Fenix HM61R ticking all the boxes?

[linpp]

Granted I don't know why you would if you buy it on those sites, when you could buy both the HM61R and the special edition headband at https://www.fenix-store.com/ for less if you're a first time customer and use the 20% off they offer to first time customers.

European here, actually,Fenix US isn't shipping to Europe, so sadly, no discount for us.

[3L3M3NT]

European here, actually,Fenix US isn't shipping to Europe, so sadly, no discount for us.

That sucks to hear! It would be nice if there was either some store in Europe that offered 20% off to first time customers or something could be worked out with the Fenix US that you could still get 20% off, but would have to pay $15 for International shipping or something like that...

Hopefully you can get one if you haven't already picked one up.

[linpp]

Hopefully you can get one if you haven't already picked one up.

I paid 85 Euro ( 100 $ ), so yes, a 20% discount would have been welcome.
but remember: "The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten." Benjamin Franklin.
But I am extremely satisfied with my first 18650 light.

[kreisl]

Fenix claims/advertises that the light has "◎Reverse polarity protection, to protect from improper battery insertion". I re-examined and can confirm that the RPP has to be physical/mechanical.

Lol. Con fusion's perfect. I emailed Fenis China, asking very clearly what kind of RPP is implemented in the HM61R, physical/mechanical or electronic/electrical. They emailed me back, also with a very clear (and official?) answer:

"It is electronic."

Interesting.

But I doht necessarily trust that answer. And maybe the question doesn't matter, since the light is, also clearly, advertised as having RPP, so wth cares which kind of RPP it really has. They say it's electronic, i say that my measurements hint at mechanical ymmv (and that i've added a 0.35mm paperboard spacer just to be extra safe).

Here a relevant example battery, my blue UltraFire4000 has a button top which protrudes by only 0.5mm (relative to the blue shoulder). It works nicely in the unmodded HM61R. As soon as i add the 0.35mm paperboard spacer, the light stops working, which means that a protrusion of 0.15mm is not enough to make contact:


What's interesting is that the UltraFire4000 has also a protruding bottom. It's difficult to measure, but the battery's (-)pole is raised by up to 0.20mm. If you try to measure the battery length with a metallic caliper, you'd short the battery, ouch. In any case, a raised bottom center could jeopardize the functionality of the mechanical RPP. Btw imho the mechanical RPP is not the brass donut but the two raised bars around the center raised (convex? concave?) contact disc. These bars are at the ~same level as the brass donut. If my measurements are correct, then it'd mean that a smooth flat bottom could not make contact with the center contact disc, regardless of the brass donut:


Eneloops have a raised bottom too, i.e. on a smooth flat metallic surface (like your metallic calipers) the Eneloop bottom would make electrical contact. In contrast, the bottom of the Sanyo 14500 battery would not make contact with your metallic calipers:


EDIT: I took re-measurements and discovered that not the ring is the RPP but the inner pair of bars. They are raised by over 0.4mm higher than the centerpluspole, meaning that there is a clearance of at least 0.4mm when a flat battery bottom is installed reversely, nice! This is how structural RPP is implemented, well done Fenis:

But I am extremely satisfied with my first 18650 light.

In the op i mentioned that early sale units could be had for ~56$ shipped, now i've ordered a second unit for ~60$ shipped; however i understand that not everyone feels comfortable ordering from chinese vendors like aliexpress, alibaba, and so on. Btw some of these vendors like Gearbest used to be CPF dealers iirc. @linpp , congrats to the purchase of this top quality 18650 light! I believe the first thing that will fail will be the shiny plastic wrapper of the Fenix 3500mAh battery. I have enough experience with cracking plastic shrink wraps by XTAR, EAGLETAC, OLIGHT, TRUSTFIRE, etc, it's a shame. How do you like the tint of the light?

[linpp]

In the op i mentioned that early sale units could be had for ~56$ shipped, now i've ordered a second unit for ~60$ shipped;

thank you for the tip, I think I might order a second one as well,€ 56 is the cheapest offer I could find on Ali, not bad, although I guess the lower price probably has consequences as far as guarantee is concerned, none I presume.

I am using my HM 61 about 50% of the time out of the headband, so if I do get a second one I'll use it just as hand-held torch I think.

How do you like the tint of the light?

I'm a tiny bit colourblind so I can't see the greenish tint you wrote about, but overall I'm very satisfied about the tint, for my eyes it is very near cold daylight, the old HL50 has a definite yellow tint, more like sunset.
I have been using the light the last few days outfitting my new van, plywood sides, installing tie bolts etc.
Quite a bit of fitting, sawing, drilling, like you I alternate between setting 3 and 4, depending on the distance.

This one is actually the third 18650 light I tried out, I received the Zebra H604d, which is pure flood, although I use the light mainly for work I still didn't like the fact that there was no spot at all.
I want to try out the H600F which is floody, but this light is not available right now.
I also tried the Armitek wizard pro V3,which I didn't really like, especially the temperature, too hot for my liking.

[kreisl]

When using as hand-held torch, people could attach a wrist strap at the pocket clip (there's a convenient hole), me thinks for extra silly security. Just saying, some of us like attaching a lanyard on our tools. I haven't dropped my fenis yet but i have covered head and tail with duct tape haha to prevent scratches. There's nothing wrong with keeping cherished tools in best-looking condition for continuous joy

Zebras should be lightweighter (because of two missing magnets), have higher energetic efficiency (ZL's trademark) and nicer tint (tint options to choose from). But this fenis is lightweight, has high efficiency, and is also really compact. Tint on mode3, mode4, mode5, very acceptable, no concern, better than yellow or hot tint imho.

So do you still have hands on the H604d or the Wizard Pro V3, what happened?

Congrats to the new van! Sounds like some wonderful times ahead!

( buying from Ali, i doht expect warranty service from that vendor, he might be gone after a couple of months; vendors come and go on Ali. if there's a product problem within the first few weeks, one can get money back from seller or ali or paypal. during and beyond warranty period, fenis china is a good place to start asking for assistance. btw i doht like the fenix/nietcore/olight/cletus distributors personally in my country, as i h*te all local flashlight retailers where i live, i'm just wired like that, so no wonder that i go shopping on ali, bg, gb, ft, hke, etc for flashlights and edc items )

[jirik_cz]

@jirik_cz has both the Armytek headband and the Fenix. Unfortunately he isn't much around on cpf. I am really interested in knowing if the Armytek holder is acceptably usable for our headlamp.

It is not a perfect fit, because Fenix holder is quite a lot larger. But if you remove the clip from HM61R, it fits the Armytek holder acceptably.

But I'm pretty sure that you can get replacement of original holder from your Fenix distributor if needed. In CZ, they offer it as a spare part. It is usefull if you use the headlamp with ALG-03 helmet mount. With spare holder you do not need to remove the headbands from holder, you just switch the holders.

[kreisl]

In CZ, they offer it as a spare part.

Good to know, thank you so much for the information and photos!
With two hm61r retail packages in da house (for a single user me hehe), i'll hopefully never have the need to order that spare part! Out of fear that it might get out of stock/discontinued in future, i should order one unit and store in safe-keeping nonetheless, better be safe than sorry?

Meanwhile the geman fenis distributor fenix.de has stocked the spare part too, for 6.90eur mas shipping lmao.

Now that we know that the Armytek holder provides an acceptable fit, I'd order the Armytek spare part for sure, next time i place an order with that vendor, because it's only 2.50eur nice price.

[McSpeed]

I believe the HM65R ticks all the boxes. All lights are a set of compromises. Weight? Hot spots? Cost? From a pure utility perspective, the HMR65R ticks all the boxes. Using two separate lights in one is the answer. Use the flood for closer up needs without hot spots. Use the spot for illuminating distances. Two totally different needs served in one headlamp. All the specs are cool and fun to compare but real world is where it’s at IMO.

[n2mb_racing]

I believe the HM65R ticks all the boxes. All lights are a set of compromises. Weight? Hot spots? Cost? From a pure utility perspective, the HMR65R ticks all the boxes. Using two separate lights in one is the answer. Use the flood for closer up needs without hot spots. Use the spot for illuminating distances. Two totally different needs served in one headlamp. All the specs are cool and fun to compare but real world is where it’s at IMO.

Is the HM65R lighter than the HM61R ?

[kreisl]

I believe the HM65R ticks all the boxes.

ah you mean the HM65R instead of the HM61R, they're about the same weight i see. Yes compromises, that's why fenis released both models at the same time, one cannot have all advantages of either model in 1 single light. Good to have a fair choice. i never tested the HM65R because i knew what i wanted/preferred, so i chose the HM61R. Imho this model sets the new reference in the 1x18650 L-angled headlamp category. At home/indoors I use it as handheld flashlight all the time; and i wouldn't do so if the headband was a nietcore or olight or zebralight headband. And i really enjoy the fun headband clamping/unclamping, when i need handsfree operation. Sometimes while wearing the headlamp on the head for handsfree operation (walking, orientation, moving, working), i'd spontaneously unclamp the light to deploy it differently, e.g. because maybe i'd need/want lighting of an object from a different perspective/direction (and i might use the tailcap magnet too in that instance). And then i'd clamp the light back "on my head" and continue with "headlight".

Just beautiful. (Of course, one can do such temporary clamping/unclamping with an Armytek Wizard Pro too)

147g total?!

i'm measuring 146g total (light+headband+battery), not sustainable for professional jogging haha. Yes the 2 internal magnets contribute to the weight. One could remove the tailcap magnet with the right kind of tool to uninstall the spring. The alu tailcap weighs ~11g. With the magnet uninstalled it would weigh ~3g, saving 8g (guesstimate doht quote me on that).

Soon i'll post pictures of my 2 units.

[n2mb_racing]

i'm measuring 146g total (light+headband+battery), not sustainable for professional jogging haha. Yes the 2 internal magnets contribute to the weight. One could remove the tailcap magnet with the right kind of tool to uninstall the spring. The alu tailcap weighs ~11g. With the magnet uninstalled it would weigh ~3g, saving 8g (guesstimate doht quote me on that).

Yeah. I'm currently running with the Zebralight H52 with a Vapcell INR14500 L10 1050mAh battery. It's 70 grams with band and battery. Very light! But, only runs an hour at full brightness (300 lm). Most of my night runs are about that length, so that's usually ok. But, around the house work I end up changing the battery quite a few times. But, I'm curious to try moving up to 500 or 600 lm for 2 hrs with a 18650 light... Especially high CRI, might help me to spot sticks and holes, to prevent tripping on them.

[kreisl]

Zebralight H52 with a Vapcell INR14500 L10 1050mAh battery

H52.

SC52.

Talking of SC52 haha, have you studied my post on SC52's "missing" reverse polarity protection? The Vapcell is a flat-top battery and since it makes electrical contact in your SC52 unit, it could mean that your flashlight is not protected against reverse battery insertion. I might be wrong though, so just take my words as a warning. You could find out by taking exact measurements with a digital caliper. Feel free to post your comments on SC52 in that thread, you're welcome.



night running, sticks, holes, woah. long runtimes at 500lm are a tough ask from a runner's light which must be light-weight. Zebralight have the lightest headlamps. But i have no experience if even the lightest 18650 headlamps are really sustainable as a runner's light, in the long run no pun intended; of course, there are hardcore people around the world who do use 18650 headlamps like Wizard Pro or Zebralight for running: i believe i've seen geman forum threads on the topic but couldn't follow the argumentation sorry. personally, if i were a runner, i wouldn't run with a 18650 headlight, just my anti-preference thanks. Olight had a dedicated runner's light, the Olight HS2 (2017) and Olight Array (2019), but it was discontinued quickly within 2.0 years iirc, apparently not a sales success. Good luck on your search!

[n2mb_racing]

On a side note, have you studied my post on SC52's "missing" reverse polarity protection? The Vapcell is a flat-top battery and since it makes electrical contact in your SC52 unit, it could mean that your flashlight is not protected against reverse battery insertion. I might be wrong though, so just take my words as a warning. You could find out by taking exact measurements with a digital caliper. Feel free to post your comments on SC52 in that thread, you're welcome.

Good point. I'd better check my light. Seems likely to be missing reverse polarity protection since I've used unprotected UR14500P cells as well, both without a magnet.

Or just be really careful....

[geepondy]

The HM61R seems to be advertised as an all around headlamp. I was looking at reviews online but do you think the beam profile is wide enough to make a good running headlamp? Fenix sure has a ton of headlamps with much overlap.

[kreisl]

think the beam profile is wide enough to make a good running headlamp?

is the beam floody enough for running? I'm interesting in seeing the first 20 or 30 feet in front of me with good side illumination vs seeing 150 feet down the road. I like lights where the spill off is very smooth from the center, like the orange peel reflector look.

The beam is per definition floody and very wide because of the plastic collimator lens with frosted finish. The beam profile would be definitely wide enough for running purposes but i can't vouch for this Fenis model (or any other Fenix model) being suitable for jogging because of the weight and weight distribution. 146g on your head, and then all concentrated at the front, argh! The headband distributes the weight but nah .. imho "no 18650 headlamp is really recommendable for jogging" (©2020 kreisl), even though i never tried it, just my two cents as an opining couch potato haha. Fenix has/had an annoyingly vast selection of old/new headlamps, many of which were plasticky and light-weight (as headlamps should be) and similar in product properties, and i believe they have been trying to discontinue a good old portion. Yet afaik none of them was/is advertised as runner's light.

Short answer: while the beam profile is suitable, the total product itself is imho not suitable for running. But if you really live in a van down by the river, then i'd say that the HM61R should be the perfect personal allround lighting solution for such a living situation. It's a simple tidy neat product and therefore likable, unlike the fiddly complex mess of the Olight Array and Olight HS2 which would get on your nerves after a while. Keep it simple, stupid.

If your amazon shop allows you to buy, test, return at no hassle/cost, then you could consider this option.

[geepondy]

Thanks for the insightful answer. I can see your point. For a running headlamp, the weight distribution would probably better if the battery pack was on the rear. I can see how a headlamp with a battery of that size and everything at the front, would be front heavy, more so then my HL26R.

The beam is per definition floody and very wide because of the plastic collimator lens with frosted finish. The beam profile would be definitely wide enough for running purposes but i can't vouch for this Fenis model (or any other Fenix model) being suitable for jogging because of the weight and weight distribution. 146g on your head, and then all concentrated at the front, argh! The headband distributes the weight but nah .. imho "no 18650 headlamp is really recommendable for jogging" (©2020 kreisl), even though i never tried it, just my two cents as an opining couch potato haha. Fenix has/had an annoyingly vast selection of old/new headlamps, many of which were plasticky and light-weight (as headlamps should be) and similar in product properties, and i believe they have been trying to discontinue a good old portion. Yet afaik none of them was/is advertised as runner's light.

Short answer: while the beam profile is suitable, the total product itself is imho not suitable for running. But if you really live in a van down by the river, then i'd say that the HM61R should be the perfect personal allround lighting solution for such a living situation. It's a simple tidy neat product and therefore likable, unlike the fiddly complex mess of the Olight Array and Olight HS2 which would get on your nerves after a while. Keep it simple, stupid.

If your amazon shop allows you to buy, test, return at no hassle/cost, then you could consider this option.

[McSpeed]

Yeah. I'm currently running with the Zebralight H52 with a Vapcell INR14500 L10 1050mAh battery. It's 70 grams with band and battery. Very light! But, only runs an hour at full brightness (300 lm). Most of my night runs are about that length, so that's usually ok. But, around the house work I end up changing the battery quite a few times. But, I'm curious to try moving up to 500 or 600 lm for 2 hrs with a 18650 light... Especially high CRI, might help me to spot sticks and holes, to prevent tripping on them.

I would give the Hm65r a try. I’ll take. little bit more weight for a lot more light and run time. I used to run a lot in the dark without a light until I broke my ankle tripping on a cable strung across a sidewalk.

The weight being in front is pretty comfortable. My last headlamp had the battery pack in back although it did not have the top strap like the Fenix and it tended to slide around more.

I’m not here to sell you on Fenix, just sharing what I have experienced. IMO the light is the most important factor and everything else falls lower in order of importance. Like I noted before, it is a series of compromises. If weight is important you can use a low lumen light with a small battery. I buy a light for LIGHT!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[3L3M3NT]

The HM61R seems to be advertised as an all around headlamp. I was looking at reviews online but do you think the beam profile is wide enough to make a good running headlamp? Fenix sure has a ton of headlamps with much overlap.

If you're worried about weight you could buy the HM61Rs little brother the HM51R.
https://www.blackcomb-shop.eu/en-US/...w_wcB#one-size

The beam is per definition floody and very wide because of the plastic collimator lens with frosted finish. The beam profile would be definitely wide enough for running purposes but i can't vouch for this Fenis model (or any other Fenix model) being suitable for jogging because of the weight and weight distribution. 146g on your head, and then all concentrated at the front, argh! The headband distributes the weight but nah .. imho "no 18650 headlamp is really recommendable for jogging" (©2020 kreisl), even though i never tried it, just my two cents as an opining couch potato haha. Fenix has/had an annoyingly vast selection of old/new headlamps, many of which were plasticky and light-weight (as headlamps should be) and similar in product properties, and i believe they have been trying to discontinue a good old portion. Yet afaik none of them was/is advertised as runner's light.

Short answer: while the beam profile is suitable, the total product itself is imho not suitable for running. But if you really live in a van down by the river, then i'd say that the HM61R should be the perfect personal allround lighting solution for such a living situation. It's a simple tidy neat product and therefore likable, unlike the fiddly complex mess of the Olight Array and Olight HS2 which would get on your nerves after a while. Keep it simple, stupid.

If your amazon shop allows you to buy, test, return at no hassle/cost, then you could consider this option.

I like the suggestion of buying off of Amazon to give it a try and if you like it you could keep it or if either wanna save some money or don't like the HM61R, you could always return it.
If you liked it, but returned it to save some money you could buy it at https://www.fenix-store.com/ and save 20% off your order.

I would give the Hm65r a try. I’ll take. little bit more weight for a lot more light and run time. I used to run a lot in the dark without a light until I broke my ankle tripping on a cable strung across a sidewalk.

The weight being in front is pretty comfortable. My last headlamp had the battery pack in back although it did not have the top strap like the Fenix and it tended to slide around more.

I’m not here to sell you on Fenix, just sharing what I have experienced. IMO the light is the most important factor and everything else falls lower in order of importance. Like I noted before, it is a series of compromises. If weight is important you can use a low lumen light with a small battery. I buy a light for LIGHT!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm with you there! It's better to have a longer runtime and brighter light than what you think you might need, then the other way around where it's too dim and runs out of battery before you complete your run/activity.

[seery]

The Fenix HL55 checks all the boxes for us.

Simple UI, no strobe, no hidden modes, awesome beam pattern, excellent color rendition, long runtimes, large switch that’s easy to operate (even with winter gloves), 160 degrees of tilt with positive solid ratcheting, true IPX8 rating, no external charging ports, runs on 18650 or CR123s, and most importantly it’s the toughest most durable headlamp I’ve ever seen.

One of ours has taken a few falls from over 10 feet onto concrete and has never missed a beat.