My opinion of Nitecore HC50 & HC90 in caving.

Nitecore Reviews

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jul 15, 2014
Messages
2
Hello:

This is my first post in this forum and i hope it will be usefull for someone who is looking for a headlamp for this kind of activities.

I´ve been doing caving for a lot of years and i´ve used a lot of headlamps of different brands. During the last year i was searching for a new one and i found this brand with this two models of headlamps that are very good for this sport.

This is my opinion about them, with some pictures. I hope you like it and i will wait for your opinions. ;)

Thank you.

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NITECORE HC90 & HC50 HEADLAMPS REVIEW

This is a review of the Nitecore headlamps HC90 and HC50 used for caving.

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*NITECORE HC50:

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-The Nitecore HC50 is completely made in one only piece of aluminium that makes the headlamp very tough for water with the standard IPX8 and 1,5 m falls.
The straps are very strong and fits the headlamp in the helmet in a very proper way.
It works with 18650 batteries and it works for a long time with a lot of power.

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There are five modes (1 lume, 35 lumens, 170 lumens, 350 lumens and 565 lumens on the turbo mode). In our opinion 170 lumens mode is enough for caving in most of cases and we can use the most powerfull modes for dangerous moments.

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It has got the SOS mode what is very usefull in case of accident to reclame the attention of a partner and the STROBE mode.
The red light illumination is very usefull in case you are in a tent and you need to check a map.

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In my opinion it is a perfect lamp for caving because of its power and its toughness. It has a very good distribution of modes.







*NITECORE HC90:

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- The Nitecore HC90 is completely made in one only piece of aluminium that makes the headlamp very tough for water with the standard IPX8 and 1,5 m falls.

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The straps are very strong and fits the headlamp in the helmet in a very proper way.
It works with 18650 batteries and it works for a long time with a lot of power.
The main difference between the two headlamps is that the HC90 has only a mode with a slider bottom. It works between 0.2 lumens to 530 lumens and the turbo mode with 900 lumens. Its lenth is about 110 meters that it's more than enough for caving.
It has got the SOS mode what is very usefull in case of accident to reclame the attention of a partner and the STROBE mode.

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It has three different colour leds (red, green and blue) for been used in some situations.
The straps are the same than the HC50. It works so good and has a very high quality.
Like the HC50, in our opinion, the HC90 it´s a very good headlamp for caving but has a thing that we think can be improve.
The slider bottom it is a very good system but in caving it can be fill of sand or mud and it can be a problem if you need to change the power of the light.



All the pictures were made for us, using the Nitecore HC90 & HC50 in a cave of Spain.
 

STiFTW

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Aug 29, 2013
Messages
93
Thanks for the post, I just picked up 2 HC90s from Vinh, and I can't wait to get them :) Good point about the slider and debris, not something that will affect me, but good to know.
 

Tmack

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 31, 2014
Messages
4,872
Location
Baltimore Md
I have a hc90vn and love it. I've had mine covered in mud and the slider was still good. Little gritty, but with a dunk, it was back to sliding nicely. I use a thick grease on all my lights. It really protects against debris from getting in places where it's not easily washed out.
 
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