Storm since they first came out, very dusty desert conditions with no issues at all so far.

Tobbe said:

I just placed an order for the Black Diamond Storm! Thanks for all your help and input robo! It's going to be real fun testing it out once it gets here beginning of next week

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I received the headlamp yesterday and got a chance to use it right away. Needed to clean the soot out of my wood furnace. And then I needed to go out to fetch more firewood for my indoor storage area. In total I wore the lamp about 2.5h.

So here are some initial impressions.

Wow! I love the throw on the spot mode! And the spread on the flood mode is very good and even. The light output itself is very good all around.

What's not so good is the headband and the mounting of the lamp. I'm comparing this headlamp to my previous one, the Primus PrimeLite Daily Plus. The PrimeLite DP had a rectangular piece of foam on the back of the lamp mounting bracket. So instead of the plastic housing pressing against your head you had the soft foam. The BD Storm does not have any extra padding. The headband on the PrimeLite DP had two thin strips of some kind of anti-slip rubber going all around your head. This rubber together with the foam pad made the headlamp sit very securely on your head. You could shake your head or jump up and down without ever fearing the headlamp falling off. The BD Storm doesn't have any anti-slip coating at all on the headband. So when shaking your head the headlamp moves around a bit on your head. On the positive side I must mention that the headband on the Storm is very soft and comfortable. Much more so than the headband on the DP, which was kind of stiff.

I never thought the weight of the headlamp would be an issue. I didn't even think I would notice. My old head lamp weights 80g on my digital scale. The Storm weights 110. So it's a 30g difference. I still don't think the weight itself is an issue. 110g does not feel heavy on my head. The problem is the weight combined with the soft headband. When walking fast, or even more so when running, the lamp tend to bob a bit up and down (more than your head).

I was concerned about the controls on the lamp. In particular the dimming/variable light output instead of three or so set levels (low/medium/high, as I had on the DP). But I must say it works really well! And it's probably something I would miss if I switched to another light.

I thought the PrimeLite DP was a floody light. But it is nowhere near how good the Storm is! The DP is really spotty in comparison to the smooth lightspread of the Storm. The flood mode was perfect when fetching firewood. And the spot mode was great when I needed to inspect the deep, narrow, smoke channels on my wood furnace. It's a great feature being able to switch between flood and spot/throw!

All in all I'm satisfied with my purchase and I'll keep this light. I'm sure it'll be perfect for my needs! It's amazing how much you miss having a headlamp when you have to work with only flashlights for a few days

Thanks to all of you who helped me pick out this headlamp!