Princeton Tec EOS!!!

Hey guys, well thanks for all your help in deciding my first headlamp. Judging by the way it is made it might just be my last too!! I love the EOS, I was out in my backyard lastnight and couldn't believe the light I was getting of the lowest power. I Fish, Camp and Canoe all of the time and in some of the worst weather Canada has to offer. I am confident that this beauty will hold tough. Anybody know what kind of batteries come stock in this unit? Thanks again for all you help and keep up the great site!! :rock:

Cool, glad you like it!

Mine came stock with Duracell AAA's, but I've been using NiMH rechargables. For cold Canadian weather, I think that AAA lithiums would work well (if you don't mind the cost).

get yourself some AAA lithiums.. get'em rated @ 1.5v... the EOS should handle them quite well... you'll get way better runtimes and you'll not have to worry about cold weather problems with alk's... have alk's as backup's though... they are cheap and still 'work'.. ;-)...

i too think i'm getting a EOS soon... it just seems to be right now the best possible choice... the streamlight argo HP is interesting...

I would love to see a runtime chart with 1.5v lithiums in the EOS... I bet it would have crazy regulation...

anyone have it? =-)

Hello Savageman,

Welcome to CPF.

I use an EOS at work and love it. I am considering a modification to the power supply, but do not know if it will be practical.

For now, the AAA NiMh or AAA Lithium cells are the way to go, although the AAA Alkaline cells seem to work pretty good as well.

Tom

I have one and love it as well. Works great. Good throw, nice even on low power.

The only feature I'd like to have ais a flip-down, er, shade or filter to blur the beam for when youre using it to read by.

--Matt

Yup, had to get both editions of the EOS. My favorite is the opaque shell model with the ratchety angle adjust.

I also like my translucent shell blue EOS that has the detachable clip, I can pop it onto a bike mount.
It doesn't have the ratchety adjust though and it sits further forward on your head because of the clip mechanism.

BTW the Argo is PWM, for those who notice and get annoyed by the strobe.

What I love about the EOS is the brightness, beam quality and most of all the small compact package, with no rear battery holder.

Hehe, my dad saw my EOS the other day, and announced that he needs one for Christmas (and he used to make fun of me for wearing a headlamp!). I'll probably give him an IMS-17 reflector along with it too, in case he doesn't like the stock beam.

I am helping my parents prepare for having their bathroom re-decorated.
Today I was in the loft (attic) with the upstairs lighting switched off at the fuse box so I could disconnect the power shower, two lights etc so the bathroom could be gutted for the new tiling work being started Monday morning.
Anyway, my EOS was great - light-weight, powerful and compact. It was also cold compared to using an incandescent that would have heated up the small crawl space I somehow managed to worm into to access the wiring.

I also had to disconnect two radiators, remove the basin unit, and the shower (yes, I want a gold star ). Towards the end the day I was removing misc silicon-type sealant from around the bath and using the EOS because there was no other light because some idiot had disconnected all the lights

The beam does not blend from spot to surround - there is a "halo" void which is a bit annoying sometimes. Additionally, it's not as bright as I needed for some tasks. The runtime is excellent though so I guess that's the compromise.

When it came to cleaning the walls with a misc white spirit type liquid I needed a flood light. The SureFire 10X did the job but the heat from the beam was obvious.

One of the cool things about the EOS is that I'm quite happy using it hand-held for shining in the tight spaces around the bath and under the floorboards etc.

I was impressed enough at SS2005 to purchase one at the show. I've used it a lot and my brother has been borrowing it for night-hikes and camping.
I think I'll pick up some more.

Strangely it doesn't have "EOS" on it but it is an EOS based on the photos and specs that I've seen. I purchased it from the Princeton Tec booth... I see it comes in orange. I'll seek out orange versions. Sometimes kit is important to be seen and located.

Al

Hi All,

It is nice to see the Princeton Tec EOS mentioned. I bought mine roughly eight months ago and have not had any issues with it. I would recommend it to anyone.

It is funny that I saw it mentioned just now. Reason being that I was just outside, cleaning up some trash, to dispose of in the dumpster. And the EOS came in very handy.

Regards,
John

it occurred to me that what would be AWESOME is an underdriven luxeonV for a new version of EOS.

The luxeonV is naturally a great flood. It is relatively efficient when underdriven, and would increase the power of the EOS quite a bit.

cognitivefun said:

it occurred to me that what would be AWESOME is an underdriven luxeonV for a new version of EOS.

The luxeonV is naturally a great flood. It is relatively efficient when underdriven, and would increase the power of the EOS quite a bit.

Click to expand...

i completely agree... ive been saying for a while now the luxeonV is the best option for an LED headlamp... at least for me I don't need throw... so having a flood beam is great... you could have it run off of 1 cr123 and like you said underdrive it...

hope we'll see something like that sometime soon

but with a luxeon V the heat it create will be quite alot and it will need a heatsink or heat spreader, that will make it heavier&bigger(aka bulky) and if you wanna use a luxeon V you might as well use a lux III or lux I

the lux III when throw or flood is needed in high power.(but it suck batteries real well)
the lux I is need when throw or flood is need but to lower brightness(saves your pockets too with those batterys)

a good bin lux I will own a lux III anytime (makes me wonder if there is a X bin lux I)

I recently added a red led princeton tec pilot to my eos, as an emergency backup light, and also for preserving night vision. It's pretty good add on, however since it sits on the side of the head, the beam tends to create a bit of glare from the glasses, and reflects back into the eye. If i didn't need glasses, i think it will have no problems at all.

I been wanting a Princeton Tec EOS for a while. I went to Gander Mountain a 2-3 months ago to get one with a $10 Gander Mountain coupon and they were out of stock. I picked up the River Rock to hold me over but I'm sure I will get one in the near future.

I have one, but one of my hunting buddies has been borrowing it. I used it frog gigging last summer and it worked fairly well. I think I'm gonna get another one for my hunting bag as the Apex looks like it will be a bit heavy for short time use. I had a Tikka XP for a few weeks and after comparing it with the EOS I'll returned it. It had some nice features but the output was really lacking.

Does anyone know if the McR-18 reflector drops into the EOS? I know the IMS17 reflector does and I know the McR-18 has been used to replace the IMS17... I wonder if it would work? I know that for a headlamp generally you want more of a flood softer light... but with a flashlight you want more of a throw...

correct me if I'm wrong.. if I buy an EOS and want to put a IMS17 in it I will need to break something on the light to get at where I need to replace the factory optic?

Mundele said:

I have one and love it as well. Works great. Good throw, nice even on low power.

The only feature I'd like to have ais a flip-down, er, shade or filter to blur the beam for when youre using it to read by.

--Matt

Click to expand...

Sounds like a Petzl Tikka XP would be a good choice. It has a slide-over diffuser for reading. It's a similar size/weight to the EOS, uses 3 AAA batteries as well.

chesterqw said:

but with a luxeon V the heat it create will be quite alot and it will need a heatsink or heat spreader, that will make it heavier&bigger(aka bulky) and if you wanna use a luxeon V you might as well use a lux III or lux I

the lux III when throw or flood is needed in high power.(but it suck batteries real well)
the lux I is need when throw or flood is need but to lower brightness(saves your pockets too with those batterys)

a good bin lux I will own a lux III anytime (makes me wonder if there is a X bin lux I)

Click to expand...

Well I don't think its much of an issue as you make it... When I use my L2/U2 on the lower settings i'm not getting ANY heat increase... yet with the L2's case... 15lumens for 8-ish hours on two 123's aint bad... 15lumens is a lot of light... the EOS on high according to flashlightreviews.com / *1.43 the high setting on the EOS is around 17lumens...

I think a small metal/aluminum headlamp would be as light as an EOS and have a LuxV to boot... it maybe able to be done in a plastic form as well... who knows...

BlackDecker said:

Sounds like a Petzl Tikka XP would be a good choice. It has a slide-over diffuser for reading. It's a similar size/weight to the EOS, uses 3 AAA batteries as well.

Click to expand...

the EOS is significantly brighter on its higher settings... the XP needs a better presets...