August 6, 2022
Fenix HP30R v2 headlamp
I am pretty sure the version without the "v2" designation used a pair of 18650 cells.
The "v2" version I have uses a pair of 21700 cells.
The unit I have came with a pair of Fenix 5000 maH labeled cells.
It is expensive at $220. Fenix gives a 5 year warranty.
(I bought mine in August of 2022).
This is a big heavy headlamp that you will want to mount on a helmet.
I suppose you could wear it on your head, but I doubt that I ever will.
A big plus is that there is no stupid and annoying and useless blinking mode.
This is wonderful. A balancing negative is that there is no "moonlight" mode
with 1 lumen or less. Also many people wish that it had a 400-500 lumen setting,
but it doesn't. Here is what you get:
My quick boil down of the above:
- low 50 lumens 120 hours
- medium 200 lumens 34 hours
- high 800 lumens 12 hours
- turbo 2000 lumens 5 hours
Every review I read states that the runtime claims are inflated and that
you will get perhaps half of what you claim (one fellow says he got 4.5
hours on high rather than 10 for example).
Here is what you get with my old favorite, the single 18650 Thrunite TH30 v2.
(This has a Cree XHP70.2 emitter):
- firefly 0.3 lumens, -- mA, 29 days
- low 30 lumens, -- mA, 55 hours
- low/med 131 lumens, -- mA, 13 hours
- medium 345 lumens, -- mA, 5 hours
- high 1256 lumens, -- mA, 4.5 minutes then 867 lumens for 111 minutes
- turbo 3320 lumens, -- mA, 2.0 minutes then 853 lumens for 110 minutes
- sos 665 lumens, -- mA, 350 minutes
Comments
So, what about the missing moonlight mode? With a 120 hour runtime at 50 lumens
you could argue that a moonlight (aka firefly) mode isn't needed.
But the only purpose for such a mode is not just long runtimes in some
survival situations. Sometimes you want just enough light to see what is in
your pack without destroying your dark adaption or annoying partners.
A big plus is a simple interface. A knob. One way you get different levels of
spot mode, the other way you get different levels of "flood" mode via the two
flanking LED. If you want them both you press the button built into the end of
the knob.
I just bought some unprotected flat top Samsung 21700 cells.
It remains to be seen if there will be problems using these with
this headlamp.
Feedback? Questions?
Drop me a line!
Tom's Light Info / tom@mmto.org