Review: Nitecore HC60

Budda

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Joined
Nov 30, 2009
Messages
590
Location
Italy
I received the Nitecore courtesy of BangGood for the review. They also gave me a coupon code for the light: https://goo.gl/OxsJST SH6%OFF

Classic Nitecore box
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Inside the box: the light already mounted on the headband adapter, headband strap, micro USB cable. The light has inside a Nitecore 3400mAh protected 18650 battery.
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You can even take the light apart and replace the important o-ring and switch cover
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Nitecore's specs for the HC60
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The HC60 is made mostly out aluminum, there part where the switch resides is made out of plastic/rubber. The two parts are connected by 4 screws.
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Even the light holder has the same kind of construction: rigid plastic for the part that rests on your head, soft rubber for the 2 parts holding the light.
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The switch is slightly raised, and has a LED underneath it.
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XM-L2 CW emitter under the glass with AR treatment, inside a small and smooth reflector.
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Anodized threads and o-rings at both sides, so the water resistant feature is not an issue even for the presence of the micro USB port.
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You will need button top batteries to make this light work because at the positive pole there is a mechanical protection against polarity inversion.

Some pics with some other headlamp: Armytek Wizard Pro HICRI, Skilhunt H03 warm (modded by replacing the emitter), and and 18650 battery.
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The headband is made by 2 pieces, one that goes around the head, and another that goes above
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The headband is thick and elastic, and the width is the same as the ones of my wizards
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However, the HC60 needs a wider space to fit, so the headbands for the other lights won't fit the HC60.
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UI
When you insert the battery the blue led under the switch will blink and give you the voltage read (3.8 volts = 3 flashes, pause, 8 flashes).

The HC60 turns of by clicking the switch.
With a short click, the light will turn on at ultralow mode.
With a long click, the light will turn on at the last used mode.
With a longer click, the light will turn on at turbo mode.
When the light is on, to advance in the modes you have to click the switch. Each click will cycle modes in an increasing order: Ultralow-Low-Mid-High-Turbo.
To turn the HC60 off you have to keep pressed the switch.
A double click will give you strobe, click again for SOS and beacon mode.

Output and Runtime
Output and runtime have been measured using the included Nitecore 3400mAh protected 18650 battery.

First, test of the battery: discharged at 2A until 2.8Volts are reached with my SKYRC MC3000.
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Output
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No sign of PWM on any level according to my eyes.

Runtime
Sampling time is every 2 seconds for Turbo mode, every 90 seconds for high and medium mode.
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Testing the thermal regulation system
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Beamshots 0.5 meters from the wall
Prior to the actual beamshot, a brief explaination on the beam patterns in headlamps, as there are 3 types:
A) the completely flood (such as zebralight H602), where you have only spill. They can be used from a few centimeters to a few meters (because the light is not focused and will disperse itself in short distances).
B) The "throwy" (such as Nitecoew HC60, Zebralight H600, Skilhunt H03R), where you have a regular beam composed by a spot and a spill. The spill is narrower than the one of the completely flood light, and the spot makes them usable to longer distances, but not for close distances where the spot will dazzle your eyes)
C) The "middle ones", they go from models with a frosted lens (Zebralight H600F) to the one with the optic/lens (Armytek wizard, Skilhunt H03). They fall somewhere in the middle of the 2 above. The spot is very softened and widened by the lens, so even at close distances it won't be an issue for your eyes, and can be used from close distances to a few meters more than the flood ones. Flashlight with optics such as TIR lens can still have "traces" of hotspot and its angle depends on the characteristic of the lens.
I don't believe one of these beams is superior to another, simply there are different scenarios that requires different beams and there is also user preference.
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The HC60 has a narrower beam with a more concentrated spot compared to the one of the light with the TIR optic, and so it has more throw.
You can widen the beam, switching from type A to type B by sanding a bit the glass, or simply by adding a layer of magic tape scotch on top of it.
The last solution is fast and easily reversible, but how it works?

Let's see this in practice:

Before
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After
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Comparative GIFs
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If you wanted to apply magic tape in a reversible but very durable way, you could remove the 4 screws and open the light
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Pull the glass out, apply the magic tape on the inside side of the glass, and put the light back together.

Since the light is already apart, here is a close look at the main board, that hosts the emitter and a whole bunch of other components.
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A couple of videos





My thoughts
Fit and finishes on the HC60 are as good as you would expect from Nitecore.
I like that this light has an integrated micro USB port for charging, and this port is secured from the environment with a threated tailcap and an o-ring.
I like the UI that allows access to lowest, highest and last used mode. I would make the low mode lower than 20 lumens.
I believe this is the first time I see a headlamp with "hidden" orings that are replaceable and given as spare, and you can access them just by unscrewing 4 screws. This also benefits making easier to access the inner parts, to do some modifications as the magic tape above suggested.
I like the thermal regulation, it works effectively as seen the above plot.
Having an inclued hi capacity, quality 18650 with PCB, is not bad either.
I am used to swapping the head mounts on my lights: Armytek, Zebralight, Skilhunt. The 18650s light they all pretty much work using one of their headband. With the HC60 you are forced to use the head mount provided from Nitecore, because the distance from the 2 anchor points is longer compared to the one of other lights. I would like to see a clip come with this light, and a retention system for the tailcap you remove when charging. Also, a XP-L emitter and a NW choice would be a nice addition.

Thanks to AntoLed for the luxmeter and the camera.
Thanks to P.P. for the beamshot location.
 
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mdorian

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Jan 20, 2016
Messages
32
Thanks for the fantastic review Budda. Nice Headlamp has Nitecore quality written all over it.
 

Budda

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 30, 2009
Messages
590
Location
Italy
Thanks for the feedback. It is always appreciated.
This review took more time than I expected. Aprt from the extra pics, I had to redo the runtime at medium mode because of the peak at the end of the plot ended up to be too high for the scale set on my luxmeter, and I had to redo it with an higher scale setting. I could not see that coming.

Obviously, I won't put the light back toghether without replacing the emitter.
 
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Bdm82

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
May 27, 2016
Messages
1,000
Location
Illinois
Budda, good review and I really appreciate the runtime graphs!

As an owner of one myself, the thing I'd question is the threads. You mention "anodized threads and squared o-rings". I'm not sure if you're saying the threads are square cut or not, but on mine, they are not. It's my biggest gripe with the otherwise excellent light... the cap has to be fully removed to access the charge port, and then re-threading makes me nervous.
 

Budda

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 30, 2009
Messages
590
Location
Italy
You are right. I made some confusion with the other light I'm testing, that hase squared threads.
 

aquaholik

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Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
22
Can you USB power this with a battery pack like the Fenix? Unscrew the cap and plug in a USB battery pack and power it on while tethered?
 

BugoutBoys

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Oct 22, 2015
Messages
511
Location
Colorado
Gah it bothers me how freaking complex their circuitboards are. I would love for them to pot their electronics. This might be my next headlamp though :D
 

Beckler

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Apr 29, 2003
Messages
366
Location
Earth
What I would want to know is how easy is it to change angle on the light. I have a jetbeam HC20 with very similar looking rubber mount (tho all-rubber) and it's the most ridiculous thing imaginable. Not only does it bounce like crazy but it's impossible to adjust - you have to pull and twist with two hands. Idiotic design.
 

nixdorf

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Joined
Apr 19, 2011
Messages
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Location
Malaysia
I just got myself a Nitecore HC60. Fully charged (I charged more than 6 hours and the indicator show fully charged).

However, my headlamp keep shut off whenever I use it. 2 minutes/4 minutes or even 1 minute after I turn it on, it will just simply shut off. It wasn't overheat at all. Sometime I can't even turn it on after the "automatically" shut off. I have to removed the battery, and insert again to turn it on (sometime this doesn't work and I have to repeated do this over and over again)

does anyone of you having this issue? Is that mean I got a defect item?

first time use Nitecore then got such issue :(
 
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